The Problem
I'm noticing a trend. A pretty bad one, too. The Wii is getting non-mainstream games, unsuccessful games, and games that are likely to be unsuccessful. This came to mind as soon as I heard that Soul Calibur 4 wouldn't be appearing on Wii, and would only show up on Xbox360 and PS3. But because Namco can't manage to have such a pretty game on a console that can't handle it, and because they need to have some Soul Calibur name on the Wii, they pull out a spin-off known as Soul Calibur Legends... which sounds alright, but can never be quite as good as the mainstream Soul Calibur games. The same seems to apply with Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles.
RE5 could have been on Wii. Soul Calibur 4 could have been on Wii. It's not the Wiimote that's stopping those games from showing up, it's simply the power of the console... it has nothing to boast over. "A little better than Xbox" won't get that console anywhere. In the end, if Soul Calibur 4 were to appear on all 3 consoles, it would be very much different on Wii, graphics-wise.
I could spend this post talking about how Nintendo could have added the extra horsepower to the Wii and still included the motion control (which they could have done), but I'm not entirely bothered about that. Because, even without the 1080p visuals, HD DVD playback, 120gb hard drive, 27000 USB ports, 3.2GHz processor, $1000 price tag and a decent online system, the Wii still has a lot to showcase for. But I'm sure you've already read about that stuff a billion times so I'll spare you the trouble of reading it again.
Taking that in, I do believe that the mind of the casual gamer will have Nintendo's Wii console place highly at the end of this generation. They could place first, or even second, or maybe even third. But in my belief, they won't be very far behind if they do place third. All casual gamers need is Wii Sports and eventually a Wii Sports 2, and the Wii is a definite winner. That said, the hardcore games have... nothing. Well, little to nothing. All we have is Nintendo's games. Smash. Mario. Metroid. Zelda. And then all of the other additions like Pikmin and Battalion Wars and Pilot Wings and F-Zero and !@#$%. And while that provides us with a library of about 20 decent games, there's no variety. It's just Nintendo, Nintendo, Nintendo.
Now, third-party developers have been supporting the Wii pretty well. There hasn't been any ground-breaking games, as such, but they're have been mildly okay games. The Godfather, Scarface, Sonic, SSX Blur, Banana Blitz. These games are alright, but they're not super-friggin-duper. More to the point, they're not games that are going to be viewed as highly as third-party games on the Xbox360 and PS3. Why? Because there's no real effort going into them, because the very same developers are in the process of designing triple A games on the other consoles. That's the problem. There's just no love.
Does this mean we're going to see third-party games as good as Resident Evil 4, or Baten Kaitos, Beyond Good & Evil, Eternal Darkness, Killer 7, Prince of Persia, Rogue Leader and Viewtiful Joe? Well, yeah. We could definitely see a game that is as good as or even better than any of those games. Games that are as good as last-generation games. Games that are being compared to last generation games. They are last-generation games. But therein lies the major problem. Developers are going to develop on Wii with the idea that they're developing on this familiar, dated hardware, with the added addition of motion-sensing controller. Why would there ever be a third-party, exclusive, AAA game on Wii, when the same third-party could possibly design that phenomenal game on a better console? With a game on a better console, with graphics that surpass any other, the game will likely stand out. If the same game were designed for Wii, the only aspect that would allow the game to stand out is the motion-sensing controls... Do you honestly believe that will make the game more attractive? I can't say I do.
The Solution
So what can be done? Casual gamers have already got their console. They'll be able to have the games that allow them to dress up their Miis, play sports, play with dogs and exercise their brain. For the hardcore games? I think third-party developers, and Nintendo, need to think about graphics. I know there's some part of them that says it's not about that, but hardcore gamers do care. Games like Brawl and Super Mario Galaxy are looking fantastic, but that's expected of Nintendo.
As for the other developers, I think they need to take a look at games like (you guessed it) Resident Evil 4. If the GameCube was capable of running a game with that much atmosphere, detail, texture and whatnot, then I'm sure with the "double power" or "one-and-a-half times power" of the Wii, we can have something a little prettier than RE4. Or even Shadow of the Colossus! God knows how much more powerful the Wii is over the PS2, I'm sure we can see a game that looks as good as SotC. I know it can be done, I just wait to see it. So really, developers don't have a lot of excuse when it comes to ugly games (except that they're lazy).
If not the pretty graphics, then why not focus on art style? In my eyes, Wind Waker is the most gorgeous game to ever land on a console, 'nuff said. That game was freaking beautiful, and the art style was very much appreciated amongst many of us. Or even games like Okami, we all know how much a gorgeous game that was. And that was on the PS2 as well. My point is, art style sometimes speaks so much louder than realistic graphics, and I'm sure that if developers decided to use a unique art style, games would go a lot easier on the hardcore gamers whom are also art buffs.
And my final solution, and the most intriguing (and risky) is to simply use 2D graphics. Nintendo have made it clear that they're not really competing with Sony or Microsoft, so why not go back to the most lovable console of all time, the Super Nintendo, and just develop a few games in 2D? I'm not talking about Wario Ware-2D, I'm talking about FFVI 2D. If you had amazingly detailed and gorgeous sprites, you'd have retro gamers in spasms. Why not develop a 2D RPG, Nintendo? That'll surely bring back some memories for those who cherished the SNES. And just think about how much content you could add into the game with so little focus on graphics? A lot. The game could go on forever if you wanted it to. There's nothing wrong with a 2D game on a 7th Generation console. In fact, I'd cherish such a game if it were well done. Or why not fuse 2D Sprites with amazing art style? And then when you bring the Wiimote into the equation... There's just so many possibilities to make the Wii a unique, or even "indie" console. Maybe this is what the Virtual Console is for, so who knows. I hope you see my point, though.
That's about all I have to say. If you read this entire post, you're pretty cool. Now if you'd excuse me, it's my birthday, and I'm going to pick up a 360. Cheers.
