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[dark10x]

OK, what games did I "miss"?

I used this list...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wii_games

(sorted by US release date)

Any game that wasn't a launch title but released before March 2008 was valid.

Again, I could easily have beefed up the PS2 list as well. This wasn't about spouting off ones favorites, rather, listing the "big" titles that were of good quality and/or a big deal at the time of release.

Keep in mind that not listing a title does not mean I believe it to be of low quality. There are plenty of PS2 and Wii games that are worthwhile that could have been included. Everyone is defending the Wii in this case without realizing that the same can be applied to PS2. I certainly didn't come close to exhausting all of the possible PS2 games, you know...

 

[hatchx]

Well the wii has had a pretty good year so far.

No matter what the naysayers say, there's been some good titles:


-Madworld
-House of the Dead: Overkill
-Tiger Woods 2010
-Wii Sport Resort
-Grand Slam Tennis
-Little King Story
-The Conduit
-Punch Out
-Excite Bots
-Metroid Prime Trilogy



No AAA-quality games really, but a big pile of GOOD exclusives.

 

[Lenardo]

Personally i think is is more to do with more quality titles being released and less shovelware, along with a lot of sites not reviewing the shovelware.

no list wars but so far this Year, my collection of wii games- and i only have a wii (43yrs old, wife, 3 kids- 8,5,5) has almost doubled. we have 62 wii games so far(everything for REALLLLY shitting games- national geographic dinosaus- to really awesome games -mario galaxy, etc etc) and I have 5 games i want to buy that are already out-cash flow problems that just got semi resolved*twins entered school ~1k a month in bills eliminated)

i've gotten almost all of the major wii releases this year, but i still need bash party, lks, mptrilogy, and a few others.
we do not have any of the music games rockband or guitar hero)

i've got games the kids are not allowed to see (madworld and overkill and a few others) to games everyone wants to play- wii sports resort, lego starwars/batman/indiana jones etc

 

[AppleBlade]

I know one thing, the Wii is definitely this gen's system of sleepers. The PS3 and 360 don't have much in the way of sleepers because anything even semi-worthy gets tons of publicity. On the Wii, games like Dawn of Discovery, Deadly Creatures, Rune Factory: Frontier, Mushroom Men, Broken Sword, Lit, Nancy Drew: White Wolf of Icicle Creek, Swords & Soldiers come out and not only do they get very little attention but some major review sites don't even review them at all.

 

[jay]

I know one thing, the Wii is definitely this gen's system of sleepers. The PS3 and 360 don't have much in the way of sleepers because anything even semi-worthy gets tons of publicity. On the Wii, games like Dawn of Discovery, Deadly Creatures, Rune Factory: Frontier, Mushroom Men, Broken Sword, Lit, Nancy Drew: White Wolf of Icicle Creek, Swords & Soldiers come out and not only do they get very little attention but some major review sites don't even review them at all.

It's like the PS2 minus the big games. The HD consoles are like the PS2 minus the niche games. Why can't we all just get along?

 

[DangerousDave]

I don't know from where they get the data. But looking in MetaCritics, and the numbers of 80+ games in PS360, and the lacks of games below 50, with the completly opposite in the Wii games, and no way Wii can have a 66 if PS3 have 68 and 360 a 67.

Another important thing. Wii normally have more titles published in each year than 360 or PS3, but this year is the opposite. There are less titles in 2009 than 360 or PS3.

So, i made a small checks (listing the titles in metacritics by name, that appears all the published, and by score, that appears only the ones with 4 or more scores). It's not exact, because there are some titles that are not out yet, but it's approx.

360:
Published: 274 / Scored: 162

PS3:
Published: 222 / Scored: 124

Wii:
Published: 283 / Scored: 118

So there is no magic. More games published than the other consoles but less games scored than the others. Simply, the review pages and magazines are ignoring all the shovelware, and are only scoring the decent Wii games.

 

[Sipowicz]

I think that's the point and possibly where at least a portion of the score boost stems from. When the Wii was hot and new, websites were generally reviewing most Wii games (including the pure shit). These days, there are so many Wii games hitting the shelves that are reviewed by none of the regular sources (most of which I never realized existed). With this huge chunk of software ignored you're going to end up with a higher review score average.

Very few games on the PS3 and 360, however, go un-reviewed.

