QuickJump QuickPeek special edition: The Nintendo Wii 2007 Year In Review

2007 has been kind to Nintendo, but it wasn’t all peaches and cream either. With just as many ups and downs – including a particularly bloody incident with a certain mass-murdering game – as its other competitors, we’re thankful that the Nintendo Wii was able to keep up and make it through to the New Year. So, to recount all the smiles and frowns is this Year in Review article of the console that could, the Nintendo Wii.

Check out all the details in the full article.

With memories of Christmas still fresh in our minds and a brand new year to look forward to, let’s take a moment to look at this year’s biggest ups (as well as its downs) for Nintendo’s Wii console. Yes, we know it’s underpowered, has a relatively-unintuitive online play system that still featured cumbersome friend codes, and a big library of games which can charitably be described as a huge pile of shovelware – but if you look at the entire picture, we’ll see that for the rocky year of 2007, the Nintendo Wii didn’t do so bad.

In fact, I’d be so bold as to say that the Wii held its own, even in the midst of its two more powerful competitors unleashing high-definition beasts month after month. So, if you will, join me in this little trip down memory lane as we re-discover the biggest events that transpired in 2007 for the Nintendo Wii.

 

The Lowdown

Let’s first take the time machine into overdrive and look at how the Wii did when it was launched. Who could forget the controversial name change? From the awesomely-optimistic name that followed the likes of “Genesis”, “Dreamcast“, and even “AWESOMEBOX”, Revolution is probably the first time we saw Nintendo coming out of its sugar-coated shell. It was an awesome name. It was a HARDCORE name, not just because it fit neatly with any slogan that had the word in it but also pushed the idea that the game console itself was not just a plaything, it was THE killer app.

Looking back at it now, Nintendo probably would have had an easier time pushing the console and its games (not that it needed any on the former) if it had retained its prototype moniker. It’s the Revolution. Join it.

Then April 27 of last year came along, and Nintendo busted out the announcement that no, they’re not calling it Revolution anymore – from then on, their highly-anticipated console would be called the Wii. Not Nintendo Wii, just ‘Wii’ – a name chosen for many reasons and explanations, with the deal of it sounding much like the pronoun ‘we’ being the most popular. Wii. We. It was the console that everyone could enjoy, as well as make some very naughty jokes about  (and pretty much everyone did at the time). In fact, everyone’s still at it, and even though us here at QJ.NET like to think we have at least some degree of maturity, we can’t help but bust out the occasional Wii joke. And then proceed to giggle like a room full of schoolgirls.

But despite having such a hardcore name swapped for something you would name a very small dog, the Nintendo Wii has consistently been selling like chocolate-covered hotcakes with sugar-encrusted diamonds as garnish from the moment it  was launched. And yes, as of this writing, it’s still one of the hottest pieces of digital joy that one can splurge one’s hard-earned money on AND justify to one’s spouse or parent.

Pundits and even game developers themselves thought the Wii would be a temporary fad of sorts that would fade out into obscurity, what with its gimmicky motion-sensing control scheme and serious lack of polygon-crunching power – only to be proven wrong by the overwhelming demand that the glossy white block garnered. People of all ages and genders loved the Wii for what it was and how it made gaming so accessible, so much that even senior citizens got into the groove.

 

The Controversy

In terms of really hot events that could make even the most jaded of tabloid news reporters blush and break out in a cold sweat, nothing else sticks out more than an analog stick-sore thumb than the controversy surrounding Rockstar’s Manhunt 2. Granted, the game wasn’t even that good (even when they left the gory stealth kills in, but after running them through a couple hundred Photoshop filters), and the material is as philosophical and deep as the premise of any Mario game – but suffice to say it caught the attention of everyone, including dear old Jack Thompson and the British Board of Film Classification.

Not only was it slapped with an Adults Only rating, it was banned from being sold anywhere in the United Kingdom – until higher authorities decided that kids probably won’t learn how to disembowel their nannies with an ax while playing the game, and gave the game the green light. Unfortunately, this was after Take-Two was strong-armed into obscuring the game’s stealth kills so much that you see nothing but a thickly-filtered pile of digital molasses grunting and screaming and making squelching noises. Yes, that’s much more less disturbing than seeing a man being driven to desperation.

Looking back at the entire thing, one could say that it was one of the times (certainly not the first time, game-wise) that the Wii’s unique motion-sensing controls worked against it. Sure, the deal about being able to physically perform the motions of an unnecessarily-gruesome and cruel kill is in itself an awesome idea and solid gold stress-relieving material, it does make one think if games are going a bit too far.

 

E3

Just like Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo had some pretty big guns to show off during the legendary E3. Two of the biggest ones (barring that of actual software, which we’ll tackle in another section) is the unveiling of the Wii Zapper AND the Wii Fit Balance Board. The Zapper captured the hearts of those who can fondly remember shooting ducks with the old gray-and-orange contraption, and the Balance Board caught the attention of those who wanted to do more than just be couch potatoes.

