Look at those gimps up there in that picture. Look at their put-on, advertising faces. Why is the dad crouching? What fucking game are they playing, for them all to look like such idiots? I'll be honest, I don't like the Wii. Until this week, when I visited family and played one properly for the first time.
After working at a well-known games retailer over Christmas, I learnt very quickly to identify the 'Wii Customer'. Family, clueless and often buying shovel-ware of the lowest order, or looking to buy 'that game where Ant and Dec mess about'. It's fair to say that the Wii has a completely different fanbase than that of the other 2 consoles. But after some serious thought, I think the Wii's installed base is the truest to gaming, and the real hardcore.
Think about it. When the original Nintendo Entertainment System was released (God bless you little Nes), the emphasis was on fun, family, and playing together. It was about playing Mario with your dad, it was about travelling to your cousins house who lived far away, instantly finding common ground by sticking on California Games and playing Hackey-Sack, it was about getting Snake, Rattle & Roll off your dad for Christmas, as well as the rest of the family gathering round and being impressed by Duck Hunt.
Many purists consider the Nes to be hardcore gaming at it's finest, and so by this rationale, I put forward the Wii to be in a similar vein, and a hardcore games console. It isn't for me, personally, but it is bringing families into gaming, it is getting a younger generation on board, and it is the only way I can get my Aunty to play computer games, even if it is virtual frisbee.
The Xbox and Playstation are all well and good for the next-level, the console for the people who played the Nes, and understand the fundamentals and mechanics and games, but what about those who are looking for a way in? We had it easy with the Nes, and up until the Wii, it was a pretty self-contained hobby. No longer.
I don't like the Wii. I don't like it's laziness, it's catalogue of shoddy games, but god-damn do I respect it. It's single-handedly saving our hobby from engulfing itself in it's own cliqueness. God bless you Nintendo, for being weird, for being different, and for taking all the money in the known universe. You've earnt it.
Nice blog.
ReplyDeleteMuch <3 to Nes, I still own 2 of them.
I'm lucky to have all 3 consoles, and the Wii gets a lot of love from me.
1 big thing it's lacking is the network feel that LIVE and PSN gives. I want to see when friends are online, what people are playing, etc. It's so easy to do that on 360, and to some extent on PSN, but Nintendo are being very slow at playing "catch up" with online play etc, where as Microsoft and Sony are eager to catch up on motion controls.
Another issue is the fact there is SOOO much shovelware on Wii. I don't know what company policy was for you working at that "well-known games retailer", but I would've been crying into my cup of tea working behind a counter and seeing oblivious n00b parents lapping up the shovelware crap that people are cashing in with on Wii.
The Wii has some amazing games, and practically everything made in house by Nintendo is pure genius.