Why I gave up the Wii

I love the Wii. I really do.

(Credit: Nintendo of America)

Over the weekend, as I was playing Prince of Persia on the PlayStation 3, I came to the realization that my Wii has been dormant for months, except when I needed to fire it up to review a game.

It's not that I dislike the Wii. I think it's one of the greatest consoles I've ever owned and I enjoy the style of gameplay. And when I do play games on the system, they're usually fun. But I haven't done that in months.

I realize nothing is stopping me from popping Super Mario Galaxy or Red Steel into the console. But the sad reality is I never really liked those games enough to play through them again, and much like other titles on the Wii, I find myself only enjoying them if I have a group of friends to play with.

I'm starting to wonder if I'm alone.

According to NPD, Nintendo sold 2.15 million Wii consoles in December 2008, which pushes the company's total unit sales to more than 46 million. Compare that with the Xbox 360's 27.8 million unit sales and the PlayStation 3's 19.8 million units, and it becomes reasonably apparent that many people are having fun with the Wii, at least for a while.

That's further evidenced by a recent study performed by MTV. Using the Wii's Nintendo Channel, which the company claims tracks the playing habits of more than 1 million U.S. gamers, MTV determined how long people are playing different Wii titles.

MTV found that Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the most played game on the console, and that the average player put in almost 65 hours with the title. Guitar Hero III is second with 58 hours and 41 minutes of average gameplay, followed by Twilight Princess, tallying 46 hours and 29 minutes of average gameplay. The 10th most popular title, Metroid Prime 3, is played for 21 hours by the average player.

Obviously someone is playing the Wii. Just not me.

Since early November 2008, I haven't played my Wii at all, unless I'm reviewing a game for my Digital Home Video Show. During that time, I've spent most of my game time on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. I've even played a few games on my SNES (I'm a sucker for old school gaming).

I should note, though, that I really do enjoy games on the Wii. Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a fun game to play and Wii Fit is enjoyable. I really like Mario Kart Wii and even Mario Party 8 had me captivated for a little while.

Do you see a trend here? All of the games that I enjoy most are multiplayer titles that are best-suited for more than one person. Sure, you can play those games alone, but to be quite honest, they're not that fun without someone else to play with. And although online gaming can be fun at times, I really have no desire to engage in that on the Wii either.

But on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, I've been playing a slew of titles that are just as fun when playing alone as with friends. Gears of War 2 has topped the list lately and as I mentioned above, I've enjoyed my time with Prince of Persia. I can't get enough of Fable 2 and when I want to play some football, I pop in Madden NFL 09.

In contrast, a quick glance at the recent releases for the Wii tell you much of what you need to know about the console. In the past few weeks, titles like SimAnimals, Imagine: Fashion Party, Fishing Master World Tour, and Neopets Puzzle Adventure have been made available on the console. And although more violent games like Tenchu Shadow Assassin and House of the Dead: Overkill will be hitting store shelves in the next few weeks and Red Faction and Call of Duty are already available for the system, the Wii is currently overrun with titles that are either too casual for my liking or provide the most value when in the company of friends. And as a married man, having that 30-minute respite with a solid Action/Adventure title is ideal for me.

I realize that gaming is an individual choice. After all, why else would we have fanboys who support one console or another? Some prefer the Wii because they've always loved their Nintendo consoles and enjoy the Wii's style of gamplay. Others dislike the Wii, casting it aside as if it's not a worthy competitor to their favorite consoles, the PlayStation 3 or the Xbox 360. Either way, everyone has their preference.

Though I'm sure some who will look at this column will say that I reside in the second grouping and I'm a Nintendo hater, that's actually not true at all. I've owned every Nintendo console and loved each one. I've just lost interest in the Wii lately and I'm desperately trying to find a title that will give me the kind of gameplay experience I'm currently finding in blockbuster titles on other consoles.

Check out Don's Digital Home podcast, Twitter feed, and FriendFeed.

[blaine_ca]

Yes, the Wii needs more titles... not a lot recently but... the new Prince of Persia is one of the most BORING games ever made. Honestly, if you're playing that instead of anything by Nintendo (Paper Mario, Metroid, Fire Emblem, Galaxy, even Pokemon Diamond! etc.etc. ) then there is something wrong with you. :) If you had started with "I've been playing Fallout 3" you might have had me, but I'm not buying it with Prince of Persia... there's TONS of single player stuff on the Wii that destroys that title.

[Joe3026]

Here's a suggestion, Don. Look at the list of titles coming out for the Wii in 2009. While I agree that the Wii has not had many hardcore titles in the past, a huge amount of third party game companies are jumping ship and going to the Wii. Yes, there are a ton of exclusive hardcore third party games coming out for the Wii this year.

