Wii Warm Up: Losing faith

by Candace Savino { May 31st 2008 at 10:30AM }

Sometimes, after being handed bad game after bad game (or at the very least, patronizing game after patronizing game), you can't help but lose faith in a company. Hence our thoughts regarding the Prince of Persia rumor- if it's true, we just don't if know if we believe that Ubisoft can deliver a quality Wii-based Prince of Persia game.

How about you? Are there any publishers or developers that you've lost faith in when it comes to making games for the Wii?

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

smort @ May 31st 2008 10:41AM

All but nintendo and capcom.

Jake @ May 31st 2008 11:04AM

There is one big one and that is EA Sports. Actually, there whole company all together.

J rod @ May 31st 2008 6:24PM

EA is beginning to turn themselves around, unlike UbiSoft.

Michael K. @ May 31st 2008 11:17AM

I've lost faith in nintendo, releasing dumb gimmicks to fool people who don't actually play games into buying a wii instead of releasing games for people who actually play games, and when they do release a real game its just milking an old franchise, basically rereleasing the same thing, like they don't even try anymore. Well, if they're going to ignore me, I'm going to ignore them, forget nintendo.

chukz @ May 31st 2008 11:46AM

Nintendo has released some non-casual games on the Wii, like Zelda, Mario, Metroid Prime, etc.. These are games for people who play video games.

They have also released casual games, but their casual games have more polish than the non-casual games of some other lazy developers.

The part that doesn't make sense is when you say Nintendo 'milks' a franchise for the non-casual games. Apparently Grand Theft Auto 4, MGS4, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, Gran Turismo 5, Jack and Daxter 3, Resident Evil 5, Street Fighter 4, Madden 2009, Devil May Cry 4, Ninja Gaiden 2, Quake 4, Doom 4, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, etc... are not milking a franchise... they are all original?

I'm not saying Nintendo doesn't make sequels, but when they do people say they are milking a franchise... meanwhile EVERY company releases games based on a successful franchise... that's what doesn't make any sense. You can't rag on Nintendo for wanting to make money... at least they attempt to release other games that don't involve some of their biggest names. When was the last time Microsoft or Sony released a game that was totally different and didn't include any previous characters from previous games?

warlock7 @ May 31st 2008 12:12PM

re:chukz

I don't think that it's really about how Nintendo milks their franchises. Rather it's about how they manage to milk their big franchise characters by putting them into nearly every freaking game that they make.

How many Nintendo franchise titles do Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Wario and/or Toad make appearances in?

How many Nintendo franchise titles do Donkey Kong and/or Diddy Kong make appearances in?

How many Nintendo franchise titles do Link and/or Gannon make appearances in?

How many Nintendo franchise titles does Samus make appearances in?

-----

Then it ends up being about how the only quality titles on the system have to have these same characters in them. The quality non-Nintendo titles for the Wii are few and far between, therefore you wind up playing as these franchise title characters in virtually every game rather than playing as, well, ANYBODY else.

-----

Aside from a recent odd inclusion of Snake in SSBB, I believe, and the Street Fighter characters being whored around their developers titles. Many of the "recurring characters" in the franchise titles you mentioned only appear in those specific titles. Also, some of those franchise titles don't even have "recurring characters" in them; GTA, COD, GT...

This is what makes all of those titles different than anything Nintendo does with their franchise title characters.

Do you see the difference?

psyborg @ May 31st 2008 12:17PM

Waaaaaa

SoshiKitai @ May 31st 2008 12:22PM

Dude, I wasn't even gonna' post on Wii Fanboy anymore...

Anyways...
First off... chukz, you forgot to mention Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest and Tales of...
While technically each one is a "different game", they shouldn't be considered "new"... as most of them follow the same formula, just with different characters, battle system, and storyline.
Mario, Metroid, GTA, Resident Evil, Halo, Soul Calibur (though fighting games can be excused), Metal Gear Solid, and etc all do the same thing.
Same ol' gaming-formula, but everything else changes.

And it doesn't necessarily make them bad.
As they DO feel different from the last game (though... some final fantasies still kinda' feel like... well... a final fantasy), and renew the experience (except for Mario Party).
So Michael K. ... though you tend to hate Nintendo for doing so, you play all these "new" games... games that don't have the same titles or characters as other games, yet they all follow the same formula.
There are obviously some that have new formulas, such as Little Big World, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, etc etc.
Well, Wii's done the same with No More Heroes, Boom Blox, Mad World, Endless Ocean, Opoona, and etc.
And yeah, the ones on the Wii are not loved by everyone (except for Boom Blox, everyone who has tried it loves it), but hell it was a risk they were willing to take.
Most companies find the Wii as too big of a risk to come out with a serious game. They don't think there's a large enough gamer crowd to gain any money from (and some don't even like the Wii period... mostly cuz they jealous)... henceforth, you don't see a generally masterpiece-ish game come out every month.

