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Wii Apathy
Editorial by 
(Editor)
September 10, 2009, 22:20
 
It is impossible to talk about Wii games on the gaming boards. People just don’t seem to give a shit. Start a thread about the 3 awesome 2D action games released this week on the Wii, and you get a few genuinely interested responses, then people who don’t even own a Wii push their PC or 360 game of the moment, and the thread dies a quick death.

But start a thread about a 360 game on the Wii board with a half-assed attempt to make it seem on topic and you’ll have pages and pages of discussion.

What’s with this apathy? We all know the « hardcore » label is poorly defined and useless, and some posters have taken to calling themselves « game enthusiasts » or something, but has the Wii lost the interest of even those people who claim to have broader tastes, who say they need colors in their games other than brown, who look down at FPSes?

Has the Wii actually managed to alienate nearly everyone?

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Posted: 09/10/09, 22:20
 
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Yeah, those two.

And I get 2D gaming is niche. It's just that people with clearly NO interest in Wii games come to these threads for no other reason than to mention Trine or Shadow Complex or Splosion Man. And it's not like I don't find these games really appealing myself, I'm not against talking about them. But those games ARE being talked about A LOT on their respective boards, in podcasts, etc. They're often heavily promoted, too.

And I'm there flailing my arms trying to get fans of those games to notice NyxQuest, a game that makes great use of Wii controls and all the more impressive when you realize it was made by 4 people, and no one gives a crap except a handful of people, always the same ones.

It's a shame, is all. Publishers and Nintendo aren't doing enough to get the word out on these games and small developers who choose Wiiware are paying the price. But the general apathy just perplexes me. I do not understand the people who post there, I do not understand how one could own a Wii and not turn it on for months, and I do not understand how one could look at a stellar week for the Wii Shop and say "nothing for me this week". And I certainly don't understand how The Conduit manages to be the most talked about Wii game this year.

Posted by 
 on: 09/10/09, 23:06
I think I've figured it out. AD69 and his ilk think that by saying something on the Wii is good, you are knocking the 360. People for some reason view video games as competing in a way that you almost never hear with music, TV shows, movies, etc. So whenever something is said in praise of the Wii, they feel it necessary to balance their universe out by praising the 360 or knocking the Wii. Those are the only two options. Joining in on the praise or even just not commenting at all isn't worth considering because in their warped minds, it means the Wii is winning.

But it doesn't just stop there. The very existence of the Wii Board is an offense to them, something that must be righted by praising the 360, talking bad about the Wii, bringing up The Conduit sales, etc. It's insane, but it seems to inflict a huge amount of people.

I'm tempted to post a thread of the Wii board called "I like the Wii" and the body of the post would be "It has fun games to play" and see how quickly it devolves to madness.

Posted by 
 on: 09/10/09, 23:30
Oh, it's been done before, and the answer is "quickly". The asshats will try to be the first to say "sounds like you're trying to convince yourself" and it will be all downhill from there.

And I do think you're on to something with your theory. I've never laughed so hard as when I saw ad69 use the phrase "no matter where your allegiance lies" seriously. I mean, my god, who talks like that? Who thinks like that?

Posted by 
 on: 09/10/09, 23:34
Well truthfully...there isn't much coming to Wii this fall that we can talk about...

But good threads die all the time on WiiGB, whereas controversial ones thrive. I tend to skip the controversial posts, so sometimes the place is boring when all the action is within those threads.

*posts in NPD thread*

Posted by 
 on: 09/11/09, 01:47
Well that's kinda silly, my enjoyment of the system has nothing to do with the boards ;p

But yeah people SHOULD get excited about threads pointing out good games.

I did check out the thread he was talking about though. While they may be good games, one of them is a port from the SNES days, and another is a Contra (is that a remake?) on WiiWare. Thats cool and all, but downloadable games just aren't the same as full-fledged console retail titles.

What I do miss is when a notable game is released, the boards used to be flooded with topics about that one game. Mario Galaxy, No More Heroes, stuff like that. That doesn't happen anymore. Possibly because the amount of "big" games has slowed down, but for example there were barely any threads on Muramasa (which I've yet to play but am interested).

Hopefully at least New Mario will have that effect...in a positive manner.

Posted by 
 on: 09/11/09, 02:48
"then people who don’t even own a Wii push their PC or 360 game of the moment"

I haven't even seen the thread yet, but let me guess... AD69 and Shadow Complex? Mmm hmm.

