Memories of the Wii...

Memories of the Wii…

Although it comes as no surprise, the news that Nintendo is ceasing production of the Wii this week leaves me a little sad. To be honest, I often get a bit melancholic when a console is discontinued but this time I find myself feeling almost guilty as I read through the ‘obituaries’ appearing on the various gaming websites. (My favourite is by Edge, found here: http://www.edge-online.com/features/a-temporary-revolution-our-tribute-to-nintendos-wii/)

Without wanting to sound too dramatic, it is a bit like reading about the passing of an old school friend in the local paper; one that you have had zero contact with for a number of years, but one that you were close to for a while.

Yes, my Wii has been back in its box for around 10 months and before that it suffered 2 years of neglect; its only use being that of my 7 year old nephew playing Ben 10 on his Sunday visits. For shame!

But with the discontinuation comes a flood of memories: laughing at the ridiculous name when it was first announced at e3 2006. Ridiculing the ridiculous control system as something that would never work. Guffawing at the re-hashed GameCube architecture; how ridiculous was that? Ridiculous.

I also remember the first time I played a Wii in December 2006 at a friend’s house and realised that I had been wrong. Realising that it did work. Realising that whenever a software house got it right, the Wii could be fantastic.

I wasn’t alone as the Wii sold out that Christmas and remained in short supply for months after. I purchased my own Wii in April 2007 after seeing an advertising board outside Electronics Boutique kindly informing me that the Wii was in stock that day. I didn’t even check my bank account for funds I just bought one.

For the next 6 months I played on Mario Strikers Charged endlessly. Tense online co-op sessions with my housemate saw us ranked in the top 10 of the world on more than one occasion.

For Christmas 2007 I received what may be the greatest ever Mario game: Mario Galaxy. Through January 2008 I drank wine and worked to complete Galaxy night and day. The addition of the co-op mode meant that both my housemate and I could share in the experience.

In Summer 2008 Smash Bros came out and replaced Strikers Charged as the multi-player game of choice and this was followed by Mario Kart. Multi-player hadn’t been this good since the N64.

But, in August 2008 I moved into a shared house occupied by staunch non-gamers and this is when the Wii stalled for me. MadWorld and Super Mario Galaxy 2 would drag me back for a short time but it was obvious: the Wii was the life of the party; it wasn’t your best mate.

At this point I drifted to the PS3 where deep one-player experiences were the norm not the exception and again I know, I am not alone. The PS3 slim became a go to place for many disillusioned Wii owners.

So the news this week is a reminder that for a time, the Wii was my number one console. In fact, in its 2 years of real use it probably experienced the equivalent of 4 years worth of gaming. It also reminds me that there are still some exceptional titles I have not played: Xenoblade Chronicles is just one.

Finally, it is a reminder that, although it lost its momentum, the Wii remains Nintendo’s greatest expression of creativity and that against all the odds, whisper it, it won the last generation; 100 million sales ain’t half bad for a ridiculous little white box.

The waiting game.

The waiting game.

Let me set the scene; I am sat in my apartment in Naples (Italy), it’s five-past midnight and my girlfriend is sat next to me, earphones in listening / watching something on her laptop; there is a lot of noise drifting in through the window from the streets and tightly knit apartment blocks that make up the Materdei district of Naples; the light in our living room is on and as I look at this Word document my eyes are burning up. It might be the newly installed anti-mosquito chemical dispersing plug that is glowing red somewhere in the bedroom, it might be the insanely strong onion that I chopped a few hours ago for lunch, it could be the oddly dim energy saving light-bulb. My eyes are burning up and I could probably say that one of these reasons is true. But I would be lying.

My eyes are burning up because today, like most days these days, I have read every single new word published on the Internet about the next generation of consoles: in particular the PS4.

That’s right. My eyes are melting because I can’t stop reading about the PS4. It’s like an addiction. Today, over early afternoon coffee, I realized that I was still sat where I had sat to drink my early morning coffee. I hadn’t moved other than to clean out the coffee maker and make said new early afternoon coffee. I am a next gen zombie. I may as well be an alcoholic for all the use I am at the moment. I stay up late reading, I wake up early and read and stare into space and read and stare and read and stare until my eyes bleed tired, caffeine infused blood.

And why?

The last generation passed me by. Completely. Sometimes I enjoy reading the comment threads on next gen articles (IGN is best) and read the bilge and vitriol hurled between fan groups whose brand loyalty got a little out of hand in the PS3 XB360 era but I don’t really understand. With the exception of a handful of games (Red Dead and Rayman Origins to name two) I genuinely thought the last generation was pretty bad.

From the very beginning the last generation distanced itself from my traditional gaming ideals. SKU’s? No thanks - the Super NES didn’t need SKU’s. Multi-player games that couldn’t be played with friends in the same room? Fuck that – mid-nineties multi-tap parties ruled. Cooling fans borrowed from government issued, Fujitsu made, shit spec PC’s?  Nope. I already live with quite enough background noise thank you.

These things are perhaps from the sillier end of the spectrum but I do have some serious issues with the last gen.

One issue particularly stands out for me – a perceived lack of direction. To be fair, this can be leveled at Sony more than anyone. Nintendo had their direction sorted; Microsoft had their PC in a box with added achievements but Sony? Well, who knows?  The team that gave us the PS1 and the PS2, two machines that knew what they wanted to be and kicked-ass doing it, gave us the PS3. Sony built an expensive powerhouse that was prepared for any direction future tech might take but with no clear idea of what that might be. In 2006 Facebook picked up where MySpace left off and social networking boomed – people wanted connectivity and personalization; records of achievement to show to their friends in an online community. Cue hardware revisions to remove functionality and reduce costs. Cue endless firmware updates. Cue mandatory trophies for developers. Sony was prepared for everything except this; Microsoft and LIVE had got it right but they missed the boat on Blu-ray, HD, and basic console reliability.

This era also saw a massive change in the economics of, and thus end product of, game development. Costs spiraled, development teams grew exponentially and a risk-averse culture reared its ugly head. Cue FPS shovel ware. That’s right – shovel ware. I see no difference between the endless list of shit Wii titles and the endless list of shit PS3 and 360 titles. Shit is shit. That Syndicate Wars, a brilliant game, was ‘brought up to date’ and released as an FPS sickens me. Still.

So why am I excited about PS4? Why?

Because Sony have got it sussed. Social networking? Tick. Ever improving PSN? Tick. Enlisting indie developers to liven up the games scene? Tick. Name dropping the PS1? Tick.

Big mistakes were made in the last era and it seems that Sony have learned from them. What Sony went through with the PS3 is what Microsoft seems to be going through with XBO now.

Before the PS4 reveal, I had never heard of Mark Cerny but may I take a moment to say well played that man. The PS4 is shaping up to be a huge success à la PS2. The reason? Direction.

So yes. I spend all my time lapping up the articles about the PS4 because I am excited. I am massively impatient to stop reading about it and start playing it.

But right now I should really just go to bed – rest my eyes up for another reading marathon tomorrow; so goodnight everyone.

Keep it focused, keep it OMG.