Wii Shovelware

[dalmatian]

First off I do not yet own a Wii but have a PS3, 360 and my favourite console ever, the Gamecube to name but a few. The Wii has some good games but after seeing MadWorld flop sales wise globally, I have become a little skeptical about how many actual gamers actually buy the better games that the Wii has to offer (No more Heroes, Muramasa and Cursed Mountain im looking at you)

Well when Data Design Interactive releases 30 Wii titles in the space of a few months, its a little hard to believe that the company is trying to better the Wii's library of games. Usually with bad developers/publishers that every now again they release at least an average game. Every game this company has released has been terrible (ninjabread man, action girlz racing, anubis ii, rock'n'roll adventures, billy the wizard to name but a few).

Nintendo's well deserved reputation as a market leader has gone AWOL since there financial success of the wii. There is a petition online asking for Nintendo to ban Data Design Interactive from making games for the wii (here) http://www.PetitionOnline.com/mm33mn3/petition.html

Out of curiosity Nintendo gamers and gamers in general really, do you think Shovelware Companies like Data Design Interactive is enough to set gaming back a decade in today's day and age? It happened in the 80's with the Atari 2600, could it happen again? Time will tell

[aubergine]

I hope it wasn't you who wrote that petition, as it could be a banning offence.

I admire the idea though of petitioning Nintendo to introduce seal of quality check again. Although I'm pretty sure all that ever meant was that they'd tap the disc/cartridge on a table a couple of times to make sure it was made of solids.

[sausage]

Caveat emptor dude.

What you are suggesting is that we go online to sign a petition that will prevent a company and its employees from going about their lawful business in producing games?

Go back to North Korea you commie bastard - if the mindless public are stupid enough to spend money on a computer game that is shit it is:

a. their goddamn right, and

b. their goddamn right.

[dalmatian]

Caveat emptor dude.

What you are suggesting is that we go online to sign a petition that will prevent a company and its employees from going about their lawful business in producing games?

Go back to North Korea you commie bastard - if the mindless public are stupid enough to spend money on a computer game that is shit it is:

a. their goddamn right, and

b. their goddamn right.

ummm i may have linked the page but...

1. i didn't make the petition.

2. where did i say they should be banned cause id love to see it. i asked whether this could put gaming back a decade, not please sign the petition.

[Stevorooni]

If people are dumb enough to buy these games then they deserve them, no one else has to buy them!

Say the petition was successful, what does that achieve? Does it make the Wii 'better' than the other consoles? Does it justify spending the money on it? Does it give anyone street cred? "My console has less crappy games then your console"

Enjoy the console for the games it has that you like, or else sell it and buy a different console that has games that you like. Nintendo don't care about your feelings, they are a business and if shit games are being bought then they will keep making shit games.

[McChimp]

I love the GOOD (and I mean non-party-game and half-hearted cash-in crap) stuff on Wii, but yeah, those games tend to be few and far between. That said, you can't really look at ANY console of ANY generation and say there's not a bucketload of dross in amongst the better stuff. Whether it's crap shooters, crap RPG's, crap platformers of the like, there's always going to be a plethora of 'games to avoid' on any system, and certain developers that must be avoided at all costs too.

[Stevorooni]

From a time and money perspective I think there's enough fantastic games being released to satisfy me personally, but I have all 3 consoles so I have pick of the lot.

It would suck to only own a Wii though...

[McChimp]

As much as I love Nintendo, their first and some of the third party games, unless your purse-strings are tight, owning a Nintendo console AND another console has been the way to go for the last-couple of gens. And even if you could only afford one console.....why Wii? I got my Wii with the view that I'd always have at least one other console for more regular releases, and I'd get to enjoy the Wii when the 'once-in-a-blue-moon' quality releases came out on it.

