Wii to change the face of gaming

Ninja_Bee

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This is somewhat of a spin off of a post I put up on the Nintendo DS message board, but I’m becoming more and more excited about the Wii with each passing day. The biggest reason is the possibility of brand new genres of gaming emerging, or at least unique ways of approaching previous genres. Initially, some of the most innovative and unique games are extensions of established DS games. The two most notable titles that have been released so far being Cooking Mama: Cooking with International Friends and Trauma Center: Second Opinion making their way onto the console. Imagine hearing this conversation:

Dad: Where’s little Suzie?
Mom: Oh, she’s in the living room playing her new Wii game.
Dad: Is that right? Which one is that?
Mom: Oh, it’s this really great game where she saves peoples lives as a surgeon.
Dad: Yeah, my girl’s going to be a doctor someday.

Or this one…

Dad: Where’s little Billy?
Mom: Oh, he’s in the living room playing his new Wii game.
Dad: Is that right? Which one is that?
Mom: Oh, it’s this really great game where he learns new recipes and competes in cooking contests.
Dad: Well, sounds like you might get some competition here in the kitchen one day dear.
Mom: I wouldn’t mind that, I could use a cooking break every once in a while.

Yeah, they’d make super-great cheesy commercials, I personally would love to engage in Iron Chef type tournaments over the internet against other players where I could try beating them out by making a stunning Italian Capreze and Crab Ceviche before topping the meal off with a mango-pineapple sorbet as my opponent dishes out Thai dishes like an egg based Pad See Ew with Panang Curry. Or imagine a Lebanese vs. Vietnamese battle off with Stuffed Grape Leaves and Baba Ghanouj challenging Spring Rolls and tofu based Pho. The world could definitely use a few good cooking lessons. Not enough people cook for themselves these days. Heck, America could fight obesity with this game! Ok, that may be stretching it. But in all seriousness, Nintendo looks like it’s going to be a major force in gaming this next generation. Nintendo will especially win over parents that are convinced that gaming experiences influence real-life behavior. Now their kids will want to heal and feed people. Nice job Nintendo, nice.
 
Mom: Billy, where's suzie?
Billy: She's in her room playing with that Wii.
Mom: She loves that Wii. She just turns it on, shakes it around for a few minutes, and even hours, and comes back witha smile on her face.

That's right. I implied it can be used as a vibrator.
 
I'm excited with what they can do with first person gaming on that thing. Immersion will continue to improve. Guns won't be the standard issue weaponry. They might be able to make a great first-person hand-to-hand combat fighting engine using the wii controllers.

Imagine a first-person tennis or baseball game...
 
I have never been comfortable in first person perspective. I alway prefer chase cam games to first person. (Although I've gotten a bit more comfy due to Metroid Prime).

I'm hoping the Wii changes first person to make it a little easier actually see myself in the game. Although, I somewhat doubt that. I think the main problem is that in real life, I can see 180 degrees while looking straight ahead, while in a game, on a screen, I'm lucky if I can see 90 degrees. There's no peripheral vision.

But yes, the Wii offers the potential for a whole slew of educational games. Joy of Painting, Wii Music (I hope you can compose, for that matter, I hope it wasn't just a tech demo!) Trauma Centre, Cooking Mama (a little sexist, but oh well, maybe it will have a different name in N. America), and any others you can imagine. I could see a first person game that has you fixing stuff, plumbing, electrics, etc. or designing and building houses or furniture. Or a giant sandbox game that teaches about Newtonian physics!
 
Trauma Center is generally unrealistic in terms of actual surgery. I've read many-a-medical book, and while it's a cool idea...it doesn't stack up to the real thing! Not that I'm a surgeon...but it isn't really an accurate depiction of the inner anatomy...and there isn't nearly enough random squirting and things that go wrong.
 
spudlyff8fan said:
Trauma Center is generally unrealistic in terms of actual surgery. I've read many-a-medical book, and while it's a cool idea...it doesn't stack up to the real thing! Not that I'm a surgeon...but it isn't really an accurate depiction of the inner anatomy...and there isn't nearly enough random squirting and things that go wrong.

I hear that, definitely true. However, if the game were highly realistic, it would be largely inaccessible to many gamers. There are very few games that rely on complete realism. MGS3 and similar games go for realism, forcing players to hunt for food and find resting spots. I like the previously mentioned Wii games because they can empower kids and put them in positions where they can perform good deeds, i.e. healing and cooking. Hopefully we as gamers won't hear stories of crazy kids performing surgery on each other. In that sense, yeah, what you learn in Trauma Center does not directly translate into real world surgery, but Cooking Mama skills can be applied to the real world, so there is a distinct difference. I didn't think about it until now. Good point Spud.
 
It wasn't that good of a point. I just don't think that Trauma Center is realistic enough to be educational. And really, the cooking game won't be able to do that much either. I mean, unless it lets you spend the hour and a half to trim the tissue off three pounds of chicken, cut it into strips, mix together beer, garlic powder, more salt, and then flour until the consistency of crape batter, then soak the chicken in cold salt water for three hours, then strain the chicken, salt it, roll it in flour, dip it in the batter, then turn on some hot oil, fry it, and then bake it if necessary...and so on.

The only fun part of cooking is eating. It won't be a good game.
 
I really don't think that games where you take the role of a chef or surgeon constitute any type of evolution of gaming. I do however respect the fact that Nintendo is continually providing innovative ideas. Some are hit, and some are miss, and I think these games are gonna be misses.
 
I wouldn't automatically discount the educational value of those games just because they're not 100% realistic. If kids grow up thinking of cooking and practising medicine as fun things, things they do in their free time, things they'd rather do than their homework, maybe a few of those kids will be interested in the real deal. Maybe some of those kids will want to learn to cook, or take an interest in biology.

I doubt very much that kids will learn much from playing the games (although, you never know), but the game might shed a different light on the actual thing it mimics, causing curiosity, and then, real learning. The game might act as a bridge.
 
Dad: Where is little Billy?
Mom: In his room playing with his Wii.

All jokes aside, the Wii looks OK. Im not a big fan of the controller, though. Super Smash Bros looks great(as long as they take Snake out)
 
That would rule. Here's a question. How will SMBB play on the Wii with the Wii-Mote? How about that what kinda crazy ideas do they have for us?
 
Hmm, I haven't thought about that. I just hope the gameplay doesn't get messed up because of it.

Plus, I don't see the point in the whole specials thing. It doesn't seem like the kind of thing to put in that kind of game.