As for Nintendo in itself... ummm... why would you want them to make something different from their usual?
Name me games that Microsoft/Sony made MOSTLY by themselves (in other words, the company that helped them didn't take most of the credit).

It's not really much.

Nintendo's just old-school. They think they've done it all with games such as Mario, Zelda, and Metroid. They've made a generally-wonderful game that can't be killed.
Then they just make other games based off of those (Mario this Mario that, Yoshi this Yoshi that, Link's Crossbow Training, etc)...
If you don't like it, I'm sorry, but Nintendo also realizes there are tons of 3rd party companies that make games!
And when you balance all those games out with a drizzle of Mario and Zelda, you've got a nice looking cake.

...yes, I know... the Wii's a little late with any real good third party games. But don't blame Nintendo for that. That's other companies being too moronic or too scared to put one out for the Wii. Don't blame Nintendo. Nintendo just cares about bringing the casual crowd closer to the gamer crowd now, if they make a wrong move, they'll scare them off.
Nintendo's got their job to do. Now it's up to the other companies to do their end of the bargain.
We're supposed to be depending on those third party companies for those hardcore games... the third party companies just didn't know if they were allowed to.

So blame third party companies, not Nintendo.

warlock7 @ May 31st 2008 5:05PM

re:SushiKitty

"We're supposed to be depending on those third party companies for those hardcore games... the third party companies just didn't know if they were allowed to.

So blame third party companies, not Nintendo."

What have you been smoking? Stuff your cake, crap with some recycled semi-pretty icing doesn't make a good cake, or a good system. Cakes are meant to be eaten, not looked at.

The third party developers have spoken, they don't want attempt to dumb down real games for an out-dated underpowered piece of hardware with some gimmicky controls. LucasArts appears to be the only one so far, embracing the concept of selling multiple versions of the same game with their gimmicky lightsaber swinging in the Wii version of The Force Unleashed. Is it going to be enough to get people to do it? For most, I would expect no. But there will be that handful of idiots, there always is.

You actually have the audacity to compare games like "No More Heroes, Boom Blox, Mad World, Endless Ocean, Opoona" to games like "Assassin's Creed [and] Mass Effect"?!?!?! Keep it to yourself. You have no clue what those games are like if you're making those kinds of comparisons.

SoshiKitai @ May 31st 2008 8:13PM

Dude. That's the best we've got for the Wii from third party developers.
Yeah Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed are masterpieces, but that doesn't mean you can downgrade things like BoomBlox and No More Heroes.

They're amazing games at their own standards, just like Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect are.

What the hell are you talking about, anyways?
Why are you posting on a Wii Fanboy to complain to me? As you already seem to be completely against the Wii already.

If you don't like the Wii and the games on it, what good is it complaining here? You probably haven't tried Boom Blox or No More Heroes.
You don't have a single right since you haven't played those games, to say whether or not the Wii isn't any good.

Oh, and you can't say I haven't played those games. You must be kidding yourself, thinking that most Wii owners don't have other systems. Typical idiot from other fanboy area, huh?

I own a 360, Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed and any other example you can throw at me.
I love those games just as much as I love Wii games.

Just typical to have another kid come around here yelling their heart out that "graphics are the way to go, and gameplay doesn't matter for crap".

Unlike cocky kids like you, I GIVE THINGS A TRY before I judge them.

But of course, like all kids like you... you never have the balls to reply back, do ya'?

warlock7 @ May 31st 2008 9:46PM

re:SushiKitty

Typical fanboy nonesense. First you claim to be above posting to this forum, but you simply have to do so, then you get upset when someone addresses issues with the precious few decent titles available on the system of your hopes and dreams.

The fairly simple games like BoomBlox and No More Heroes don't come remotely close to the storytelling and vast environments created for games like Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed. Those aspects alone dwarf the significance of any game that any third party developer has produced for the Wii, not just ported from the GameCube.

Notice, you're the only one complaining about or even mentioning graphics in this discussion.

Since you want to whip it out and show me yours, here's mine:
All three current gen systems. The Wii doesn't hold it's own. The only games worth buying on the Wii are made by Nintendo and suffer from my earlier remarks.
Certainly not a kid, but I'm sure that helps you cope with being a fanboy. After all this is WiiFanboy and the article is also complaining about how the third party titles for the Wii are crap. Yeah, you've got an exclusive right to come here. I shouldn't complain about my $250 waste of money sitting on my entertainment center collecting dust... waiting for a good title...

SoshiKitai @ May 31st 2008 11:47PM

I would assume you were a kid since the first thing you decided to do was resort to name-calling.

...if it were on friendly terms, I'd be fine with name-calling. Because yeah sure, the username looks silly to most people.

