So the Wii is the biggest thing since sliced bread. Everyone's saying it, so it must be true. Yet I, as a veteran Nintendo-phile, have my concerns. They have nothing to do with the common gamer protests that Nintendo is alienating the hardcore gaming elite with a battery of casually-slanted software releases. Rather, I fear that the swathes of non-gamers who are pouring money into the coffers of Nintendo Corp., in a deluge resembling the hysteria surrounding Cabbage Patch Kids, Rubik's Cubes and Thunderbirds HQs, are going to quickly realise that they've spent a whole load of cash on something that is most probably a gimmick.
Not that I think Nintendo intends their hardware to be perceived in such a way. I'm sure that they will continue to build software and applications of the same extraordinary quality which they always have done. The question, instead, lies with whether they can continue to woo the casual gamer long after every copy of Wii Sports has been sent into retirement.
While it may have taken the PlayStations and Xboxes of this world longer to amass the profound number of sales which the Wii boasts, those consoles had a potential longevity built into them because of the people who bought them. Gamers, in other words, who carried the legacies of brands, hardware and play-mechanics with them. The Wii, on the other hand, has been very popular amongst people who've never owned a console before. Who knows what they expect from a machine?
It does have a very powerful asset, which really has been the secret to its success: a controller which can be used in a profound number of ways, many of which are demonstrated in the very simple simulations in WiiSports and Wii Play. But as the trajectory of the PS2's EyeToy demonstrates, newfangled controller styles often present challenges to traditional designers (many of whom are jumping on board the Wii-wagon) simply because they're so different to those which have come before. And after a while, the new functionality is discarded in favour of tried-and-tested products which the (non-casual, profit-bearing) games buying public will hand over the cash for.
The success of the console on the level of the other two machines relies very much upon those casual WiiSports players to make the crucial crossover to deeper, more "meaningful" games like Zelda and Metroid. But here's the clincher: if they've not engaged with these IPs yet, why will a Wiimote inspire them to do so?
So unfortunately, the success of the casual-slant present in the Wii's unique selling point means that more casual games will have to be released that are of good quality, on a more regular basis in order to keep the attentions of the casual gamers who may suddenly realise that the white box sitting next to their TVs has been lost under a layer of dust.
While the Wii's success is something for every Nintendo fanboy (and girl) to celebrate, we shouldn't break the champagne out yet. At least not until the fat, moustachioed plumber sings.