This seems pretty likely to me. Anyone agree? Disagree?

maybe that's part of it, but i also dont remember manyt sites review the imagine games and their like. i dont think enthusiast sites have ever been that interested in shovelware, even back on the ps2

i also think the amount of quality exclusives being released on the has increased exponentially this year. while this number dwarfs hd consoles like the ps3 it hasn't reached the heady heights on the handhelds (for obvious reasons)

last year was pretty barren on thew wii iirc but this year it's started getting a steady stream of great, critically acclaimed exclusives as well as the odd superb multiplat (like tiger woods, ghostbusters or pro evo). so far i'm more than happy with it

 

[dark10x]

It's like the PS2 minus the big games. The HD consoles are like the PS2 minus the niche games. Why can't we all just get along?

The niche games on the Wii do seem to appeal to a different audience than the niche games on the PS2, however...

This gen is just different all around.

 

[JDSN]

ANECDOTE WARS!

 

[DangerousDave]

BTW, independently of the "non reviewed" games, it seems that the quality of the overall Wii games is increasing.

2008

Wii games over 75: 44 / 211 scored (332 published)

2009

Wii games over 75: 35 / 118 scored (283 published)

Taking into account that there are a lot of 2009 releases already in the metacritics database, but not yet reviewed (some of them will be over 75 for sure), even if a lot of shovelware is not reviewed, it seems that the quality is increasing.

 

[AniHawk]

So there is no magic. More games published than the other consoles but less games scored than the others. Simply, the review pages and magazines are ignoring all the shovelware, and are only scoring the decent Wii games.

Well not all of them. They tend to ignore WiiWare for whatever reason, LostWinds aside.

 

[Sipowicz]

Well not all of them. They tend to ignore WiiWare for whatever reason, LostWinds aside.

dude eurogamer

they review all of the wiiware games games as far as i know

 

[JaseMath]

The only game I've purchased for Wii this year is Punch-Out!! and I sold that. So...yeah, I disagree. There's been some good games yeah, but nothing I'm really interested in.

 

[hellclerk]

you know, there's a good reason i STAY THE FUCK OUT of these kinds of threads generally, just like the last couple of threads involving Wii short a quip or two. the very fact that that none of you guys can take just a little, non-inflammatory statement like "Wii games seem to be better according to review scores and it might mean that developers are taking Wii more seriously" that has little to NOTHING to do with the other consoles, short a graph for context, and turn it into a "yeah, but" statement. this study is about the Wii having better games relative to last year, not Wii having better games than X. people turn it into "No, the Wii doesn't really have good games" and others are forced to defend the Wii's library rather than comment on the implications of the article.

suffice it to say, it's rather petty. now, there are some issues with the makeup of this article, just as there are some issues with the makeup of any arguments about quality based in opinion. game reviews aren't perfect, but neither are any of your opinions either. welcome to entertainment media. you know nothing, but you can have a statement about everything. The Wii's library getting better is good for everyone who owns a Wii. i can never understand people who deride the Wii when they OWN one. don't they want good games?

The only game I've purchased for Wii this year is Punch-Out!! and I sold that. So...yeah, I disagree. There's been some good games yeah, but nothing I'm really interested in.

so this is a question that doesn't get asked very often: What are you looking for when you buy a Wii game?

 

[billy.sea]

I know one thing, the Wii is definitely this gen's system of sleepers. The PS3 and 360 don't have much in the way of sleepers because anything even semi-worthy gets tons of publicity. On the Wii, games like Dawn of Discovery, Deadly Creatures, Rune Factory: Frontier, Mushroom Men, Broken Sword, Lit, Nancy Drew: White Wolf of Icicle Creek, Swords & Soldiers come out and not only do they get very little attention but some major review sites don't even review them at all.

Well said. Only the mainstream hardcore think the Wii has no games, because they only see super-hyped games with big marketing push the ones that worth playing. A lot of smaller publishers/developers like Atlus, XSeed, THQ and Marvelous are pushing the Wii in a creative way.

 

[jay]

The niche games on the Wii do seem to appeal to a different audience than the niche games on the PS2, however...

This gen is just different all around.

Maybe, but who is buying Little King Story, Baroque, Castle Shkigami 3, and Dokapon Kingdom? Well, no one judging by sales, but still, these are the sort of games I bought on PS2 (Metropolismania, Castle Shikigami 2, etc) and continue to buy on Wii.

There's no question that the PS2 doesn't destroy all other consoles beside maybe the PS1 and if you're reaching the DS when it comes to depth of both niche and big games, but I still think some of the small Japanese games have found their way to Wii despite the markets lack of interest in them.