And what's even worse, you're not even trying to hear out my end... you just think "Oh yeah, the Wii has failed to deliver anything, it sucks, it's awful. Shut up, fanboy".
But truth is, they've delivered on many occassions. Sure, they're not masterpieces, but they're worth getting.
They do their job well.

You pretend as if there's no worthy title found on the Wii unless it was from Nintendo. And yeah, everyone has a Mario, Zelda game solely from Nintendo... but Nintendo gave 3rd parties a chance, but as you put it "they don't want attempt to dumb down real games for an out-dated underpowered piece of hardware with some gimmicky controls"...
And that's where most 3rd party companies make the mistake.
Here they are, having the ability to improve off of gameplay and being pushed to make something more creative within the small amount of power they're given - and they decide "Oh, it's just good for minigames!"...
Games such as No More Heroes and Zack & Wiki worked with it in their own styles. Not everyone loved No More Heroes, but it definitely delivered to the crowd that LOVED it.
Zack & Wiki satisfied customers with the promises it gave.
And Boom Blox may be simple, but the idea that went behind it to give such interesting gameplay and creativity in a single game shouldn't be downplayed by people like you.
So you're not into the kind of games that come out on Nintendo, why bag on it if isn't your style? People like it, so why blame it on Nintendo, when Nintendo still satisfies the fans who play it? They're doing a fabulous job, from every perspective.

...you also seem to mention "I shouldn't complain about my $250 waste of money sitting on my entertainment center collecting dust"... so which is it?
By the sounds of it, you bought the Wii, and here you go giving the same lame excuse every other wii-haters give: It's weak compared to the 360 and ps3... so why the hell did you buy it if it you're so against the "power" of it?

The whole idea of the Wii was something inexpensive (comparitively) and "new". No more simple hand-controls... here we are, always talking about full-motion-control games we'll have in the future, yet there have been no real public steps towards such a feat except for the Wii!

It's the 3rd party companies' faults for not seeing what they could do with the Wii... and it's almost as if they're in denial that it's a profitable risk.

Instead of always trying to improve gameplay, they just try to add more physics and more choices... which is great, BUT WE'VE ALWAYS BEEN DOING THAT. During those years we've tried to push graphics to its breaking point, so much time has been spent splitting the line between gamers and the outer-life.
There was a friggin' time when video games were for everyone... and the video game industry made sure that idea was closed off.
They tried making up for it with "simple and basic, family games", but those never really stuck out.
Wii's got the right formula, so what the hell are you complaining about?
Already, companies are trying out different things with their controls due to how successful the Wii has become, and it's only helping them. So what the hell do you have against your Wii?

So no great games are coming out that you like... blame third party companies for the same reason you said! They don't think they can make something BIG in the Wii, yet they've done it before on systems like the PS2. And they were still improving on it. And here they are, practically denying that anything could come from the Wii. That they can't do anything great with the controls.
So wouldn't that obviously be the third-parties at fault?! Why the hell blame the Wii, when the Wii has given them lots of room for developing new games??

You honestly don't make sense.

SoshiKitai @ May 31st 2008 11:49PM

Oh and as for the not holding its own:
So you've got that idea, but once again, that's the 3rd-party's fault. Not Nintendo's.
...though, Virtual Console fanatics never seem to tire of the Wii.

Ray @ Jun 1st 2008 12:12AM

warlock7...you're an obvious troll.
From what I gather in your posts, all you care about is graphics and how much power the console can put out.
I own a Wii and a PS3, and of course I've played a 360, and I can honestly say that the Wii is the only "next gen" console, since the other two are just graphical upgrades.

Oh and uh...have you ever heard of this third party Wii game called The Conduit?

BDR @ Jun 1st 2008 1:56AM

All of you need to grow up and stop bawwwing about which console is better. Have some respect for all of the consoles, they're all great in their own way. People have opinions, that doesn't mean you have to turn what was supposed to be a sensible discussion about the third-party situation on the Wii into a mess of a flame war. Nobody cares, get a friggin life and move on.

Lord Bowser @ Jun 1st 2008 9:17AM

Summer is easy mode for trolls.

ThePlantiff @ May 31st 2008 11:33AM

I've just liked 3 Ubisoft games, and those are the Prince of Persia trilogy, so definately Ubisoft. EA, Midway, Acclaim, Activision.(except for Guitar Hero)

Apothekari @ May 31st 2008 11:49AM

I have been extraordinarily happy with the wii so far in general but the soaked in kiddie pee bad crap licensed games/minigames must f#$%^g stop.
I can get behind High Voltage and the work they're doing.I like the fact that some enterprising guys have come up with the homebrew channel and look forward to some xbmc level programs eventually if the big N will let them survive.

