Need your suggestions for buying a Wii

[loess]

I am trying to pick out a Wii for my brother, a deal about Nintendo Wii Bundle $335 caught my eyes, it includes Wii Console, Extra Remote + Nunchuk, 1 Extra Game / Accessory, looks decent to me.

how do you guys think? worth to buy?

[patrickl]

Are you sure he wants a Wii? Is he under 14 years old? Or does he have kids?

[HaRuMaN]

Are you sure he wants a Wii? Is he under 14 years old? Or does he have kids?

Hey, I'm an adult with no kids and I like my Wii, thankyouverymuch!

[AtomSmasher]

It doesn't seem like much of a deal, but it looks like it comes with everything you'll want to get and since they're still selling out everywhere, I doubt you'll be able to find a real good deal anyways.

Just make sure to check reviews before picking out the game because there is a lot of shovelware for the console.  And pay no attention to patrickl, he's just trolling for another Wii debate.

[DaveMMR]

Are you sure he wants a Wii? Is he under 14 years old? Or does he have kids?

I have at least a dozen friends/acquaintances in their 20's/30's, no kids, that enjoy the Wii immensely. 

[versapak]

Are you sure he wants a Wii? Is he under 14 years old? Or does he have kids?

I have at least a dozen friends/acquaintances in their 20's/30's, no kids, that enjoy the Wii immensely. 

Immensely?


BS

[patrickl]

Indeed there was a thread about people feeling remorse about buying a Wii and there were a whole lot more people disappointed with their Wii than people happy with their Wii.

I'm just warning the guy not to become part of the 9 out of 10 who just use their Wii to collect dust.

[Hoopz]

I volunteer with a teen age boys group (leadership training and character development).  They raised the money to purchase a Wii and played last night for about 2 hours.  I think it reaches more than just families with younger children.   

[shmokes]

I read an interview with a major game developer . . . I forget which one . . . and he said something funny about the Wii that I think is at least partially true.  It's like a virus.  You go out and buy it, and then all your family and friends come over and play Wii Sports.  They have a blast and they go and buy one.  In the mean time, you get bored with Wii Sports, and you find yourself ignoring the Wii altogether and it begins collecting dust.  Your friends and family, however, show Wii Sports to their family and friends, who have a blast and go out and buy one.  In the mean time, your friends get bored with Wii Sports, and find themselves ignoring the Wii altogether and it begins collecting dust.  The friends and family of your friends and family however, show Wii Sports to their family and friends, etc., etc.. 

  It would explain the insanely high hardware sales and the low software attach rate.

[versapak]

I read an interview with a major game developer . . . I forget which one . . . and he said something funny about the Wii that I think is at least partially true.  It's like a virus.  You go out and buy it, and then all your family and friends come over and play Wii Sports.  They have a blast and they go and buy one.  In the mean time, you get bored with Wii Sports, and you find yourself ignoring the Wii altogether and it begins collecting dust.  Your friends and family, however, show Wii Sports to their family and friends, who have a blast and go out and buy one.  In the mean time, your friends get bored with Wii Sports, and find themselves ignoring the Wii altogether and it begins collecting dust.  The friends and family of your friends and family however, show Wii Sports to their family and friends, etc., etc.. 

  It would explain the insanely high hardware sales and the low software attach rate.

Yep.

I loved the Wii when I first got it, and shared the experience with as many as possible.

The honeymoon did end though, and it did indeed sit collecting dust for myself and most that I know.


I unfortunately got rid of mine before some of the quality Nintendo titles made it out, but even those don't have the kind of substance that would have kept me playing. The Wii's big flaw in my eyes is that it lacks any single player substance. It is 99% a party machine.

[DaveMMR]

Are you sure he wants a Wii? Is he under 14 years old? Or does he have kids?

I have at least a dozen friends/acquaintances in their 20's/30's, no kids, that enjoy the Wii immensely. 

Immensely?


BS

Yeah, no BS.  It's easy for us to enjoy it because we stopped caring about graphics or Blue-Ray playback or 'kidee visuals' and played the games for its games.   

[versapak]

Are you sure he wants a Wii? Is he under 14 years old? Or does he have kids?

I have at least a dozen friends/acquaintances in their 20's/30's, no kids, that enjoy the Wii immensely. 

Immensely?


BS

Yeah, no BS.  It's easy for us to enjoy it because we stopped caring about graphics or Blue-Ray playback or 'kidee visuals' and played the games for its games.   

