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Metallicube on 18 August 2010
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Resident_Hazard said:
Mr Khan said:

Quality is about a game delivering value, which for these people largely revolves around being fun and functional. Wii Wankery has always had that in spades, the games have been polished to a fine point, they work, and are fun. Many third party games can't say the same. And you're running apples to oranges. Compared to its peers, Sports, Sports Resort, and the almight Fit, Wii Music did horribly. Compare Monster Hunter Tri to its peers however, especially in Western performance, and you see a success, but a success existing in a much more restricted market. Mario Party games declined in quality with time, and the sales went with them, until Nintendo stopped pumping them out and focused on a 1-per-console attitude, with 8 and DS, and they did great, and now the franchise is in semi-retirement.

 

Just Dance is likely to outsell both Metroid games on the platform combined, and certainly more than Wii Music (highly comparable). Where does that figure in?

Wow, I almost forgot people could be polite talking to me.  Thanks for that.

I think we're both a little vague on what we term as quality.  You can say, "value," but then how do you define value?  I would say that quality and value come in the forms of highly polished controls, gameplay, graphics, and if present--storyline.  Value comes from a variety of polished (as in functional) gameplay ideas, graphics that continue to impress throughout the game, and a level of immersion.  That, and the game makes me want to come back to it.  These can vary wildly for most people, of course.

However, I feel that pretty much every Wii Whatever title lacks a lot of quality, and they all have limited value.  Wii Sports, for instance, has five mini-games without any real depth.  Two of the games work great (bowling and tennis), one is okay (boxing) and the other two are just utterly broken (golf and baseball).  Granted, Wii Sports isn't so much a game as it is a tech demo to somewhat show off the Wii.  Plus, it's a pack-in everywhere but Japan.

Wii Sports Resort is better, but still shallow, and some of the games are still broken or just plain not fun.  Graphically, neither of these games are pushing the abilities of the Wii--and this sent a bad message on the system.  Too many third party companies just half-assed their games because "it worked" with Wii Sports/Music/Fit/Sports Resort. 

There were 3rd party developers that really tried to give us some good stuff.  And nobody cared.  Nintendo fans complain that MadWorld was too short and they dismiss it outright.  Pikmin is shorter, but the fans love that one.  Both of those games feature a variety of gameplay, a lot of polish, and tons of fun.

Just Dance?  That's the other variable for the Wii--the casual crowd.  Which I personally believe has less of effect on game sales than Nintendo fans, with rare exception. 

The difference there is that Wii Sports/Resort are actually GOOD. They are quality games, whether or not you agree, otherwise they wouldn't be among the top selling games of all time. People obviously view these games as quality. Most of the 3rd party efforts on the other hand are not quality, which again is shown by the sales, or lack of them.

Wii Sports is actually a complex game in many ways. For instance, the way you hit the ball in tennis makes a huge difference (you can spike, give it spin, backhanded, etc). It is a fast paced game and the slightest move can change the whole outcome of the game. Same with bowling, you can add spin, bowl fast or slowly, move left or right, etc.

I noticed many of the self proclaimed hardcore gamers seem to only view complexity and quality these days in terms of how "epic" a game is, in terms of cinematics, graphics, etc. They seem to believe that the more like a film a game is, the more "hardcore" it is. I'd actually contend that Wii Sports is more "hardcore" than these games that are trying to be movies, because it is more fast paced, raw gameplay, that doesn't hang on the coattails of cinematics to provide entertainment, not to mention it is far less linear.