Point/Counterpoint: The worth of Wii Play

by Alisha Karabinus { Mar 27th 2008 at 11:15AM }

Welcome to a new intermittent feature here at Wii Fanboy: Point/Counterpoint, in which two of our bloggers face off in an ultimate showdown ~~of ultimate destiny~~ over one simple question.

There's no denying that Wii Play is successful -- it has continually been one of the best-selling titles for the console. However, the inclusion of a Wii remote with the minigame collection certainly accounts for most of that success. How worthwhile is the game itself? Does it deserve to be one of the top games for the console? That's the question on the table.


		The case against Wii Play

Gallery: Wii Play

Tags: casual, debate, joystiqfeatures, minigames, wii-play

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

samfish (Brawl: 2793 0291 2277) @ Mar 27th 2008 11:29AM

I just hope they flesh Tanks! out into something for Wii Ware. That game was awesome, but far too limited. It really needs a multiplayer deathmatch mode. It was too much fun running around killing each other, I thought.

worm @ Mar 27th 2008 11:33AM

I would've paid $5 for Tanks as an online-capable WiiWare title. Other than that, Wii Play was pretty boring after a couple hours.

Roto13 @ Mar 27th 2008 11:40AM

Jane, you ignorant slut.

Aaron @ Mar 27th 2008 11:52AM

Agreed with the above two comments, Tanks was sex. I would happily pay $10 or so for a look at a fully fledged Wii Ware iteration.

I liked this new article, however, allow me to indulge you in some feedback.

The 'for' and 'against' articles... should be on the same page. Or at least easier to find. I only found the 'against' article because of the pretty looking Wii-mote in the corner... then I couldn't find the 'for' article for a few minutes. Maybe that was just me though. You could include URL links to each article after the break.

With FOUR separate articles (this page, for Wii Play, against Wii Play and the voting page) where are we expected to leave comments? One of the reasons I keep coming back here is because of the community, and the discussions that come up. Having four different pages for one topic restricts the ability to... you know, talk.

Now, on topic: I like Wii Play. The thing is, Nintendo aren't selling it as anything more than a mini-game collection. Hell, it says right on the back of the box, Wii Play is an "introduction to the Wii-mote" (or something like that). And while I think that the only reason its selling is because of the cheap Wii-mote, Wii Play, for $10, works. Yes, the games are cheap, because they are DESIGNED to be cheap. They are worth no more than $10. Does it bother me that Wii Play is selling better than other quality Wii titles? No. It bothers me that those quality titles aren't selling.

A side note, how do we use italics here? I've tried BBCode, no dice. I'm sick of using capitalisation for emphasis.

David Hinkle @ Mar 27th 2008 12:31PM

Aaron,

I'll try to answer all of your questions, but Alisha handled most of this feature. Luckily, all I had to do was bitch about a game. :D

As for the way the feature is set up, it's made to be easily digested. If we populated one page with tons and tons of text, most people tune out. They don't read it. Also, the way it's set up here, the article flows better. You get an introduction, then an against, then a for, then your opinions. Just seems like a better way to do it, honestly.

Regarding the navigation, sorry you got lost! The Wiimotes in the corner might no pop out immediately (what with them being white on a white page), but I didn't have any trouble locating them.

And for the comments, we're damned if we do, damned if we don't. When we did the Blips feature:

http://nintendo.joystiq.com/2008/01/28/2008s-biggest-blips/

We were tossing around the best way to do comments. It seems that when we only allow them on the main page, people complain that they can't comment on specific pages written by certain bloggers. When we open up comments on all pages, it seems to rectify that, but breaks the overall conversation up into smaller "topics." There's no perfect way to do it yet, but know that we're trying!

Thanks for all your input Aaron. We hope you stick around. :)

Alisha Karabinus @ Mar 27th 2008 1:33PM

Yeah, it's difficult to figure out where we should let people comment on these multi-page articles, which are the best way to put some things together (like anything with more than one writer involved!). Dave already mentioned the DS feature where we struggled with it. We'd love to hear suggestions from you guys, since you're the ones who are actually going to use it!

lewisj82 @ Mar 27th 2008 12:30PM

First off, props to Roto 13 for the old SNL refrence. Good work, you stole the words right outta my keyboard.

I also agree that Tanks! was friggin sweet and would pay money for a WiiWare version where you could play other people online or post scores or whatever. I wouldn't mind seeing the same for the Cow Racing or even the Shooting game. Wii Play wasn't horrible, but it serves it's purpose in providing $10 worth of entertainment and some "Wiimote Training" or whatever it's referred to on the package.

Peter S @ Mar 27th 2008 12:48PM

I know that my parents enjoyed the game. They especially got a kick out of the cow racing. Worth the $10? I'd say so. Would I have bought it without the extra controller? Not likely. Still for a diversion on occasion it's nice. I enjoy the shooting and billiards. I can play the cow racing with my daughter. I tried the Tanks game, but wasn't as impressed by that. I guess it put me in mind of the old tanks game from the Atari 2600 and I never really liked that other than being able to keep shooting my sister's tank/plane. :D

Matthew @ Mar 27th 2008 12:52PM

Simple answer, no.

High point in the games for me is the shooting range and tank assault.

3G58 @ Mar 27th 2008 1:13PM

The only real great game on Wii Play is Tanks. There are some very stupid games on there (the cow racing). It seems either people are very happy with it or very disappointed but considering the remote alone costs $40, you're essentially getting a game for $10

This guy doesnt seem too happy with it: http://www.expotv.com/videos/reviews/22/191/WiiPlaywithWiiRemote/239777

while this guy seems to enjoy it alot: http://www.expotv.com/videos/reviews/22/191/WiiPlaywithWiiRemote/221998

buckyboy28 @ Mar 27th 2008 4:01PM

The only reason I bought this game was for the remote, but that doesn't mean the games are bad... you just need to accept them for what they are. I applaud Nintendo for charging only $50 for the whole set, and not attempting to make it out to be much better than it is. (The Link's Crossbow/Zapper set comes to mind). While the games aren't the most in depth or the most aesthetically pleasing, they are fun in a simple, family-get-together kind of way.

benmully @ Mar 27th 2008 4:20PM

For sure its worth it. $5 or 500 Wii points, where else can you get such a bargain??? It also helps teach people basic Wii controls who have never used it before. Air Hockey and Tanks are worth the $5 on their own!

Carlos @ Mar 27th 2008 5:07PM

yes it is, for a $10 game it's awesome and i don't get the hate it gets AT ALL. People buy it for the remote, yes, but it's in no way a rip-off, the billiards and tanks game by themselves are well worth the price, imo.

Tom @ Mar 27th 2008 5:36PM

lol at the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny reference! Anyways, my friend bought this, and I tried it out. I have a real pool table, so Wii-Billiards = useless. Everything else but Tanks was pretty weak, but I'd pay 10 bucks for a Wifi enabled version of tanks. It was that cool!

mcduff @ Mar 27th 2008 11:35PM

For sure Wii Play is worth the few measly bucks it cost over the price of the wiimote. Sure there are some boring minigames on it, but I love Tanks (and would also line up for an expanded version on it on wiiware), and for some weird reason my kids like cow racing...