17th September 2012, 9:40 PM
Wait, downloadable games and emulated software are "revolutionary advances" now? I'm pretty sure the PC had both of those years before the Wii came along, and the 360 perfected it better than Nintendo ever did.
I get what you mean about poor use of controls. Ideally the motion controls should be used in those situations where they do a better job than buttons could, and not be forced on players in unwelcome situations.
Pikmin 2 on Wii is an example of where motion controls shine. Twilight Princess, as much as I was wow'd by it when it first came out, is an example of really awkward controls.
The thing is, I actually really like Skyward Sword's motion controls. Are they needed? Not strictly, but they do a much better job than Twilight Princess (though still not quite 1 to 1) and I really enjoyed sword battles in that game. That said, some things just are done better with buttons. The DS Zelda games probably should have had a button based control scheme, with the exception of map making and setting paths for Zelda. Along those lines, I really don't want to see forced tablet controls. New Super Mario Bros 2 used the touch screen to switch items with no option to use the select button (which was mapped the same as the start button). There was no reason for that. I hate smudging a screen when I don't need to. I also didn't like that game's implementation of 3D. Super Mario 3D Land hit it perfectly, but NSMB2, aside from not needing 3D (it's a purely 2D game) did something really annoying. The higher the 3D slider, the blurrier the background layers got, like an artificial "depth of field" effect. The backgrounds look amazing in that game, and there's a bit of "depth" with the layers there, but it's not at all worth the effort when the game blurs it out in 3D. Better to play it in 2D and keep everything crystal clear (right now).
The Wii's got plenty of amazing games at this point, and I loved Kirby's Return to Dreamland, so yes, I'll pick up the Wii U. I just think the Wii U is going to end up like the Gamecube in the next generation. Sales will still be decent enough for them to keep trucking along, but it'll mainly be a generation for the Nintendorks such as ourselves. I could be surprised though.
I get what you mean about poor use of controls. Ideally the motion controls should be used in those situations where they do a better job than buttons could, and not be forced on players in unwelcome situations.
Pikmin 2 on Wii is an example of where motion controls shine. Twilight Princess, as much as I was wow'd by it when it first came out, is an example of really awkward controls.
The thing is, I actually really like Skyward Sword's motion controls. Are they needed? Not strictly, but they do a much better job than Twilight Princess (though still not quite 1 to 1) and I really enjoyed sword battles in that game. That said, some things just are done better with buttons. The DS Zelda games probably should have had a button based control scheme, with the exception of map making and setting paths for Zelda. Along those lines, I really don't want to see forced tablet controls. New Super Mario Bros 2 used the touch screen to switch items with no option to use the select button (which was mapped the same as the start button). There was no reason for that. I hate smudging a screen when I don't need to. I also didn't like that game's implementation of 3D. Super Mario 3D Land hit it perfectly, but NSMB2, aside from not needing 3D (it's a purely 2D game) did something really annoying. The higher the 3D slider, the blurrier the background layers got, like an artificial "depth of field" effect. The backgrounds look amazing in that game, and there's a bit of "depth" with the layers there, but it's not at all worth the effort when the game blurs it out in 3D. Better to play it in 2D and keep everything crystal clear (right now).
The Wii's got plenty of amazing games at this point, and I loved Kirby's Return to Dreamland, so yes, I'll pick up the Wii U. I just think the Wii U is going to end up like the Gamecube in the next generation. Sales will still be decent enough for them to keep trucking along, but it'll mainly be a generation for the Nintendorks such as ourselves. I could be surprised though.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)