WiiNintendo

A week and a half ago, Codemasters CEO Rod Cousens released a statement questioning Nintendo’s general approach with the Nintendo Wii this generation. I’m not one to swear service into the Nintendo Army, no questions asked, as I truly have some strong issues with some of the decisions Nintendo has made this generation. Those being lack of HDD, Voice Chat, and a unified friend list to name a few, but those are for a different OpEd as Cousens took no issue with any of these valid concerns. Instead, he took aim, as many have, at the apparent abundance of utter crap on the console. Again, on this issue, in and of itself, I voice the same concerns. I’m left scratching my head when I walk into my local games specialty retailer and there on display is a copy of Rig Racer 2…what?

I highly question the existence of Rig Racer 1, and its subsequent success that would warrant said sequel.

Moving on. I’m with Mr. Cousens when he states that its unfortunate that legitimate developers get stuck with production issues because shovelware is slated for production at the same time. The argument seems late coming because the glut of these titles is over alongwith the holiday season. I am understanding all the way up to this point. I really just take issues with the last part of his statement when he says:

‘I could give you an argument that says there’s going to be a ‘Wii 2′ pretty quickly because [Nintendo would need one] in order to sustain momentum over a 10-year period. And what type of software would it have then? Because right now it isn’t driven by technological supremacy or power. I wonder if the idea of opening up a whole new audience to 60-year-olds looking to make sure their brain cells don’t die off is a sustainable form of entertainment.’

Really Mr. Cousens? First of all, the only hardware platform that has boasted a 10 year cycle was the Playstation 3. Nintendo never committed to such a timeline. The possibility of the console lasting the normal five year cycle is very good at this point. The Wii is already shaping up to move more units in 18 months than its deadbeat dad, Gamecube. Of course short-term sales don’t equal long-term success, but they do guarantee more titles in the later lifecycle of the console. For instance, we already know there is another Zelda title in the works for the Wii. Not to mention, the chances of a proper sequel to Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii are very good at this point. Sure the graphics whores are scoffing, but it is true that Nintendo intelligently hasn’t placed all its proverbial eggs into one basket. Let me clarify, that’s neither casual, nor hardcore. While many would have you believe that a videogames company is only able to cater to one market, this kind of myopic thought process is poisonous. Big Mac fanatics aren’t upset that McDonald’s focused on putting out (in vain) healthy choices on their menu. In fact, the Big n Nasty, err, Tasty and the McRib still make annual appearances. I think you understand that there’s no need to make a list of upcoming titles at this point, any gamer could put together a list of ‘08 announced Wii games that would be more than satisfactory. Unfortunately, I don’t think any gamers list would include an ‘Ology title or Emergency Mayhem. That’s where I take real issue.

If you’re convinced that the casual market is so fleeting, why do you continue to push your own shovelware on the Nintendo faithful? Initially interesting, last year’s Heatseeker was a subpar port to the Wii that looked just as bad, if not worse than the PS2 version. You then launch into a diatribe on the sad state of the Wii, only to announce a week later that your apparent AAA effort for the Wii is publishing a trilogy of licensed kid’s book games. If, instead, your company decided to port last year’s fantastic racer, DIRT, to the Wii, you could’ve filled an Excite Truck sized gap in the hearts of a myriad of Nintendo faithful. We understand there is a graphical gap, but we also are able to tell when the proper effort is put into the waggle machine.

I’m not even knocking developing games for a younger demographic. I was excited to see you had teamed up with a Kuju studio. I just think you should decide how you really feel about the interesting market Nintendo has set up before you speak on it, and then subsequently, come off as hypocritical.