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Well, it’s finally been more than a year. After endless months of anticipation, more speculation than you can shake a stick at, endless false rumours and more than a heavy dose of fanboyism (not to mention skepticism), the “Revolution” as it was known has finally come and gone.

Now that the Wii’s a good 15 months (arguably a quarter of the average console’s life-cycle) into its tenure as Nintendo’s current-gen console, it seems a good a time as any to delve into the big question regarding any piece of experimental new hardware… was it worth it? Continue reading..

For those who don’t remember, or didn’t really ever care, I’ll give a quick recap of Nintendo’s explanation of the Wii and it’s features prior to the launch of the console, starting from that fateful unveiling of the very first Wii remote.

As most of will you remember, Nintendo’s codename for their new baby was the Revolution, a name given not only for its impact and presence, but because of what it was set to do for the gaming industry as a whole. As Nintendo stated it, the industry was set for stagnation and decline overall. Too often, sequels and derivative titles were being created at the expense of new ideas or IPs. Games were becoming prettier, but gameplay was being left behind. Too much emphasis was being placed on what new hardware could do for a game’s graphical ability, rather than its gameplay prowess. Worse, this emphasis placed a high strain on developer’s budgets, as games were becoming increasingly expensive to make. Furthermore, the industry had become insular. Games were being made for current gamers, without any thought to expanding the market to include casual or non-traditional gamers. All of this was seen as a risk to the entire industry, since without any abundance of growth, originality or creativity, another crash resembling the 80s seemed likely.

Of course, this was Nintendo’s own take on things, and while not entirely inaccurate, it must obviously be taken with a grain of salt.

In any case, thus was born the Revolution. A console that would not only be cheap enough to develop for that it wouldn’t burden developers, but that would contain an industry-changing new controller that would fundamentally adjust the very way we played games, in addition to expanding the market.

Fast forward to 2008. That console is now called the Wii, has gone on to be such a huge success that there are still shortages even a year after launch, and now resides in most of your homes. Thus, the big question… was all this change worth it?

Well, that depends on who you’re asking. If you’re one of the millions of non-gamers who’s become enraptured in the Wii’s success, or a casual participant in the medium, the Wii’s probably looking pretty justified to you right now. If, however, you’re of the more serious gamer ilk, someone who’s been gaming for years and has no qualms about owning multiple consoles, that question’s probably a bit tougher to answer.

Nintendo risked a lot with the hardcore crowd when they decided to go with such a radically different controller in the face of everything that had come before it. Would it work? Would it provide enough control to allow for the more complex titles we’d come to appreciate? The answer seems to be, for the most part, yes… when the games are working correctly. Poorly programmed titles are still rife on the Wii, but there are enough well made games out there to prove that when developers are doing a good job, the Wii’s controller is more than enough to provide deep, tactile setups without sacrificing features, and that the Wii remote really can add an extra layer or precision and immersion when used intelligently. So, assuming there’s some quality work put into a game, the Wii remote passes with flying colours. But the question here isn’t so much whether or not it works, but whether or not it’s made gaming better.

I’m going to argue that it hasn’t. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not making the argument that the Wii is a bad console. I am not making the argument that it does not have a decent library, or more than a few “must-have” titles. Nor am I suggesting that motion control isn’t fun, or that it’s not worth owning. What I am suggesting however, is that the console hasn’t quite lived up to its promises and improved the industry as a whole. Not yet, anyway.

My first point in making this claim is to look at the Wii’s games. Specifically, Nintendo’s. Now, while the overall quality of these titles has been on average quite high, the question has to be asked, have any of them really lived up to their potential? Have any of them really changed the way we think about or play games? Let’s take a look at what we’ve seen in the last year…

-Wii Sports
-The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
-Trauma Center: Second Opinion
-Excite Truck
-Super Mario Galaxy
-Mario Strikers Charged
-Mario Party 8
-Metroid Prime 3
-Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
-Battalion Wars II

Of these titles, most are sequels to or extensions of games we saw on the GCN. Almost all make a concerted effort to use the Wii in ways that fit the game, and do an admirable job of doing so. But most of them never really needed the Wii to exist, or to be good games. In fact, of those titles, the only ones that really “needed” the Wii are an enhanced port of a Nintendo DS game, and a free pack-in with the console. Furthermore, the next big gems in Nintendo’s lineup (Mario Kart and Smash) don’t even need the Wii controller to be played, since both offer full support for the GCN pad.

At this point, a few bubbles of doubt have started brewing in my head. If Nintendo themselves are having difficulty fully supporting their own controller, or at least, coming up with new ideas that relate to gameplay itself, and not just marrying existing ideas to a new controller, doesn’t that to some degree undermine their idea of a “Revolution?” I mean, aren’t we just committing the same crime Nintendo accused Sony and Microsoft of, but instead of playing the same thing with prettier graphics, we’re now playing the same thing with a new controller?

Don’t get me wrong. I like my Wii, and motion based gameplay feels good. It’s fun, and I do honestly believe that it has an important contribution to make to the industry as a whole. But I’m just not entirely sure that the contribution is revolutionary, and when balanced against the Wii’s problems, I have difficulty ascertaining whether or not the risk was worth it. Because, let’s face it, for the vast majority of non-Nintendo games, it’s not pretty. Overall game quality and polish, with very few exceptions, is in a remarkably poor state. And for all the advantages afforded to new players with Nintendo’s emphasis on simplicity in design, said simplicity leaves something to be desired when it comes to more serious gamers. Nintendo’s online system is unnecessarily difficult to use, and with a bare minimum of features. Patching of buggy games is non-existent, and DLC outside of the Virtual Console is at this point a myth.

Most unsettling however, is Nintendo themselves. For the most part, new gameplay ideas and revolutions have been traded for a fresh control scheme, and when truly great games or ideas have surfaced, they’ve barely even used the remote (Zelda, Galaxy, Smash).

So, where to go from here? Well, that’s a tough question. I’ll be the last to suggest Nintendo needs to use any one control scheme for a particular game, and I’m a big supporter of a game using the control method that works best for it. I only hope that Nintendo embraces the wisdom of this more completely and stops touting “innovation” at every turn and tries to find innovative ideas to go with their innovative controller. More importantly, if you’re going to allow yourself to release “traditionally” controlled games, because it suits them, allow your third parties that same advantage. Don’t force the developers of Metal Slug to use the remote and not the classic controller to push your own agenda, and then months later release your own “last-gen” game in the form of Fire Emblem, that offers full support for both the GCN and classic pads.

Most of all though, don’t allow yourself to coast by on mediocrity and laziness just because you’re popular. Right now, your third party titles suck, and very little encouragement is being given to change that. Worse, your online service is far too simple and gamers are being screwed out of great features like DLC and voice chat for the sake of… simplicity? Gamers deserve better.

Hopefully, within the year some of these concerns will be addressed. But right now, I’m just not sure. In five years time when we’re playing the next gen of consoles and Nintendo’s contributions are entirely known, things should be clearer. And it’s my hope that we’ll all look back on the day we used accelerometer-less pads and thank our lucky stars we have yet another feature that makes our games more fun to play. But right now, I don’t think the Wii is a revolution. Instead, it is only a half-fulfilled promise thats niceties haven’t quite yet outweighed its problems.

That’s just me though. What do you think?

By Matthew Williams.