| June 07 |
Dave Mirra BMX
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| June 07 | PuzzleBall |
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June 07 |
Shrek the Third |
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...cont'd | |
Written by James Hobbs |
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| Guitar Heroes |
It does seem that Nintendo have taken note of this. They are the kind of company that tend to sit back a lot and simply observe,
whilst quietly beavering away on new ideas. The announcement of the Revolution ( the code-name for Wii ) came as a complete shock to
everyone in the
industry, and their philosophy of trying to appeal to gamers and non-gamers of all ages is clearly a result of watching the games market
and coming to the conclusion that gaming, in a way, is currently rather elitist. Certainly, there are games like 'Singstar' on the PS2,
or 'Guitar Heroes,' that could easily be played by nearly anyone, but these titles are a recent development, and in my opinion, rather
rubbish.
Nearly every single Wii launch title will allow anyone to pick up the controller and play it almost immediately ( with the
possible exception of Metroid and other complicated games ). Wii Sports in particular is a key title for Nintendo, because it embodies
their entire philosophy. It is worth bearing this in mind when trying to analyse the launch titles.
Disregarding the control system, firstly we have the diversity issue. The 16 launch titles confirmed thus far for Wii include first-person
shooters, arcade games, mini-game based games, kids games, sports games, fighting games, racing games, an RPG, and the rest are so
odd that it's fairly impractical to attempt to categorise them. The diversity aspect appears to be well covered.
Secondly, the quality aspect. This is slightly more difficult to analyse at this stage, as we are so far from launch. However, looking
at the track record of the developers, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption has the pedigree to be very good indeed, as does The Legend of Zelda:
Twilight Princess. Super Monkey Ball is always fun, and Red Steel, Tony Hawk's, Elebits, and most of the other games have the potential
to be very good indeed.
The key franchises are probably the most important aspect, and this is where I think Wii triumphs. Not only do we have the next installment of the
superb Metroid Prime series coming at launch, a new Zelda game also bolsters the line-up. This is almost unheard of. Two great franchises, out on
launch day with an entirely new control system to get excited about. It more than makes up for the apparent absence of a Mario title. These are two
of Nintendo's biggest and best franchises, and we get our hands on them from Day One. Not only this, but we have a Nintendo-exclusive Tony Hawk's game
( another key franchise ), Super Monkey Ball, and Rayman, all well-established franchises from key third party developers. The third party support
is very important, particularly taking into consideration that the developers will have to integrate the new control system, so it is very encouraging
to see that so many developers have already jumped on board.
With more titles a possibility for launch, Wii looks set to be Nintendo's biggest success yet. The simplicity and intuitive nature of the
Wii control system should help to ensure this. Keep checking the site for the latest information on when
we can get our grubby hands on it.
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