Unfortunately, as good a concept the Wii Zapper was, Nintendo somehow forgot the fact that players don’t need a white plastic shell to make-believe that their wand-and-grip setup is actually a gun – all they need is to be convinced that  yes, when you hover the reticle over some zombie’s fleshy innards and press the A button, a report will sound and gobs will fly. Add to that the fact that playing with the Wii Zapper itself, for long periods of time, can become just a bit too taxing on the arms. I won’t deny that it’s fun and adds more solidity to the control scheme, but it just feels a bit unnecessary and artificial.

The Games

Now we’re talking! 2007 was a great year on the software side of Nintendo. Sure, it had its ups and downs, but this year saw the oldest company in the industry busting out classic after classic after classic for the Nintendo Wii.

   

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Samus Aran’s debut on the Wii and the final entry in the Metroid Prime trilogy, blew naysayers and critics away with its look, feel, and intuitive control scheme that rivaled that of the classic mouse-and-keyboard combination. Resident Evil fans had their nostalgia bomb with waggle and polished graphics in Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles with a non-Gun Survivor FPS style. Even the disciples of the androgynous NiGHTS were given love with the recently-released NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams. And finally, the world was given another piece of videogame heaven with the release of Super Mario Galaxy, a game that charmed even the harshest of the Wii’s detractors.

But for every great first or third party title that came out for the Wii, it seemed that three or more ports of – let’s not mince any words here – questionable quality went blasting off with it, for hapless but good-intentioned parents and grandparents to snap up for their little tot’s “Nintendo”. One can remember Activision’s Spiderman 3 port for the Wii, which looked more like a game set in a city full of towering Lego blocks rather than inside a massive digital rendition of New York city. Yeah, that one pretty much bombed.

There’s also the flood – or should we say, deluge – of minigame titles that range from the charmingly-nostalgic (Carnival Games) to the horribly-broken (insert shovelware title for the Wii here). Granted, they did make good use of the Wii’s motion-sensing mechanics, but not much else – and when you compare these waggle-a-minute waggle-a-thons to the first party games that Nintendo has painstakingly worked on, the gap in quality and playability is imposingly wide and vast.

The Future

So, what’s next for the Nintendo Wii? Lots. As of this writing, there are a slew of gigantic first-party titles in the pipeline that’s pretty much bound to rock the videogaming community to its core. Here they are, in no particular order:

 

Mario Kart Wii

Mario Kart for the Nintendo Wii. More tracks, more cars, more weapons, more insanity. An awesome-looking trick system that gives you loads of turbo boosts each time you successfully nail one. Online multiplayer. Nothing else needs to be said, except that it’s freaking next-gen Mario Kart. The shell-related mayhem will be GLORIOUS.

Wii Music

Wii Sports, even though it was sold as a separate game title in Japan and bundled free with the Wii console everywhere else, became a cultural phenomenon – so much so that its simplistic renditions of today’s more popular sports pushed console sales to the millions. With Wii Music, it’s not too hard to see it happening again. Want to conduct your very own orchestra with the Wiimote? How about playing in an orchestra yourself, with three other friends playing different instruments, as in Rock Band? Details are scant about Wii Music for now, but from what we know so far, it’s going to be absolutely fantastic.

    

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Sporting a character roster that should get any videogame player panting for breath, the sequel to everyone’s almost-fighting, almost-party game is definitely one to watch out for. Where else can you find some of the biggest names in this industry just waiting to tear each other into pieces? Add to that the fact that there’s a truckload of new content just waiting for the consummate Smasher to revel in. And before we forget, it also includes Sonic and Snake in a fighting game. Super Smash Bros. Brawl is already so awesome by that fact alone.

No More Heroes

It’s not a first party title, yes, but it’s definitely one of the most original (and most mature) games for the Wii that isn’t Manhunt 2. Totally flying in the face of its genre’s staples – that being, photo-realistic graphics, a coherent storyline and a moral to the story – Suda 51’s beam katana epic proves to us that sometimes, it’s nice to just simply go crazy once in a while.

WiiWare Games

The Nintendo Wii gave us back our childhoods with its Virtual Console channel feature, where we can download and play past-gen games for nominal fees. Now Nintendo aims to take that feature to the next level with WiiWare.

Ever wanted to make your own game and have it be a downloadable in the Wii Shop Channel? Now you can. And with Square Enix starting things off with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Young King and the Promised Land, WiiWare is definitely going to remake the amateur game developing landscape as we know it.

2007 was a great year for Nintendo. It wasn’t the greatest year for it, but it did see the oldest company in the business rise to the top in a pace that can be accurately described as meteoric. And with the rest of its big guns locked to discharge next year, it’s not so hard to imagine that Nintendo will continue the winning streak.