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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  • 10 Posted by vatechhokies17 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:32PM EDT Report Abuse

    the only good games i played for the wii were smash bros and wii sports, mario party is close, and because of this im hesitant to buy mario kart and future titles

  • 11 Posted by sky_kid10 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:26PM EDT Report Abuse

    Thats not a "Dirty Secret", this is just a bullcrap article. All you're saying are the cons of the Wii to make it sound bad. anyone can do that for any system. This is just straight out dumb. I also agree with weezernjs, people have been saying this for a long time now!

  • 12 Posted by dborg40 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:39PM EDT Report Abuse

    Post 15 tells it all. They are the "puppets" for Wii. Instead of actually making something that could indeed be genre changing, these parents, the well off ones, are willing to buy the NEW next big thing for their spoiled rotten kid just so their kid won't be shunned by the IN crowd. You go ahead and play those childish games Wii gives you, while the rest of the world plays TOM CLANCY's END GAME, the REAL GENRE changing game.

  • 13 Posted by miszamouse on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:22PM EDT Report Abuse

    There are enough good games to keep you busy for a while

  • 14 Posted by anson_lego on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:56PM EDT Report Abuse

    it depends how they determine "good" games for some, it is a shooting game or action game, which the Wii is no made for. for others, good games are like exercising and casual games

  • 15 Posted by gollum_fan14 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:11PM EDT Report Abuse

    yeahhhhhhhhhh, numbers can be twisted to any way that you want. By the way, for every crappy game that comes out a good one takes its place. And does this guy even play the games? Probably not.

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

    ----- , stop taking out posts that criticize you. Grow testicles, ----- ot, you can offer them up as appetizers.

  • 17 Posted by smokey_the_23rd on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:30PM EDT Report Abuse

    Mario Kart RULES! - The Wii is fun for my entire family (4-40 year olds) can't do that with a XBox 360.

  • 19 Posted by jeffreyteague on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:32PM EDT Report Abuse

    it aggreviates me that the simplistic less enthralling games that apparently take less developmental sources and funds are still sold at a 45-50 dollar range. If the game lacks quality why not push them for half the price and as they deserve in most cases a 5.99 amount? Nintendo is just further proving to be a predator that targets young kids and overly concerned parents who purchase the console thinking it is a more ethical company for the video game market. Not to mention to extreme cost for basic accesories. The way nintendo treats their own consumers reminds me of a trip to a sleezy carnival. I only hope this leads to a devasting black mark on the nintendo name.

  • 20 Posted by taylor0120 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:57PM EDT Report Abuse

    I just picked up a Wii yesterday.. I know it's got a ton of terrible games, that's why I've got my 360 so I can play some real games. I bought the Wii basically strictly as a party game. No one can get enough of the simple games like Wii Sports offers. I picked up Tiger Woods 08 and my roommate and I have barely been able to put down the controllers. Everyone I know who owns a Wii owns it basically for the sole purpose of party games. I could care less about these action adventure games, especially if the "real" version is available for the 360 as well.

  • 21 Posted by jtrmulch on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:43PM EDT Report Abuse

    That is the same exact situation with the Nintendo DS. There aren't that many "good" games when it comes to older/adult users. Sure, kids can get by with their "Own a Pet"/"Pokemon" video games, but adults don't really have many options. The only games that I have bought that I enjoy playing are the Mario games (DS, Mario Kart, Brothers, etc.) and the recent Zelda game. The brain challenge games are fun, but get boring after a while. As for the Wii, you really only find fun in the multiplayer games (Mario Kart, Smash Brothers, sports games etc.). I'm still waiting for them to release a James Bond on this console. When that happens, THEN I won't care how many "good" games the Wii has to its name.

  • 22 Posted by sandiego26rich on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:03PM EDT Report Abuse

    I totally agree. All i play is WII sports and mario galaxy and mario kart. I want to play some really gory violent games where I blow people up. what gives?

  • 23 Posted by njtoepper@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:39PM EDT Report Abuse

    who cares how many games come out that score high?! It's the ones like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart that count. #'s dont always mean everything, a games quality matters too. Brawl is a huge hit, and still going strong, when more good games come out, ppl have less time to play them and satisfaction goes down.

  • 24 Posted by ajbond91 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    Who really cares!!! Like there wont be any more "good" games for it later. And even if there are not any more "good" games like anyy one is going to sit down and play all 20!!!! Come on man don't you have anything else to do than make this junk!!!

  • 25 Posted by eros_05 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:56PM EDT Report Abuse

    Who cares if the Wii doesn't have enough games the serious gamers think are good? The whole thing that makes it so popular is that it's for anyone. Believe it or not, the vast majority of people care more about whether or not a game is fun to play than what rating it got in gamer magazines.

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