It doesn't really have all that much to do with graphics for me.

I won't lie. Graphics and sound being far (and yes I do mean far) superior does carry some weight, but in the end my Wii sat there collecting dust, because it just doesn't cater very well to gaming other than that of the party like.


Nintendo has some great gameplay down on a few titles, but even in those titles it is more akin to an arcade where you just tossed in quarters for an immediate gaming fix based solely on gameplay.

If all your gaming time is the kind that can be fulfilled with that kind of pick up and play no attachments sort of gaming, then the Wii will do the job. It does excel at that sort of experience, but it doesn't really offer anything more.


 

[DaveMMR]

If all your gaming time is the kind that can be fulfilled with that kind of pick up and play no attachments sort of gaming, then the Wii will do the job. It does excel at that sort of experience, but it doesn't really offer anything more.

You touched on why I like Wii games (and portable gaming on the DS).  I used to have all the time in the world to pop in Metal Gear Solid 2, move the controls for 30 seconds, and then watch 10 minutes of dialog.  Yeah, that's an extreme example and wasn't derogatory towards that game or similar genres, but the fact is, lately, I haven't the time or patience for anything I can't play in under a half-hour.   (That goes for "Twilight Princess" as well)   I'm not a super busy person, I just have other hobbies, relationships and commitments.   Plus I'm super-impatient. 

[Hoagie_one]

Yeah, I'm seriously considering selling my modded wii all together and I love it.  I dont have the time commitment available right now.  I just have kids and other hobbies that occupy more of my time.  When I finally get the kids in bed and can play, I'm too tired to even turn it on and just watch the news and go to bed.

I'm getting old.

Besides, I'm thinking of buying a motorcycle...I canuse the extra cash. hmmmmm.

[RTSDaddy2]

My love of the Wii is no secret  ,  but with every bit of seriousness in me Versapak hit a great point....there's just not a lot of great single player games out for it. 

I do have to be honest - I wish there were a few more platformers and not so many party / better as a duo / trio / quartet styled games.  Mario Kart doesn't bother me being played solo, as there's the Wi-Fi where you can play against others, same with Super Smash Brothers and Super Mario Strikers....but games like Wii Sports by yourself, because beating the machine for the umpteenth time is not as much fun as beating your friend next door, or elsewhere.

There are some interesting looking platformers on WiiWare that I hope will help (I've not tried them yet).  I keep praying for a few more good commercial platform - or some other single player game - to cause a stir, but nothing it looks like in the foreseeable future.

[bishmasterb]

The Wii's big flaw in my eyes is that it lacks any single player substance. It is 99% a party machine.

Flaw? WTF!?

It's called a WII!     

[Blanka]

And think if you need the extra remote/nunchuck. Better go with a cheap and bare system. Give it a try with 2 Gamecube controllers. You might like that much better. The Wiimote turned out to be a very crappy control for me. And unfortunately a lot of Wii-games are made for inaccurate controls. Luck for example has never been so apparent in a MarioKart title as in MarioKart Wii. Driver skills are not needed anymore!

[versapak]

The Wii's big flaw in my eyes is that it lacks any single player substance. It is 99% a party machine.

Flaw? WTF!?

It's called a WII!    

What does calling your gaming console a synonym for taking a piss have to do with not having quality single playing experience?


Do you generally group Wii in your area?

[AtomSmasher]

My love of the Wii is no secret  ,  but with every bit of seriousness in me Versapak hit a great point....there's just not a lot of great single player games out for it. 

I pretty much only play single player games on the Wii and I still love it 

Lego Indiana Jones, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Paper Mario, Okami, Res. Evil 4, Res. Evil Umbrella Cron., Metroid, No More Heroes, Zack & Wiki, Zelda, Guitar Hero 3, Bully, Trama Center, The Godfather, Excite Truck, Elebits, Fire Emblem, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Tiger Woods PGA, Mortal Kombat, Scarface, Tomb Raider, several Dragon Ball games, Medal of Honor, Metal Slug, and Battalian Wars.

All of which have gotten good to great reviews and all of which are mainly single players games (granted several also have mutliplayer).  I'll admit there hasn't been much in the past couple of months and with GTA IV on the 360 and Mass Effect and Age of Conan on the PC, the wii hasn't gotten much play lately, and looking at the upcoming release list for the Wii this may not change anytime soon.  Usually every system has a big summer drought of games, but it looks like the Wii is the only one this year.

