One of Spores developers says "Wii is a piece of..."

[jman8]

Sieanr is pretty much the only one on this thread that I think understands what Hecker was trying to get at. Hecker's pissed that Nintendo games are simply about "fun" and have little artistic aspirations. Nintendo has set the precedent for the Wii (since they are the lead developer on the Wii) of making games appeal to a base sense of pleasure. Furthermore, they've managed to push this identity for the Wii through inferior graphical quality and general processing power that handcuff developers. Miis and Wii Sports also further this agenda. Sieanr, I'm sure Nintendo's execs would welcome artistic games as you say. However, Nintendo has fashioned their company and more importantly their console into a machine that represents, indentifies, and defines itself as something meant for just "fun." That's why Hecker mentioned wii.com's lack of references to art. It shows that Nintendo doesn't want their system to be viewed that way. They have a very specific and deliberate identity that they're trying to create for the Wii. And again, because they are the lead Wii developer, they are the ones who set the standard for everyone else. That's what Hecker is afraid of. That's what I'm afraid of. If the Wii does in fact dominate this generation and it becomes a "Wii Planet," the vast majority of games would be defined by "fun" because that is the way the console has been defined. Therefore the "games as art" movement would be threatened significantly by the Wii.