Once again, My Wii News is looking for new bloggers. If you can handle searching for the latest news about the Nintendo Wii system and putting it into your own words, then your just the kind of person we’re looking for. More specifically, someone who can commit to writing between 2-4 posts per week. Not a whole lot of work, and a great opportunity for you to get some extra writing skills under your hat.
Requirements:
A real enthusiasm for and knowledge of the Nintendo Wii.
Solid, speedy writing skills and the ability to self-edit.
A good understanding of the English language.
Basic photo-editing skills and software.
A willingness to follow instructions and an understanding of teamwork.
A willingness to commit time and effort My Wii News. It is entirely possible to take this on in addition to a full-time job or schoolwork, (most everyone else does) but it is definitely a commitment of time and effort.
Personality!
Sounds good, yea? OK, so how do you apply?
Prepare a sample post about the Wii. You must include the source for your news/rumors/material.
Compose a short bio that will help convince us that you are perfect for the position. Include all applicable contact information.
Let us know when you’re available. If you have other commitments, let us know which days and times you will be completely (or mostly) unavailable.
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Things you should not do:
Plagiarize. (Anyone caught plagarizing you will be fired immediately.)
The Mario Kart series has always been a success story for Nintendo. Each game holds fond memories for party gamers. There have been many times when defining my weekend to someone meant simply saying, “Mario Kart 64 with friends.”
After Double Dash became one of the best games for the Gamecube, many wondered what Nintendo could possibly do next for the series. Mario Kart DS managed to bring the retro side back to kart racing, but the Wii version needed to top a this fan-favorite in every gameplay aspect.
I am very happy to say that this game is the best yet. The first time I inserted the disc and slid the remote into the Wii Wheel (more about that later,) I knew there was something special.
Have gamers gotten better or have games gotten easier? A recent poll by G4’s X-Play showed overwhelmingly that gamers felt like they have gotten better. I immediately fell out of my chair laughing, knowing fully that this poll was nonsense and that gamers have become too proud in their next gen achievements. Anyone with a bit of video game history under their belt should fully know that games have gotten easier as each generation passes.
Sure, I would like to think that I continue to rise in my gaming proficiency — and even though that may be partially true — I still respect and understand the fact that games have gotten easier. Easy games are a dime a dozen these days, with the rare shining jewel providing a rite of passage for any true gamer.
Look at Super Mario Galaxy or the God of War series. These games are, for the most part, easy. I’m not implying that easy equals bad, just that the base difficulty isn’t anything to write home about. Now look at Capcom’s Devil May Cry series (not the second one because it was a joke). These games instantly take gamers back to the days when we used to throw our controllers across the bedroom. I still enjoy the bragging rights from beating Devil May Cry on Dante Must Die difficulty. But who brags about beating The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess? Once again, I’m not implying that easy games aren’t good. Honestly, there is something fulfilling to playing Metroid Prime 3: Corruption or No More Heroes without many problems that force you to repeatedly play the same section over and over again until you can finally beat it. Perhaps those games are more about the “fun” factor than difficulty.
But what about the golden days of video games? What happened to the days when you were proud to tell everyone that you were able to beat Ghosts and Goblins? No one cared about the story or graphics. It was the act of beating this hellish game that gave gamers street cred. And street cred was what gaming was all about back on the school playground. Who cared about anything else when you could tell everyone that you beat the newest, most insane game? We all knew that one kid who said he beat games, but in reality, he couldn’t do it. You remember, he’d be surrounded by some of his friends at recess telling them how to kill the last boss and spoiling the ending.
I can still remember calling shenanigans on one of my classmates after he was bragging that the key to killing Wart at the end of Super Mario Bros. 2 was by catching his crown and throwing it back at him. Oh, how good it felt to prove him wrong in front of his cronies. Hey, if your childhood wasn’t built on topping other gamer’s achievements then I just feel sorry that you missed out. Have I mentioned that ending a game with “It was all a dream,” sucks?
But I digress.
Sit back and enjoy while this old timer takes a trip down memory lane at some of the toughest Nintendo titles to ever grace the eyes of gamers. And for those of you who fit into the majority in the aforementioned poll, grab a pencil and paper. School is in session and there will be a test. In no particular order, I give you the bane of my childhood:
Strange and awkward platforming with enemies that can interrupt your attacks with just a sneeze, the original Battletoads had gamers screaming for mercy. Like most old titles, players weren’t granted the ability to continue after they had lost their lives. Instead, Battletoads kept the hardcore trend of that gaming generation by making players start at the beginning of the game if they lost all of their lives, leaving you shouting fourth-grade insults at the top of your lungs.
