There have been a lot of articles on the ‘net lately in regard to the Wii U’s struggles in finding a foothold (and sales) in the market. Of all times for the Wii U to succeed, this is where it needs to shine before the next Xbox and Playstation come out. And when you think about it, this is no different from the initial struggles that the 3DS had when it first came out (and look where that is today). Nintendo should have seen this coming and better prepared for it. Honestly, I saw this coming years ago.

But how could its current issues ever have been a problem? Wasn’t the original Wii one of the highest selling systems of all time? Don’t monumental sales equal “quality”? No, and that’s where a lot of companies in this industry fail, and Nintendo itself isn’t immune to such hubris. That’s where I want to touch on the original Wii, and what set the stage for its current struggles.

When the Wii came out in the Fall of 2006, it was a sales sensation. Everyone wanted one. Stores couldn’t keep them in stock for years, and Read the rest of this entry

There are two things that I genuinely got excited for today from the video announcement.

The fact that I now have 8-bit Legend of Zelda stationery to use, and the fact that The Last Story is finally coming to Wii.

The video itself was very dry. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t exactly get a person hyped up and crazy, either. It did, however, bring up a lot of good things in the mere fact that underneath that dry tone, I got the feeling that Nintendo is finally starting to “get it” in terms of content, online, and direction, with the 3DS leading the charge with what I hope continues on the Wii U (or whatever they decide to call it).

Operation Rainfall has finally seemed to make a dent in NoA’s puzzling and unyielding stance on releasing the RPG titles. I can actually see both sides of it. On one hand, Nintendo is reasonable to be hesitant about releasing RPGs on a system not known for them, no matter how well-received they’ve been. I tend to see the Wii as an experiment as to what might work, and what wouldn’t. Nintendo tested the waters with online, but Read the rest of this entry

One of the “understood” things about the Wii is how games work on the system. If it’s (by and large) Nintendo published such as the Wii Whatever series, or a dance game, then it’s never going down in price.

Everything else? Just wait a few weeks.

That’s just the way it has always been for the Wii. It doesn’t matter if the game is chock full of features, makes intelligent use of motion (or regular) control, or is just an outstandingly fun title on its own merits, it becomes bargain bin fare in less than six months.

Deadly Creatures, released in THQ in 2009, is one of those titles. And it’s a shame too, as it really was a unique, well done title. But it had two stumbling blocks right out of the gate: Little to no external word of mouth, and I don’t think people could wrap their head around the subject matter.

Arachnids are creepy. Let’s just get that out of the way. They’ve been around for millions of years, and they haven’t gotten any cuter. So when the game asks that players step into the many legs of these creatures, a lot of squeamish Read the rest of this entry

Happy Post-Thanksgiving! Whether full of turkey, or full of batmess-insane shoppers, I hope it’s been more enjoyable than not.

While the subject of the Wii is nothing new to “Is this the end of the Wii” articles for years, or more recently “Is this the end of Nintendo” due to the 3DS sales not meeting industry standards, and the Wii’s genuine drop-off this year, this one is more discussing the Wii’s performance as a software provider this year, and where they will be next year.

The Wii is no stranger to droughts. Things dried up in 2008 after the release of Mario Kart Wii, and with the exception of Punch-Out!!, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and a small handful of third party titles, 2009 was a dud. The same could be said for the first part of 2010, until the Fall season, in which there were so many good games it was hard to buy them all, even on sale.

Which leads us to this year….

The whole year has been focused around one title: Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Outside of a Bit.Trip compilation and Rayman Origins, I’ve heard relatively nothing on the third-party front. For all intents and Read the rest of this entry

While I think that Nintendo’s E3 conference had some good things in it, there was more ambiguity to the whole event than I would have liked.

The eShop finally went live last night after a two-week “delay” (well, more like two weeks and over 3 1/2 hours, since they didn’t release the update until 9:40 P.M. PST instead of 6:00 P.M.). I’m still convinced that this was for a “surprise reveal” at E3, not to mention a way to tie Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening into the whole Zelda 25th anniversary event.

The shop itself is nice and easy to navigate. It seems that Nintendo is going to have several shops within the shop to find more specific types of games. Excitebike 3D was an appreciated free item, and while the 3D isn’t mind-blowing, it is a very neat and noticeable effect. The Pokedex 3D is also a free item, and is fun enough to play around with, though I’m sure Pokemon fans will get much more out of it than I will.

As for the conference, it was broken down into three areas: 3DS, the new console, and… I guess the Wii. I think Nintendo has written that Read the rest of this entry

That’s up to Nintendo of America, honestly.

Hard to believe for the newer folks, but Nintendo used to be THE place for top-notch RPGs. Well, back in the NES and Super Nintendo days. When Nintendo refused to go to CD with the Nintendo 64, they lost one of their biggest third-parties (Squaresoft), along with pretty much everyone else who made that type of game. From then on out, RPGs on a Nintendo console (but not portable), have been scarce.

The Wii in particular has been a wasteland for RPGs. Oh sure, there’s the Virtual Console, where you can mine a ton of classic 8 and 16-bit RPGs to your hearts content, and there’s that promise of Dragon Warrior X (but I’ll believe it when I see it), but in terms of retail, it hasn’t happened.

Then in 2010, a strange thing happened. More traditional games started flooding the Wii. Whether the early signs of “The End” for the Wii, or a last-ditch attempt to bring in the more dedicated gamer, a lot of great stuff came out.

Among the announcements were these three titles:

Last Story

Xenoblade

Pandora’s Tower

Readers may remember earlier lamentations over what happened to the JRPGs of old. Read the rest of this entry