In fact, Wii has become strong enough to take away some titles that used to be Sony exclusives, like Monster Hunter 3 and Fatal Frame 4. And Samurai Warriors 3, the next title in a series that used to be only for the Xbox and PS2, is now a Wii only title. You should have done some more research on upcoming Wii titles. In addition to the above and the ones you mentioned, there's also Madworld, Sin and Punishment 2, Arc Rise Fantasia, Dynamic Slash, Kizuna, Cursed Mountain, Tales of Ten, Overlord: Dark Legend, Deadly Creatures, and The Conduit. All those games are hardcore, Wii exclusive, and better than most of what has come out for the Wii in the past.

Also, the Wii Motion Plus is set to come out this year, which is supposed to increase to movement of the Wii remote, giving what Nintendo says is a perfect 1:1 response in gameplay.

[Spartan_458]

The problem with MotionPlus is that only games coded to support it will work with it. Which means that you'll have fun playing Wii Sports: Resort. After that you'll have to wait a while because Nintendo didn't tell anyone that it was going to release MotionPlus until E3.

Also, $30 for it? What a rip. Ninty is milking the Wii so much.

[wolvesgod]

@ Spartan_458

You do realize there are already three games, maybe more, that i know of coming out and have Wii Motion plus support;
The Conduit (Even with the wii speak support and 16 online players simultaneous)
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
Red Steel 2

Even if Nintendo did wait until E3 it still gives people time to add into the program hell the Conduit got it with in three month, or was it two.

[The_Dimsum]

Spartan wii motion plus comes with wii motion sports sort of like wii play with a remote so it's not 2 bad of a rip but i am unsure of how effective it will be...

[eltoro2827]

havent touched the wii since october.

[The 3rd Nipple]

Actually I have to agree with you Don. I gave my folk's a Wii for x-mas this year and I've owned a PS3 for nearly a year myself. Indeed the Wii is a blast at first and since x-mas my parents have bought some more games for it. However, playing the Wii by yourself after a while (at your folk's house no less) gets boring quick and you know that most of the games are geared for a party of people to play at once....or so it seems. So yes, compared to my PS3 games, the Wii is boring and the graphics seem subpar to the blast I have playing solo on my PS3. I'd still take a PS3 over a Wii anyday...unless I was having a party and needed to entertain guests. Then I'd be borrowing my folk's Wii.

[atomD21]

That was the whole game plan behind the Wii right from the beginning. Nintendo wanted it to be a party console where everyone could play (hence the name Wii). The problem is that not everyone is always having friends over to play and the online component isn't a viable substitute. So in the end, boring single player just kills the fun.

[Halo9X]

I'm a 2 console person. I have a Wii and a 360. I've had the 360 the longest. Before that it was an XBOX and Gamecube. Each console has its strengths and weaknesses. There's also a game issue. Each console has games that are unique to it. The Wii has Metroid, Link and Mario. the 360 has Halo and a few others. The PS3 has Resistance and Final Fantasy. There's no point in trying to have all 3 (my wife wouldn't allow it) but 2 gives you flexibility in playing the games you like on each system. Different strokes for different moods.

[CDubber]

Those of us with *jobs* aren't finding ourselves playing console games much these days, period. That's my guess. Downtime is spent surfing the Web, playing games on the computer, maybe grabbing some mobile gaming time on the iPhone, DS or PSP (sorry haters, the iPhone is turning out to be a fun little gaming device).

You could always play Uncanny Valley Basketball Version 23 or Space Marine Gorefest Part 18 on the PS3 or Xbox 360, but most of us are tired of that junk too.

Me, I'm just waiting for Starcraft 2. (Hurry Blizzard!)

[viper396]

Speak for yourself, not for the rest of us with *jobs*.

[dpchris]

I used to game religiously, but with every passing year I find myself playing less and less. And I'm only 24. I've owned an Xbox 360 for two years and a PlayStation 3 for one year, yet I own four 'proper' games (and two $10 downloadables) for the two systems combined. I don't know why I've lost so much interest in gaming -- if I've outgrown video games, if I've found other ways to occupy my time, if they just don't make 'em like they used to -- but whatever the case, I'm not sure if I'll even be buying a console when the next generation rolls considering the ones I do own are now $800 paperweights.

[Halo9X]

I agree. The Wii is such that even my wife enjoys playing it whereas she would never try the 360. However, the game I find myself playing the most is... Chess on my iMac.

