In defence of the Wii

Nintendo’s Wii gets a bit of a hard time on gaming forums and newsgroups. In the eyes of many, it’s still a console for kids and/or old people. If you enjoy playing Wii games, the 360 and PS3 owners sneer at you as if you can’t afford a “proper” console (even though the 360 is cheaper!). They wonder how you can possibly like playing games with “last gen graphics” and “tacked on waggle”.

What they’re not realising, is that graphics do not make a game, and not all Wii games are $some_activity Party – even if most are.

Take for instance the games I’ve been playing recently: Mario Kart Wii, New Super Mario Bros Wii, Castlevania Rebirth, Mega Man 10, Ghost Squad, House of the Dead: Overkill, The Conduit and Rabbids Go Home. None of these are available on another current console (although Mega Man 10 will be out on XBLA and PSN next week), and yet all get blasted for one or more of the issues listed above.

Some, such as Ghost Squad and HotD, would simply be rubbish on the PS3 or 360 as they don’t have the controls (a light gun) necessary to play them. Others would be just the same, only perhaps shinier (Mario Kart and New Super Mario Bros). Some would actually be exactly the same (Mega Man 10, Castlevania). However, if all these games were released elsewhere, nobody would look down at them, pointing and laughing.

Instead, people ignore the great titles available on the Wii and settle back to “enjoy” the latest Call Of Duty: Dull Soldier Shooting and Generic Racing Game X, because they look great. They may well play great too, but that doesn’t mean they’re better.

So while I’ll happily play Batman: Arkham Asylum and GTA IV in glorious HD, I’ll have at least as much fun shooting mutants in the face in SD House of the Dead, and BWAAAAAAAHing at everyone and everything in Last-Gen-Graphics Rabbids Go Home. Because, y’know, fun is in the doing, not the seeing.