The game was quite simply put: hell. Did you watch the video above of the speed tunnel on the third level? Anyone remember screaming at their controller over it? There’s nothing quite like having to avoid barriers on a speeding hoverbike while the screen moves like your watching a Sonic the Hedgehog video game. Be honest, it didn’t matter how great you were at Battletoads, the speed tunnel was the great equalizer. Thankfully, though, I can still hear that sick beat-boxing rhythm whenever you would press pause.
That’s right, Track and Field 2. Just typing the name of this Konami title has my hands trembling. In fact, I partially blame Track and Field 2 for any deficiency in the dexterity skills of my hands. In this game, there was no room for second place. Seriously, the game wanted to see near perfection out of the gamer if you wanted to progress. If I had a nickel for all the times that I didn’t even make it past the first day…
For some reason or another, my character would always look like an insipid peg when it came to performing the pole vault. The game’s saving grace, however, was the NES Max controller. Thank the gods for whomever developed the turbo controller. Had it not been for this ingenious invention, I am sure that my hands would have spontaneously combusted as I repeatedly failed the triple jump, forcing me to now feed myself through a straw because my hands fail to work anymore. Have you ever had both hands fall asleep on you? Have you tried cutting a steak in this condition? That’s what life was like playing Track and Field 2 without the NES Max controller.
This is the granddaddy of all hard games, according to a lot of gamers. Not only did the Silver Surfer only have one hit point, but he couldn’t touch any walls or any enemies without dying. Great hero, huh? The screen moved by itself, making Silver Surfer play like a rail shooter/platform/over-head shooter hybrid. The gameplay was atrocious and the difficulty was obscene. Why did they make Silver Surfer such a winy little pillick? He’s the destroyer of planets for crying out loud.
Once again, Silver Surfer subscribed to the hardcore-generational trend by not allowing continues. The game had only one difficulty setting: nightmare. Ok, it didn’t really have a nightmare difficulty, but it was definitely implied. Watching the picture of Silver Surfer sulking on his surfboard after you died still haunts my dreams, and since I died repeatedly, I got to see the same sad image every few minutes. Silver Surfer may forever burn in hell. But hey, at least I was able to beat it without the Game Genie. That’s me bragging, if you couldn’t tell. Beating this game is all the street cred I need.
So Ninja Gaiden usually doesn’t make it on these lists, but those of you who played it know of the difficulty that Jaquio’s stage was wrapped around. It wasn’t the fact that the enemies were too difficult or that the platforming was incredibly hard, it was the knock-back ability that every enemy caused to the young ninja after each and every hit. Jaquio’s stage was littered with tight jumps and it never failed that some tiny bat would fly into me in mid air, knocking Ryu to his death. Apparently Tecmo felt that when it came to bats hitting you, ninja equaled run in the corner and assume the fetal position, which by the way, Ryu literally looked like he did once he got hit.
Does everyone remember that horrible sound when you got hit; the sound a duck makes when it face plants into your radiator? Dear God, why must the bats always be flying when I am in mid air? It would never fail that as soon as I jumped, a bat would appear from off screen. It made the last level hideous to play. In fact, I don’t think I ever beat the game without the use of the Game Genie. Curse you Guardia de Mieux!
Simon Belmont is my hero. Period. Who else had the sands to consistently beat the undead out of Dracula? Of course, we’re not talking about the Simon Belmont from the popular Saturday morning cartoon, Captain N: the Game Master. That Simon was a wimp that looked and talked like he belonged on the back nine at the local country club. He might as well have been wearing a red ascot, solving mysterious crimes committed by creepy pedophiles with the help of a talking dog and stoner. I’m talking about the whip-lashing, holy water-throwing, axe-hurling vampire hunter from the game that we all remember so well. In my opinion, the original is a legend in video game history. Dark themes, great action and an extremely high difficulty rating. The soundtrack was blazing and Dracula’s castle was fun as hell to play through.
If you didn’t think it was hard having to dodge all those flying Medusa heads on the second level, then you no doubt realized the insane difficulty when Igor started jumping around you like a monkey during feeding time at the zoo. Just that now the zookeeper is Frankenstein’s monster and Igor doesn’t throw feces at you. Also, you throw crosses instead of bananas. Admittedly, though, the game would have still rocked had Igor actually thrown feces at you. But rejoice for you have slain the monster and the good doctor’s assistant. What did the game give you next, but Death himself.