[csmith75]

Well, this person with a "career" plays a console game almost every night. I have a PS3, two 360s, a Wii, DS, PSP, and an iPod touch. My Wii gets the most play even though I have far more games on the other consoles.

[mediocrates--2008]

So Don... explain to us again how MS and Sony should admit the Wii is competition? 'Cause it kinda sounds like maybe it's really not after all.

[Joe3026]

When a system takes away some of your third party exclusives, like the Wii did by taking Monster Hunter 3 and Fatal Frame 4 away from the PS3, it's competition.

[terminalblue]

it took you three years to realize that was the Wii's gimmick?

[iBuzz]

I have an Xbox, PS3, and Wii (just like to keep up with what's going on), and in my house, the Wii gets the most usage. In fact, the Xbox and PS3 aren't even hooked up to the main TV anymore. That's probably because I have a 10-year-old who is really into the Mario games and Boom Blox on the Wii.

I guess it all depends on the demographic. Not everyone is like you.

[spar13]

Put like two weeks after SSBB came out. that was the last time I touched the wii, I completely agree with this article. The Wii might have some popular titles and have some shared console ones but the simple fact is, the system is a multi player system. The single player games created for it suck because its on the wii, when your playing single player games, you want graphics and smooth gameplay. I only start my wii when I have friends over. I don't think this will change even with new expansions.

[Kensal_D]

for all the people who bought a wii...please read this article to understand why many of you who bought it now wonder where you may have put it...or why you wish you now had a 360 or ps3....someone above mentioned some games that are about to come out for 2009....most of these games i yawn at..the graphics will be below par as usual and is an obvious ploy by nintendo to maintain the public's attention to its unbelievable imaginative yet painfully woeful true gaming macine. i can guarantee you that the majority of parents who bought their pleading kids the wii or showed an interest in its interactivity hardly even look at it let alone play it anymore if they ever did at all...but its still doing very well still selling bucketloads and will continue to do so thanks to the nintendo marketing machine in full swing again like it was in the early nineties...but for us true gamers enjoying the total gaming experience especially on the xbox 360 we'll just continue to laugh at those gamers still playing bowling with stickmen on the wii...lol.

[Joe3026]

You should look up some pictures of The Conduit.

[blaine_ca]

Graphics don't count for so much for a lot of us. I just finished Fallout 3 on my PS3 and now I'm back playing Paper Mario Thousand Year Door - and Paper Mario is a much better game for me - because it requires strategy and the RPG elements are a bigger part of the game. The graphics don't touch Fallout (although the graphic design is as good if not better), but IMHO it's a better all round game. A lot of the games I've played on my PS3 (Bioshock, Prince of Persia, GT 5 Prologue, Brothers in Arms) have had very nice graphics, but have really suffered on the strategy side. I'd say Bioshock was the best of them... that was a challenging game IMHO, but Prince of Persia is laughable. MGS4 was awesome, though, just for the boss battles which are classic... and yes the graphics in it were just too damn sweet! :)
I really think that if developers continue to focus on eye candy it won't be long before people stop playing games ... it's nice to play a game that requires no mental effort, but when people stop getting the rush of completing something their time with gaming will soon come to an end. Just my opinion though... I'm usually wrong about what gamers will buy...
Of course there are titles like Disgaea and Valkyria Chronicles on the PS3... I just don't mention those because they really aren't big name games here - although I do really like them.

[deslock]

@blaine_ca
I'm trying to agree with you on the graphics side and until a couple weeks ago I thought I did... but I broke out a bunch of my old classic games (Bard's Tale, Wasteland, Might and Magic) that required lots of strategy and I'm being totally honest that I can't do it.

Games honest to goodness need to innovate graphics too. It's par for the course and Wii is just barely good enough for now. Personally, SSmashBros would suck if it weren't for the platform design. It looks clunky as heck but at least the action is fast paced saving it. But on my widescreen HD it is painful.

[richarley]

Red Faction for Wii!? That`s weird, this title was canned last year. And, don't you know about games like Metroid Prime 3, No More Heroes, Zack & Wiki, Fire Emblem, Battalion Wars 2, RE: Umbrella Cronicles, Boom Blox, and De Blob!? Maybe with just a little research you will find some good games...

[Joe3026]

For these newer posts, I'll repeat myself. The Wii looks like its going to release many hardcore titles this year, so any previous assumptions about the Wii as only a casual gamer system should be left behind. Nintendo will certainly keep on releasing party games, but the 2009 list of Wii games is very different.

Look at my post above (second from the top).

