Comments on: Is the Wii a 'viable platform' for M-rated games?

Take-Two Interactive Software's chief executive claims that Nintendo's Wii console is a "viable platform" for games labeled "Mature." Is it really?

[man_w_balls]

want mature content on your Wii?
just get the Wii Browser (Opera) on there and watch porn on the internet
oh, wait - the browser's flash player is so outdated you can't watch 90% of streaming video
oops

The lack of Mature games for the Wii is Nintendo's fault - they marketed it for younger audiences it seems
Too much whimsy and not enough awesome.
They still need to update the browser, though.

[nintendokid4]

yeah, you are right. The Wiis browser may not have a great flash player, but it is better than the Xbox browser (they don't have one)

[AKCHEF72]

Mature content on the WII is lame compared to 360 and PS3. The graphics do not come through and they seem to dumb it down for the "mario" audience. Even for the game Shaun White snowboarding they made it cartoon-ee and all Nintendo-ee and even cut some content out of the other versions. It really sucked. I know more people over 50 that have a Wii than anyone else. Heck even the Senior Center has a Wii bowling league. Its a great family platform but if you want to blow the head off some zombies or run over a hooker in GTA its better to do it on the real gaming systems. Face it, Nintendo will always be about Mario, Zelda and making goofy games for themselves.

[ChicagoZ]

The Conduit. It's not rated yet, but it's a GLORIOUS looking FPS coming out in 09 for the Wii. If this game sells well, the market will be flooded with wonderful mature content for all to enjoy. Check the link for an amazing looking video.

http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2008/04/18/introducing-a-mature-fps-in-high-voltages-the-conduit/

This video should sell you not only on how well an FPS can work on the Wii, but that the Wii does have nice graphic capabilities. This will also support online multiplayer and voice chat. This game isn't even out yet and it's already won a boatload of awards. Not really sure why this wasn't mentioned in your article because it's this game that will jump start the true capabilities of the Wii.

[ChicagoZ]

My bad on the link. That was just a tech demo. Here is a video of gameplay.

http://wii.ign.com/dor/objects/14248157/the-conduit/videos/THE_CONDUIT_AWARDS_121008.html

Check out IGN for more videos.

[soutrik93]

"glorious"? haven't called anything in 480p glorious since 1998. Face it dude, there isn't a single game on the wii that isnt just a couple of colorful and blocky pixels dancing around the screen, set to annoying music. I respect both the ps3 and 360 equally and im willing to give the wii a chance, if it releases a single game that I won't get bored of in 2 hours. The reason its selling so well it because its a novelty to all the preteens and seniors of the world, just like AKCHEF said. By this point, just about all hardcore gamers have abandoned the wii, and the "casual" gamers will soon leave it as well. The wii represents a unique experiment in gaming, but atrocious graphics and cheap thrills do not make a sustainable product

[soutrik93]

"glorious"? haven't called anything in 480p glorious since 1998. Face it dude, there isn't a single game on the wii that isnt just a couple of colorful and blocky pixels dancing around the screen, set to annoying music. I respect both the ps3 and 360 equally and im willing to give the wii a chance, if it releases a single game that I won't get bored of in 2 hours. The reason its selling so well it because its a novelty to all the preteens and seniors of the world, just like AKCHEF said. By this point, just about all hardcore gamers have abandoned the wii, and the "casual" gamers will soon leave it as well. The wii represents a unique experiment in gaming, but atrocious graphics and cheap thrills do not make a sustainable product

also, Ive seen that exact game, graphics and all, somewhere else. Its called Half-Life 1. Although i wouldnt be too surprised if the wii's killer app turned out to be a clone.

[mlehiste]

Gamestop is definitely the right place to look for Mature wii games - they don't even have "No More Heros" which is best M rated game I know of

[mlehiste]

Don - next time you write an article - look for a retailer which has ALL the games - like amazon - they have 25 M rated Wii games: http://www.amazon.com/s/qid=1229623728/ref=sr_nr_p_esrb_age_rating-bi_4?ie=UTF8&rs=14219011&bbn=14219011&rnid=360713011&rh=n%3A468642%2Cn%3A14218901%2Cn%3A14219011%2Cp_esrb_age_rating-bin%3A00060{Mature{

[FellowConspirator]

Funny, since the Wii players have a much higher average age -- though the distribution is bi-modal with one mode around 12 and another around 45. Also, the old C64 game "Stroker" would be a natural for the Wii... I'm sure there's some amazing things one could accomplish with the accelerometer and force-feedback device.

