Tyler Bleszinski, older brother to Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski, has provided his perspective (you know I love perspectives!) on the direction that the Wii and its apparent success among casuals are taking us.
Bleszinski wants to make it clear, of course, that the Wii’s appeal to a larger audience is by no means a bad thing. Expanding the market means gaming becomes more accepted in the mainstream, and the gaming industry will grow healthily. However, Bleszinski point out that the big games among these casuals are games like Wii Sports, Cooking Mama, or WarioWare: Smooth Moves and not games like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. While those games are just fine and dandy, sooner or later all the developers are going to realize the whole law of diminishing returns principle that Nintendo had previously pointed out and see that they can make much more profit on these casual, mini-game fests rather than putting all their money into the hardcore-type games that many “traditional” gamers enjoy.
If definitely a scenario that makes sense. The Wii is a cash cow (or more like a cash calf), and we can already see developers trying to make a cheap buck by porting over old Wii-makes. Do you worry about the Wii’s success resulting in the loss of quality games? It’s not really something I worry about, as I’m sure those blockbuster games will come out every now and then. I see it becoming like the movie business. There’s always a little something for everyone.
You can read Tyler Bleszinski’s article at the link below.
