Monday, June 18, 2007

Dumb things written about the Wii

Lots of dumb stuff gets written about the Wii. Here's the latest:



Of the 'big three' consoles, the Nintendo Wii is the only one that seems to have escaped widespread criticism. The PlayStation 3 is constantly being squashed from all sides and the Xbox 360 has endured its fair share of bullying.

...

But however original, and however fun it may be, the Wii is not a perfect console. Here are seven things we'd change about the Nintendo Wii if we had the chance:

1. The graphics

Compared to the PS3, Xbox and any PC less than five years old, the graphics on the Wii are fairly mediocre. Consequently, games can look pretty awful on a large television. True, the Wii has scored with Joe Public thanks to its emphasis on fun rather than graphical prowess. But give it better graphics and it would be a vastly more impressive console.


Actually, the Wii has been criticized for it's relatively low graphics function, poor online play support, and "gimmicky" approach to gaming...for the last year, at least. Why pretend to ignore it?

Yes, the graphics on the Wii do not compete with the 360 or PS3. Not even close. If you look at Spider-Man 3 on the Wii vs. the same game on the PS3 and it's easy to see what you are missing. The PS3 version of New York makes the Wii version look like Super Mario World. I need to see the DS version of Spider-man 3 just to make the Wii version seem more realistic.

That said, think through what Tech.co.uk suggests. More graphics power. Okay, so what's that mean? More money for starters. Bigger box. Bigger fan. More power consumption. More noise. More expensive game development. More expensive games.

All of these requirements are directly contrary to what the Wii is. The Wii is not aimed at hard core gamers with huge high-def TVs. The Wii is not trying to compete with the 360 and the PS3 for those gamers. Instead, the Wii is looking for a corner in every living room. If you've got room for 3 DVD boxes near your TV, you've got room for the Wii.

Better graphics sounds good, but in the real world choices have consequences. Nintendo made a smart choice. They aren't interested in competing in graphics. Instead they are competing for fun. Which is, after all, what playing games is supposed to be about.