Hats off to Nintendo, the Wii has does well, Wii-lly well.
It started off with the novelty of motion control and the beckoning of every family member from Grandparents to Paul the Gerbil (filling that ever integral spectator role), but those occupying Camp Core have come away with bits and pieces to treasure as well.
We got the latest instalment of Mario Kart after all, as well as Metroid Prime 3, Other M and, of course, Super Mario Galaxy and its supernova sequel.
But since the Wii arrived way back in 2006 the impact is starting to wear off and it’s kind of running out of surprises. With the likes of PlayStation Move and Microsoft’s Kinect posing a new threat, we think the Ninty needs to push onto a Wii-quel (we love swapping syllables with ‘Wii’) and here’s what we want to see.
HD
This is the big one, the one that Nintendo can’t go without. Back in 2006 Nintendo could get away with incredibly basic characters with no arms, it had the novelty of a waving something about in front of the screen.
But guess what Ninty; Sony rocked up and copied your arse. The problem the little white box has now is that the PlayStation has its own little waving do-hick in the PlayStation Move, with a massive dollop of high-definition gaming for desert.
Even more terrifying for the Mario mothership is that the Xbox 360 has the same sparkling graphics but the cool wiggly controller is your own arm! OK so we don’t think these kind of quirks are going to take over the traditional pad, in Kinect’s case we can’t even say how successful it is yet.
The point is that the Nintendo Wii has lost its novelty. It doesn’t have the monopoly on motion control anymore and it’s seriously lacking in the visuals department.
3D
Miyamaoto’s already said that Wii 2 won’t be piercing our eyes with 3D because 3D televisions haven’t made their way into enough homes yet. But we really like 3D so we’d counter Mr. Miyamoto’s argument with, “Please?”
He’s right, 3D is still too expensive, it isn’t a widespread thing and probably won’t be for a few years to come at the very least. We’re putting our foot down, though and saying that it’s going to play a big part in gaming’s future.
The added screen depth gives a game’s world a real sense of weight, richness and realism. Imagine playing Super Mario Galaxy 3 with all its platforming wizardry in a world that you actually feel like you could reach into a touch.
We’ll admit it though, we’re doubtful of this one. Nintendo has after all put its three-dimensional eggs into its 3DS basket and that looks set to cause a real storm upon release.
Why should they, then, put another mushroom load of cash and effort into making 3D for the big screen? Because we reckon if anyone can overcome the obstacles that currently face 3D, it’s Nintendo.
“It’s too expensive” people moan, “I don’t like the glasses, they press into my temples” others whinge. With the Wii, Nintendo made an affordable, accessible and – most importantly – successful console. The 3DS sees the magic of 3D without the nerd-slinger glasses. Problems solved.
New faces
Don’t get us wrong, we love Mario, we love Samus, Link and the whole Nintendo family, but they’re a familiar bunch.
We’d like to see Nintendo step out of its comfort zone a bit when it comes to game titles with some new IPs and maybe even a new direction entirely in the kind of fantasy platformers it’s associated with and their almost guaranteed success.
We have to be careful here though because, while we say all this, we don’t for one minute want to see the back of the likes of Zelda (that’d be crazy talk, why did you even for a minute fathom such a notion?) they’re the reason we love Nintendo in the first place.
But let’s take a little mite like Sackboy; he’s has shown that it’s never too late to introduce and give a new face the privilege of mascot duties. Sure, Sony didn’t really have a face of PlayStation before (Sackboy’s a bit of a part-timer at best as well) and we doubt any combination of pixels will manage to match the likes of Super Mario, but Mega George, the British bus driver might not go amiss. OK we’ll leave the character development to the pros.
The idea of new franchises with new faces isn’t just about some superficial photo ops though. Nintendo has created the best and most iconic gaming characters in the history of everything.
With new faces, we’re hoping, will come new mechanics, new stories and generally new ideas. It’ll also mean more focus towards the core and a slight shift, if nothing more, away from the family friendly shovelware the Wii seems have become the home of.
Who better to take a creative leap than Nintendo and when better than with the launch of a new console?
Achievements
Do we not salivate enough when it comes to Trophies and Achievements? Have we not spent enough early morning hours striving for Platinum for Nintendo to realise that we absolutely love the things?
We don’t know what it is about a little graphic appearing in the corner of our screens (or at the bottom, in the middle, flying in circles diagonally across – doesn’t matter) and a happy little noise that seems to say, “Aw well done you!”, there’s just something about these hollow hollow reward systems that gives us more satisfaction than seeing an old nemesis stub his toe.
Some sort of achievement system is crucial for the core and we reckon Grandma wouldn’t mind a bit of a pat on the back from a bundle of circuit boards every now and then either. The old gal still likes to feel appreciated after all.
The inclusion of icon-based rewards are likely to help in the battle against the pre-owned market as well, thanks to their worryingly addictive nature. How many times has your mum/wife/husband/local MP been standing at the door saying, “Come on Jason, time to trade that game in now.” Only to get an angry response along the lines of “But I’ve only completed 97 percent!”
Exactly. Come on Nintendo, everyone’s a winner with Achievements.
Innovation
The great thing about Nintendo is that you can never pre-empt what its next move is going to be. A brick-like, motion-sensing wand at a time when the pad is king? Didn’t see that one coming. A 3D handheld that doesn’t need glasses? Can it even be done?
Ninty keeps pulling a fast one on us, which would usually leave us feeling like mugs except for the fact that we’ve benefited immensely every time.
The truth is Nintendo is one of those companies that prides itself on being unpredictable and innovative. There are just so many different directions it could go with the Wii 2 and probably even more that we can’t even conceive.
We’re not saying there should be a Nintendo dildo bundled with the Wii 2, but we’ve seen some pretty crazy takes on the Wii-mote from third parties so the controller itself is mine of untapped potential.
Anything’s possible, we wouldn’t even rule out a Wii 2 boat… Oh wait, no.
Whatever happens, the most important thing for Nintendo to scribble on its To Do list is “Innovate”. As long as Ninty keeps setting the trend rather than following it we’re sure we’ll be surprised by a new take on console gaming when the Wii 2 finally arrives. With Nintendo’s track record, we’ve just got to have a little bit of faith.
novelty Collectables
gerbil, hick, mothership, wii
Zoo Games, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Zoo Publishing, has obtained the publishing rights to video game titles from Bertelsmanns German developer, RTL Interactive. This deal is one of many publishing agreements Zoo Games will announce this year.
