EA understands the Wii better than other developers - EA Sports titles

[Stever89]

Well I'm just hoping that they deliver with these games. EA might not be the best developer out there, but they can make some pretty good games, like Boom Blox.

I didn't really get into it in the OP, but that's where I was going with the topic (and the thread title should be a question, not a statement). I was suggesting that EA might actually understand the Wii in the same way that Malstrom says the Wii should be used, and the way that Nintendo has approached their Wii games - make them fun, make them approachable, but make them deep. The controls already do a lot of that for you. It's fun using the wiimote pointer in Metroid Prime 3, it's relatively approachable, and the game has a lot of depth to it.

The difference between Nintendo and most 3rd parties so far is that Nintendo uses the wiimote and motion controls wisely, where as most 3rd parties throw it in there just for the heck of it. Even the developers of Madden 08 Wii said there were too many gestures.

Also, Nintendo puts depth even into their "casual games" and "mini-game collections." WiiSports might be a mini-game but there is a good amount of depth in it. The fitness program has 3 exercises for each sport, a total of 15 levels, and you have to unlock them. WarioWare has a decent sizes single player mode that you have to almost complete to unlock the multiplayer mode. On the other hand, most 3rd parties see games like WarioWare and WiiSports and see how they sell, and try to copy it. The successful ones? Carnival Games, Mario and Sonic, and the Rabbids games. Why do they succeed? I would assume it's because those games offer some depth or are more than just "flapping your arms around" as some would describe WarioWare. RRR have good humor, Mario and Sonic does have the name recognition, but from I've played, there's some good games in there. Carnival Games probably has some fun multiplayer, though I've never played it.

Now EA has MySims (which is probably a bridge game), Boom Blox (which even though they're marketing it wrong, it should sell well from word of mouth), and now these sports titles (if they're as good as the article makes them out to be), it seems EA is starting to understand the direction Nintendo is going.

And Nintendo isn't going casual. They're going approachable (and thus expanding the market).