[Kasplatza Red]

Dude, clearly you havn't seen some of the shovelware on the PS2. It's not a Wii-Exclusive problem, you know. If it bothers you so much, then don't go into game stores and just buy online or something? D:

[borgster101]

PS2 has a load of shovelware crap as well, as did the SNES and NES it's the nature of being the market leader, all the cheap cash in games go to the system that has the biggest market, and the fact that Wii games are cheaper to make compared to the competition further ads to the incentive for companies out for a quick return.

Not much you can do expect ignore the crap and buy the good stuff, and let market forces do the rest. Unfortantely the market works in aggregates, and there's a lot more "non gamers" than "gamers" who buy the shit stuff.

[Stevorooni]

Not to mention that because the PS2 had so much shovelware and the Wii is at a similar level power wise, it's cheap and nasty to just port crappy PS2 games and add some waggle.

[AranchineD]

I think instead we should insert a small explosive device inside the case of every Wii game that doesn't score over 75 on popular rating site Metacritic, when stupid people buy these games and open the case the device explodes in their face and killing them, discouraging them from further purchasing crap games for the console.

I predict in about five to seven years this plan will slowly start to see an increase in good titles for the console as sales of shitty games go down, and Nintendo have to start appealing to the hardcore market to start making money again.

[sausage]

ummm i may have linked the page but...

1. i didn't make the petition.

2. where did i say they should be banned cause id love to see it. i asked whether this could put gaming back a decade, not please sign the petition.


Fair call; I suck the cocks for that one but if I switch targets to the actual people running the petition then my opinion still stands.

[Meg]

The DS is bad for shovelware too. Been trying to find a copy of New Super Mario Bros in Big W and stuff only to find crap games. I don't feel like paying $70 in Game/EB for NSMB when I can get it cheaper in Big W, K-mart.

[concrete donkey]

The nintendo seal of approval didnt do anything at all. look at the N64. Great console, but soooo many crap games made it on there - Superman 64, Aeroguage, chameleon twist etc. Nintendo need some new IP's to expand their catalogue

[Jay]

Please, if we're measuring the ratio of crap games that made it to console then the PS2 has got the lot of them beat.

[AranchineD]

I don't know, the PS3 would come close.

http://www.uyac.com.au/forum/images/smilies/1.jpg

[sausage]

.... In about ten years after the xbox 360 is but a distant memory due to the disastrous introduction of the xbox 720

[dalmatian]

Please, if we're measuring the ratio of crap games that made it to console then the PS2 has got the lot of them beat.

Yeah but at least the PS2 had lots of good games on it, with a lot of them being original I.P's.


PS2:

Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy X and X-2
Dark Chronicle
Persona 3 and 4
ICO
Shadow Of The Colossus
God Of War I and II
Jak and Daxter series
Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3
Gran Turismo 4
Soul Calibur II and III
Ratchet and Clank Series
Sly Raccoon series

and most of those being exclusives. The Wii nearly has as much shovelware games already from its relatively short life as the PS2 except the amount of good games on it are much smaller , and most of the good games on the Wii have been done just as good on the Gamecube (Twilight Princess, SSBM, Mario Kart DD, even Metroid Prime Corruption isnt any better than 1 or 2 on the cube) .Anyway nintendo like some others have mentioned, need to start some new I.P's sooner rather than later because unlike the PS2, nintendo dont have the second and third party support that the ps2 had

[fishonthecarpet]

They are making new IPs - Sports, Fit, Music etc.

They're just a bit... casual.

[Jay]

You're also talking about a system that 's been out for 3 years as opposed to one that had a creative life cycle of about 8, so it's tough to measure.

[JubeiSaotome]

Nintendo Seal of Quality doesn't have anything to do with whether a game is good or bad, it's just proof that the game is licensed.

[McChimp]

They are making new IPs - Sports, Fit, Music etc.

It's like 'Touch Generations', but more like 'Wii-waggle-to-somehow-simulate-real-world actions'. May need abbreviating though.

