The Wii Myth - The Not-Really Next Gen Console

Let's all take a moment and applaud the casual gamers who ran out and bought the cheapest system on the market. Clap, clap, clap for all of those who bought basically a less impressive PS2, painted white, with jerky motion controls. We here embracing actual, innovative, stunning, and powerful next-gen gaming salute you...and feel sorry for your reluctance to join the 21st century gaming revolution.

Seriously, the picture above alone should be enough to illustrate why we feel that the Wii is most definitely NOT a next-gen system.

(Guy) - As hardcore developers leave the console left and right, taking die-hard gamers with them, the Wii is left with technical stunners like Mario Blah, Blah, Blah and repackaged remakes of once great  games like Zelda. Wow. The PS3 has God of War III and the Wii is set to roll out another Metroid, surely to be packaged with Wii-Sewing or some such nonsense. That folks is called an Epic Fail. Look it up in the dictionary of net-speak and you'll see a picture of the Wii sitting there, unused as an example.

Other than a temporary-until-boredom-hits fun party system at your neighborhood bar or a pseudo workout partner via Wii Sports and Wii Fit, this system offers absolutely nothing that makes it worthy of the next gen title. I'd rather own a Gamecube or an N64. Now those systems, while competing with the likes of Sega's Dreamcast, Sony's PS1 and PS2, changed the way we gamed and offered great content via original, fun, innovative gameplay. "But Guy," you say, "it's the best selling console of this generation." Yes, because it is the cheapest. Not because it is in anyway the best. Price point and marketing to the casual non-gaming, gamer is Nintendo's mantra.

If you buy a game that also comes out on the PS3 and/or the 360, then I'm sorry to tell you, you bought the wrong version of the game. That is, unless you want a sub-par version, complete with bugs, glitches, and just-below PS1 graphics. It might also come with something called "family play", which is just a cute corporate way of saying, "easy-mode" so anyone can pick up that shiny new NHL game and score 20 goals in a game with Joey Bagadonoughts.

(Yasar) - If anyone reading this is thinking family play could be fun, you're making a big mistake.  You're essentially volunteering to be the kid who's given a turned off controller and watch someone else play whilst being blissfully unaware that's what's going on.  There are a few fun games out there for the Wii, but not many.  Their top games are old franchises they continue to milk for all they can get.  The top 5 games I've played on the Wii have been Super Mario Galaxy (read Super Mario 64 II), The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (read Ocarina of Time 2),  Metroid Prime 3, New Super Mario Bros., and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.  All five of these games could have been released on the Gamecube and nobody would have known the difference.

I must admit, I used to own a Wii.  I had it for two months.  I played a lot of old school NES and Super Nintendo games, got a bunch of Gamecube games to make up for never having a Gamecube before, and played a lot of Twilight Princess (which was released on Gamecube).  See where I'm going with this?  None of these games need a Wii to be played and didn't take advantage of the shaky-at-best motion control system.  Needless to say, I got rid of the thing and haven't regretted it one bit.  Sure I want to play New Super Mario Bros. occasionally, but I can just play regular Super Mario Bros. on my Super Nintendo and it's almost the same thing.

(Guy) - What he said! No killer apps and uninspiring games all around are the reason the Wii in my house sees little to no action (unless a nephew, niece or Bingo league group drops by for a furious Mario Kart session. I kid, kid!). Simply put, when held up to the massive power of the 360 and PS3, the Wii comes across as very "meh."

As always, your two cents are more than welcome in the comments section below. For more future anti-Wii rants and to check out our games of the week (Final Fantasy XIII...shhhh!!!) follow us on Twitter @SavingsGCapes and @YasarSavings. Until the next time we manage to simultaneously annoy and amaze you, have a good one folks.