Thursday, July 17, 2008

 

I Guess I Could Talk About E3?

Tycho had this to say about Nintendo's keynote at E3 this year:

No doubt the proprietors of Ladies' Home Journal were breathless during Nintendo's presentation, but those outside of that august body may derive less enjoyment. This is the deep-dish, delicious irony endured by the Nintendo stalwart: to see their platform of choice ascendant, even as their bright God turns his face away.

I thought this was an interesting observation to make for a number of reasons. There's a suggestion that Nintendo fans should be unhappy about the non-traditional content that the company is creating and attracting. I feel that I should offer a patently obvious counter-argument.

The only way to really be a Nintendo fan these days is if you absolutely love this shit.

There are still some hangers-on, of course. These are the people who whined about Wii Fit last year, the people who are expecting Nintendo to create one Metroid and one Zelda every month for the next five years rather than following their obviously established pattern of ever more clean and approachable Wii-branded software.

These people cannot accept reality. Sucks to be them.

Me? I'm in love with my Wii. I've just completed my eighth straight week of Wii Fit (fifteen pounds lighter, thank you very much). I bought that Rock Band game that all the cool kids are making fun of, and surprise surprise, it's quite enjoyable. And when it comes right down to it, there's just so much crap coming out in the near future that I doubt I'll be able to keep up with it all.

When the "bright God" that Tycho talks about turns away from him, it shines its light on me. I am Nintendo's market. And I'm loving it.

With that said, let's break down the big stuff that Nintendo announced this week:

Rhythm Heaven -- Also known as that one rhythm game from the guys who made Wario Ware that never came to America. Well, now it's on the DS, and it's going to get a proper localization. I was curious about the first one, but what can I say, I prefer the convenience of games that are on sale in my own country. Consider this one on the radar.

Wario Land Shake It -- The big problem with this one is that Wario Land 4 sucked. Maybe it wasn't an awful game, but it was a follow-up to Wario Land 3. WARIO LAND 3. You can't follow up Wario Land 3 with an average platformer! You've got to get divine power on your side if you want to take a crack at that particular holy grail. Anyway, we'll see.

Animal Crossing: City Folk -- Well, I'll give them one thing. They struck a pretty classy compromise between the familiarity of the classic AC avatars and the inarguable necessity of Mii integration. I'll give them two more things -- Wii Speak and connectivity with Wild World are neat ideas. But here's the thing -- it's Animal Crossing. The Game About Nothing. I've played it twice already. Do I really need the guilt of having a third virtual town sitting in neglect, overgrown with weeds because I've been playing something else for two months?

Wii Sports Resort -- Wii Sports remains my favorite Wii game of all, completely unchallenged by fluff like Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Brothers Brawl. It's got five sports that are easy to care about, and they're all done well enough to make me want to play them. What does Wii Sports Resort have going for it? Swordplay sounds all right, I guess. Eh.

Wii Music -- Yeah, but I already have Rock Band. GOD STOP COMING OUT WITH INSTRUMENT GAMES.

WiiMotion Plus -- I just plain don't get it. It seems like the sort of thing you need to pick up and feel before you can really appreciate it, but as it is? It's hard to get particularly excited about this one. I already have a motion controller, don't I? Don't I?!

Miyamoto mentions that they're making Pikmin -- Oh. Well. Good for you then.

All in all, my gaming forecast hasn't seen any drastic changes after this year's E3. Retro Gaming Challenge dominates my consciousness. I'm preparing myself to get some hardcore rental time in with Order Up! next week. And in the meantime, I'm getting in some time with Animal Crossing: Wild World to help remind myself why I stopped caring about this series to begin with.

Labels:


Comments: Post a Comment



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?