[warriorhawk88x]

Nintendo developed a console for everyone else, making it well but cheap, and to make it cheap and well they had to cut features instead of risking the product overheating and giving something like the RROD. It was a great move for their business but it left some gamers out, those that want more Resident Evil. Its lack of HD DVD and Blu Ray means that games developed to use the larger size would have to cut content to get it to play and the Wii isn't designed to compete with the graphics of the PS3 and 360. I doubt the Wii can cater to the audience that is looking for mature games any more. Nintendo has been mostly left out of the loop for awhile now, first because of mini discs and now because of cheaper hardware.

It's still a fun console but its lacking in the grittier game department.

[freemarket--2008]

Just one point: The 360 only needs a DVD disk, so how can not having an HD disk format be detrimental to the Wii? Wii doesn't have an HD resolution output and the 360 does.

[VOR75]

The Wii uses DVD just like the 360. They do not have to cut anything out of a game to make it fit on the disc because it does not use HD textures etc. Also M ratings have nothing to do with graphics. You do understand that PS2 had M rated games right? Wii is 4 times more powerful than the PS2 is. I fail to see how they couldnt deliver an M rated game at all like you claim when they are not only out now but on the way. You are clearly trying to argue a point that you dont even understand. I have to ask have you even played a Wii beyon the locked case at GS to know anything about it?

[blbaum]

I'll second the half-baked comment. I bought red steel for the wii, desperate for a shooter game and it is beyond lame. i can say for myself that i bought the wii for the gameplay, not the graphics. i don't think that Wii users would slight Rockstar for putting out a fun to play GTA for wii that maybe lacked a bit on the graphics front.

[DustoMan]

Don - Go look at MadWorld. There's an M-rated game that will rock. Also there's games like No More Heroes made by Japanese developers that will help broaden the Wii audience to include people that like Mature games.

[muskratboy]

All the Mature stuff on the Wii is being done by home brew hobby guys... there are already plans for a variety of Wii-based sexual devices. There will be ever-increasing Adult content on Wii, but it will be all underground.

I also disagree somewhat with the view that "everyone and teen" have the most appeal... all the people i know who have a Wii are grownups without kids. The mature market is there... but yeah, you know... it's a Nintendo. who wants zombies with giant bobbly heads?

[sting7k]

There is really one reason why M rated titles fail on the Wii, graphics. The Wii is a little more powerful than the Gamecube and the 360/PS3 can run circles around it. What mature gamer is going to go from amazing looking games with rich detailed environments found in; Bioshock, GoW2, MGS4, Halo, Fallout 3, Call of Duty series, and so many many more? Not any that I know and certainly not me.

Just look at the newest CoD on Wii, it looks dumb I'm sorry but it does. On my 360 it looks awesome on my 1080p HDTV. My Wii even with the $40 component cables can still only do 480p, which looks really quite bad in comparison on the same TV.

The Wii is fine for Nintendo's titles; Mario Kart, Smash Bros, etc. But for hardcore M players the Wii simply will not work. Nintendo has choosen a different path and they want causal people and everyone to play and to remake every Mario or classic Nintendo game ever with motion controls.

IgN.com had a very similar article just a few weeks ago about Nintendo losing the hardcore gamer because of these types of things.

[VOR75]

I doubt you've even seen COD WAW on Wii. You do know it uses the COD4 engine? Same as 360 and PS3 do. Sure it is dumb down SOME, but not nearly to the level you want to make it out to be.

[freemarket--2008]

@vor75:

Like he said, it's displayed at 480p vs 1080p for PS3. That's 346,600 pixels vs 2,073,600 pixels. If there were no big difference, we wouldn't be buying HD displays.

The graphics engine has nothing to do with the system's display resolution. It just crunches the data and outputs what it's told to. The more pixels, the better the output will look.

[freemarket--2008]

Oops meant 360 not PS3. Although the PS3 also does 1080p.