Was there anything more difficult than the Grim Reaper and his legion of flying scythes? I can remember a kid in my neighborhood who was able to have all the latest tech gadgets because his mommy and daddy didn’t love each other anymore, who had the NES Advantage controller and swore that slow motion was the key to killing the Grim Reaper. Little did I know that slow motion only prolonged the anguish. You see, it wasn’t actually slow motion. The NES Advantage would just repeatedly press the pause button for you, giving the illusion of slow motion. Pretty ghetto if you ask me. Sure, it felt like you lasted longer, but it really didn’t help at all. After many attempts, though, I finally got the chance to confront Dracula and send him back to the grave. The image of the crumbling castle was all I ever needed to prove my gaming worth. It only happened once and it was one of my proudest gaming moments.
One of the most overlooked platformers, Kid Icarus was also one of the hardest title to ever grace a home console. The game seemed relentless in how the levels would stretch on and on. The player’s ability to make Pit walk off the left side of the screen and appear on the right side made the platforming that much more difficult. Not to mention the fact that once you went up, you couldn’t go back down. There were also side scrolling aspects to the game, but sadly I never got a chance to beat this title. Kid Icarus is a game that goes down in history as one that I wished I had conquered. It’s the one that got away.
Sure, Pit may have looked like a rejected concept design of one of the villains in The Running Man, but anyone who doubts Kid Icarus’ place in the annals of difficult games obviously never got to experience the eggplant wizards. (I’ve always wanted to write “eggplant wizards” in a published story.)
This circus performing, fireball spitting, bald, fat man was the protagonist in an extremely difficult title. Now that I think about it, Karnov almost sounds like an old martial arts instructor of mine, just without the baldness and instead of spitting fireballs, the man constantly heaved anything he consumed. Karnov also resembled everyone’s drunk uncle who would always take his shirt off at family reunions, proving once again that a person’s overabundance of gluttony is blissful ignorance when it comes to people’s perception of you. Anyways, one or two hit points separated the player from instant death each second of this game. Enemies were many and the platforming was horrendous. I was happy the first time I was able to beat this mammoth until I witnessed the ending. It has been long debated that Karnov has the worst ending ever. Spoiler alert: this is all there is to the ending. The player is greeted with a black screen with the words, “Congratulations,” and “The End.”
The game was a nightmare to complete and that’s all the developer saw fit to award the player with. It’s infuriating even as I think of it now. But hey, at least I saw it without having to look it up on YouTube.
Who was this game’s target audience anyways? Could they have made this game any more difficult? We were all fans of the cartoon, we all had the action figures, but why did we have to become a lifeless d-bag like that long haired, bearded guy in King of Kong to be able to beat this game? I think it was the big cosmic joke of my childhood, really. Who was the coolest ninja turtle for kids? Michaelangelo, right? Well as soon as the player selected Michaelangelo he or she knew they were in for a world of disappointment when they swung his nunchaku for the first time. “Cowabunga” must really mean, “I suck, therefore only use me as a last resort.”
Enemies would constantly reappear if they moved off the screen and the Turtle van had the same life as the ninja turtles, for some strange reason. The game’s saving innovation was allowing players to switch out turtles on the fly, but this only proved partially helpful since the only turtle worth using was the bo staff-wielding Donatello. Go figure, the nerd was the only turtle to figure out that a good reach advantage is everything in this bolloxed game.
And what was up with the Technodrome stage? Why would the ninja turtles just start smacking the outside of this colossal beast with their puny weapons? Even with the Game Genie, players weren’t guaranteed to see the end. I can remember there being one jump in particular on the airport stage that if you missed and fell into the pit, you were permanently stuck until you restarted the game. The infinite life granted by the great Game Genie only mocked you as you watched the poor ninja turtle flail in stupidity. Why were the jumps so hard in this game? They were supposed to be fricking ninjas! If anyone actually progressed to Shredder and beat him, I commend thee. If I was wearing a hat, I would tip it. You sir or madam, are a legend in my eyes.
There wasn’t much to the box art except some dude who looked nothing like Mega Man. Instead, he looked like a mix between Captain Power and the Tron Guy. The next thing I noticed about Mega Man was the ability to choose which level you wanted to play first. A great and integral feature to a gamer’s success.
I almost lost myself thinking about Silver Surfer there for a second. Ok, I’ve stabbed myself in the leg with a pen and I’m back and focused once again on Mega Man.
