Taking the Wii Seriously

I was reading some gaming news today and saw the announcement for Wonderworld Amusement Park for the Wii. Now, I think the Wii has much to offer, but developers are still not taking it very seriously. The system is overloaded with minigame compilations. The pack-in Wii Sports is a minigame compilation itself.

Now, recently, many have been blaming low software sales for all but first-party titles. Economically speaking, that's a bad sign, but when you take into account just how many developers underestimated the Wii's potential success, these numbers might not even be relevant in a year. What's going to determine that? Well, better software should be a start. However, in order to get to that point, studios have to assign more development time, team members, and budget. And they have to stop thinking in such simplistic terms for the console.

It was a port, but Resident Evil 4 showed just how a serious, "hardcore" title could work on this system. With refreshed controls, it took advantage of the system's capabilities in a well-integrated, not tacked-on, manner. There are marquee titles on the way like Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which I'm looking forward to, but then there are the junky, gimmicky, low-budget titles. Every console has its duds, but current the failure of developers to take the Wii seriously is something to watch. I certainly hope we see at least a somewhat different picture by this time next year, with fewer throwaway titles. I'm aware that the Wii is marketed as a very social system with a low barrier to entry. It is. But that doesn't mean that there can't be a slew of even more amazing titles in development.