 

[GhaleonQ]

1. I REALLY hated the lack of good Wii games early on, but this topic makes me feel bad. There are genuinely people who don't know anything about the Wii's great (not awesome, but great) 2009 and don't care to know. I want INFORMED bashing, folks!

2. Little King's Story evangelizing makes me feel good.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

Ehh, Wii had an OK 2009. When you have to stretch the "Great 2009 games" list to include cell phone ports, 'compilations,' and Flash games just to make a top 10 list, it's time to give it up. Especially if The Conduit can make the list.

 

[OnPoint]

I know, its horrible! I go in to the shop with the sole intention of buying Punch-Out and MadWorld, right? I get home, look in the bag... Carnival Games! Fuck!

Thank you McBacon, that actually made me laugh in real life.

 

[Stink]

Yeah, I have noticed this anecdotally. Not counting DLC (i.e. expansions), Wii was the top home console performer in the first six months of the year on Eurogamer. Nintendo platforms were top scorers for five of the first six months in Edge (iirc, this was mostly Wii). Although the HD twins seem to have had a poor year. For me, PC has been the best platform by a long way.

 

[tintinrudd]

This thread is ridiculous.

Wii games are getting better and thats what the research shows. Whether they disregard a percentage of shovel ware or only include European reviews is redundant. We all know the games, and the games that journalists want, are getting better, ts pretty simple really.

 

[milanbaros]

Cool, really want a Wii but waiting on either a price drop or my mum getting one first (I'm 21:lol :lol ).

She saw an advert on tv a few weeks back and goes 'no matter what your father says we will eventually get one of those, they look so much fun.' Never heard her say anything like that before.

 

[Danthrax]

I actually have lists that confirm what EEDAR is saying.


2006 Releases with a Metacritic of 70% or higher [13]

NOVEMBER - Madden NFL 07; Marvel: Ultimate Alliance; Rayman Raving Rabbids; Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz; Trauma Center: Second Opinion; Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2; Excite Truck; Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess; Wii Sports [9]
DECEMBER - Chicken Little; Elebits; Super Swing Golf; Metal Slug Anthology [4]



2007 Releases with a Metacritic of 70% or higher [34]

JANUARY - WarioWare: Smooth Moves [1]
FEBRUARY - SSX Blur [1]
MARCH - Tiger Woods 07; The Godfather [2]
APRIL - Prince of Persia: Rival Swords; Super Paper Mario [2]
MAY - Mortal Kombat: Armageddon [1]
JUNE - Scarface; Resident Evil 4 [2]
JULY - Mario Strikers Charged [1]
AUGUST - Madden NFL 08; Tiger Woods 08; Metroid Prime 3 [3]
SEPTEMBER - Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party [1]
OCTOBER - MLB Power Pros; Thrillville; Guilty Gear XX Accent Core; Mercury Meltdown Revolution; Sims 2: Castaway; Naruto: Clash of the Ninja Revolution; Zack & Wiki; Guitar Hero 3; Battalion Wars 2 [9]
NOVEMBER - Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn; LEGO Star Wars; Super Mario Galaxy; Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary; Medal of Honor Heroes 2; Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles; Geometry Wars: Galaxies; Trauma Center: New Blood; Puzzle Quest [9]
DECEMBER - Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3; Super Swing Golf: Season 2 [2]



2008 Releases with a Metacritic of 70% or higher [41]

JANUARY - No More Heroes [1]
FEBRUARY - [0]
MARCH - Super Smash Bros. Brawl; Pro Evolution Soccer 2008; Bully [3]
APRIL - Mario Kart Wii; Okami [2]
MAY - Boom Blox; LostWinds; Wii Fit; Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As a King [4]
JUNE - Rock Band; LEGO Indiana Jones; BlastWorks; Toki Tori [4]
JULY - We Love Golf!; MLB Power Pros 2008; Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon [3]
AUGUST - Madden NFL 09; Tiger Woods 09; Strong Bad ep. 1; MaBoShi [4]
SEPTEMBER - de Blob; Wario Land Shake It!; Strong Bad ep. 2; Mega Man 9; Bomberman Blast; Groovin' Blocks; Art Style: ORBIENT [7]
OCTOBER - Guitar Hero World Tour; FIFA 09; MySims Kingdom; Strong Bad ep. 3; World of Goo; Tetris Party; Art Style; ROTOHEX [7]
NOVEMBER - Call of Duty World at War; WWE SmackDown vs RAW 2009; Shaun White Snowboarding; Strong Bad ep. 4 [4]
DECEMBER - Rock Band 2; Strong Bad ep. 5 [2]