The level design in this game rocked, as well as the ability to use the power of enemy robots. This new ability would be the Achilles’ heel for one of the other robots. The problem, however, was that you had to defeat at least one of the robots with the default marshmallow puff-shooting mega blaster. This essentially meant that your first fight would be one of the toughest. I lost track of how many times Cutsman took me to the woodshed. Seriously, I basically lived in it. The guy was relentless when it came to serving me my ass on a scissory-filled plate of death
Another note on the level design was the fact that the Gutsman and Iceman stages were two of the most infuriating stages of my entire career as a gamer. I don’t really know how to explain the stages into words, since I find myself trying to fight back tears from thinking about them. Just know that Capcom is responsible for ruining my childhood.
At least it was fun to see Mega Man jump around like he was the grand marshal of a colorful parade.
I saved the best for last. This title stands above all others when it comes to gamer torture. In fact, the word torture isn’t even enough to describe this game, but out of fear of having the clothes knocked off of me by the gods of gaming, I will just say that Ghosts and Goblins is the most formidable challenge that I have ever seen on any console. It is masochism at its best.
Just for the record, curse you again Capcom! There’s a special place in Hell for all of you. In fact, I’m pretty sure Dante Aligheri created a new circle of the Inferno just for you. Enjoy it sadists! You are everything that is wrong with me.
I feel better now. This game, though, was honestly incredible. Right from the start you are greeted with a barrage of zombies coming out of the ground at you. Two hits and you die. Time runs out and you die. Blink for a second and you die. Think about your next action and you die. Key to this game was using your pure gaming instincts to get you through it. Players had to adopt the idea of mushin, or no mind. Therefore, I believe only the great zen masters of our time were actually able to beet this colossus.
And the red demons. God, why did there have to be red demons?
This game separated the men from the boys and I wished that I would have had the sands to actually beat this beast, but sadly I could not. For those of you who could, then your chiseled visage deserves to be on display in the Pantheon of gaming achievement. You, my revered and esteemed god of gaming, will be the recipient of a much deserved toast later tonight. This pint of Smithwiths is on you.
Now there are of course numerous titles that may have graced this list, because to be quite honest, probably more than half of all NES titles were steaming piles of hell spawn. But the fact of the matter is that even today, I can’t beat the above listed games on a consistent basis. I know I’ve become a better gamer, but these games go beyond mere finger and hand dexterity. They demand that the player achieve a sort of gaming ascension, a state of perfect satori.
And if at any time I feel my skills have gone to my head, it only takes five minutes with one of these titles to bring me back to reality. Oh, how sweet it is to be humbled by 8-bit glory.
And by the way, Top Gun… yeah, you know who you are. Don’t fret, I haven’t forgotten about you. That’s not a bogey on your six, it’s one pissed off gamer.
Got any games that make your list? Wanna brag that you’ve beaten some of the most notorious games in history? Take it to the My Wii News forums and share.
A while back, High Voltage Software released the first trailer of the Conduit. With stunning graphics and action-packed gameplay, the game did, and still does, look like it’s going to live up to the hype. The Wii-specific first-person shooter is taking some risks. Sales for these “hardcore” games aren’t too appealing, which is why most developers aren’t attempting to make games that will really impress the hardcore gaming crowd. But High Voltage is trying to tap into that stubborn, brainwashed, Wii Play buying crowd know as the casuals. If High Voltage succeeds then they will be rewarded with a lot of cash (which they deserve) and more developers will start making better games now that High Voltage proved that there is a market out there for these types of games. But if they fail… well, I’d rather not talk about it.
Not to worry though, High Voltage will make this game right, if they don’t miss a few critical components to the game. One of those components being their online mode. Now, High Voltage teased us about this mode in the trailer. At the very end of the trailer, a man with a deep voice says, “Mr. Ford, deathmatch has been authorized.” Then whoever Mr. Ford is replies to that by saying, “about damn time.” High Voltage just recently confirmed the online deathmatch mode, but there are a few key factors that really make online multiplayer fun and not repetitive. This is where we come in, My Wii News is now going to discuss what the Conduit needs to do in order to have a successful, and more importantly, fun, Online Mode.
Lets get right into shall we?
First off, we will name the things that Conduit needs to be successful online but Nintendo probably won’t allow it. Voice chat, some people may disagree but the majority of online players these days love to have voice chat. Without it, you might as well be playing a whole bunch of AI controlled computers because you basically sit there in silence as you get this feeling of emptiness. Voice chat could easily be implemented if Nintendo would announce a mic during E3. Chances are, Nintendo will add some type of voice chat feature at E3 because they have been hinting at one for a while, but if they don’t, shame on you Nintendo! Although, the online wouldn’t necessarily fail without voice chat, it would severely punish these players who are in need of help from teammates and do not have enough time to scroll through a list of automated messages. (Medal of Honor anyone?) High Voltage really needs to push Nintendo to allow them to use this feature.