[9warbane]

Nintendo Seal of Quality doesn't have anything to do with whether a game is good or bad, it's just proof that the game is licensed.

Assault proved that.

[Stevorooni]

So is this game going to come packaged with the shovel attachment for the remote or do we have to buy that separately? Can we just use the remote without the attachment?

[borgster101]

And there's new IP's from 3rd parties, Zack & Wiki, No More Heroes, MadWorld .. sadly they didnt sell very well.

[Jay]

Not to mention de Blob, Grand Slam Tennis and a bunch of cool stuff on WiiWare like NyxQuest and Lost Winds to name a couple.

[dalmatian]

Not to mention de Blob, Grand Slam Tennis and a bunch of cool stuff on WiiWare like NyxQuest and Lost Winds to name a couple.

That's all well and good, but Grand Slam Tennis, de blob or Virtua Tennis 2009 sold fairly poorly considering that all of them were actually pretty good games. Unless a game has Wii Sports, Wii Fit or a cheap nasty gimmick like Jamie Durie diet planning on the cover it wont sell, period. Sales of Madworld, No More Heroes, Okami hell even RE4 Wii Edition is proof of this. The only things that sell on the Wii are selective Nintendo ('games' like Wii Sports , Wii Fit, maybe Mario Kart), any variation of a Brain Challenge (Are you smarter than a Pre Schooler) game or Parents favourite, cheap shovelware ware alternative to a popular nintendo game (like Myth Makers Super Kart GP, Action Girlz Racing , Dogz, Catz, Imagine: Babysitter. Such a shame too because Madworld was one of my favourite games all year

[concrete donkey]

Please, if we're measuring the ratio of crap games that made it to console then the PS2 has got the lot of them beat.

oh, i wasnt saying that the n64 was the console king of crap games, im just saying that the nintendo seal didnt mean anything. i agree that the ps2 was the worse for rubbish

[borgster101]

That's all well and good, but Grand Slam Tennis, de blob or Virtua Tennis 2009 sold fairly poorly considering that all of them were actually pretty good games. Unless a game has Wii Sports, Wii Fit or a cheap nasty gimmick like Jamie Durie diet planning on the cover it wont sell, period. Sales of Madworld, No More Heroes, Okami hell even RE4 Wii Edition is proof of this. The only things that sell on the Wii are selective Nintendo ('games' like Wii Sports , Wii Fit, maybe Mario Kart), any variation of a Brain Challenge (Are you smarter than a Pre Schooler) game or Parents favourite, cheap shovelware ware alternative to a popular nintendo game (like Myth Makers Super Kart GP, Action Girlz Racing , Dogz, Catz, Imagine: Babysitter. Such a shame too because Madworld was one of my favourite games all year
Sales don't equal quality sadly .. if your concern is regarding the shovelware on Wii, which seems to be the case from your OP all you can really do is focus your attention on what is good .. buy it ... and ignore the crap stuff, it'll continue to be around because it will sell, but thats the consumer world for you.

[Fenrir]

Nintendo Seal of Quality doesn't have anything to do with whether a game is good or bad, it's just proof that the game is licensed.
^About ****ing time. Nintendo brought out the seal as a way of combating the likes of Custer's Revenge (crude/obscene content) and the Atari 2600 port of Pac-Man (they shipped a broken prototype, ffs - none of today's shovelware is even a tenth as bad as it was). It has never been about weeding out games in the 2-star range, ever.

Mind, the whole "dream team" thing Nintendo tried to pull with the N64 was closer to the goal of weeding out shovelware, and - despite the sheer amount of putrid truckloads of steaming, flaming pig turd that made it onto the original Playstation - the move backfired on Nintendo and lost them their market lead. I agree it'd be nice to "ban the shit games", but it doesn't work like that.

[McChimp]

.........any variation of a Brain Challenge (Are you smarter than a Pre Schooler)......

How about 'Are you smarter than a casual gamer?'. It contains one answer: If so, don't buy this!