2009 Releases with a Metacritic of 70% or higher [50 so far]

JANUARY - Jungle Speed [1]
FEBRUARY - Tenchu; Deadly Creatures; LIT; NASCAR Kart Racing; House of the Dead: Overkill [5]
MARCH - Pikmin; MadWorld; Bit.Trip Beat; Rune Factory: Frontier; Marble Saga: Kororinpa; Pro Evolution Soccer 2009; Broken Sword; Guitar Hero: Metallica; Bonsai Barber [9]
APRIL - Bubble Bobble Plus; Samurai Showdown Anthology; Excitebots [3]
MAY - Donkey Kong Jungle Beat; Klonoa; Swords & Soldiers; Punch-Out; Boom Blox Bash Party; EA Sports Active; The Munchables [7]
JUNE - Final Fantasy 4: The After Years; Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10; Grand Slam Tennis; Virtua Tennis 2009; Ghostbusters; Let's Tap; Guitar Hero: Smash Hits; NEVES Plus; Day of Discovery; Overlord: Dark Legend; Resident Evil; Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs; water Warfare [13]
JULY - Bit.Trip Core; Final Fantasy Crystal chronicles: My Life As a Darklord; Little King's Story; Wii Sports Resort; Tales of Monkey Island ch. 1 [5]
AUGUST - NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits; Real Heroes: Firefigher; Phantom Brave; Madden NFL 10; Spectrobes; Metroid Prime Trilogy; Cursed Mountain [7]


We've had many more good games in 2009 for the Wii than any of its previous years. Anyone who hasn't noticed isn't paying attention at all.

 

[Brashnir]

I actually have lists that confirm what EEDAR is saying.

It confirms what they're trying to say, but it also illustrates the flaw in their methodology.

What you've done is make a list of games that are of a certain quality level, which is a far better representation of a system's library than simply averaging all scores. Nobody really cares about most of the junk that comes out for any system. Did anybody here buy GI Joe?

 

[Accident]

It's getting closer to the others platforms, WiiWare it's still behind.

2009 releases with a Metacritic score of 75% or higher:

Xbox 360: 30
PS3: 26
Wii: 24

XBLA: 23
PSN: 16
Wii Ware: 9

 

[jrricky]

Just went to metacritic and you know what amazed me, a third party Wii game getting reviewed by over 70 outlets, and its The Conduit. The game seem to have had many people paying attention to it on both sides.

 

[AniHawk]

Just went to metacritic and you know what amazed me, a third party Wii game getting reviewed by over 70 outlets, and its The Conduit. The game seem to have had many people paying attention to it on both sides.

And that's so very sad.

 

[Jokeropia]

Any game that wasn't a launch title but released before March 2008 was valid.

I'm not sure why launch titles aren't included, but in that case the total span is December 06 through February 08, that is 15 months. The equivalent period for PS2 would be third week of March 00 to May 01. This excludes a great deal of the games you listed, such as FFX, ICO, Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid 2, Devil May Cry, Grand Theft Auto 3 etc.

If you were using the US release date of PS2, that's somewhat misleading since having been out for an extra seven months in Japan helps with library at least in terms of Japanese games, which many of the ones you mentioned are.

 

[farnham]

Well the wii has had a pretty good year so far.

No matter what the naysayers say, there's been some good titles:


-Madworld
-House of the Dead: Overkill
-Tiger Woods 2010
-Wii Sport Resort
-Grand Slam Tennis
-Little King Story
-The Conduit
-Punch Out
-Excite Bots
-Metroid Prime Trilogy



No AAA-quality games really, but a big pile of GOOD exclusives.

wut..?


PLUS DONT FORGET RUNE FACTORY FRONTIER PLEASE!

 

[Sadist]

The obsession for these so-called AAA titles is getting ridiculous.

 

[dcdobson]

wut..?


PLUS DONT FORGET RUNE FACTORY FRONTIER PLEASE!

Or Pro Evo 2009. Not an exclusive, but whatever.

 

[Vinci]

The obsession for these so-called AAA titles is getting ridiculous.

