I've noticed that the Wii is getting pretty big. It's outselling it's competition 2-1, and has some really neat tech backing it up. The problem becomes: It seems to me that some game publishers are trying to bank on the popularity of the Wii by releasing crap games that are barely playable, games that are just this side of playable, so they can laugh all the way to the bank There's some statistic somewhere that says something like a third of released Wii games in the past year were simply terrible. I know every console has bad games, but this seems a bit(far) above average, especially for a relatively new console that's still proving itself on the market. Just wondering.

no console can be too popular because once it does they release another even more shitty console!

I never thought of it that way... I just always blamed the ps1 and ps2 as being sympathetic to crappy software. I know they had tons of good games too. But I was extremely pissed off by how successful those crappy ones were. Meanwhile my consoles died with great software libraries.

i think a console can be too popular, now that you say it.

I think it happens with all systems. Hell, look at the 2600: king of the home game market and then personally responsible for the crash.

HalfShadow:
I think it happens with all systems. Hell, look at the 2600: king of the home game market and then personally responsible for the crash.

I think that was more to do with the release of E.T. and all the handhelds.

Yeah, but that's exactly the point of the TC: crap games.

Wel, the Wii sells beccause of the massive amounts of children the world has.

Well, when the actual level of gaming goes down the shitter, you can cry 'the sky is falling'. Till then, you really can't say much.

I think they can because sony dominated the market with PS1 and PS2 but then they got cockey and release PS3 late with a higher price and a very bad list of launch games. Only now is it recovering its status

I think you are right about the wii though all the games just involve waving your arms

The wii should get more a rerelease of timesplitters 2 where u use the wii remote thing as a light gun

Nintendo consoles have always been plagued by crap games because it's the most child-friendly one and probably also still the most well known by parents. That being said, I think the amount of horrible junk being released for the wii is disturbing. If there's a bad kid's show or movie, there's an even worse game for the wii.
Thankfully, there are great titles as well. Now they just need to make a new Eternal Darkness game for it...

I believe the OP has a point. First I hated (hated, hated, hated) the Wii, and later I wanted one. After borrowing one from a friend, I'd rather dump them all to the bottom of the sea, and it has everything to do with the quality of the software.

People are buying the shit that is the Wii and accessories by the gallon and standing in line for seconds. So Nintendo proves that they are a company first and a game company second by not bothering to make decent games.

Ah, but there's the trick- It's not Nintendo making all of the lousy games. They are reviving franchises long since dead, but most of these craptastic features are third party creations that run on the hardware. Most of the games Nintendo makes themselves are fine, but when an outside publisher comes in no one knows what the result will be. And I don't know how gaming releases on consoles work in terms of contracts, but I imagine most of these games seem like a sound idea when development begins. If a contract has already been signed then it becomes the gamer's problem. Nintendo has nothing to lose in these ventures- not even their credibility, as theirs is the machine and not the game.

I think.

Irrok the Wide:
I never thought of it that way... I just always blamed the ps1 and ps2 as being sympathetic to crappy software. I know they had tons of good games too. But I was extremely pissed off by how successful those crappy ones were. Meanwhile my consoles died with great software libraries.

i think a console can be too popular, now that you say it.

on the contrary i think the PS2 was excellent. it had a lot of really good games in my opinion. the only problem was when they redesigned it, thats when they started seriously screwing things up. i think that the wii is getting a bit too popular. i mean i know im probably being hypocritical here because i love my wii, it's just that so far the only games that have seriously wowed me were zelda and no more heroes. (i havent gotten to play everything yet.) not to say the other games weren;t any good but they werent anything seriously amazing. i think the hype about the wii is just because it's gameplay is different from just sitting and pushing buttons. all though as a gamer i find the pushing buttons kind of relaxing. so i think the wii was more so intended to draw in a new audience and not JUST games looking for a change but i think its a nice change in pace. now im just ranting so ill shut up :3

I've personally never really thought of a console being too popular as a negative, really. Frankly, I think a lot of the Wii hate comes from the fact that the target audience is not necessarily 18-34 male like the demographic that is probably targeted by the 360 and PS3. The Wii is more of an casual gamer's console, one that appeals to a wider audience using a mechanic that is not traditional and therefore easier for people to get into. I've seen people who normally wouldn't pick up a controller play Wii games for hours at a time because of that.

In short, people shouldn't be surprised at why the Wii is outselling its competition - it's targeting a larger demographic, one including children and by association, the parents who purchase it for them. The Wii's library isn't a reflection of the degradation of quality of games, crappy design, the fall of Western Civilization, etc. It's a reflection of games that don't appeal to the traditional demographic.

Closer to the topic, I've never seen more games as a bad thing. Here's the deal - people speak with their wallets, so having more choices means a responsibility for being more discerning about what you choose to spend your dough on. Yeah, developers are responsible for making and designing good, quality games, but buyers are responsible for making the right choices for themselves, too. I used to buy every popular game under the sun only to discover that I really dislike certain types of games no matter how popular they are. So now I'm a bit more selective with my tastes - I like primarily RPGs, some FPSs, and the occasional action game IF it contains a good, engaging plotline. But that's it. I won't touch an RTS, platformers, racing games, sports games, and the like. It's just how my taste goes.

