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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  • 66 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

  • 67 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

  • 68 Posted by animalcrosgrl on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:55PM EDT Report Abuse

    First of all, the person who did this is really not smart. Because Wii actually does have good games, like Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Mario Kart Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Paper Mario..etc. Most of those you say " Crappy 'barbie and the 12 dancing princesses' " games are NOT even made by Nintendo. Half of them are made by companies that are probably doing really bad this year due to the fact of the bad games.

  • 70 Posted by tekmiro on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:59PM EDT Report Abuse

    The writer still wants to make the Wii a clone of xbox and ps? It's not going to happen. Realize that there is a market out there for less than extreme games, and Wii perfectly fills that void. Families are playing the Wii. Seniors are playing the Wii. People who will not touch an xbox or ps are playing the Wii. People who want to relax are playing the Wii. Nintendo filled the void, and along with the creative interaction of the game, will not have a problem. Sorry gamers, you will have to sit there and watch microsoft and sony copy this system.

  • 71 Posted by vaachek on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:30PM EDT Report Abuse

    I think we now live in a multi-game system world. The Wii does what no other does. Buy one and a PS3!

  • 72 Posted by puzzled_child on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:22PM EDT Report Abuse

    well anyone in the know of the video game industry has been saying this. (more recently now) I was one of the wii defenders back when it was being called the revolution It seemed amazing (but then I saw the library for it...) It boggles the mind that the game console with the least good games, is leading in sales, but it's also hundreds of dollars cheaper and has a good gimmick behind it so it starts making sense again. Plus most of the people who bought the wii don't play many video games, so distinguishing what is good and what isn't, is foreign to them. Plus they don't play many games so 5 good games seems completely alright to them. (and the all the employees at gamestop and bestbuy telling people to buy it over the 360 and PS3 may have pushed some sales too) In the long run Nintendo will have to actually release good games at a pace of it's competitors, because wii sports can't keep up the pace for 6-10 years. My question: what happened to Nintendo's "seal of approval" back in the day? Why did it lose all of it's meaning this generation?

  • 73 Posted by locoleve on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:55PM EDT Report Abuse

    IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE SAME WITH NINTENDO`S SYSTEMS, WHY ALL THAT FUZZ? NIN HAS NEVER RELIED ON HARDCORE GAMING, SO THE DEAL IS: WE ALL HARDCORE GAMERS KNOW NINTENDO IS NOT RELIABLE, SO WHAT?

  • 74 Posted by melissamajor28 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:15PM EDT Report Abuse

    i agree i have a wii and i can hardly find any games to play.ya'll need to make some action games.

  • 75 Posted by laslodavid@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:56PM EDT Report Abuse

    I disagree with this comment because the Wii has only been out for a few months and if you actually look at their readings they have alot of games comming out.

  • 76 Posted by emalfe12 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:54PM EDT Report Abuse

    I work at Gamestop in Tempe Az and one of the things I tell people is exactly that, the Wii is innovative but just doesn't have the library to back it up fully.

  • 77 Posted by animorphslover on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:55PM EDT Report Abuse

    I agree with this article. Nintendo hasnt had many good games for the wii. Wii sports was good the first week, but then it got boring. I have brawl now and it took me maybe 24 total hours to get 100%, but it is still fun. From what I've heard, Nintendo isn't releasing anymore Rated M games because they want it to be more "family focused" then hard-core gamer focused. By doing this they are probably gaining an extra 17% of people and losing about 30% of their old gamers. (these stats are my own opinion) I just hope that these rumors aren't true because if they are, I might be going to gamestop and trading in my Wii for a 360.

  • 78 Posted by wwwtazzmissionplex on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:51PM EDT Report Abuse

    its obvious that the wii did something right but lacks int eh gaming department. 08 seems to be a good year for it seeing at mario kart, and ssbb came out. Also, how is it that you put decades when nintendo started makign systems in 84(making them 24 years old in the systems department) and the first 10-12 years they dominated the market? They have only been around for a little over 2 decades and on top for the first decade or so. get your facts straight

  • 79 Posted by croppingman on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:31PM EDT Report Abuse

    Who needs a whole library of good games when Nintendo's best games are worth years of fun? Come on people don't be retards.

  • 80 Posted by christian_2014 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:24PM EDT Report Abuse

    forget hannah montana besise you are wrong there is no weakness in the wii you are just hatting the game that are going to come out and if everyone that does not like the wii you can go die if i care

  • 81 Posted by adrianocho50 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:46PM EDT Report Abuse

    Who gives a darn what anybody says. Nintendo is the best video game company in the world. They are the innovator! Microsoft and Sony copies Nintendo in everything they create. Nintendo was the first to come out with the game pad and analog controllers. Mario 64 was the first true 3D game ever created. The Gameboy was the first portable system. and now the Wii is the first system if it's kind. You can bet that the next systems from Sony and Microsoft will be similar to the Wii. The Wii is the hottest system right now, so the best games will come later. Microsoft and Sony will continue to lose money with their so called next generation systems. They don't even belong in the Video Game business.

  • 82 Posted by v5000vortex on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:30PM EDT Report Abuse

    Yes, third party game companies certainly wont want to make more money by releasing games for the company that has sold the most consoles.

  • 83 Posted by zuul023 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 11:02PM EDT Report Abuse

    Oh my god you WiiBoyz are Wiitarded. Just buy the Wii for whatever workout you need (And believe me as a guy who weight lifts and does cardio the Wii does nothing for me) or the random one or two games you like (For me that would be SSB:Brawl and Trauma Center).. and then buy a PS3 or a 360 for whatever games you wanna play on that... Jeese people.. who.. really.. cares?

  • 84 Posted by jess7ocean on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:33PM EDT Report Abuse

    eh, it depends if u choose the right games. Plus, some of the Wii's features make it so popular, such as the internet channel and the for-cast channel. Plus, the gameplay is pretty nice too. So yeah, it just depends if you are really picky about games or not.

  • 85 Posted by alanhsiaoshub on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    the wii and all its mechanics just shows how much of a novelty it is

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