Half of the time, it's hard to decipher what they use 'AAA' to mean anymore. If it's a PS3 or 360 game, it's AAA; if it's on the Wii, the slightest show of effort whatsoever will get a game tagged 'AAA' by detractors - but only of course when it doesn't sell six million copies. And even if it had it would've sold more on the 360 so who gives a fuck?

On the other hand, I never hear anyone talk about the DS having AAA titles.

 

[Jocchan]

Garbage graph. Who scales a data set from 1-100 on a graph that ranges from 54-70? Terrible, thoughtless work. I thought about creating a proper graph but if they can't be bothered to cover basics neither can I.

My sarcasm meter is getting all dizzy. Help me, GAF.

 

[Flachmatuch]

There are more great games on the Wii after its first two years than the PS2 ever had in its first two years.

Memory, goggles, memory, goggles...

The PS2 library started to really shine in its third year, the crap that was released on the system between 2k and 2k2 was staggering, your GTA 3 and MGS2s were few and far between.

On the other hand, there are no GTAs and MGSs on Wii. There are a number of awesome Nintendo games, but not a single third party game with effort comparable to GTA3, MGS2, FFX or Onimusha. Not even worth mentioning the smaller, more niche stuff (like Ring of Red, Summoner, Dark Cloud, Sky Odyssey, Twisted Metal, Klonoa 2, Ico, Frequency, the first Jak and Ratchet and Sly etc etc etc). The PS2 was already incredible at the end of 2001. Seriously, there's just no competition. The Wii has great Nintendo games, but overall, you can't compare it to the PS2.

 

[dark10x]

I'm not sure why launch titles aren't included, but in that case the total span is December 06 through February 08, that is 15 months. The equivalent period for PS2 would be third week of March 00 to May 01. This excludes a great deal of the games you listed, such as FFX, ICO, Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid 2, Devil May Cry, Grand Theft Auto 3 etc.

If you were using the US release date of PS2, that's somewhat misleading since having been out for an extra seven months in Japan helps with library at least in terms of Japanese games, which many of the ones you mentioned are.

You're right, in making the list, I was thinking of the US release date of PS2. OK, so if we include the extra time on the Wii (to bring it up to 24 months), did it suddenly receive a massive stream of AAA titles then? What did this do for the Wii? You can throw in stuff like Wii Fit, Mario Kart, Smash Bros, and the like and it's still very Gamecube (Wii Fit being the odd software out).

I didn't include launch titles in the Wii list simply because I didn't include them in the PS2 list. We can play that game too, if you'd like.

Keep in mind that I created that original post as a reply to...

There are more great games on the Wii after its first two years than the PS2 ever had in its first two years.

Memory, goggles, memory, goggles...

I feel that the first two years of PS2 were much better than any other recent console. It had a weak beginning (especially in Japan), but it really turned things around in 2001. The Wii, on the other hand, really did not. If anything, 2008 was an inferior year for the Wii compared to 2007.

 

[Flachmatuch]

I feel that the first two years of PS2 were much better than any other recent console. It had a weak beginning (especially in Japan), but it really turned things around in 2001. The Wii, on the other hand, really did not. If anything, 2008 was an inferior year for the Wii compared to 2007.

Most of its first year was pretty weak, but things turned around with GT3. By the end of 2001, the PS2 lineup was very good, and by its third Christmas...no comparison. It's true that the Wii's getting a little better though.

It's like the PS2 minus the big games. The HD consoles are like the PS2 minus the niche games. Why can't we all just get along?

I think the PS2 had *way* more of these with a lot more diversity, even in the first couple of years :-/

 

[dragonfart28]

PROPER HARDCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE

 

[Jokeropia]

You're right, in making the list, I was thinking of the US release date of PS2. OK, so if we include the extra time on the Wii (to bring it up to 24 months), did it suddenly receive a massive stream of AAA titles then? What did this do for the Wii? You can throw in stuff like Wii Fit, Mario Kart, Smash Bros, and the like and it's still very Gamecube (Wii Fit being the odd software out).

I didn't include launch titles in the Wii list simply because I didn't include them in the PS2 list. We can play that game too, if you'd like.

Keep in mind that I created that original post as a reply to...


I feel that the first two years of PS2 were much better than any other recent console. It had a weak beginning (especially in Japan), but it really turned things around in 2001. The Wii, on the other hand, really did not. If anything, 2008 was an inferior year for the Wii compared to 2007.

I don't intend to play subjective list wars, I just wanted to point out the inconsistency.