Why on earth would Nintendo go back to policies which crippled them and cost them untold millions over 2 losing generations instead of continuing the policy which allows them to wreak havoc on sales charts currently?

They don't care about their reputation as a shovelware console and they shouldn't need to. They know their current blue ocean strategy is extremely profitable and they will stick with it.

And I for one am glad that they are approaching business this way. Sure I don't want to play crap like that Puppy Love game but the mere fact that it exists on the Wii doesn't hamper my enjoyment of SMG, Brawl, or any of the other games I do enjoy. The presence of Ninjabread Man on shelves with a Wii label doesn't dictate how much I can enjoy No More Heroes or Zack and Wiki. If it helps make Nintendo money which they can invest back in their own games or helps developer relations so future games can be included on the Wii then in the end it will help me.

I could care less if Wii had the absolute worst ratio of good/bad games. If it came down to having a library of 10 amazing gems with hundreds of horrid shovelware or 20 good-mediocre games with little to no shovelware I would take the former. Note that I am not implying the 360/PS3 lineup is only mediocre/good, just explaining that I would prefer a few amazing games over more not so amazing games.

Shovelware???

There are over 2100 PS2 and 1200 PS1 games in the database. And there are probably still a lot of missing titles that nobody remembers or wants to remember.

It would be just plain dishonest to say that the Playstation brand doesn't have a sh*t ton of shovelware.

You know that article is not bad, it's just not what people wanna here. The PS2 had a bit less shovelware because buyers were not as uneducated in game quality and perhaps studios realize they can get away with more now that the numbers are in. I don't see how it's a joke article.

 Is the 20 "good games" thing true? That's pretty bad.

 And Fishyjoe, they acknowledge PS1 and PS2 had lots of shit games, but that the Wii's rate of shit is unprecedented.

NYANKS said: You know that article is not bad, it's just not what people wanna here. The PS2 had a bit less shovelware because buyers were not as undeucated in game quality and perhaps studios realize they can get away with more now that the numbers are in. I don't see how it's a joke article. Is the 20 "good games" thing true? That's pretty bad. And Fishyjoe, they acknowledge PS1 and PS2 had lots of shit games, but that the Wii's rate of shit is unprecedented.

I don't see any real evidence to back up this claim. 

shams said: The problem is as much to do with the review process, as it is with the games. Depending who you ask, WiiSports is a "perfect 10", and far above GTA4 for instance. But this won't come from any of the major review sites. In the end, sales figures are what really count. Is it a good thing to show that a company has to spend $100m on development to make a 'successful' game - or that success can be had with a fraction of that ($3m-$5m), for say - Carnival Games?

 I agree with what you said the most...

i understand that EA's playground is shovelware but guess what my GF has a huge smile on her face playing it, give her GTAIV and it would be turned off in a heartbeat.  

Shams is right we here are all hardcore gamers looking at non-hardcore games and saying you suck because they don't fit our taste

Now i don't mean to approve of a lot of the stuff out there becasue there are some just crap games, but i do believe that we as hardcore gamers need to understand that we are not the only ones playing anymore and what we think is the best game does not mean everyone that now plays will think its the best.  And this works the other way just because we hate it doesn't mean the more casual crowd will hate it.

I think that made sense...

What is the problem with all those crappy games anyway. They are not even selling.

http://vgchartz.com/games/index.php?page=6&name=&console=Wii&keyword=&publisher=&genre=&order=Sales&picture=
http://vgchartz.com/games/index.php?page=7&name=&console=Wii&keyword=&publisher=&genre=&order=Sales&picture=
http://vgchartz.com/games/index.php?page=8&name=&console=Wii&keyword=&publisher=&genre=&order=Sales&picture=
http://vgchartz.com/games/index.php?page=9&name=&console=Wii&keyword=&publisher=&genre=&order=Sales&picture=

Call me when SMG and Zelda start losing shelf space to these games. Most of the can not even break the 100 k barrier.

Articles like this never fail to crack me up. Shovelware is a natural result of having the largest chunk of the market. The Atari 2600, NES, SNES, PS1 and PS2 all had a large percentage of games that were utter crap. I've been around long enough to know that shovelware is more an indication of success than it is a portent of doom. Truth be told, all systems have more crap games than good ones. It's just more apparent with the market leader because that system will have more games total.

Heh like the crappy games on PS1 when PS1 was marketed to the non gamers of its time, there were many MANY horrible games for PS1 and then those PS1 owners became PS2 owners and finally became aware of... somewhat quality... I say somewhat cause you have things like GTA outselling MGS which anyone that would buy GTA over MGS should be shot IMO... but thats where Wii is now, bringing in the new gamers and having the third party sharks that PS1 had that take advantage of the naive gamer, it was bound to happen, and some devs thought Wii would flop so you got the rushed shovelware not backed up by late to the game third parties which it's all coming and you'll see much better quality from third parties this year.

But honestly the article has upset fanboy written all over it, I mean I was a little POed back in the day when PS1 took over N64 and was doing stronger then PC gaming we were the seasoned vets of gaming all the new "gamers" coming in buying these bad games and a weaker system. For us it was illogical and we didn't understand. Now we understand it expanded the market and made for more variety and brought more good then bad as avoiding the bad just meant not buying a bad game but the people that bought the bad games often funded new ideas and innovative games.

So my final word is this GET OVER IT it's a much needed change in the market to keep things fresh, anyone that came into gaming during the PS1 era was not considered a gamer to many game veterans eyes back in the day, now they're accepted to be gamers so they spew their hate onto the new gamers coming in saying they're not gamers, the fact is they are the games they buy will be horrible but will get better with time and so the devs will change cause making a bad game won't make them money anymore.

What i dont get is the title itself, why not just say Wii have full of shovelwares or something? And I thought this article tells us Ninendo's secret why there console was popular

Don't buy the shovelware. Just like you didn't buy the shovelware on the PS2 (which is still the king of shovelware). It's very simple. It's not like Ninjabread Man actually sold well or anything. It's just there... rotting on shelves.

Also, lots of OK/good Wii games tend to get crap review scores since they aren't "hardcore" enough or something.