[ldtiry]

There is no way to ignore the large fan base that the Wii has, since it is the best selling console out there right now. The problem with pushing mature games on the Wii because of this point is that who that fan base consists of. Just look at the commercials....Wii commercials show familys, young kids and adults playing interactive, family orientated games. Taking this into mind....Nintendo itself seems to believe that their fan base is not in the mature gaming crowd. None of my hardcore gaming friends even own a Wii, we all have Wiimotes, but those are liked to our computers. If Nintendo isn't going to push the Wii towards mature gamers, developers aren't going to push mature games to the Wii. Plus it's well known that the hardware in the Wii is not made to push cutting edge graphics. Developers want to make games that push the next gen console to the max. The Wii is just not a console that the concept works for. Even if there is a large fan base for the Wii, I don't believe that fan base has enough mature gamers to signify a push for mature games.

[NocturnalCT]

I see no harm in having the Wii target a different demographic than the 360 or PS. Same for game developers. They develop a game for the platform where they will reach the customer. To be honest game consoles are cheap enough that you can have one of every flavor you like just to get the games you want to play. It's the darn games that are the pricey part. Sure, the first 2 or 3 don't hurt but once you own 10 or 20 you just spent a lot more on software than on hardware.

We got a Wii for the kids and supposedly for the family. I wanted to get a PS3 so we'd move on to Blue-Ray at the same time. Got over-ruled because my son's friends all have a Wii so he wants one too. Who can argue with that? Much more fun to play with your friends than be by yourself as the only kid on the block with console X.

Anyway, now that BR players are becoming more affordable I may get a 360 for myself to play some games and stream Netflix. Get a separate BR player.

[dvdragon]

Don you seem intent on beating this subject to death.

Nintendo is moving consoles by the ton regardless of the number of mature or hardcore games available. The number of Wiis sold per month compared to the competition is something that Nintendo and journalists like you repeat over and over again. Number of units sold should not be the sole measure of success for any business.

Honda and Porsche are in the same market in a macro sense. They both sell machines that take human passengers from one place to another. Porsche sells less cars than Honda. This means Porsche is a failure right? Wrong. Porsche sells high tuned machines to driving enthusiasts with lots of disposable income. Honda sells care to people who want an attractive, long lasting well performing cars that will not break the bank. Both of these companies do well in their respective sectors of the car market.

One only need to look at your recent column about why Apple should not lower their prices to understand why Nintendo does not need mature titles.

Apple is not going to compete with Dell and HP on the low-end $500 - $600 laptop category. They do not need to. Their entry point for laptops starts at $999. The major reason why Apple is successful is the perceived value by their potential buyers. Apple has a much smaller market share than HP or Dell but no one is calling Apple a failure. They have carved out a niche in the consumer laptop market and are doing great. Apple has argued they could not maintain quality and value at the price point that HP and Dell are at. Diversification is usually seen as a good thing for business but there is something to be said for finding one thing you are good at and dominating that sector.

Nintendo has marketed their console as a family, kid friendly, party machine. They are doing great in this regard. The Wii does not have the graphical horse power for the next gen graphics, AI, and physics goodies that appeal to the 18 - 35 year old demographic who likes to buckle down for hours with games like Fallout 3 or Gears of War 2 exploring new; realistic worlds or earning achievement points and trash talking over Internet multiplayer games. And that's OK.

Please let this be the last time you use a column for this subject.

[umbramistweave]

Nintendo may not need mature games but the game developers need to produce for Nintendo if they want the cash.

And to those who comment about serious gamers not wanting to game on the Wii, don't equate serious gamers with mature games people may want to play. There may be some overlap but they are not the same thing.

[VOR75]

Cars are not consoles. very poor comparison. How can you know what every gamer age 18-35 wants? I know you do not speak for me. I have a Wii and I love it. Age 33. Play GHWT on it almost every day. I'm also playing MM9 and Boingz. I do not care about HD graphics because HD graphics do not make a game better. If they did SMG and WOrld OF goo would not be the highest rated games this gen and also happen to be on the Wii. You are confusing Hardcore with graphics guys. Not everyone that cares about HD graphics is a hardcore gamer and very few true hardcore gamers care about HD graphics. True Hardcore are playing things like Megaman 9 and loving the challenge. Casual gamers that care about graphics are popping in CODWaW for 20 minutes of fast pace online multi player that any gamer can pick up and play.

