Wii's dirty secret: A dearth of good games

Sun May 4, 2008 5:33PM EDT

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The Nintendo Wii remains the hottest selling console on the market, having shipped over 24 million units since its launch in November 2006. That's nearly double the PS3 and 5 million more than the Xbox 360, though the Xbox has been on the market for twice as long.

But behind the success of the Wii lies a dirty secret, says GameFunk: That very few quality games are being made for the console. In fact, if you look at the aggregate reviews, most of the games suck. Sure, Wii has some standout titles (Super Mario Galaxy is a classic, one of my favorite games in recent years), but most of the great games have come from Nintendo itself, not from third-party developers.

GameFunk's chart (scroll down a bit) is telling: According to GameRankings' reviews (which are drawn from major reviewing outlets), 26% of titles for the Xbox 360 were ranked as good (8 out of 10 or higher), and 33% of titles for the PS3 were ranked as good. On the Wii, just 11% got a good rating, measuring just 20 games total, four of which were ports of ancient PS2 or GameCube games.

The numbers hold up just as well at Metacritic. Visit the Wii page and you'll see a sea of yellow (mediocre) and red (bad) games in the "upcoming and recent releases" section on the left side of the page. As I write this there are only eight titles in the green (75 out of 100 points) or above. The 360 has 18 "good" picks to choose from.

What's going on here? For some reason, the creators of quick-buck shovelware titles have focused on the Wii. GameFunk notes that the "for all ages" marketing is what primarily predisposes developers to target the Wii, but I think there's somewhat less to it than that: The Wii is simply becoming a victim of its own success. The Wii is a phenomenon that now dominates the market. Why develop for the PS3 when you instantly attract twice the audience with a Wii game? The fact that Wii games take a fraction of the resources to develop (since they require only basic graphics work and gameplay is often simplistic) seals the deal.

Will Nintendo start to crack down on junk games and start enforcing quality control? Right now, Nintendo is relishing its position at the top of the charts, a place it hasn't been in  over a decade. It's easy to say that responsibility lies with Nintendo to police the games on its console, but, really, if people are willing to buy a Hannah Montana game, how can Nintendo legitimately say no? 

LINK: Wii Exposed: The Secret that Nintendo Tries to Ignore (UPDATE: As of Sunday night, the site is down due to the flood of traffic... try again on Monday morning.)

Comments on Wii's dirty secret: A dearth of good games

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  • 26 Posted by weichen1405@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:42PM EDT Report Abuse

    I had a feeling about this even before this gimmick disguised a game console launched. Think about this, why pay $40-50 for a bunch of mini-games when for $10 more you can play call of duty 4, halo 3, bioshock, grand theft auto iv, etc. which have at least 90% positive or great reviews. Nintendo has reignited this new cycle of casual games which could be just a passing fad. They never did and never will ever care about what the hardcore gamers want. Just look at their track record.

  • 27 Posted by surfintbirds on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    This is not news. It is not even worthy of being on the Yahoo! frontpage. This is severely disappointing. The reviews given by these companies are not even worth while. Game Informer magazine gave Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core a 7/10 or something like that. For graphics alone that game deserves a 9.

  • 28 Posted by rockford33usa on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:47PM EDT Report Abuse

    gkalavik, just out of curiosity, how dow do you have the time and money to be so well-versed on all these games and consoles? I'm sensing my tax dollars at work, in which case I would prefer you shut up since working for a living doesn't allow me to be a twelve-year-old for life.

  • 29 Posted by jayhr875 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:29PM EDT Report Abuse

    90% of Nintendo games are garbage. This has been the case since they came out with the original NES. They start off with a few quality games, everyone starts buying the system, then the games to follow are junk. If you don't like Mario or Zelda, why even buy a Nintendo system?

  • 30 Posted by missgirly14 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:21PM EDT Report Abuse

    This post has some true things said. I only have a few wii games because of the prices and the quality. Super smash bros. Brawl is a really good game. Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 is a good game for WWE fans. Cooking Mama and My sims is good for younger children. I havent played all of the games, but those are my favorites.

  • 31 Posted by ajvrocks1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    I have a wii and all the new games that do come out they never are at the stores because they are so hard to find! So, it would take you a month just to get the game that you want anyway! But still-- GO WII!

  • 32 Posted by buckbiz on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:15PM EDT Report Abuse

    This is why I haven't purchased a Wii. I love the interface, but the games on the Xbox and Playstation 3 are so much more interesting and fun.

