After a couple of controversial and yet uncanny articles taking a look at redesigning the XBox 360 and PS3, we have now turned our attention to the last of the 3 consoles: Nintendo’s Wii. The current market leader is starting to see a sales slow-down in the US during this FANTASTIC recession, with many equating that to the system’s lack of core games and being vastly underpowered in comparison to the other consoles.
However, we’re more interested in YOUR opinions about the overall design and business issues with the system. How would you change what Nintendo is doing with the Wii? What would you improve? What would make you buy one (if you haven’t already)? From user interface and controls, to hardware and software, to Nintendo’s marketing & business… all topics are open for discussion.
Let us know in the comments and we’ll compile them into a report later this month/early next.
Category : Etc
1. More graphics horsepower. It’s not a bad little system, but on multi-platform games, you can really tell where the Wii lacks in rendering chops.
2. Built-in Wii-motion plus. All games that can should use the extra capabilities, and all Wiimotes that are sold after a certain point should have the functionality built-in.
3. Built-in recharging for Wiimotes. As with the 360, there are add-on third-party setups (I have one, myself) for creating rechargeable Wiimotes. But there’s no excuse in this day and age to require the continual replenishment of AA batteries.
4. UPDATE THE INTERNET CHANNEL!!!!!!! Holy crap, this things been around for 2 and a half years, and we’re still not able to get simple things like Hulu. Like graphics horsepower, this is a glaring reminder of the Wii’s shortfalls when compared to its larger, more powerful cousins.
Even with all of that, I still love my Wii, and wouldn’t give it up for anything.
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besides the obvious internet/friend codes complaint, I have a problem with its data storage. The SD card channel was a step in the right direction, but why do I have to pop the game into my friends Wii before i can move my save file? Is it really necessary that the game has to have been already played on that system before it can have a save file? C’mon!
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1. As others mentioned, upgrade the graphical/processing horsepower.
2. Hellooooo…. hard drive anyone? Granted, with 32gb sdch cards and the new class 10 specs for sd, this is not AS BIG of a deal… but the other systems are going as high as 120gb hard drives. With more games offering dlc and patches, etc, more storage is a must. Speaking of dlc….
3. The Wii needs an Operating System! Without an OS, we can’t get game patches. Granted, Ninty may feel that game patches encourage sloppy coding… but some games just need to be patched. Like Brawl, for instance. It’s online funtionality was dismal at best… it would have been great if the game could have been patched or updated.
4. A standard gaming controler that doesnt require it be attached to the Wiimote. Some games simply do not benefit from motion controls or pointer functionality. For games like this, it would be nice to have a classic controller that doesnt need to be dongled onto the wiimote. Sure, we can use the Gamecube controller, but that is kind of a cop-out… give us a wireless wii classic controller already, and allow developers to develop games that use it RATHER than the wiimote should they choose to.
5. Mandatory WiiSpeak functionality for all online games. Nuff said.
6. Make friend codes optional, and just do a better job with parental controls. If you dont want kids getting mixed up in any shady business…. create some stringent parental controls. Get rid of the friend codes, or make them part of the friend code system. Let adults play and chat online with whomever they choose! If I want to get yelled at and cursed out by some random stranger online, that is my perogative! LOL.
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I’m honestly fine with the Wii’s current technical specs. What I would change, however…
1. Nix the region locking. If you don’t want to release some games outside of certain territories, that’s fine, but barring people from playing legally-obtained imports? This is not how civilized human beings behave.
2. Nix the 40 MB limit on Wiiware. If someone wants to release a downloadable game on the network that would require all purchasers to buy a 200 GB external storage device for just the one game, then by all means, let them. The market will do a better job of keeping file-size reasonable than some arbitrary, inflexible policy.
3. As someone said above, a built/packed-in station for recharging the Wii remote.
4. Earthbound on the Virtual Console.
5. Goldeneye on the Virtual Console.
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1. I would improve the graphics – why are we stuck with graphics as good as my old C-64? Join this millennia please.
2. I would get rid of all of the crappy (95%???) games and enforce better quality requirements. So many terrible games…
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Put the banhammer on “Wii-Makes” and New Play Control titles.
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I love my Wii! Its the best purchase i have ever made when buying a game console. But for the most part it is a diverse sytem with its gamming. I due want them to shed their “Kiddie” image a bit more and bring in some more games that arent all Pokemon-Zelda-Super Mario. Don’t get wrong, i love those fun party games. But they can reach out for a bit more diverisity in their games.
I like how they port some games to their systems, but they are almost watered down due to graphics capabilities of the Wii verus other systems. I.E. Tomb Raider and RE 4 come to mind, when played against their orignal selves.
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The graphix update probably would solve the need for more hardcore violent games and releases of the PS3 and 360 top sellers that wouldn;t run on the lighter Wii
Plus all the families and kiddies who bough a wii and some of the fun games aren’t really into gaming, so the need for lame party and mini games isn’t a priority anymore, just give us the goods!
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i don’t own a wii, i kinda don’t even really want one, but i also don’t like all that motion game junk. maybe because i don’t have one and thats why i’m not used to playing those fancy motion games. sure its awesome for the wii sports that comes free with the system, but a lot of games require more accuracy than that thing provides. i tried playing metroid prime 3 at a friends and i just couldn’t get into it.
graphics and specs aside, the thing needs better games. graphics dont make a good game, and i never had a 500gm hard drive on my original nes and that was awesome. just games, thats all the wii needs! it’s pretty lame when their gameboy system has way cooler games on it than it’s big brother.
i mostly play games on my couch alone, i don’t need a party system. i dont need to wave my arms around or sit around doing wii yoga, i want cool games. i recently got a chance to play madworld. what looked like a crazy cool game, something i thought i would love to have a wii to play, was sort of a let down. it was totally repetetive and i got bored with it 20 minutes into the game. now the only shining light this system may have is muramasa.
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[...] posed the question last month to our readers to see what they/you would change in the system to make it a better option for [...]
1)More powerful processor to cope with more complex gameplay with a graphics chip that could cope with decent framerate and 1080p graphics through hdmi – autoswitch to lower resolutions for existing wii games and optional screen size for internet etc browsing
2)Incorporate the new 3D technology coming through ??
3)Capable of DVD (dare I suggest blueray as well) playback including upscaling through hdmi
4)N wireless networking plus optional ethernet socket
5)more accurate screen pointing without need for sensor bar (which fails when something gets in the way) through bluetooth perhaps and initial screen calibration at switch on if setting not detected. Agreed re other comments re motion plus (which might help with the pointer solution) and recharger built into controllers as standard
5)More internal storage space for downloads – sata socket and space for small SSD ?
6)VideoOnDemand functionality
7)Not just WiiSpeak but with webcam for Skype-esq chat through the nintendo network and beyond, inside and outside gaming ??
8)Software: A decent range of wiiware pinball tables (like the old Pro:Pinball series)!!
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