The Wii wil never get the kind of third party support that the PS2 had.

[senortaco]

ElRhodeo said:
3rd parties hate the Wii because they have to change their approach. Last gen, when all competiting systems were more or less the same technically, making a hit game was easy: Make sure it looks better than its predecessor.

Today the market leader doesn't allow for doing it that way, so what to do? A lot of 3rd parties heavily rely on their games being cutting edge in the visual department. On the Wii, they can't. What's worse is that the technology is there (on ps3 and 360), so the level of expectations has already been raised - there's no way for them to impress with a Wii game, especially when they try doing multiplatform releases. In an industry based on "bigger is better", downgrading just isn't sexy.

Clever move on Nintendo's part... Multiplat doesn't work, because people won't buy a Wii game when it's just the ugly sibling of a shiny HD version. Since ignoring the market leader is not an option either, 3rd parties will have to increase their exclusive Wii support.

I agree with you in theory that 3rd parties rely too much on graphical power as way to enhance their games. Problem is for the majority of 3rd party games take away the graphics and you have a last gen game. The hardware has improve, but AI's haven't yet, or the way we PLAY the games haven't either (if not on The Wii using proper motion controls).

...one of the things that both Microsft & Sony did by introducing motion controls, not just validating Nintendo assumption that the interface for games has to change, but graphics aren't going to be a driving force anymore. This is why I fully believe, whether people want it or not, Microsoft ESPECIALLY, is going to push motion controls and next gen you will see a slight "JUMP" if any in graphics.

Let's be real next gen is going to be like the 6th gen in that ALL consoles will be roughly the same graphically. If Sony & Micrsoft didn't act now you would get the 6th gen PS2 style donimance(sp?) for the Wii. Believe it or not THIS is not good for third parties, they would rather it be split a 1/3 across the board. 1st Party games should be the tablesetter for which console sales.

As this gen goes, you will see increased support for Nintendo (Thanks to Microsoft & Sony) because 3rd parties are now thinking of the interface(s) rather then the "graphics".