Another thing they would need is some kind of downloadable content (DLC). Games, sadly, do not stay fun forever, after you play the same map over and over again, it begins to become quite stale. But this is where DLC comes in. Once you start getting bored of whatever game your playing, you tend to slowly slip away from it, destined to never return. But then those clever developers release a new map pack and your back on that game and thinking, “why did I think this was getting boring?!” This is what we need. We need that sense of renewal but without a hard drive it is impossible. Which is why we really need Nintendo to announce one at this years E3. We already discussed the possibilities of a hard drive inthis article, but the way things are looking, it seems like this may be Nintendo’s year to announce a hard drive, or at least fix this memory issue. If Nintendo in fact does announce some type of HDD, it is very likely that not only will High Voltage will take advantage of this, but all of the developers who are actually trying to make a real game on the Wii instead of Dogz 2. (*cough* ubisoft *cough*)
Okay, now for the things that High Voltage can take care of themselves. What they really need to implement is some kind of leveling up system. No ranks, no exp, and no challenges= No Fun. If your not working toward some type of goal, whether it is to unlock some new gun, or to finally reach that next rank, you are going to get bored really quickly. Games like Halo and Call of Duty 4 for example have ranks and exp. With these things, people are always trying to reach the next rank which is what keeps it fun. In Call of Duty, there are challenges that you can complete for new types of weapon attachments or camo. This keeps the online mode steady, fun, and rewarding. Without anything like this, The Conduits online mode will fail.
There are other small things that keep online modes fun. Leader boards are one of them. Leader boards are are a good way to keep track of you skill level and are fun to people who love to climb their way to the top of it. Leader board can keep people immersed in the game and will make a lot of players happy because they have an efficient way to see where they and their friends rank. A lot of different game modes is also a really nice thing to have, such as capture the flag and king of the hill. It helps put strategy into the modes instead of just racking up as much kills as possible.
A good thing that Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 left out was friends codes. Nobody has ever liked them and nobody will, a stupid decision by Nintendo. But EA found a way around this with their online system that allowed gamers to use their own gamertag of some sorts and made it alot easier for the players to find their friends and add them. If High Voltage could make a system kind of like this then that would be awesome.
A decent matchmaking system is crucial for online games. Everyone remembers Gears of War and the horrible host advantages. The host was able to kick any player, and the host always had a much better connection then the other players. The host had absolutely no lag which gave the host a huge advantage over any competitor he faced. The Conduit needs to follow a Halo or Call of Duty style matchmaking system. Even Epic Games has noticed this problem and has confirmed that Gears of War 2 will feature a Halo style matchmaking system.
Finally, High Voltage really needs to design good multiplayer maps with an array of different environments. Playing in the same type of environment over and over again gets boring. Every map will look and feel the same, people will get bored and they will stop playing. In Call of Duty 4, they have a good amount of different environments. Everything from desert, to woodland, the inside of buildings, and with the new DLC, a chinatown, a broadcast room, and even a assault training hangar. The maps don’t get boring, and most importantly, the game stays fun.
If High Voltage follows these guidelines and continue doing the great job that they are doing already, The Conduit will be an awesome game that all Wii owners must buy. Hopefully The Conduit will get it right, and if they do, you guys know that I’ll be standing in line on launch day.
Discuss this article below or take it to the forums, check out the trailer if you haven’t already, and keep checking back to My Wii News for more Wii and Conduit info!
Since the days of its inception, the Wii has often been misnomered as a “kiddie” system. The idea that the Wii would thrive as a playground for shovelware from money-hungry third party publishers became commonplace in the world of gaming. Gamers were ready to tag the labels on all of their favorite next-gen systems, with Nintendo continuing its reign of family-friendliness.
After much scrubbing, the labels can be removed.
The Entertainment Software Rating Board has worked to give out little letters that tell us who’s hands certain games belong in. Parents, when aware (or sane), can use these ratings as an indicator to tell what games their children can play.
To date, the ESRB has listed 425+ titles that appear on the Wii with ratings of E (Everyone) and E10+ (Everyone age 10 and older). Don’t snicker yet, well over 200 of these listed games are on Nintendo’s Virtual Console, many dating back to the NES.