[SkateNY]

Excellent summary and evaluation dragon. One only needs to do one thing right, and well, to make a difference.

[VOR75]

I noticed that while you mention poor sales of M rated games, in order to make you point you didnt bother to being up the names of those games. Red Steel sold over 1 million. As did the RE4 remake and Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles. NMH is Suda's best selling game to date and the only one to sale well enough to warrant a sequel. That is including sales form their PS2 releases when it had a 75m plus install base, yet Wii only had around 22m when NMH came out. Now which titles failed? The 3 year old very low scoring Far Cry? Or the remake of Brothers in Arms that scored in the 3's due to really bad controls and being the exact same game that was released 2 years earlier? Even Manhunt was toned down so bad it wasnt worth playing. When I look at the sales for Wii M rated games I notice a very clear pattern. Games that have all the control issues worked out sale very well. Those that are just quick ports with bad controls do not.. We will soon know which one of us is right when it comes to the Wii and M rated games. I think they are well suited for the Wii and next year we will see. When Conduit, and Mad World release we can judge the sales of those games and see.

[Heebee Jeebies]

The only innovation Wii has is the funky controllers. Sure they are good at getting fast reared kids off the couch but that is not enough to make it more than a simple fascination. The graphics and sound are not impressive, the amount of storage is limited, it is basically a GameCube with cute controllers.

Add to that all of those creepy Japanese graphics in most of the games and given the fact that Nintendo sold people a bill of goods with the GameCube and then never bothered to push it here in the US and you can have it.

I will take my PS3, Xbox 360 and PC over anything from Nintendo. It is almost like Nintendo thinks the world of games should be seen through japa-vision. Yuck!

In the end the Wii is for kids, low IQed adults like our outgoing president and for people that want to feel the thrill of real gaming but lack the money for a real system. In the end the Wii comes from the uncontrolled mating of the VW Beetle and the Yugo. It is cute and cuddly but has all the performance of a brick.

Robert

[coelocanth]

"The only innovation Wii has is the funky controllers."

True, but that is exactly where PS3 and Xbox need innovation. Hard core gamers don't need mature titles for the Wii, we need decent controllers for Xbox and PS3. If I could have the control system of the Wii as used in Metroid Prime 3 Corruption and the graphics of a PS3 or 360 I would finally have a console that was as good a gaming system as my PC.

[Dalmatian28]

whao...with such a low powered hardware Wii still enjoys enormous demand. Imagine if they decide to upgrade the hardware and install latest graphics and GPU, I think their factory would get raided by their fans! Did somebody say that economy is bad all over the world???? See what a good product can do!!!

[rouse51]

Let me get this straight. You want the Wii whos install base is about family fun to turn around and make a game for hardcore gamers that is all about loners? That's dumb. As dumb as the people saying its the graphics. The wii has graphics that are a little better then the original XBox and the PS2. People paid for those games by the tons even though the PC had much superior graphics and still does. It is about your core audience. You don't put horror movies on Disney. Hardcore games like Metriod and Galaxy sold well because they did away with the gore. Even grandmay can watch metroid and Mario. Resident Evil 4 did well but that will be the exception not the rule. Lets face it, parents and kids playing together again is a good thing. Lets not ruin a good thing.

[beat_elite]

Loners? well excuuuuuuuuse me princess but idk if having friends come over to your house to play Halo or DOA4 on your 360 is considered being a loner. Also the first game i played on my friends Wii was RE4 and i loved it instantaneously and it became one of my top favs (which is why im getting RE5).

Graphics don't really bother me at all even though i have an HD TV because whether its standard def or high def its all comes down to the gameplay, which unfortunately the wii lacks with most games (excluding originals like mario, zelda, metroid etc.) and my family sometimes gets together to play Castle Crashers without the need for unaccurate motion controls or tiring arm waving (stares at every other wii game out there).

in one point in my life i actually considered getting a wii (thus my Gamertag wiilove...long story), but once i realized the only game i could actually play with my friends was SSBB i was dissapointed from the lack of good action multiplayer games and soon later bought a 360.