After spending a few weeks with Nintendo’s new system I’m starting to get a feel for the Wiimote and I have to admit that I’m liking it a lot. Having heard much about Wii Sports I had full faith in the controller in terms of motion sensing capabilities, but I remained rather sceptical about how well the controllers would handle a title like Zelda, particularly considering the regularity of last minute indecisiveness regarding how motion sensitivity would be implemented into the game. Regardless of the potential the Wiimote had for a title such as Zelda, I think they made a good call- and interestingly the title is a great show of how easily the innovative controllers double up as a traditional style ‘pad’ so to speak. This is a great thing for Nintendo, as whilst motion sensitive games are a fantastic step forward in terms of playing style, it’s good to see that they don’t have to overly rely on this mode of control; sadly you can also expect a variety of cheap cash-in games that will sneakily infer motion sensing capabilities whilst in reality being tarted up gamecube style titles.
Wii Sports in particular is really making waves in the worldwide press at the moment, with Nintendo receiving huge accolade across the board and an unexpected sudden rise in demand for Wii consoles seemingly overtaking the insatiable desire for the PS3, you can’t help but feel that Nintendo are laughing right now… After years of speculation that the company would be soon going the way of Sega they seem to be in a very comfortable position right now. Particularly of note here is their infamously ‘bad on paper’ idea of the revolutionary handheld console that would have TWO SCREENS! The impact of the DS has been astounding, Dragon Quest IX being a hallmark sign of its domination of Japan not only as a handheld, but as a standalone console. So when did Nintendo start hitting the right buttons all of a sudden? They’ve had the same ‘games for everyone’ mantra for years; sadly one which has been misunderstood by many as being ‘games for kids’. But is this so unreasonable? Admittedly Nintendo have been making fantastic games throughout the whole of their time in the industry, but for a while their focus on reaching out to the mainstream has been taking the wrong path- creating quirky, aesthetically pleasing and colourful consoles that inferred a user friendly approach that in reality wasn’t hugely different from the other consoles on offer. Wii however is looking to change Nintendo’s philosophy into reality- Ipod chic minimalist styling is sure to raise the eyebrows of many a non-gaming consumer, and the ability to simply pick up and play games such as Wii sports shows an incredible step forward in trying to introduce gaming into a mainstream audience; not even to mention the potential impact that Wii’s exercise benefits could have on the gamer stereotype. But it’s the simple things that make Wii so accessible to non gamers, the classic frantic tilting of controllers when taking a hard corner in a racing game; cue to many a sly chuckle from ‘hardcore’ gamers is now not only totally acceptable, but in many future games will most likely be expected of the player!
Despite having put countless hours into Wii tennis, it seems that every time I play against someone who’s never touched a Wiimote before within minutes they’re on the verge of beating me. Nintendo have truly broken a new barrier between the player and the game, putting our instinctual reactions one step closer to an onscreen reality; Instinct is why Wii works so well- Unwrapping the box I was ready to come to grips with a brand new control system, but I didn’t have to. Within 5 minutes, I couldn’t even remember playing games another way- it just felt so natural. Nintendo look to have a bright future ahead of them in the next few years, and how they fare compared to Microsoft and Sony seems irrelevant now; regardless of the longterm figures of the next-gen war, gaming is going to change, and with their iron grip of the handheld market with the DS, and the inevitable link between this and their Wunderkind console: Nintendo look to be the ones to change it.
Wii Sports in particular is really making waves in the worldwide press at the moment, with Nintendo receiving huge accolade across the board and an unexpected sudden rise in demand for Wii consoles seemingly overtaking the insatiable desire for the PS3, you can’t help but feel that Nintendo are laughing right now… After years of speculation that the company would be soon going the way of Sega they seem to be in a very comfortable position right now. Particularly of note here is their infamously ‘bad on paper’ idea of the revolutionary handheld console that would have TWO SCREENS! The impact of the DS has been astounding, Dragon Quest IX being a hallmark sign of its domination of Japan not only as a handheld, but as a standalone console. So when did Nintendo start hitting the right buttons all of a sudden? They’ve had the same ‘games for everyone’ mantra for years; sadly one which has been misunderstood by many as being ‘games for kids’. But is this so unreasonable? Admittedly Nintendo have been making fantastic games throughout the whole of their time in the industry, but for a while their focus on reaching out to the mainstream has been taking the wrong path- creating quirky, aesthetically pleasing and colourful consoles that inferred a user friendly approach that in reality wasn’t hugely different from the other consoles on offer. Wii however is looking to change Nintendo’s philosophy into reality- Ipod chic minimalist styling is sure to raise the eyebrows of many a non-gaming consumer, and the ability to simply pick up and play games such as Wii sports shows an incredible step forward in trying to introduce gaming into a mainstream audience; not even to mention the potential impact that Wii’s exercise benefits could have on the gamer stereotype. But it’s the simple things that make Wii so accessible to non gamers, the classic frantic tilting of controllers when taking a hard corner in a racing game; cue to many a sly chuckle from ‘hardcore’ gamers is now not only totally acceptable, but in many future games will most likely be expected of the player!
Despite having put countless hours into Wii tennis, it seems that every time I play against someone who’s never touched a Wiimote before within minutes they’re on the verge of beating me. Nintendo have truly broken a new barrier between the player and the game, putting our instinctual reactions one step closer to an onscreen reality; Instinct is why Wii works so well- Unwrapping the box I was ready to come to grips with a brand new control system, but I didn’t have to. Within 5 minutes, I couldn’t even remember playing games another way- it just felt so natural. Nintendo look to have a bright future ahead of them in the next few years, and how they fare compared to Microsoft and Sony seems irrelevant now; regardless of the longterm figures of the next-gen war, gaming is going to change, and with their iron grip of the handheld market with the DS, and the inevitable link between this and their Wunderkind console: Nintendo look to be the ones to change it.
No comments:
Post a Comment