Anyway, this is precisely why I started this forum way back when. The early Gamecube days I think. IGN sucked. But I liked people on IGN. So I figured screw it, we need an IGN away from IGN. I'm not even sure if IGN is necessarily worse than it was back then, you could pretty much never have a good convo outside stuff like Resident Evil 4 and Metroid Prime.

Everyone should be recruiting all the good IGNers! I mean everyone who still goes there. I've been a bit lazy about it lately what with papers every damn week for grad school. But I do try to bring in some good posters when I see them.

Anyway, I think I will go find said thread and post about Nyxquest, because that game rocks. Top 5 Wiiware for me, I think.

Posted by 
 on: 09/11/09, 04:50
Ugghh....remind me to stay away from NPD threads.

"When you get out of a film you really loved and everybody around you trashes it non stop for questionable reasons, yes, it does get in the way of your enjoyment. Especially if you bother discussing it with said people."

That's a good point. I hate that very much. People who dislike the movie should keep it to themselves right after the experience...or it'll ruin it for the people who enjoyed it. Wait for the movie to at least sink in, dammit!

Zero: peargrove would be a good addition to this place. His posts are coolies.

I know I can invite people myself but I never want to without checking first, in case people disagree about the person or something. But I doubt you'll disagree about peargrove...

Posted by 
 on: 09/11/09, 07:05
simbaddad: I try to like the Wii lobby, but there are too many ravenous fanboys there. I mean, didn't the guy in the thread you mentioned basically said something to the effect of "people are brainwashed into liking 360 games" or something of the sort? That "I know why you like what you like better than even you do" kind of thinking annoys me no matter what "side" uses it.

I guess my problem is I expect people to treat each other with respect on the Internet.

griptor - I did check out the thread he was talking about though. While they may be good games, one of them is a port from the SNES days, and another is a Contra (is that a remake?) on WiiWare. Thats cool and all, but downloadable games just aren't the same as full-fledged console retail titles.

I'm sorry, but it's not just any port from the SNES days. It's a game in which pressing pause at the right moment allows you to stare at the pixellated bare ass of Princess Leia. Come on!

And it's a mother-effin' new Contra game using Contra III (the best!) as a template! How is that not increasing your frothing demand? Come on!

Maybe my problem (after the "expecting respect" one, I mean) is expecting people to get excited for a sequel to one of the greatest co-op games of all time?

Hmm, perhaps I do love retro gaming a little too much...

Posted by 
 on: 09/11/09, 07:08
That's another thing is that people on the "Wii side" get fed up of hearing about Xbox and all the potshots at the Wii so they inevitably start fighting fire with fire and saying things like Xbox only has shooters, HD is a gimmick, etc. Problem is, this causes people to say "Nintendo fanboys are just as bad!" Of course, they're not, because they're doing it in defense and you never see anyone saying stuff like that on the 360 board.

Posted by 
 on: 09/11/09, 11:35
Nah don't bother checking just start inviting away. I think we all know who should and shouldn't be around here.

Posted by 
 on: 09/11/09, 17:12
There's some truth to what you're saying, but I think you're reading a bit too much into it. In general, 'controversial topics', no matter how stupid they are, will always generate more responses than legitimate discussion, on any message board (has that been tested here?). If I made a post with the subject line of "The Wii still have no gamez", it would get, like, 4 pages guaranteed. No matter how ill-advised, people will always jump in on defense, others will jump in on offense, and it turns into a jamboree. I ignore that stuff these days (although it's still fun to skim through), but a lot of people can't help themselves. Then again, if they're enjoying their time, why not? (As far as the Batman thread, it IS kind of the new hotness. I was just excited to discuss Batman.)

The WiiGB not being a place for the serious discussion of games is a different issue, I think. There are some nice people there, and some intelligent people, but the overall level of discourse rarely rises above a certain shallow threshold.

Then again, maybe it's just egotistical and selfish to expect people to be excited about the same things you're excited about and want to discuss things in the manner that you do.

I'm always interested in the stuff AROUND gaming, or an in-depth debate or discussion of game mechanics or player psychology or overall human behavior, but it seems that not many other people are. People generally don't like digging too deep into anything. Unless it's, like, sports. Or cars. But, looking at the matter from the outside, it would appear that I'm the abnormal one.

Posted by 
 on: 09/11/09, 18:41
The WiiGB not being a place for the serious discussion of games is a different issue, I think. There are some nice people there, and some intelligent people, but the overall level of discourse rarely rises above a certain shallow threshold.




I agree with you on a whole, but at the same time I agree with the sentiment that there's this level of apathy towards anything Wii-related that's mind-shattering, and the back and forth sometimes happens in threads that aren't even related to the Wii at all.

