Wii Woes

I sometimes feel like I write too many negative things about Nintendo these days... Since I got my first NES console I've LOVED Nintendo and their games. Duck Hunt, Mario Bros, Zelda, Punch Out, Mega Man and loads of other much-loved NES games introduced me to console gaming at a time when I was getting sick of waiting a half hour for my Commodore VIC-20 to load my tapes. The Super Nintendo is my favourite ever games console. I bought the N64 and Gamecube within a week of their release. I fucking IMPORTED a DS from America because I couldn't wait for the PAL release. I queued for THIRTEEN hours to get a Wii at midnight on release. See? I like Nintendo!

Certainly, the Wii has a fantastic line-up of releases before the end of the year. Metroid Prime 3, Super Mario Galaxy, Guitar Hero 3, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (with fucking lightsabre action), NiGHTS Journey of Dreams, Manhunt 2 and a few more all look great. Not to mention the new Zelda release on the DS. Nintendo seem to have all their important IPs covered for the holiday season.

But what about after that? Nobody seems to be questioning what happens when we've all got Mario Galaxy and finished Metroid Prime 3. What should we be looking forward to then? There's Mario Kart Wii, I suppose. And Super Smash Bros. But neither of these games grab me like they should. Neither of them support the innovative Wii remote in a way that will re-invent them and revolutionise the series. In fact, it seems to me that these games will do the opposite and just make people wish they had a normal controller and had more than four buttons to use on them. That's certainly the way I felt while playing Twilight Princess... From all the hype and pre-release images and videos, I only see Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros Brawl as souped-up Gamecube games. They may have online-play, but Nintendo's online service is famously flaky.

Of course, the Xbox will have a similar problem after the launch of Halo 3. It's all people have wanted since launch and I do worry what will happen when there's not that on the horizon. But Microsoft have such strong third party support, as do Sony, and seem to have a never-ending supply of new releases. Something that the Wii certainly misses out on.

But until then, it's going to be a fucking good end to the year. :-D