They don't give a fawk.....carnival games?

Then they need a filter for quality. True, Quality IS subjective, but Nintendo has to draw the line somewhere. It's their reputation on the line here.

Having dealt in the realm of mobile game development, which are far less expensive and EXPECTED to be of much lower quality, we need to follow very strict quality guidelines, not only in terms of functionality, but also in terms of gameplay, UI, and intuitiveness. Game play testing companies need to be hired and give their stamp of approval before a carrier will even accept a mobile game, and they are within their rights to reject games for sucking.

I think Nintendo has enough of a reputation at stake where they should be implementing similar guidelines. There have been numerous Wii games where the control was horrible, and issues like that should have never passed Nintendo QC guidelines.

"What we don't do is have some sort of filter for quality, because quality is so subjective."
Well maybe ya should, cause I don't think I can bear to see anymore games on the Wii like Dancing with the Stars, Carnival Games, Cruis'n, etc. How bout you make that Seal of Quality mean something again? Follow the teachings of Hiroshi Yamauchi and start demanding quality from everyone.

xD Good god, they need some kind of quality control, because some of the games are absolutely horrid. I'd be surprised if some of the games even sold 10k copies.

You forgot Catz2 Fahey

Nintendo has Never been known for its third party title exclusive hits. It cuts into quality and makes us suffer through new gameplay in terms of the same names and places we are used to (with some exceptions)

The Wii might bring some nice titles to match with its nitch controller, but we should hardly be expecting GoW (gears or god) esq third party exclusive killer aps.

@Aitrus233: That seal of quality really was never meant for reputation, it just meant that nintendo licensed the title and it wasn't a third party knock off

well, when games start to average 2.0 on gamerankings you should start to think it's not that subjective. They should do something about it, i don't know what, but all that crap is not good for the Wii's image.

Yeah..Nintendo really doesnt care about 3rd party. Cause you know why? Has anyone actually opened up like EGM or Gameinformer? All the new games are for "Next-Generation" Systems. And its obvious that people want to play these next-gen games. I really think that Nintendo is only surviving this console era cause people who buy the wii's are cheap bastards. Have fun with boogie and carnival games. Ill take GTAIV,MGS4,CoD4,Burnout,Final Fantasy, Halo, Mass EFfect, Killzone, little big planet, god of war...etc. You get that point...games that real gamers want to play.

"Make Wii Games Like Nintendo" seminars? You mean "Make one or two real games an entire year and space them out like you're rationing food for a starving homeless person, then treat the games like some sort of huge gift" seminars?

Yeah, Nintendo's probably the LAST company that should be educating people on game production, Mario Galaxy's quality be damned.

"What we don't do is have some sort of filter for quality, because quality is so subjective."

No, it isn't. He knows full well that a lot of these third party games are mediocre at best but he doesn't care because he knows that they'll sell.

@Huginn: Why shouldn't we expect high-quality titles? I mean, sure - the typical graphics on the Wii cannot match the beauty of some of the games appearing on the PS3 and 360, but the upper bound of what the Wii can do isn't all that bad.

Graphics themselves aside, why shouldn't we be able to pick up a game like God of War for the Wii? It doesn't seem that much of a stretch to me, especially now that the company is starting to shake the image of being the Pokemon company.

cruis'n is pushing wii to the limits. I never seen such a masterful looking game before.

"Those publishers who do a great job enjoy fantastic sales."

So Zak and Wiki is selling through the roof then?
I don't think the quality of titles has anything to do with software sales on the Wii. I get the feeling that a system selling mostly to people who don't regularly play games is not gonna get a large amount of game sales. Color my pessimistic, but I don't see the Nintendo Wii ever having a particularly high attach rate when the majority of it's sales appear to be made by non gamers.

I'm sure Nintendo is just overflowing with happiness about this whole situation, but I very much doubt that developers are gonna be able to turn strong system sales in to strong game sales unless they completely convert to making mini game collections and "casual" games. This in turn saturates the game market for the Wii, and you end up with low cost, low quality, and eventually low sales.

