The Wii is now $199.99

[A Black Falcon]

First, on the issue of adding things to roms, etc, that'd actually be a lot of work, so I fully understand not doing things like translating them, adding modes, what have you. That'd be a LOT of work. However, I of course do not at all condone their ridiculous failures to add obviously needed modes like Wiimote-as-light gun, tilt-as-dpad, etc. Emulators on the PC offer things like mouse-as-lightgun, dpad-as-tilt, etc. There's no excuse the Wii doesn't also! This is something that only requires emulator work, not rom modification -- the game doesn't know it's not getting the actual input, only the emulator... :)


Anyway though, Nintendo's games are only on Wii, not 360. That pretty much ends the discussion of which to get. Even making less games this gen than they used to, there are still more than enough must-owns for me on Wii... versus very few anywhere near that level on 360.

I mean, as I said, I just don't want those innumerable dual-stick FPSes you find on PS3 and 360. In the off chance that I actually do want an FPS, something that doesn't happen often, I'd want it on PC, where I actually don't hate the controls like I do with standard Halo-style FPS controls...

I can make some exceptions for a few N64 FPS games and Metroid Prime, but anything in the genre that's also on PC, it's better there. And FPSes are the biggest genre this generation on consoles, unfortunately.

There are also a bunch of hack-and-slash action games like the Ninja Gaiden ones, Onimusha, etc, which might be entertaining for a little while but don't interest me all that much, and certainly aren't anywhere near system sellers. I like other kinds of games more.

So on the 360, that leaves... what? Crackdown, yeah... the few shmups it has like Raiden 4 and Raiden Fighters Aces (and Geometry Wars 2 on XBLA, as well as a few more, and the promise of maybe even some Cave games upcoming, which would be amazing!), certainly, the fighting games like King of Fighters XII, Soul Calibur IV, and Dead or Alive 4 for sure (Street Fighter IV is also on PC, where it's just as good as long as you have a gamepad... though they just announced Super SFIV only for PS3 and 360 so far, so we'll see for that one)... oh, and a few RPGs and action-RPGs like Star Ocean 4, Tales of Vesperia, Infinite Undiscovery...

But when I think of that list and then compare it to what I'd want on the Wii, it's absolutely no contest in favor of the Wii.

-Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn -- my most wanted game for any system I do not own.
-Mario Galaxy - looks amazing... must have!
-Excite Truck and Excitebots -- Excite Truck I've played a bit of, extremely fun game... these two would be must-haves.
-Mario Kart Wii -- best Mario Kart since MK64!
-shmups -- Ultimate Shooting Collection, Castle Shikigami 3, Blast Works, a few more. Not bad at all. Add to that Gradius Rebirth and Star Soldier R on WiiWare. (not counting the large number on VC of course, but I prefer those games on those original systems...)
-fighting games -- now here Wii doesn't quite match up, but it does have Samurai Shodown Collection (which is just as good on PS2, admittedly), SSBB, and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom coming up which might be decent... oh, and Guilty Gear X2 Accent Core Plus, which is great. There are a few more I'm not thinking of I'm sure. Admittedly though PS3/360 do win here.
-other platformers -- there aren't nearly enough, but there are a few with a bit of promise like Mushroom Men or a few others. Maybe look into the Sonic games or NiGHTS? Mega Man 9 is on all three systems of course.
-stuff good with tilt controls like Kororinpa and the like -- I remember loving Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble on the GBC, I'd love to play some of those. :)
-other racing games - I'd want Speed Zone and Speed Racer of course, no matter how good or not they are. And hopefully Wii will get an F-Zero before it dies... :(

etc.

As for futuristic racing games, yes, they're largely missing this generation, and it's very sad. I really love them, and no console this generation has much of a futuristic racing lineup worth looking at... this is all there is:

Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) (Handheld)
--
*Wipeout Pure
*Shinseiki GPX Cyber Formula VS (Japan only)
*Spinout (Europe/Australia only) (there was also a PS2 version announced, but it doesn't seem to have been released)
Wipeout Pulse (also on PS2, though Europe-only on that system, unlike this one which was released in all regions)
StateShift (Europe/Australia only)

Nintendo DS (Handheld)
--
*Speed Racer

Microsoft Xbox 360(discs)
--
Fatal Inertia

Xbox 360 Live Arcade Titles (XBLA)
--
Novadrome (mostly arena combat, but there is one checkpoint racing mode)

Nintendo Wii (discs)
--
Speed Racer (2008)
Speed Zone (called Wheelspin in Europe)


That's just sad. :(