  • 33 Posted by johnpg69 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:39PM EDT Report Abuse

    i believe people love the wii just because of the controller. i myself cant believe people are so into guitar hero. if you want to play that bad get a real guitar.

  • 34 Posted by derick_9452 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:41PM EDT Report Abuse

    wat is this guy talkin about the wii is awesome zelda....smash bros.brawl...wii sports....the list goes on wat does ps3 have o yea it doesnt have anything and the only good 360 game i heard of halo 3 the wii is awesome.

  • 35 Posted by josssssshua on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:41PM EDT Report Abuse

    That's interesting. I always thought PS3 and Xbox 360 had the bad games. Personally, I think all three systems are struggling.

  • 36 Posted by j_ryberg on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:45PM EDT Report Abuse

    I'm 64 years old, and I bought a PS3. Two main reasons: The Blu-ray disk player, and "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune". It's a beautiful, fascinating game. Great characters, great story, gorgeous locations. I love it. Excellent voices, music and sound FX too. I think it's a "Role-Playing Game"; I don't like FPS games. The guns are a little too prominent. In UDF, I don't seem to get tired of replaying the two big gunfights in Chapter 20. Also, the ones in Chapters 4, 5, 13, and several others. What a game, what a platform! jerryr

  • 37 Posted by rogers.gerald@att.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    Dude what the crap are you talking about?!? There are way more than just 20 good games! Theres super smash bros brawl, mario galaxy, mario kart wii, wiifit, mario party8, metroid prime corruption, zelda twilight princess, should I go on? Dont know how you came up with this but get it out of your head cuz it aint true!

  • 38 Posted by paperbaker on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:59PM EDT Report Abuse

    The major reason i dont have a wii yet....why would i drop all that money for something thats not going to keep me happy in the long run....

  • 39 Posted by zacka537 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:58PM EDT Report Abuse

    I kinda agree... There is a lot of bad games, but also a lot of good games.

  • 40 Posted by lennyogarc on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    Chris... you aren't doing enough research before you're writing... yet again. The (speculated) top 5 selling of 2008? 4 are on Wii. You should take a hint from the other writers at Yahoo and approach more interesting topics... like Intel's Larrabee. HPC on your desktop? Sounds like something that would affect a "working person" more than Wii games. Even as an opinion column, this article resembles ones that were published around a year ago. Hope you can do better.

  • 41 Posted by reisjames111 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:35PM EDT Report Abuse

    I don't care what this guy says. It won't stop me from getting a Wii (when I can find one that is.) The reason I get Nintendo systems is to play Nintendo's games but still enjoy other systems. The other two consoles just don't have a lot the games I like. If you don't like the Wii and the games that's on it don't buy it. Quit your yippin'. Not every system will have 1,000+ good games with in two years since the console's launch. Give it time. Besides are every single game for the other systems perfect any way?

  • 42 Posted by mspazzy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:29PM EDT Report Abuse

    My family and I love Wii Sports, Dance Dance Revolution (with 2 mats to compete against each other)Playground, Smarty Pants, the 4x4 truck game and Need for speed. We just ordered Wii Fit, and can't wait. I love the Wii so much it physically hurts.

  • 43 Posted by matoro1989 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:11PM EDT Report Abuse

    If you don't care don't post. I think wii needs to step it up. I don't own any systems, but I play on my friends' all the time. I haven't been thrilled by most of the wii games I've played, whereas most of the 360 titles I've played, I have thoroughly enjoyed. If nintendo can't make titles that justify the system , they will get left in the dust by systems with stronger graphics and gameplay.

  • 44 Posted by averageguy1986 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:59PM EDT Report Abuse

    Welcome to the conversations going between gamers for about a year now. It's not that the Wii really has fewer good games than the other two consoles its more that it has more crap games, so it can be hard to filter through the garbage to find the gold.

  • 45 Posted by omegavt11 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:45PM EDT Report Abuse

    No good games? Have you seen Super Mario Galaxy? Metriod Prime? Super Smash Bros Brawl? Guitar Hero 3? Mario Kart just came out and most every review has been great. Wii's are still flying off the shelf and WiiFit hasn't even been released yet. Like someone said earlier, you really only need maybe 10-15 good games a year to come out for a system. 90% of video game players aren't going to buy and beat more than that. You probably should have written an article about if the Xbox 360 really has a chance to survive against the PS3. The Wii will be around for a long time, but I imagine only 1 other system can stay in the high end graphics game market.

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