Of Wii and Novelty: What happens if there are too many ports?

Advanced Media Network’s Kevin Levin takes time to talk about a subject that a lot of folks loyal to Nintendo‘s latest console don’t quite approve of: What happens when the Wii gets boring?

Levin’s topic isn’t entirely new, and concerns about the hype behind the Nintendo Wii, and about the novelty of the concept that carries it – the interaction with the Wiimote – dying out has been noted before. In fact there was even a wave of “Wii drought” worry a few months ago. Levin notes several things in defense of his concern. What struck us most is his assertion that more interactive party games don’t “mature” the art of video games. Levin says:

Rayman: Raving Rabbids, WarioWare, Wii Sports, Wii Play and other pick-up-and-play games are fun, but they are not “great” video games. They fail to offer any kind of true depth, and they certainly donÂ’t mature the art of video games. They instead serve as helpful demos to developers on what the Wii controller can do. Had these games been released on any other console but Wii in the last ten years, they would have been slammed for primitive, superficial design. Only because the Wii remote has never been done before are these games even accepted.

While some of the Wii-loving QJ folks have also noted their worries about there being too many bad Wii games with “tacked-on” Wii controls, we have to note our slight disagreement with Levin’s assertion that more interaction doesn’t “mature” the art of video games.

Yes, the game design of the mentioned party games may be shallow, and they may not offer deep gameplay, but we feel that saying that they do not “mature” the art of video games is perhaps going a bit too far.

Alternative input means in video gaming isn’t anything new. People have come up with snazzy and “fun” alternative controllers before: from guns, to gloves, to dance-pads, and cameras. All of which have been contributions to the art of video games. New ways of getting people to interact with imagined worlds, and pixels on a screen, opens up many new avenues for game design.

The Wiimote and the Wii itself, at the very least, has “matured” the “art” of video games, by contributing to video games’ ever expanding means of interacting with the players. While it is debatable if this contribution is a minor novelty or major paradigm shift, a contribution to the “art of video gaming”, no mater what the degree is a contribution nonetheless.

To read the entirety of Kevin Levine’s well-written musings, feel free to head to it by clicking the Via link.

Advanced Media Network’s Kevin Levin takes time to talk about a subject that a lot of folks loyal to Nintendo‘s latest console don’t quite approve of: What happens when the Wii gets boring?

Levin’s topic isn’t entirely new, and concerns about the hype behind the Nintendo Wii, and about the novelty of the concept that carries it – the interaction with the Wiimote – dying out has been noted before. In fact there was even a wave of “Wii drought” worry a few months ago. Levin notes several things in defense of his concern. What struck us most is his assertion that more interactive party games don’t “mature” the art of video games. Levin says:

Rayman: Raving Rabbids, WarioWare, Wii Sports, Wii Play and other pick-up-and-play games are fun, but they are not “great” video games. They fail to offer any kind of true depth, and they certainly donÂ’t mature the art of video games. They instead serve as helpful demos to developers on what the Wii controller can do. Had these games been released on any other console but Wii in the last ten years, they would have been slammed for primitive, superficial design. Only because the Wii remote has never been done before are these games even accepted.

While some of the Wii-loving QJ folks have also noted their worries about there being too many bad Wii games with “tacked-on” Wii controls, we have to note our slight disagreement with Levin’s assertion that more interaction doesn’t “mature” the art of video games.

Yes, the game design of the mentioned party games may be shallow, and they may not offer deep gameplay, but we feel that saying that they do not “mature” the art of video games is perhaps going a bit too far.

Alternative input means in video gaming isn’t anything new. People have come up with snazzy and “fun” alternative controllers before: from guns, to gloves, to dance-pads, and cameras. All of which have been contributions to the art of video games. New ways of getting people to interact with imagined worlds, and pixels on a screen, opens up many new avenues for game design.

The Wiimote and the Wii itself, at the very least, has “matured” the “art” of video games, by contributing to video games’ ever expanding means of interacting with the players. While it is debatable if this contribution is a minor novelty or major paradigm shift, a contribution to the “art of video gaming”, no mater what the degree is a contribution nonetheless.

To read the entirety of Kevin Levine’s well-written musings, feel free to head to it by clicking the Via link.