Argument with a friend: Should Wii Sports have been on the "Game of the Decade" list?

[jokkir]

Yes, related to the VGA's.

I'm saying it should and he says it shouldn't because the game was "crap". My arguments are that it should because it influenced the age of motion gaming and was the perfect game to show off what the Wii could do (and was probably a big part of why people bought a Wii and why the Wii was hyped so much). His arguments was because the game was bad and didn't play as expected (not 1:1 motion gaming).

What say you?

EDIT:

Well, here's the whole list for reference:

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Half-Life 2
World of Warcraft
Shadow of the Colossus
Wii Sports
BioShock
Portal
Mass Effect 2
Red Dead Redemption
Batman: Arkham City

 

[DidntKnowJack]

Sure, why not? It was the main reason Wii sold millions of systems.

 

[imjust1n]

No half Life 2 deserve that it was that or wind waker in my opinion

 

[jokkir]

Sure, why not? It was the main reason Wii sold millions of systems.

"Because the game is crap"

Says him even though I told him that if it wasn't for the game, and Wii selling a ton, Kinect and PSMove wouldn't have been made (maybe).

 

[Drago]

SMG deserved the spot more I think but I'm not going to deny the major influence Wii Sports had.

 

[Diablos54]

It's one of the most influential games of all time, of course it should be on that list! Not win, but on the list at least.

 

[deviljho]

http://cayke.weebly.com/ This game should be.

VGAs have lost credibility (whatever they had) in my eyes. They also have become unwitting tools of video game business people.

 

[Barkley's Justice]

you're really arguing this, OP?

 

[MisterHero]

YES. Motion gaming turned the industry on its head in the last few years. If not for the enjoyment of the Wii controller itself, it's a giant reminder that games shouldn't be limited to joypads and keyboard/mouse.

Including Wind Waker over Metroid Prime/Mario Galaxy/Resident Evil 4 was kinda silly though.

Metroid Prime directly competed with Half-life 2 in many GOTY awards in that year.

 

[UberTag]

Wii Sports deserved a spot on that list far more than Shadow of the Colossus.
This, despite the fact that the latter is a far superior game.

Game of the Decade constitutes what game made the most meaningful impact on the industry and influence on game development. Wii Sports definitely qualifies here.

 

[RPGamer92]

Should've been SMG instead.

 

[King of the Potato People]

The game was important and is simplistic yet accessible fun

In Short: YES!

 

[MasterShotgun]

Considering how influential it turned out to be, I've got little problem with it being on a mainstream list.

 

[Takao]

It's more a tech demo than a game (didn't really have the meat required IMO) but it is one of the most influential games of all time. There's no shame in it being on a list like that.

 

[Izick]

Not really. If that's on the list then I don't see why Madden or the highest selling CoD isn't as well. It's not really going to be remembered for years and years to come like Half-Life 2.

 

[Igo]

What was the list? Please tell me GTA 3 was on it.

 

[Man God]

What was the list? Please tell me GTA 3 was on it.

Came out in 01 so....

 

[SlowRevolution]

Absolutely. It let people get into gaming who otherwise wouldn't care, and even if they ended up abandoning the Wii I think they ended up with a better grasp on why people like games. Wii Sports + phone gaming have been a huge deal.

 

[Flame Lord]

No.

 

[JordanN]

It could be on the list but it wont rank very high. All it had going for it was legacy. The game itself was very barebones. Even for its "motion controls" there were better examples.

 

[GQman2121]

Absolutely, yes, it should be there. It opened up games to an entire new market of customers and was largely influential with pushing both of Nintendo's competitors to produce motion products of their own.

Personally, out of the games that were nominated I would have voted for SotC or Portal because those games--much like Wii Sports--offered experiences that felt fresh, new and unique.

 

[BadAss2961]

No.

Simple as that.

 

[Onion_Relish]

Is it influential? You're damn Skippy it is.
Is it a good game? Not really.

Half life 2 blows it out of the water, plus it was influential in different ways. It really had the perfect mix of quality and legacy.

 

[neptunes]

We'll see how influential it really was if were still using motion controls in 4-5 years from now

 

[Little Green Yoda]

Post the list so we can tear it apart. ;-)

VGAs have lost credibility (whatever they had) in my eyes. They also have become unwitting tools of video game business people.

:lol

 

[Skyzard]

Should Angry Birds?

 

[To Far Away Times]

It's influence was incredible, but I think it lacks the depth that would make it a true game of the year (or decade).

Compare it to something like Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2, Metroid Prime, Half-Life 2, Shadow of the Colossus, Resident Evil 4, Bioshock or Mirror's Edge and I think it comes up a bit short.

 

[Gahiggidy]

Yes. Of course. Probably more people played it than any other game from the last ten years. You can't write the history of videogames without bringing it up.

 

[Nealand Liquor]

Yep it should have been. Excuse the pun, but it did launch a revolution. I have never seen a single game have such an astounding wide reaching touch.

To the people saying no, name one single game that had everyone's grandparents lining up to play?
Just one. I'll be waiting...

 

[MisterHero]

We'll see how influential it really was if were still using motion controls in 4-5 years from now

We will be.

Vita has motion/touch/AR. PS4 will probably do the same.
Kinect will probably be built into Xbox 3, probably with light Smartglass implementation
Wii U/3DS will continue to have motion/touch/AR

The point is to introduce new control options and assist new game ideas; not shoehorn them into every future game. They exist in the same capacity as sticks and buttons.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Yeah, blue ocean and all that.