That's why a console being too popular is really not a bad thing.

SpikeTheRediculous:

Irrok the Wide:
I never thought of it that way... I just always blamed the ps1 and ps2 as being sympathetic to crappy software. I know they had tons of good games too. But I was extremely pissed off by how successful those crappy ones were. Meanwhile my consoles died with great software libraries.

i think a console can be too popular, now that you say it.

on the contrary i think the PS2 was excellent. it had a lot of really good games in my opinion. the only problem was when they redesigned it, thats when they started seriously screwing things up. i think that the wii is getting a bit too popular. i mean i know im probably being hypocritical here because i love my wii, it's just that so far the only games that have seriously wowed me were zelda and no more heroes. (i havent gotten to play everything yet.) not to say the other games weren;t any good but they werent anything seriously amazing. i think the hype about the wii is just because it's gameplay is different from just sitting and pushing buttons. all though as a gamer i find the pushing buttons kind of relaxing. so i think the wii was more so intended to draw in a new audience and not JUST games looking for a change but i think its a nice change in pace. now im just ranting so ill shut up :3

Three words for you: Metroid Prime 3. To me that is not only one of the best wii games, but one of the best games of this generation. Try it man.

fsanch:
I've personally never really thought of a console being too popular as a negative, really. Frankly, I think a lot of the Wii hate comes from the fact that the target audience is not necessarily 18-34 male like the demographic that is probably targeted by the 360 and PS3. The Wii is more of an casual gamer's console, one that appeals to a wider audience using a mechanic that is not traditional and therefore easier for people to get into. I've seen people who normally wouldn't pick up a controller play Wii games for hours at a time because of that.

Very well said, your whole post. Your matter of fact tone makes me realize how seething with bias and preconceptions I am, lol. Shame that the "likes decent games" demographic does not have more dollar votes.

IndieRocker:
I think they can because sony dominated the market with PS1 and PS2 but then they got cockey and release PS3 late with a higher price and a very bad list of launch games. Only now is it recovering its status

Why was it nessacery for a triple post. For a new idea, you normally start a new paragraph, not a new post.

OP, As you said the wii is still proving itself with a new concept for gaming. Big name Publishers do not want to take risks, while small time developers with "terrible" games are more keen to try their luck. I personally don't agree it's to do with the popularity.

An idea that someone else posed that might be accurate is that these "games" which are coming out aren't made for us. They're made for the mainstream, just like the Wii is. Grandma might not want to play Zelda or Metroid Prime 3, but anyone can do Wii Sports. Why?

Because Wii Sports is not what we think of as a "game". It's more like a simulator. It's like a cool thing that they're demoing in a booth at a tech expo. The appeal wanes after awhile because that's really all it is. A simulation demo.

Now, I don't go out of my way to try terrible games, so maybe I'm way off here, but it's possible that these "awful games" are actually just things that aren't for us.

- J

It seems that because the Wii has been marketed primarily toward an inexperienced demographic, publishers have realised they can capitalise on this - not least because of it's popularity - and really push the shovelware.

Granted these games aren't intended for experienced gamers *dons elitist hat* because quite frankly we know better. Wii Sports is a masterstroke, massaging the netted audience for more right out the box. The majority of Nintendo titles are accessible to all ages, and combined with the 'intuitive' motion controls it has compounded inexperienced play. This inexperience is what's making this shovelware profitable. I'd like to think Wii Sports and Warioware out live all the cheap imposters with the newcomers.

Just wait till Nintendo have the Lifestyle crowd going... Wii Fit is a Trojan horse!

It's like everyone buying a Mac. Popularity makes things change, like maybe there will be some real games that the mac gets eventually because of the teen reception of their smear commercials.

The same(ish) with the Wii. Fans of nintendo are going to be fans of the Wii, and a lot of casual gamers flock to it. There isn't as much of a competitive feel to the games, and it's less playing against someone else as it is based solely on fun. There's its appeal.

I personally think anything can be too popular, influencing a Halo3 or GTA4 syndrome. When something becomes too popular, people lose sight of its flaws, and roll over eachother enroute to the ass-kiss line. Halo3 and GTA4 were by No means "bad" games, they were good games, maybe great, but they weren't without their flaws (neither changed enough), and neither is the Wii.

Well, I hope you guys realize that besides the ok games like Wii Sports, people are literally making CLONE games like "Mii Sports." You see ads for them all around, and you can imagine they aren't doing anything especially different. Yes, I think the 3rd party section of the Wii is going to hell because of its popularity, but strangely enough that isn't happening with the 360. Maybe this is what happens when a console aims for casual; companies start making zero-effort games for easy money. As long as the "newbies" who don't do their research are willing...

I agree with tagMaverick above that when anything gets too popular, its flaws are ignored.

In regards to points listed above, 2/3s of games on Most Consoles are pretty poor. Every console gets its bad movie games, its games based on TV shows, or just badly designed games. What makes these games even more notice able on the Wii is the fact that they also get a full treatment of BAD motion control execution. Zelda and other titles have proved that Motion Control can be done right - it's a marvel to me that so many publishers do it wrong.