Case in point: Anyone involved/read that locked thread on the DSGB that turned into a Wii bash-fest? It devolved QUICKLY.

It's just that lack of courtesy, lack of respect, and the overall attitude of "gamers" this gen that really has made things so unpleasant. Thing is, it's actually a bit better than it was in the GCN era. That was when I left the boards due to money issues and just not wanting to deal with it anymore.

Also, not to sound like a wuss or anything, but I do agree that it's disheartening and sometimes frustrating when something you really like and hold dear is generally trashed everywhere. I've rarely had it happen, but sometimes listening to people consistently rag on something has lowered my interest in something, because whether I want to or not, in the back of my mind those things will remain.

As far as AD and Trndkill... I don't have a problem with them (I think Trndkill is alright in discussions, though it definitely depends on what's being discussed if that makes sense), but they do have a nice habit of turning things into list wars (AD) or bringing up something on the PC/30/PS3 quickly in threads that probably don't warrant it - especially considering they don't have the system.

Overall though, there is definitely a sense of apathy out there, but I think it's more or less that sensational news get all the attention, warranted or not, sadly.

BTW, don't get me wrong here; if it wasn't for the few people there that I like and appreciate having conversation with, my account would be closed right now. ;-p

Posted by 
 on: 09/12/09, 14:52
I'd complain more, but Negative World's activity level seems to have an inverse relationship with the quality of IGN's Nintendo forums...

Posted by 
 on: 09/12/09, 20:37
Anyway, I heard Contra Rebirth is not that good. Myself I find it extremely ugly, especially compared to the SNES or Genesis ones.

Oh, man, I just downloaded it tonight, and it is EXACTLY what I wanted from a Contra III sequel. It's pretty damn awesome, and I don't understand the "ugly compared to the SNES one", because it was designed to look just like it. Oh well.

Posted by 
 on: 09/14/09, 04:19
Is it out (legally) yet? Thinking about getting it. TRU better do another buy 1 get 1 half off on their Wii point cards soon though, I hate paying full price for games.

Posted by 
 on: 09/14/09, 07:18
Of course! Came out last week, same week as Muramasa and Super RotJ, which is what my thread on IGN was supposed to be all about, before it was hijacked into an "XBLA/Steam really rock" thread.

Also, do check out Passage like I suggested earlier, it's very much relevant to your first post.

Posted by 
 on: 09/14/09, 16:04
Man, don't you guys love XBLA/Steam? They really rock.

Posted by 
 on: 09/15/09, 05:13

I'd complain more, but Negative World's activity level seems to have an inverse relationship with the quality of IGN's Nintendo forums...

Haha, I'm sure you're enjoying that right now! (-_^ )


Man, don't you guys love XBLA/Steam? They really rock.


LOL!

That said... yes, yes they do!

Well, I can't speak too much for XBLA yet aside from my purchases of Super Puzzle Fighter II: HD Remix and Mark of the Wolves (which is one of the best fighting games ever made, go buy it nao), but Steam is awesome.

And then... there's WiiWare...

I can't wait till I'm working again to really go crazy buying stuff. I LOVE this new era of downloadable, indie games. Reminds me of the old days of computer gaming where I'd rent games for my Atari 520ST all the time, or getting those magazines that had free Atari ST games on disc... Kinda' has that feeling to me. Takes me back to the days of being an indie dev myself...

Posted by 
 on: 09/17/09, 03:35
Haha, we had an Atari 1040ST. It was pretty cool. Dungeon Master and full, built-in MIDI support!

Posted by 
 on: 09/17/09, 19:39
Oh man, MIDI support was so awesome. Had an old Casio hooked up to it, did so much amazing crap on that thing...

A program called Music Studio that was purely MIDI-based and used actual musical notation was my first experience recording music. Then it was a sequencer called Tiger Cub...

Star Goose! Zynaps!

STOS Basic! I sent sooooo much time making games in STOS, I was on my way to becoming a programmer til I realized that I really hate Algebra and Programming, lol.

I remember this one game called Yomo that was made in STOS Basic (it was one of those promotional packs you could buy of games made in the language to study from), really cool war game and one of my first RTS games I've ever played (actually probably the first!)... I've looked u everything I can for that game, but no-go. It's one of those tings that will be lost to me forever...

...sorry, old man ranting and raving there. I guess I get to say I was PC gaming before PC gaming became PC gaming. (o_O )

Posted by 
 on: 09/19/09, 11:04
 
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