 

[Thoraxes]

As a game it is pretty crappy.

As a symbol of a market-changing movement it's great.

I like to think of Wii Sports as influential because of what it represented, not because of what it was.

 

[DjRoomba]

Nah definatly not, even though it does have some significance in vg history. Also Red Dead redemption? Batman? These were not worthy titles, and HL2 is not the best game in the last decade. Lame nominations

 

[MYE]

Yes. I dont even see how you can argue against its influence

 

[Kurdel]

Whether you like it or not, it is a modern cultural touchstone.

Nevermind it's legacy, it was the biggest thing to happen to gaming in the last 10 years. Not the best or the most important, but the biggest. I think that deserves a spot.

 

[Skiesofwonder]

Not really. If that's on the list then I don't see why Madden or the highest selling CoD isn't as well. It's not really going to be remembered for years and years to come like Half-Life 2.

On the gaming forums of the world Half-Life 2 well be remembered forever, while in the real world the majority of people don't even know what it is. But they do know what Wii Sports is, and thirty years down the road it will be brought up along side PAC-Man, Tetris, and Mario.

Wii Sports absolutely deserved to be on this list.

 

[nckillthegrimace]

Well, here's the whole list for reference:

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Half-Life 2
World of Warcraft
Shadow of the Colossus
Wii Sports
BioShock
Portal
Mass Effect 2
Red Dead Redemption
Batman: Arkham City

I'd say that maybe two or three of those games deserve to on a best of the decade list, if I'm being generous. Personally, I'd include none of them. I think GAF could come up with a way better list. As a side note, if I was making a game of the decade list, I'd probably focus less on what was most influential or whatever and more on what I actually liked the best. I'm selfish, though.

 

[PetrCobra]

Yes. Being good/bad is very subjective, being massively influential and largely generation-defining is easily proven.

Edit: I might even go as far as to say that the fact we had the most evenly divided console generation ever, with each of the three players sharing a good portion of the market, was mainly because Nintendo decided to go in a different direction and Wii Sports was a big part of that.

 

[El-Suave]

Should Angry Birds?

Exactly. If you make wide reach and main stream appeal a criteria, you land right there. So no, it should not be on that list. Maybe if the games that made up Wii Sports were more fleshed out to fit some more "real" game requirements, then you could think about it - but as it stands, no way. Just look at Wii tennis and how basic and bare the options are.

 

[B.O.O.M]

I may get a lot of heat for this but honestly..IF we are going by influence, then the list should have included COD4.

But I agree wii sports definitely deserved the spot

 

[Ysiadmihi]

Mass Effect 2 even being considered was disgusting. At least Wii Sports had some sort of reason for being on there.

 

[PetrCobra]

I may get a lot of heat for this but honestly..IF we are going by influence, then the list should have included COD4.

But I agree wii sports definitely deserved the spot

I would say you are probably right. I can see why Portal is there, why WoW is there, but many other games on that list just seem random to me. Even Wind Waker although I love the game so much I can hardly put it to words. COD4 would be a better fit.

 

[Jinfash]

The list of nominees was created by the VGA board and Entertainment Weekly while the winner was decided by fan voting, no? I really doubt there's an overlap between the Wii Sport demographic and people who picked HL2 over the other nominees. Therefore I don't think it really matters whether Wii Sports was on the list or not.

 

[Trent Strong]

Good Christ no.

 

[Meatvillain]

Meh, it was basically a token nomination and whatever, I think Wii Sports is deserving for a token nomination considering what it did to kick off motion control and widen the appeal of a videogame system.

 

[onQ123]

Fuck Wii Sports! Sports Champions Bitches!

 

[MYE]

Exactly. If you make wide reach and main stream appeal a criteria, you land right there. So no, it should not be on that list. Maybe if the games that made up Wii Sports were more fleshed out to fit some more "real" game requirements, then you could think about it - but as it stands, no way. Just look at Wii tennis and how basic and bare the options are.

What does the complexity of a game have to do with this list?

And "real game requirements"? Really?
You play to beat the other player. There you go, its a real game.

 

[MisterHero]

Well, here's the whole list for reference:

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Half-Life 2
World of Warcraft
Shadow of the Colossus
Wii Sports
BioShock
Portal
Mass Effect 2
Batman: Arkham City
Red Dead Redemption

I'd say that maybe two or three of those games deserve to on a best of the decade list, if I'm being generous. Personally, I'd include none of them. I think GAF could come up with a way better list. As a side note, if I was making a game of the decade list, I'd probably focus less on what was most influential or whatever and more on what I actually liked the best. I'm selfish, though.

bolded were released on PC

The nominations feel like they're trying to downplay consoles and handhelds, but PC also had true trendsetters like Halo CE and GTAIII. Maybe it's just the general progression of developers expecting to get more and more out of consoles versus what they can get on PC. I don't like the movement but the industry seems largely intact.

RDR was released on PC?

my bad

 

[MYE]

bolded were released on PC

The nominations feel like they're trying to downplay consoles and handhelds, but PC also had true trendsetters like Halo CE and GTAIII. Maybe it's just the general progression of developers expecting to get more and more out of consoles versus what they can get on PC. I don't like the movement but the industry seems largely intact.

RDR was released on PC?

 

[Catchpenny]

It has more business being on there than Batman or ME2, that's for sure. Maybe Wind Waker and SotC too.

No Metroid Prime or RE4 was disappointing. Not sure if Prime was eligible though.