These Virtual Console titles don’t count when considering the aspect of appearing on the Wii. The mislabel of the Wii as a “kiddie” system amongst others especially comes from the remote-waggling abilities of its motion-sensing features. Since Virtual Console games don’t utilize these features, not to mention they debuted on many previous systems, they don’t appear in this count. And since the data was pulled prior to the North American Wii Ware release, Wii Ware titles aren’t included, either.
Regardless, that leaves us with close to 180 Wii games that are rated E or E10+. Seems like a lot for a young system.
But it is more fun to divide games up by what systems they appear on. All of the titles obviously appear on the Wii, but do they do so exclusively?
So the Wii-exclusive titles and the multi-platform titles need to be divided up:
A total of 61.45% of these “everyone” titles for Wii are non-exclusives. At this point, expect a voice to cry out, “What about the DS? Everyone knows that these E-rated Wii shovelware non-exclusives are just Nintendo exclusives, like Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games!” Fair enough.
Splitting up that 61.45%, we find that only 8.38% are Wii-DS exclusive titles. That means that 53.07% of kiddie Wii games are very multiplatform. In fact, one of the most common systems a Wii game would appear on is the PS2, in fact.
So one thing can be clear; kiddie-shovelware is a multi-platform thing. Companies (like THQ, for instance,) don’t just aim for the Wii to fish for a parent’s unknowing wallet. Publishers try to get more bang for their buck.
Think of the common marketing executives at big-name publishers that still refer to video games as “toys.” In using mediocre games to get money, a marketer will try to make the game appeal to a larger audience (E ratings,) and reach a larger community by spanning multiple platforms. This is assuming that all E-rated games are bad.
Based on our next set of data, that isn’t too far from the truth.
Quantity in games is never as important as quality, all gamers can agree to this. Examining the same data as before, the quality of these games can provide another angle to this issue.
Using GameRankings, a popular site that averages credible review scores in order to help gamers in their purchasing decisions, the average review scores for the E/E10+ rated Wii games helps determine the quality of the Wii titles in question.
What does this tell us? E-rated Wii titles tend to do better when they’re not alone (unless they’re made by Nintendo themselves, who is infamous for developing quality titles).
The worst of the bunch is precisely what would be expected: 3rd-party Wii exclusives. Though only a few percentage points behind the other catagories, games in this section are made by the companies that bring you Action Girlz Racing, Offroad Extreme, Hooked! Real Motion Fishing, and Monster Trux Arenas.
With roughly 3% between Wii exclusives and Non-exclusives, there isn’t much of a difference between the two in terms of quality on Nintendo’s platform. It is mostly a pile of stink. Nintendo proves in their own way that games for “everyone” can be good.
As seen in the data, certain companies are contributing to the exclusive stink. Conspiracy Entertainment are responsible for most of the Wii-exclusive shovelware, accounting for roughly 20% of the games with an average score of 30.92%. Destineer has 16% of the exclusives with an average score of 23.5%. Notably, no other company has put out more than 4 titles for the Wii exclusively. Big players like EA, Konami, Tecmo, and Capcom have put out 1-3 games each, and their average scores are well over 70%. Almost all of these “few gems” are retreads on older IPs as well.
In scouring the databases for game ratings and scores, not every game could have a score accompanying it. The reviewers can’t be blamed for not regarding Cocoto Kart Racer or My French Coach as games worth reviewing. In terms of the data gathered, they simply aren’t accounted for in the ratings spectrum. Interestingly, there were (as of this data being pulled,) four Wii-exclusive games and 11 non-exclusive games that didn’t have review scores.
And roughly all of them will appear in the $9.99 bin at Wal-Mart. Just keep walking, you can save some cash and get the Wii Zapper or some points for the Wii Shop to pick up a brand-new Wii Ware game.
This also begs the question, are kids not as picky about games nowadays? I rocked the Mega Man X games and F-Zero all the time on the Super NES. To be honest, I also spent plenty of time with Ren & Stimpy: Veediots and Hook, both being pretty unforgiving, relatively low-quality platformers. Do kids really like Wing Island?
Overall, the best way to take this data is lightly. If you’re reading this, you may not be into E-rated games regardless of what system they appear on. And if you’re a Wii gamer, know that you don’t have to. More developers are taking risks on the Wii with games like No More Heroes, but publishers need to follow suit. Kids can be risky too (I fell out of many a tree as a youngster, I was a risky one).
And if we want to follow the little kid in all of us, there are plenty of places to find the games that appease that.
Bucky | June 27, 2008
