Point/Counterpoint: Yea or Nay -- Play on Wii?

[wraggster]

At their October media summit, Nintendo announced plans to release Wii ports of some GameCube games as the Wii de Asobu (Play on Wii) series. Today, we found solid evidence of a North American release. While GameCube games are, of course, currently playable on Wii, these new ports will enable motion and pointer-based control schemes, allowing new players to use the "simpler" Wii controls, and existing fans to play favorites in a new way. At least, that's the idea, we think.

But is it a good idea to port these games and try to sell them again? Is it good for the fans? For the games? For the Wii? For the win? We say yes! And also no. That's kind of how debating works!

http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2008/10/31/point-counterpoint-yea-or-nay-play-on-wii/

[goshogun1]

I think it's kind of lazy to just slap on wii-mote controls to gamecube games. RE0 Wii is the perfect example of that.

[ICE]

Not a whole lot of people played gamecube. Its a good idea and I like it.

[feddon]

Yeah, i agree in that it might make games like pikmin be played by a much larger audience then owned a gamecube. But on the other hand the people interested in those games are the very same wii owners who i imagine have a gamecube anyway(like myself). I, along with most wii owners im sure, would rather see developers time spent making new, interesting and polished games exclusively for the wii as i have not seen or heard about anything exiting in ages (maybe madworld but we'll see).

[grossaffe]

Yeah, i agree in that it might make games like pikmin be played by a much larger audience then owned a gamecube. But on the other hand the people interested in those games are the very same wii owners who i imagine have a gamecube anyway(like myself). I, along with most wii owners im sure, would rather see developers time spent making new, interesting and polished games exclusively for the wii as i have not seen or heard about anything exiting in ages (maybe madworld but we'll see).

I doubt it'll take all that much from their quality programming time. I support the movement to bring wii controls to older games.

[Grey Acumen]

I already put up two huge points on Play for Wii over in a joystiq article, I'll just paste them in here:


Just look at how well Resident Evil 4 Wii edition has done. It's already nearly outselling its gamecube counterpart, and it's was priced at $30 as well. That's one that people are even MORE likely to already have because it was also put out for PS2 and PC as well.


You've got to recognize that there are about four different types of people that this game is being marketed towards:

1) NEW gamers. The ones that have never played ANY console games until the Wii. Lets face it, these types are very unlikely to be shopping for Non-Wii games if their first console is the Wii.
On top of that, they're not going to see these ports as being "old" games because they've never played them before. They're going to see these as games made by Nintendo, who has already demonstrated the consistent implementation of good Wii controls and solid, fun games in general, and they'll also see that these games are selling for $20 less than the other Wii games also by Nintendo.

2) The Wiimote lovers. Lets face it, there may be those that don't notice that Wii Sports allows you to create backspin and frontspin on your shots in Tennis, but there are those of us who recognize and enjoy what the Wiimote brings to the table and are seeking out any game that makes good use of those controls, even if they are ports of old games.

3) Nintendo Whores. Yeah, that's right, I'm not apologizing for these types, and they exist. Even if they already have the gamecube version, they'll still pay the premium just to have the latest version.
It seems like everyone that is bashing this "Play on Wii" schtick thinks that if you want to buy these games, then you automatically fall into this category, but this type probably makes up the smallest percentage.

4) Non Nintendo Gamers. There are probably quite a few nintendo fans out there who looked at how the gamecube (and possibly as far back as the N64) were fairing and decided to shift over to Sony or M$, or to not even bother at all. Along with this, there are also probably quite a few gamers who started with Sega, Sony, or even Microsoft and while they aren't new gamers, they're gamers who are new to the Nintendo Franchise.
Now that Nintendo is back on top, they likely have access to a consumer base that has completely missed out on some very solid gamecube games, simply because they didn't have access to the system at the time, or even if they did have the system, what funds they had for purchasing games were devoted to other areas.
Admittedly, this group is just as likely to grab the Gamecube version for cheap, but since the game is completely new to them and could very easily be better due to the Wiimote controls, why not spend the extra $10 or so for a brand new game? Especially when you consider that in order to play a gamecube game, you have to use a gamecube controller, which doesn't come packaged with the Wii automatically, so you still have to buy a controller as well.


I fall mostly in the 2nd and 4th category myself. I severely love what the Wiimote is capable of, but it's still difficult to find games that make good use of it that are reasonably priced. I skipped a lot of gamecube games due to lack of funds and the fact that I didn't like how I would have to use the gamecube controls to play them. (Metroid Prime, Star Fox, Mario Sunshine, Luigi's Mansion, Pikmin, etc)

To put simply, any game, in which a primary part of gameplay is aiming at something or selecting something using a cursor, is pretty much guaranteed to be able to benefit from decent Wii controls. Any game Nintendo makes is pretty much guaranteed to have solidly implemented Wii controls.
Nintendo ports will allow Wii gamers access to cheap, steady supply of quality games with quality control implementation to tide us over while we wait for Full Fledged Wii games to come out.
If you're so adamant about your ability to get the gamecube versions for $5-$15 used and have just as much fun, then by all means, go ahead, but there are plenty of people out there that will pay for the convenience, the wii controls, having the game NEW, or any combination of those reasons, and it's totally reasonable for them to do so.

There was also someone who was specifically complaining about the price and accusing nintendo of price gouging, using the used gamecube game pricing to justify their view, to which I gave this response:


Yeah, how DARE Nintendo price their games at a point that people are still willing to pay, while still getting the maximum amount of profit they can from it! They act like they still own the game or something, and I just won't stand for that type of thinking.
Obviously I'm part of an insignificant yet obnoxiously vocal minority, so the only way that I stand any chance of getting these games that I want so very badly at a pricepoint that meets my unreasonable expectations will be to call every single person that likes this idea a moronic corporate sheep. When they don't buy it, stores will be FORCED to lower their price just to get rid of excess stock.

Seriously, STFU. People like Wii controls. People will pay for games that implement those controls well. If I know I enjoy playing a game using Wii controls more, then why should I pay ANYTHING for a version that doesn't implement those controls when there's a version that does on the market?
When people who already own the gamecube version get the Wii version, what do you think they're going to do with their old copy? Yeah, SELL IT. This will put more copies of the gamecube version out on the used games market which will in turn drop the price of getting the gamecube versions secondhand even lower.
So if you don't see any difference between the gamecube and the wii, then you should be cheering for this too. Soon you'll be able to get the gamecube versions at next to nothing.
The only reason anyone has to complain is if they really want the Wii version but they're too cheap to pay. Even then, that's just a matter of patience. Wait for used copies to hit the market for a bit and bam, you've just hit the $20 - $25 range for the Wii version, which is only $10 more than what you can get the gamecube versions for now.

It just kinda irks me, you first have people complaining about how nintendo has failed to show that the Wii controls can consistently add to the enoyment of a game, then when Nintendo comes out and is doing just that, as well as filling in what could other wise be a serious drought period with solid games from the past generation that will now play completely differently, people are getting upset about it. I swear, they aren't actually angry about the pricing, they're angry at the fact that their arguments about lack of decent wii games and how Wii controls can't make games more fun than classic controls are about to be blown out of the water.

[sean.aaron]

I'm into it; paying £20 for a Gamecube game like Pikmin or Pikmin 2 makes little sense to me, but I'll happily do it for a refreshed version with Wii controls.

I skipped the last generation and have a bare handful of GC games; I'd gladly repurchase all of them with Wii controls!