WiiWare Roundup Review

That's a lot of expensive DLC. I hope Square-Enix fail miserably with that strategy.

Indeed, I'm not going to start buying games in instalments: didn't get the last one because of this pricing strategy and I won't get this one either.

So that's 4500 points for the 'proper' version of FF4, with all of the story? Seems a bit steep - over 30 quid for a mobile phone game conversion without a box.

With all the new Price bumping that publishers are doing it seems to me to make sense to actually have value for money be a strong part of any review. Steep prices for mediocre or slightly above average games should affect there score.

While I'm in no way disagreeing that Squares business model is pretty despicable here, I must say I'm really enjoying My life as a Darklord - it's quite a clever twist on Tower defence. And, at 75% through the game I must say I haven't seen any in game nudges toward buying DLC, apart from a few map locations you can't get to.

What a stupid introduction, what about:

World of goo
Bit Trip Beat
Swords and Soldiers
Lost Winds
ArtStyle: *
Maboshi
Tetris Party
And other I don't remember right now?

Wiiware is exactly what you say it isn't: a an outlet for charming, offbeat and innovative games.

@JustMe,

Is that a representative slice of wiiware offerings though? Or it's it the cream of your crop?

@Metalfish,

I would like to think it's both.

Those are just some of the Wiiware games I bought, played and enjoyed. From the short and easy but atmospheric Lostwinds to the hardcore highscore addiction that is Bit Trip.

Most of the times I turn on my Wii, I don't even bother to remove my wife's wii fit disc from the drive... :)

@justMe

Indeed you might say that "there are some notable titles loitering in amongst the incomprehensible brawlers and bafflingly simplistic Wii Sports rip-offs... No?

Don't get me wrong, I see your point.
There are some downright outstanding games on Wiiware but it has to be said - as with Wii software in general - that the chaff far outweighs the wheat.

@jaguarwong,

So I should be "sobbing into my lacy handkerchief" because Wiiware turned out to have 20/80 quality/fillers ratio like every other games distribution channel?

After a bit of shaky start the Wii has enjoyed the most compelling downloadable titles over the last six
months or so. Don't get the snide opening, assume it's symptomatic of the lazy journo Wii=shit mantra that's been doing the rounds for a while.

So I should be "sobbing into my lacy handkerchief" because Wiiware turned out to have 20/80 quality/fillers ratio like every other games distribution channel?

no you shouldn't be. but you should be realistic and see that other games distribution channels have a much better ratio and better games.

NyxQuest is excellent and should be picked up by anyone who enjoys puzzle/platforms, is perhaps my favourite WiiWare game to date and the way it forces you to use the nunchuck and remote independently (but at the same time (if you understand what I mean)) to proceed excellent

As for the quality of games, I can't speak for the 360 service but on PSN the majority available range from poor to average with some excellent titles at the top, the same as WiiWare really and I think the statement on the review was quite, well, poor imo.

I've both an XBox and a Wii - the I find the output from both seems to match in quality overall (for the dross/gold ratio)
Though obviously, XBox Live is far more popular and the game styles do differ dramatically.

While I think the Xbox bias on this site is pretty well understood (did this start when an editor left or because of the economy something?) - I wonder how hard they are being hit by people moving to sites like 1up, kotaku, joystiq, GiantBomb, etc as their primary news source? It seems the blog style sites are doing a better jobs than the bigger/less flexible sites like gamespot, IGN, etc in keeping us updated with news and giving more open minded reviews.

Also, I'm with EvilBob - I reckon 'My life as a Darklord' is a great game (I don't mind tower defense games but I'm not usually a huge fan)

"While I think the Xbox bias on this site is pretty well understood"

Yes, it's understood to be the same as the Sony bias and the Nintendo bias, i.e., non-existent.

Hm for a long while I sensed a love for Nintendo here. Not sure if and why it changed.

The first paragraph of this article is strange and doesn't seem to fit with reality. Wiiware's actually turned out to be pretty good value, in fact I think all 3 download services are one of the best things about each current machine and in fact this generation. Square-Enix can screw off though.

NyxQuest is indeed very good. Further elaboration (or shameless whoring): http://tap-repeatedly.com/?p=3505

@paul_haine
I don't mean bias in that they give XBox games higher scores - I mean bias in that they favour coverage of the XBox over coverage of the PS3 or Wii... How many Wii reviews are posted compared to XBox games? How many multi-format titles are reviewed primarily on the XBox rather than PS3?

