Let’s face it: 2008 was far from a perfect year for the Wii and left much to be desired. However, 2009 is on the horizon and it’s time to look forward to what next year has to offer. At the same time, we should remember the happenings of 2008 and years past so that the same mistakes will not be repeated. So, without further ado, here are four Wii wishes that, if they come true, could make 2009 one of the best years for the Wii.
Better third-party support
2009 will be an unquestionably standout year as far as Wii third-party titles go. The Conduit, MadWorld, House of the Dead: Overkill, Deadly Creatures, Sonic and the Black Knight, and Little King’s Story – just to name a few – look very promising and will be releasing in the early months of 2009. However, I can’t help but wish for more third-parties to step up for the Wii in 2009. Even with the amount of spectacular products that were released on the Wii in 2008, there were mounds of shovelware and downright uninspired games that were also being placed on store shelves. Some companies still seem to focus on the Xbox 360 and PS3, leaving Wii on the backburner. Though, now that the Wii has proven itself on the market and third-party games such as Boom Blox and Guitar Hero have performed fairly well, will companies take notice and change their ways?
Peripheral support
Wii MotionPlus could arguably end up as the most useful peripheral for the Wii. True 1:1 motion control will finally be possible and therefore, developers will be able to take advantage of the added accuracy when creating new games. Still, even with the benefits of MotionPlus, there are two other Wii accessories which should not be forgotten: The Wii Balance Board and the Wii Zapper. Nintendo initially backed these two products heavily but have since left them for third-parties to explore. Even with that in mind, there are only a few decent Balance Board and Wii Zapper compatible games. As much as Link’s Crossbow Training and Wii Fit are enjoyable, it would be nice to see Nintendo produce another title or two that take advantage of either of the add-ons. Nintendo, after all, has proven in the past that they can reach the best results with their own products more than any other company.
An effective Wii storage solution
Nintendo has been notorious for their unconventional ways of implementing new ideas. With Wii Speak, for instance, rather than releasing a headset – which is the typical means of communication in games these days – Nintendo instead opted to announce a product that was, for the most part, unexpected and fell flat of gamers’ hopes. The same situation seems to be happening with Nintendo’s Wii “storage solution.” The company has reiterated a few times over that the storage solution will reduce the time and amount of processes needed to actually play a downloaded item. Considering Nintendo’s previous actions with issues though, how effective will the Wii storage solution be? It’s also slightly concerning that the fix will take at least five or so months to develop. In the end, a hard drive or opening up the SD card slot for direct play might have been more simple and effective than what Nintendo is trying to achieve. If the Wii storage solution is not easy to use Nintendo could easily upset the hardcore audience and perhaps even confound casual gamers who are not usually involved in technical set ups.
More games from Nintendo
A relatively disturbing fact is that no Nintendo-published Wii games will arrive until March of 2009. Until March rolls by with the Mario Power Tennis remake, there will be a dearth of first-party/second-party Wii games since the release of Animal Crossing: City Folk. And depending on whether or not you have already played Mario Tennis on the GameCube, there’s a chance that there will not be any “original” titles to purchase until April or possibly May. During times like these, one has to wonder where games such as Disaster: Day of Crisis, Fatal Frame IV, and Captain Rainbow are. Sure, Reggie hates Disaster, Fatal Frame IV is caught in a publishing mess, and Captain Rainbow would probably not be purchased by a good majority of Wii owners. However, localizing those titles would fill the void left by the absence of unique Nintendo content. We hope that the pattern of no Nintendo-published games does not remain a constant theme in 2009, or even worse, long gaming droughts in general that have plagued Nintendo systems of old.
