BURLINGAME, Calif. - It looks like Shigeru Miyamoto's baby is all grown up.
When it debuted, the Nintendo Wii was hit with a "Donkey Kong"-sized ball of skepticism. After all, the slim white console didn't have the kind of processing horsepower boasted by heftier consoles hawked by
Worse yet, the console relied on a quirky, motion-sensitive controller that required developers to rethink the way they designed games if they wanted players to get the most out of the console. At a gaming conference in 2007, one developer famously ranted that the Wii was little more than a pair of GameCubes "duct-taped" together, exhorting Nintendo to make a console that "doesn't suck."
But
Miyamoto inspired titles such as "Wii Sports," turning the once solitary experience of plugging your way through a videogame into a party where you watched your parents, your kids or your neighbors try to shake and shimmy their way through a game of bowling or tennis.
Quite a turnaround after the disaster that was the GameCube. Overnight, Nintendo went from worst to first in the competition with Sony and Microsoft for console supremacy. And, as it turns out, Nintendo was just getting warmed up.
While games such as "Wii Sports" seemed to be as much about training users how to use the Wiimote as much as playing a game, Nintendo cranked out games that carefully blended old-fashioned, button-mashing game play with the Wii's unique control scheme. "Super Mario Galaxy," released in 2007, and "Super Smash Bros. Brawl," released in 2008, won critical acclaim.
Now, three years after the Wii's launch, developers large and small are following Miyamoto's example and bringing their A-game to the task of creating games for the Wii. Another plus: Nintendo's online WiiWare service allows developers to crank out games such as "World of Goo" on a modest budget and distribute them online, rather than forcing them to compete for space on store shelves. The result: The Wii is starting to mature, with a deep catalog of quality games that take advantage of what makes the console unique.
To be sure, the Wii's edge may not last forever. Developers are still working to wring more graphical goodness out of the PlayStation 3's powerful processors. Microsoft, meanwhile, is using its Xbox Live service to host casual, group games, such as "1 versus 100," in an effort to whittle down the Wii's edge. Expect both to look for ways to bring motion to their games--perhaps as soon as this June at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles.
The problem now, of course, is that deep catalog of games. That means everyone else will be starting fresh, giving Nintendo time to look for the next big thing.
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