[stanorlaski]

What I've noticed is that there aren't any Wii fanboys, no one advocates for it. All I have seen is disinterest, not hate, just no interest. That seems to be the trend among my sons and their friends as well

[Zoobie]

Maybe the Wii fanboys would rather spend time playing games than trolling message boards like this.

The "hardcore gamer" currently doesn't understand that different demographics exist. And you can't assume little girls or seniors will always be captivated with Petz. My 7-yr old daughter dumped Petz when we got SSBB for Christmas--go figure. I never saw that coming.

[Random_Walk]

One would think that the ultimate advocacy, _money_, has already spoken loudly enough to be heard by every console selling CEO on Earth.

If out-selling your two closest competitors by an embarrassing margin isn't advocacy, then what is?

[HlLLARY CLITON]

I was the same way with an Xbox, could never stay very interested. The machine sat idle for a couple eyars before I gave it way to a needy kid. The machine is getting a workout now.

[smokinmunky]

I sold mine this past xmass after having it for around 8 months. The lack of good games was a big factor. I really like Wii tennis but got bored of it after a while. Mario cart was cool for a while but got bored of that as well.

[Kensal_D]

i like that comment you made stan....its true everyone excepts that the wii has done exceptionally well...even probably beyond nintendo's imagination....when i first saw it i thought'...wow sexy..slick..etc..then i saw the games and thought what the **** is this. where are the next gen games. yes its responsive yes the games that they've got are nice...but WHERE ARE THE NEXT GEN GAMES...lol
then i realised that was it and they went to whole new level of coaxing a different type of gamer in...fair enough so i cussed them for doing that but applauded them for succeding with it also. and then as i finished playing halo 3 and the first gears of war...i just laughed and thought..oh well...lol.
it just does'nt really matter...and now as i play gears of war 2 and little big planet..ermmm what was that nintendo machine called again..you get my drift.

[vamman]

You might be just getting too old there Don. The Wii has been sitting on the floor in my bedroom for almost 9 months now never touched. Both myself and my fiancee lost interest in after a few months. The novelty of the thing has worn off I guess. That and the fact that every game we've tried to play on it simply turns boring or to complex to keep us interested. That and the fact that Nintendo's action games tend to be mostly action chat really annoy the hell out of us especially when the characters actually use the phrase "teehee".

There was alot of excitement when we purchased the Wii but I like my 20 year old sister just can't be bothered with it. Its a fact of Generation-X getting older but still trying to cling to those things that we remember from being kids. The act of playing super mario bros until your eyes popped out.

[rehabdoc]

I think the usage model of the "hard core gamer" is probably not going to ever be the measure of a game system in the future.

Who has time to spend 65 hours alone playing a game? If you have friends or a life, it's not really how you want to spend your time.

Only games that have local or online cooperation are really going to make a splash in the future with adults... or even teens.

[pjhenry1216]

Who has time to spend 65 hours alone playing a game? I'll hazard a guess and say the same kinds of people who've been playing hours upon hours alone in the past. That demographic isn't going to disappear. Its still there. Ever since I played FFVII, I've had no issues with finding time to play games like that and I put in a LOT of time. People like us are the reasons some games have little mini sidequests and hiding tokens and flags that serve little to no purpose.

Like someone has mentioned earlier, different people like different things. Local & online cooperation games are always going to hinder games with story lines as involved as FFVII had. The story is geared towards one person, one point of view. And if you get pulled into that story, you don't want to wait for your friend to sign back on so you can continue and find out what happens next.

[csmith75]

I think you're right about that. The games that get the most play in my house are the ones in which there's online cooperation. Every Wednesday, I make sure I'm available to play Mario Kart online with a group of coworkers and friends scattered across the East Coast. To me, that's way more fun than playing Gears of War 2 alone.

[mjconver]

I played our family's Wii all last weekend. It was Zelda: the Wind Waker, a Gamecube game from 5 years ago. The kids had all played it and moved on, but I've been too busy. It was a very nice touch to throw the Gamecube hardware in there.

[Kensal_D]

i like that comment you made stan....its true everyone excepts that the wii has done exceptionally well...even probably beyond nintendo's imagination....when i first saw it i thought'...wow sexy..slick..etc..then i saw the games and thought what the **** is this. where are the next gen games. yes its responsive yes the games that they've got are nice...but WHERE ARE THE NEXT GEN GAMES...lol
then i realised that was it and they went to whole new level of coaxing a different type of gamer in...fair enough so i cussed them for doing that but applauded them for succeding with it also. and then as i finished playing halo 3 and the first gears of war...i just laughed and thought..oh well...lol.
it just does'nt really matter...and now as i play gears of war 2 and little big planet..ermmm what was that nintendo machine called again..you get my drift.