Now, that is all a bit of a "the sky is falling" look at things...but I sold my Wii and bought a 360, so I don't profess to have a lot of faith or hope placed in the Wii.

On the other hand, the DS seems like a perfect model for Nintendo to follow, and I really wish they would. It has tons of the light games for people who bought it on a whim, and a killer selection of genuine video games.

@Mukatsuku:
It is oddly true, that. All of the big must-have titles are either Nintendo first party games, or stuff on other consoles. Pretty much every game expected to be a third party hit (Red Steel, Soul Calibur Legends, etc) has ended up sucking royally...seems all the big titles are probably going to stick to the other consoles, and the DS, I guess.

Red Steel should have never made it to store shelves. Along with Tony hawk, along with.......... hell, alotta games for the wii.

I sincerely hope they don't impose some kind of quality filter. Sony imposed a quality filter on the ps2 for a short while, leading to many 2d games not being allowed to be published in america because sony said "no more 2d".

@rockett1:

comment of the week imo

I believe I read in Kotaku that Nintendo will not release a "greatest hits" line with lower prices. Seems like crappy games automatically fill the lower price void by being discounted by retailers or having a lower price from the start. Good job Nintendo!

@kevko:

Yeah, to hell with a quality filter. Wii needs more crappy games like Red Steel.

No more fucking mini games!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is why i bought more games on the VC then on the actual retail.

I would rather play old Zelda and Ninja Gaiden games then shitty mini games any day.

I've taken the liberty of "clarifying" Reggie's li'l statement there:

"On any system you will have a range of quality. Publishers are working extremely [complacently] to take advantage of the Wii and it's [limited] abilities. Those publishers who do a great job enjoy fantastic sales. As publishers understand how to take advantage of the [gimmicky] aspects of the remote you will see [more] and [more] games. We already have a certification program and publishers need to conform with a [couple] of key aspects to get certified. What we don't do is have some sort of filter for quality, because quality is so [bad on all of our third-party software]. Nintendo is working [cash in] glove with publishers to share with them our level of expertise with the [proprietary technology, which we will not share with anyone. I'm rich bitch]."

hmm... high quality 3rd party Wii titles... I'll definitely be owning a Wii next year for Oboro Muramasa Youtouden and MH3. Oboro Muramasa Youtouden especially... holy crap does that game look awesome!

@Mukatsuku: I think you're pretty much right on, the real problem is the huge disparity between the capabilities of the Wii and the other 2.

hahah, Red Steel....hmmmm I am trying to come up with a plausible timeline of when America (and the surrounding locations) come to their senses and realize the Wii is "lizame" and then there is this mad rush of people trying to trade them in for PS3's-sony wOOt wOOt

@Lackshmana:
I'd say quality plays a part in it, though. If a parent's in a game store and wants to buy a video game for her kid, she comes up and asks the clerks "What's good on the Wii?" Every time, the same one title is mentioned, and nothing else. "Mario Galaxy." Occasionally, another worker might chime in with some other niche title they liked, but by and large, Galaxy's the game. If the parent already has it or isn't interested, they'll go look at the other systems the kid has to find a gift.

By and large, if you were a parent and you had to pick between the Wii's library of "Galaxy and nothing else worth playing" or the PS2's juggernaut, what would you get for your kid? Quality control needs to be exercised on Wii games, if not implementing some sort of Wii Budget Games label where people can KNOW before plunking down $50 that they're buying a low-budget piece of crap.

@Huginn: "Never"? I wouldn't say that. Back in the SNES days (and of course the NES prior to that) they were THE company for third parties, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest/Warrior games were all exclusive to them, Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man, and like a billion other third party titles were exclusive to Nintendo once.

I call BS on this...

That or Nintendo's quality control team needs its own quality examined.

Cruis'n should have never existed in the form it does.

Granted, I love my Wii and don't regret buying it for a moment.

I loved MP3:C. Godfather amused me (so much fun with a Wiimote). Twilight Princess was great. I eagerly await winter break to break into SMG, Battalion Wars II, and Zak and Wiki. And, ultimately, I want Brawl whose release will make all other games irrelevant to me. Even then, I want Mario Kart Wii.

