WTF, Nintendo

Last year, I wrote at mild length why I was really excited about the work Nintendo was doing with the DS and the Wii. After this year's E3, though, I'm more than a bit frustrated. The chief instigator is this year's "big" title: Wii Music.

Now, I'm all for casual games or "non-games" when they're done well (the new Animal Crossing game has me starting a new file in Wild World). I think that Wii Fit is a great idea and the Wii Balance Board has some remarkable potential applications. Wii Sports remains fun and the potential for increased movement correspondence with the MotionPlus add-on for the WiiMote has potential (too bad the only title demonstrating it is another Wii Sports game...). The issue is that Wii Music, quite simply, misses the point of music games entirely.

For one thing as a saxophonist, I'm legitimately insulted that they're trying to include wind instruments in this thing. There is no way that they can recreate the motion of playing a keyed or valved instrument with the Wiimote. With things like the drums or even string instruments (bowed or strummed), you can at least recreate the rudimentary physical motions. This isn't enough, though. There's a tactile sensation to playing these instruments that games like Rock Band at least make an effort to simulate.

In a nutshell, WiiMusic is asking you to pay money for a game that only lets you look like an asshole while you play in an airband (even worse, an airband where your hands need to be within a set distance of one another), mostly to music that nobody wants to form an airband to play. It's targeted at people who don't actually understand or care about performing music...and it's going to sell like wildfire.

The other thing that disappoints me about Nintendo lately is the simple fact that they're not talking about the DS (the best selling game system of all time) at all. Where in the hell is our new Metroid DS game (classic style)? Like the DS Castlevania games, this is one of those series were just making a solid game and using the top screen for a map would be more than enough. No dramatic touch support needed. What about Smash Bros DS? Keep the stage effects simple (and preferably fewer hazards) down and you could probably have a less laggy online play than Brawl. Hell, if you learned your lessons from Brawl, this could probably become the premier smash game. Pikmin DS? The success of strategy games on the DS proves that this is just begging to be made.

The Wii has asserted its dominance, you don't need to focus entirely on it. Sony is really promoting PS3-PSP connectivity. With the release of the PSP slim, it's gaining in market share on you...why in the hell aren't you doing anything to remind people why the DS is worthwhile? Right now, the only company doing much for you is Square Enix (I'll probably wind up grabbing The World Ends with You, the FFIV and DQIV remakes, and the Chrono Trigger rerelease, and I'm still eagerly anticipating DQIX). I suppose if you're going to let a console rest on the livelihood of one developer, this is a good one to have in charge, but you need to pick the ball back up and give us something good.

Anyway, I just thought I'd throw that out there. Microsoft and Sony didn't show much of worth (at least that we hadn't already seen) either. Not owning any of the consoles, I'll admit that I was the most impressed by Sony's show...but I'll also admit that I'm still a complete sucker for all of Sony's 2nd Party development teams. As much love as I have for Square's and Enix's SNES and PSOne era games, the announcement about FFXIII being cross platform did nothing to me. I was turned off to FFXIII from the very first video. Without Hironobu Sakaguchi or Hiroshi Minagawa (who gained my trust with Tactics and Vagrant Story) invovlved, there's very little keeping me attached to the series.