Disagreement with Thurrott
On the Super Site for Windows, Paul Thurrott wrote on choosing a video game system. In it, he discusses the three next generation systems (XBox 360, Playstation 3, and Wii), in an attempt to help people decide what’s right for them, based on his experiences and views.His coverage of the 360 and PS3 were reasonable, pointing out things most followers of the Next-gen console race would all ready know (but we’re not the audience for this article). The language gets interesting as he approaches the Wii. To start (and leave a bad taste in my mouth) he offers the header, “Wii: For the Kiddie Crowd”.Now, I understand it’s his site, but can’t we all agree that’s going to start people off with a rather negative opinion of the Wii, assuming they’d rather not be part of a “Kiddie” crowd? Paul (can I call him Paul? I do listen to Windows Weekly, so I feel like I know him…) starts mentioning how the Wii “has been widely cheered for foregoing high-end specs and sticking to the fun factor.” He goes on to say it’s a “one-trick pony,” referring to the Wii Remote and its unique gameplay.Once he has covered explaining how the Wii Remote works, he gives us this gem: “While the Wii Remote will appeal to very young kids, college students, and, in a somewhat creepy way, adults hosting alcohol-laden social events, the novelty of the controller system wears off quite quickly.” I understand this is only his opinion, but he’s making a sweeping generalization, and is he saying it will appeal to college students (me, for 5 more months) and then wear off quite quickly? I believe he is. No matter, here it is four and a half months after I got my Wii, and when I finish writing this I’m going to play some hard-core tennis in Wii Sports and then maybe kill a few bad guys in Red Steel. Beyond that, I cannot wait for Super Mario Galaxy to come out so I can Wii my way to Mario bliss.He then brings up Call of Duty 3 and uses it to blast how annoying the Wii is. The trouble with that argument is that anyone with Call of Duty 3 (myself included) knows it’s a sham. Activision was attempting to get their game onto all of the Next-gen system, and in their hurry, forgot to feature a ton of features we Wii users come to expect (like using the Wii remote as a cursor in the menus and good in-game controls). If anything, using the Call of Duty example shows off how poor the Wii experience can be when game developers do not take the time to produce a quality game given the feature available.Paul ends up suggesting his family will be getting rid of it, which is fine, but Paul, if you’re reading this, feel free to send it to me and I’ll give it to a Wii-loving, but Wii-less friend.