Problem is though, of all the games on the Wii that I love/look forward to, only two are from third party publishers. In fact, on release schedules for Wii, I basically skip over anything not published by Nintendo because I'm not interested in minigames. That's what portables are for... If you're going to give me multiplayer, give me a REAL multiplayer experience.

Seriously Reggie, what happened to kicking ass and taking names? Because some third party devs definitely need a spanking.

@Mact:

Cuz why do anything about it when Wii is already selling like wildfire?

@antialias02: One reason, is that nintendo isn't marketing towards the fan base that wants games like GoW (Gears of God) It is marketing towards the casual gamer who simply doesn't want more hardcore style GoW esq games. It's why platformers and minigames (carnival games) are doing so successful.

It's like marketing a hellokitty branded item to a boy. Sure he can use it like any other item, but the market segment intended here that the manufacture wanted clearly isn't for him. Nintendo isn't going after the hard gamer, they're shooting more for the casual and nintendo diehards.

@Lackshmana:

I actually have a bit of an opposite theory.

I think the reason for all the minigames is that, initially, third party devs didn't know what the hell to do with the system.

They didn't want to throw there whole force behind developing titles for this system that could flop because, well, then your just screwed yourself out of millions.

Turns out, some minigames were successful (Raving Rabbids) and then crappy sequels were released. Meanwhile, other developers see the potential now, but haven't had time to do much. Remember, the Wii has only been out for a year now, and its success is just now arriving. Huge titles like MP3:C and SMG have been in development for years! Quality takes time, which is unfortunate in the Wii's case.

@Archaotic:

Generic fantard much?

Nintendo, in fact, published 12 Wii games and 16 DS games in America in 2007. Of the Wii games, at least 50% could probably be argued as "targeted at the core gamer," whatever your retarded standard for "real game" is.

What most people who buy Nintendo games quickly realize is that almost all their titles, no matter how different or off the wall, all meet a certain base standard of quality and polish.

Nintendo's pretty easily the best publisher in the world at delivering a consistently refined end user experience. Even simple examples like the Wii channel music embody that kind of philosophy.

Although the current state of the Wii library leaves me wishing for more third party games of high quality, observing the low quality of the comments in this thread leaves me wishing even more for another Ban Monday.

@iamnotdryad:

Because Nintendo is a business, therefore they should know to look past the present.

Eventually, consoles will slow down in sales.

Yes, hardware is selling, but how about software?

Business is about projections, not just what is happening now.

@HAGE: Like calling the kettle black much? Fantard indeed. *rolls eyes

@fearing: It's hard for anyone to be a third party exclusive title holder when you have only system in town (Pardon me sega fans, but megadrive's system sales were 1/5 that of nintendo's,)

Even more after the video game crash, Nintendo was a safe bet for third party holders.

But yeah, Never is too strong there, their was a time when nintendo was king of the yard, and it still has a very good shot the great-grandson can reclaim that yard this generation.

Man, Suzanne Somers is so freakin' hot.

At any rate, I do wish Nintendo would put some quality controls back in place. Crap like Crusin' is going to ultimately choke the Wii and consumers are going to start to assume that it's only a bunch of shit on the platform.

I agree with the "quality is subjetive" but on the other hand, "quality standarts" are easy to apply.

Just do the same as with Nintendo DS to promote the gadget so casual and core gamers will be satisfied. I think it´s a bit of a issue, like promoting Adobe Photoshop for developers and for your grandma as well would be difficult, but they´ve done it, right? a professional software is a slang for "photo manipulation". Same goes for games alike. The marketing campaign of nintendo sure helped to gather you with your family waggling around with the wiimote, but at the same time, it gave a impression of a "simple and easy to learn", not the "you can do anything with it, even if you´re a retard of a neurotic geek you´ll have fun with this thing"

@Mact: Seriously Reggie, what happened to kicking ass and taking names? Because some third party devs definitely need a spanking.