[bishmasterb]

Do you generally group Wii in your area?

Well, playing with another is usually more fun than playing with yourself!     

[shmokes]

Do you generally group Wii in your area?

Well, playing with another is usually more fun than playing with yourself!    

Um . . . I've never played with another guy's junk, but I'm willing to speculate that it wouldn't be any fun at all.   

[bishmasterb]

Um . . . I've never played with another guy's junk, but I'm willing to speculate that it wouldn't be any fun at all.   

Interesting how you assumed for yourself that another man would be involved! There's nothing wrong with expressing those inner thoughts though shmokes.

[Ginsu Victim]

I'm just thinking back to simpler times, when asking your buddy if he wanted to come play with your Wii would've earned you a punch in face.

"Hey, wanna come over and play with my Wii tonight? It's really fun. You can shake it, swing it, move it in and out like a pool stick. Gotta be careful though. You might put an eye out. Be sure you use the strap-on until you get a better handle on it."

[shmokes]

Interesting how you assumed for yourself that another man would be involved! There's nothing wrong with expressing those inner thoughts though shmokes.

Equally interesting that you apparently think that both men and women have wiis . . . 

[bishmasterb]

Equally interesting that you apparently think that both men and women have wiis . . . 

Don't they?

[fjl]

lol, whats that from?

By the way, what are these 99% party games you speak of? Besides MarioKart what other games are good for gathering the folks together for some fun?

[versapak]

lol, whats that from?

By the way, what are these 99% party games you speak of? Besides MarioKart what other games are good for gathering the folks together for some fun?

Is that actually a serious post?


It is far easier to make a list of that %1 that is not good for gathering the folks together.

[AtomSmasher]

lol, whats that from?

By the way, what are these 99% party games you speak of? Besides MarioKart what other games are good for gathering the folks together for some fun?

Is that actually a serious post?


It is far easier to make a list of that %1 that is not good for gathering the folks together.

Well to be fair, the vast majority of the party games on the Wii are the shovelware crap that no one should be playing.  If you're only looking at the better games on the system, then it's easy to think it mainly has single player games.  By using the same method I used to make the list of good single player games (go through the list of top 50 Wii games on gamerankings.com), I'll make a party game list.  And I haven't played the vast majority of the games in this list, so it could have a lot of non-party games in it, I'm just trying to make sure not to miss any:
Boom Blox, Guitar Hero 3 (works for both lists), WarioWare, WiiFit, Mario Strikers, Raving Rabbids, Trauma Center?, Super Monkey Ball, Super Swing Golf, Sega Tennis, Mercury Meltdown, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart

So it seems of the top rated games on the Wii, there are at least twice as many mainly single player games.  Now just to be clear, I agree there are far more party games on the Wii then single player games, but the vast majority of them are shovelware.

[versapak]

What is the list of top rated single player games?

For the record, I gave no thought to multi-platform titles, because 9 times out of 10 I find them to be better on the more powerful 360. Obviously that is a bias that may not influence others.


Also, lots of games have single player, but that isn't necessarily where their fun is to be found. (Guitar Hero, even when playing solo, is a million times better with a group of people taking turns)

[AtomSmasher]

What is the list of top rated single player games?

Lego Indiana Jones, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Paper Mario, Okami, Res. Evil 4, Res. Evil Umbrella Cron., Metroid, No More Heroes, Zack & Wiki, Zelda, Guitar Hero 3, Bully, Trama Center, The Godfather, Excite Truck, Elebits, Fire Emblem, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Tiger Woods PGA, Mortal Kombat, Scarface, Tomb Raider, several Dragon Ball games, Medal of Honor, Metal Slug, and Battalian Wars.

And I actually left out several games from the single player list such as Sims 2, Geometry Wars, and SSX to name a few. 

If your curious, just go to gamerankings.com or metacritic or whatever rating site you prefer and pull up a list of the top 50 games on the Wii and then count the number of games you would consider to be party games.  I think you'll find that of the top rated games, there are far more single player ones.

And I can understand your comment about multiplatform games, but since we're only comparing games on one system, they should be included in the comparision.

[AtomSmasher]

Also, I had a ton of fun with Guitar Hero and Rock Bands single player games (I rarely have people over who also play games), which is why I included it in both lists. It doesn't make much of a dent removing it from the single player list, so it doesn't really matter.