So how about that Wii

Now that it's been available for a month, what does everyone think of the Wii?

My feelings are mostly positive. The current software offerings are excellent. Wii Sports is easy to start up on a whim and offers a good variety of games, although some are more enduring than others. Excite Truck is excellent. And Zelda is still fresh out of the shrinkwrap (I had to restrain myself while finishing off Final Fantasy XII), but has anyone ever not liked a Zelda game?1

The release schedule for the next few months is worrisome, though. With rumors that major first-party titles have been delayed, the highest-profile games out in the beginning of next year are Wario Ware, Wii Play, and Mario Party 8, which are all minigame collections advertised as taking advantage of the crazy Wii control scheme! And of course there are a ton of ports. Come on, guys! It reminds me a lot of the DS's early life, where there was nothing interesting available and everyone had written it off as dead. I'm hoping that after everyone gets over the launch hype we'll start seeing some new, more inventive titles that go beyond, "Look! The controller is a tennis racket/sword/gun!" and all that. I eagerly await the Wii's Kirby: Canvas Curse and Ouendan. (Not literally.)

Then there's the whole online issue. One component, the Virtual Console, is off to a questionable start. So far they've been trickling out a lot of obscure, older titles for the Genesis and TurboGrafx, rather than fulfilling everyone's [far-fetched] wish that launch day would see a huge catalog of classic Nintendo games available for immediate download. It's a smart strategy that earns these overlooked games a lot more attention (and downloads), but based on a lot of fan reaction I've seen online, people are disappointed that Nintendo hasn't released a single Super NES or N64 game in the last month. I think they can afford to be a little more generous with the triple-A titles in their back catalog, considering that (barring titles with licensing issues, like Rare's) they have over ten years of gaming history at their disposal.

The other component of the online support that's lacking is: the rest of the online support. No online games at launch (Nobody cares about trading maps in Elebits, sorry.), a clunky Wii code system, and now Each Wii Game Has Its Own Friend Code?? Plus they've got this whole WiiConnect24 thing that they've said would deliver demos and updates from Nintendo while we sleep? So far, they've sent one message. How come we still have to rely on blogs for word about stuff like new Virtual Console games, the forecast channel, and the Opera browser beta? Why couldn't they have sent out something on launch weekend that was like, "Thanks for trying out our new system," just to prove they remember the capability's there? It's not instilling a lot of confidence about Nintendo's devotion to online gaming. I know the infrastructure is there (at least partly), now let's just put it to use.

If this has taken a seriously negative turn, it's definitely not because I have low hopes for the Wii–it's completely the opposite. I'm loving the games I have for it now (and looking forward to trying out the available VC catalog soon), and I can't wait to see what developers start coming up with once they get over the novelty hurdle. I just want to see Nintendo see the payoff for the pioneering they're doing with the Wii, and it's going to take a lot of hard work.

1 shut up i love zelda 2

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