I understand what Reggie's getting at, though, because once you try to judge based on quality (outside of making sure that the game is free of defects, and other QA basics) it truly is a slippery slope that could keep some great ideas from market (even more so than already get kept away by the business itself) because if whoever gets to judge the game happens to miss the point (which as we know, NEVER EVER happens in the game media) then the game never gets released. Iwata-san had an interesting interview a while back where he mentioned that nowadays in the industry, something like Tetris might never make it past a pitch.

Meanwhile, other developers see the potential now, but haven't had time to do much.

This is right on the mark, though. That, combined with the amount of followers out there. I DO shrug every time I see ads for Brain Wave, Horsez 2 and Hamsterz, but "me too" shovelware is simply part of the industry, most anywhere.

For a game that came out just a few months after Wii's launch, SSX Blur felt polished aside from the uber trick control difficulty which I blame on the dev trying to find a sweet spot between forgiving controls and skill-based manuveurs. Aside from that, there wasn't much marketing oomph! behind the game. Third party success will depend more on marketing dollars than a game's quality.

what are you talking about??? Cruis'n is awesome!!

Ugh...read about half these comments and skipped to the bottom. OK, guys. We know its "just 2 GameCubes duct-taped togetherLOL". You can stop posting it. Don't like the system? Don't buy it! All this slamming it is doing nothing but annoying the hell out of people who like to have INTELLIGENT conversations about these articles. Saying the same thing over and over in EVERY WII THREAD is INCREDIBLY tiresome.

@Vader582:

Excellent logical rebuttal.

@KaneTaker:

Seems like you read none of the comments, as not a single one of them refers to what you're talking about. You seem to be the only one bringing that up. Everyone besides you is posting intelligent comments.

@HAGE: You're welcome. I'd shake your hand but you're obviously too high up on the horse you rode in on...

Nintendo really needs to put the smack down and get some kind of approval process going. Even on weeks when nothing big comes out, there are like 4-5 crappy ds games that will sit on the shelf and collect dust. AND THEY KEEP COMING.

Petz: Hamsterz. Kill me in the face.

@HAGE:
Generic fantard? Dude, I own the system and I'd love to see more quality games on it. The problem is, I think waggle is stupid and it's a huge turnoff for me in most games. Games like Galaxy use the wiimote in a totally unintrusive manner that's fun without making you look like a moron while playing. I'd much rather have more Galaxies than shit where I have to wave my arms and flare up my extremely painful carpal tunnel syndrome just to continue. Games that cause me physical pain to play = total lose. Don't lump me in with the slavering fanboy masses you see around here.

After all, from the looks of it, you're the one tooting their horn. I'm just stating facts. At my store, when people ask what's good on the Wii, we ALL say Galaxy. Nothing else ever gets mentioned because nothing else meets that standard.

A "dumping ground" is ideal for any console, because they get the most experimental gameplay, and push the industry forward. PlayStation probably had about 15% AAA titles, but the 85% that weren't contained some first-time gameplay. Stealth action, Sandbox, voice control -- all these genres would not have been possible without third party developers experimenting with the hardware.

Since the Wii is relatively new, everyone's going to have to deal with these confort-zone games, but as they oversaturate the market with mini-game compilations and Pokemon-wannabes, you'll start to see developers branch out with those unique games. The quality will be questionable, but that's the price you have to pay to see something new.

@Mukatsuku: Sorry, but big ol' No.

First off, Nintendo has never really 'struggled'. Maybe they haven't been market share leaders for awhile on a home system, but they sell their consoles for a profit, or close enough to it. Even if they do not win a market share race, they still come out making money. Regardless of your opinion on their games, they are still running strong as a game company, and the only thing that will slow them down at this point is running out of ideas and failure to evolve with the market. Ideas they got, evolving however has always been a bit slow for Nintendo's end.

Second, using the "You keep your 'name crappiest games on system', I have my 'Expensive AAA games list, half of which will not be out for a year's time." argument to label who gamers are is about the stupidest thing ever done. 'Real gamers' can like anything. Sure, they like those games. Duh. If they didn't, you wouldn't see any of those games, since more than half your list is sequels and franchises that already have followings. I guess '