Wii Oozing With Missed Opportunity

Submitted by James Munn on January 15, 2007 – 11:05 am11 Comments

Finally got to spend some quality time with a friend’s Wii yesterday. I’ve played it in the past but only at demo kiosks and never live in someone’s living room. My evening was spent exclusively playing Wii Bowling, as you can see in the image above. Out of the entire set of games, Wii Bowling is the only one that interested me at all.

We played a four player game of Wii Bowling, swapping two remotes for the four players. In the end, I was left unsold on whether this was really a better way to play a bowling video game or just a different way. Since I have little interest in Nintendo’s franchises, the casual games will be it’s only draw for me. I’m going to need more than just the remote movements to convince me to buy it, for a crowd it’s great but by itself it came off pretty shallow.

Unfortunately, the game play wasn’t what caught my attention yesterday. The lack of Wii remotes and nun chucks was the hot topic. The owner of the Wii you see me using had purchased Madden ’07 with the system, but has yet to be able to enjoy it’s multiplayer component due to the game’s reliance on the nun chuck attachment. For a system focusing on playing together, it’s pretty glaring.

High demand is not a valid excuse for the lack of hardware being produced by Nintendo. Two close friends, both supervisors at Best Buy locations in two different States, mirror the same story. The amount of Wii’s delivered to their store since Christmas has been in the single digits. Wii remotes and nun chucks, which should be shipped in at least a 4:1 ratio to consoles shipped, have been almost completely MIA.

There’s one problem with Nintendo’s plan on pulling in the casual gamer. A new gamer is easily disenchanted when faced with something like a software or hardware shortage. Just by playing last night I can easily imagine Wii hardware all over the country laying stagnant (similar to PSP systems shortly after launch) as promises of hardware and software go unfulfilled.

Nintendo’s hardware shortage really feels like a huge missed opportunity. Introducing your console to a collection of non-gamers is a valiant idea but instantly introducing these delicate clients to the reason why Nintendo home consoles have faltered in the past two generations, is not.

http://www.farbot.com/ Paul

Good point. Hardware shortages for the Wii accessories has really surprised me. You’d think Nintendo would, you know, ensure for every console they made they could at least have 1 extra set of stuff.

By the way, Abby (age 4) recognized you in the picture right away. She’s home sick today and said “Look there’s Uncle James with his –” you know what she said, her favorite description of you.
Sammael

Raving Rabbids is a lot of fun, but I only played the single player… You need a nunchuk to play, and seeing I only have one….
Stephen

Your impressions of Wii Sports seem pretty consistent with the reviews I’ve seen around. I agree that without multiple controllers, it’s pretty lacking. We’re looking forward to playing multiplayer tennis and bowling once another controller shows up, but it might not be until we get Wii Play.

It’s fortunate that Sports was a pack-in. They have to buy it in Japan, but it’s a hit there nonetheless. They love it.
http://www.fourhman.com Joe

In the end, I was left unsold on whether this was really a better way to play a bowling video game or just a different way.

Yes, but was it a fun way? That’s sort of the point.
Stephen

I was under the impression that the controller shortages were not due to lack of shipments, but rather overwhelming demand. The places I’ve been to that stock them claim they keep getting them in, but they sell astonishingly fast. Same with the Wii consoles themselves. Showing up at Gamestop during my lunch break on Tuesdays, Wii consoles are in stock. A couple of hours later, they’re long gone.

I wonder if Best Buy isn’t getting typical shipments, and Nintendo is instead focusing on gaming-specific retailers due to some deal they’ve struck.
Qwirk

Totally OT. I check out Aeropause all the time and your picture is scaring the hell out of me because you look a lot like me. (At least from the side.)

I linked some friends and family and they think so as well.

So, if your going to look like me your going to have to stop playing with that damn Wii and play some cooler games please.
http://blog.pjsattic.com/corvus Corvus

The local Gamestop told me they were expecting more ‘chucks this week. Possibly tomorrow.
chris

QWIRK: you are an idiot. that is why i hate fanboys.

james: wii sports is shallow, but zelda is great. far better adventure game than oblivion. also: wii things are hard to come by. meaning they are popular. just like ps3s are cake to find, because no one really even wants them.
sheen

if by psps shortly after launch you mean psps since launch you might have something. ive been reading aeropause posts for a while, and ive noticed you are a psp fanboy. making you a sony fanboy. making this article a pointless attempt at making something you know nothing about look uninteresting so that you have a reason to know nothing about it. do yourself a favor. go get a wii(like one of the other 53573 munns on here) and end your fanboy ways
Qwirk

Chris: I didn’t plug any system in my post and I’m a fanboy? Apparently humor is lost on you as my post was sarcasm/humor/horror that the author and I bear a striking resemblance.

For the record, I don’t own any of the new systems out as they are PS3: Too expensive Xbox 360: Too expensive/unreliable Wii: Effeminate.

I have owned several Nintendo’s as well as Playstations in my time, nothing from MS except Windows but I guess that counts as a medium. I’m not sure how NOT buying a new system makes me a fanboy.
XAQ! (aeropause)

I honestly don’t get how you can ask “is it a better or different way to play?” about WiiSports Bowling. Or any of the WiiSports games (save maybe boxing and golf, which, once mastered can be waaay better ways to play than tradition presents). Have you ever played a bowling game on a console or PC? Pushing a button when the meter is at a certain point is no where near as good as actually curving your wrist to put curve on the ball.I actually like bowling and tennis in WiiSports, but the others are too shallow to really hold my attention span which is really short… kinda like a….. what was I talking about? haha I kid, I kid. Anyway, Zelda is the most perfectly assembled adventure game this side of Oblivion, which, like someone else said I think Zelda is the winner.

Also: Trauma Center and Call of Duty 3 and a few other games prove to be more than just mini-games, and you’ll see that once you play them. It take a minute, at most, to get used to the controls in games like I just mentioned, but once you get them down it is a funner and more accurate way to play.