Ryan @ May 31st 2008 11:54AM

I don't get why the Wii can't get a direct port of a game. Just because you CAN make a different game full of gimmicky stuff, doesn't mean you SHOULD.

psyborg @ May 31st 2008 12:22PM

EA used to be this evil soulless corporation, but now I think EA is stepping it up their creativity and integrity a bit while Ubisoft & Activision are becoming what EA used to be.

I'm simply not interested in all the yearly and even seasonal updates to Prince of Persia, Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk & and every Tom Clansy series anymore.

Mr Khan @ May 31st 2008 12:52PM

I agree. EA seems to be bouncing back. They published Orange Box, distributed Rock Band, and made Skate. and Boom Blox

They've been doing well for themselves lately

Now they should pick up The Conduit. Love them forever

Patius @ May 31st 2008 12:50PM

I've lost faith in Capcom for Megaman, but Resident Evil and such are still good.

I still like sega, although sonic blows, the rest of their stuff is decent.

Ubisoft has sucked for a long time. At least since the Gameboy advance. This is because they are trying to rip off EA, and they haven't ever been good. (except maybe Battlefield 1942, the only game they ever made that was good.)

Don't even get me started on EA,

Activision sold out a long time ago.

Nintendo needs to stop making stupid sports and party games and actually make new Pikmin, Kirby, and Star Fox games.

Ferco @ May 31st 2008 1:17PM

Ubisoft didn't make BF1942. Dice developed it and EA published it. And I liked the first two Splinter Cell games. Then they turned it into a chewing-gum advert.

HellsHammer @ May 31st 2008 3:51PM

SquareEnix. (I'm prepared for the hate.)

I've been a BIG fan of both companies since SNES. I've still got all my favorites FF, SoM, EVO, CT, MarioRPG, etc.

However, since the two became one, I've been deeply disappointed by everything they (re-) release. Had you asked me 10 yeas ago if was at all possible to F-up the FF or Mana series, I'd have said "No".

But they do. And continue to do so with sequel after awful sequel and spin off after crystal spin off..

Of course it's just my opinion but, with the exception of the recent TWEWY, SquareEnix seems to have lost the 'magic' entirely.

Abscissa @ May 31st 2008 6:02PM

All of them *INCLUDING* Nintendo. (And the Wii is the only current-gen console I own). I loved my Gamecube, but this entire generation disappoints me immensely.

But really, it's gotten to the point that the only game company I trust anymore is Treasure. That's it.

Jhongerkong @ May 31st 2008 11:51PM

Im still wondering whatever happened to Amusement Vision. Best developer ever (alongside Treasure of course)

wiilover @ Jun 1st 2008 12:20AM

only good nintendo wii games are mario galaxy zelda twp, mp3 and the almighty, gta 4 rival worthy brawl( mario party 8, mario kart and the bunny series are fun but ehh. they're almost in the good game section.) no more heroes, zack and wiki, pro evolution soccer and boom blox. That's it game over end of story. On the bright side with games like shaun white snowboarding, conduit and madworld give me hope. I see a wave(even though you can't really see it yet) of great games following them. My hope has almost run and out and if im disappointed once more ill betray my wii and will be forced to pull gta outta my 360

oni-link @ Jun 1st 2008 5:18AM

Wow trolls invading WiiFanboy.com that new!!!(rolls eyes). This subject matter is just wayyyy toooo eassy for all the trolls to start a flame war. For all the 360/PS3 trolls out there...regardless of what you say PS3/360 is wayyyyy behind Nintendo in system sales. Sony just got their butts handed to them on the handheld front and don't give me that they did well for their first handheld crap; because they expected to trump Nintendo their also. Sony like NEC will eventually pull out of that arena if they're smart. Regarding milking franchises how many GoW games have been released in the last 3-4 years and compare that to how many TRUE adventure Zelda's have been released at that time frame. SOCOM and if it was still profitable SyphonFilter is also diluted. So trolls hit me with your best shots coz I love it!!! PS: I have a 360 and a Wii, no PS3 yet cuz out of all 3 systems they still haven't given me a reason to own one yet!!!

samfish @ Jun 2nd 2008 10:49AM

I only really have faith in Nintendo, Capcom and mostly Sega. Atlus is pretty awesome, too, but sometimes the games they publish are so quirky that their output can be real hit 'n' miss at times.

EA seems like they've been honest-to-God trying, but, aside from Boom Blox, they just don't seem to get it yet. But maybe Boom Blox is the beginning of their turn around.
Konami seems like they're in a similar situation, although Target: TError is an unforgivable piece of crapware.

Obviously there are smaller dev studios, like Treasure and Platinum, that are awesome.

But then there are the...other guys. Ubisoft can fuck off (although admittedly, if they ever released another kitten adventuring game, I'd buy it) and Activision sucks now, too.