"Don't get me wrong, I see your point.
There are some downright outstanding games on Wiiware but it has to be said - as with Wii software in general - that the chaff far outweighs the wheat. "

Luckily I have this thing called an internet, on here I can read reviews and opinions on games before I buy them, so I know which games are good and which are not. I highly recommend an internet to you all.

@IronCladChicken
I believe review copies are sent by publishers to websites on whichever format they prefer. It's not a decision the site makes. i could be wrong.

@BuckoA51
I'm not entirely sure what your point is.
If I used one of these internet things how would that change the Good/Bad quality ratio of software?
It could (indeed does) provide a tool to help separate the gold from the grit but it doesn't stop the grit from existing - or increase the amount of gold available.

@jaguarwong
I guess... Although I'm not sure how it stops them from going out and buying a copy? Which some of the smaller sites have to do - and pretty much all of us great unwashed game buying public are stuck with.

I'd always presumed that (apart from making money) the point of these sites was to keep the consumer informed... which they’re not doing if they only review the games publishers want them to.

I'm guessing it's just that the Wii and PS3 owners don’t bring in as much ad revenue as the 360 owners (I'm a Wii360 owner myself :) ) so they don't feel so much need to cater to that market?

I don't mean to sound like too much of a whiney little piss-ant here. It's just that in the past I would visit Eurogamer as my primary games site/hub when checking out games (moving onto other sites after reading the review here) - however as this generation goes on I find myself using this site less and less & respecting their opinion less and less - The same thing happened with IGN 3-4 (maybe 5?) years ago which caused me to shift over to Eurogamer :)

It's not the writing style that irks me (I was a big fan of Your Sinclair during the eighties) so much as the content - I like my bias in the forums, not in the articles :P

@jaguarwong

I think the point people are trying to make is that it surely does not matter if there are 10 brilliant games and 2000 rubbish ones or 10 brilliant games and 20 rubbish ones The brilliant ones are still brilliant regardless of how much rubbish surrounds them. I would also disagree with the comment suggesting that the wii has a larger ratio then the others as I have exactly the same experience on live and have seen many rubbish games on psn too. But it does not really matter as I don't care about the rubbish games on the systems, I just want the good ones.

I think the FF games get more attention due to brand recognition.

Anyway, let's try checking the WiiWare games people buy (list of popular games)...

My Aquarium: Well, it's a slightly more interactive version of those DVD aquariums you can get everywhere. I don't think most of us are interested in it but supposedly it's worth it for those who want that kind of thing.

FFCC: My Life As A Darklord: There's a review here already.

Water Warfare: A good arena FPS. IMO worth it for anyone who wants an online FPS for the Wii.

Texas Hold'em Tournament: Uh, supposedly a decent but barebones version of Texas Hold'em (no other poker versions included). It does what it sets out to do but that's not much. If you really need online poker be my guest but you can probably get something free online.

Fun Fun Minigolf: AFAIK the only complaint that people have is the out of bounds rule. It's actually in the rulebook of real life minigolf but noone ever enforces it.

NyxQuest: Review above. Must buy.

Onslaught: A nice spam-fighting FPS, it's very old-school in its design (down to a score system) so if you prefer modern story-driven FPSes it's not your game, if you like enemy spam with a story that goes on the back of the CD booklet it's worth a look.

TV Show King: Not a very good quiz show AFAIK.

World of Goo: It's a great imaginative game that's kinda like a realtime version of Bridge Builder with more creative scenarios. Was a GOTY contender in some publications.

My Pokemon Ranch: Er, I think the only purpose of this thing is to occasionally get some free rare Pokemon to put into your DS Pokemon games. Seems like a waste of time for anyone here.

Brain Challenge: They port that to everything and I'm not sure it actually trains your brain. Probably not for anyone here.

Tetris Party: It's Tetris!

5 Spots Party: I was AFK while that was released and people voiced their oppinions so I have no idea about it.

Gradius Rebirth: It's Gradius!

Bomberman Blast: It's Bomberman!

FF4 The After Years: There's a review up there.

Karate Phants: I think that's only on the list because it's got brand recognition here in Germany. A total mess, entirely controlled with waggle and supposedly lets you do an infinite combo just with forward punches...

Puzzle Bobble Plus: Puzzle Bobble, apparently not one of the more feature rich versions.

Swords & Soldiers: Awesome 2D RTS. Must buy!

Equilibrio: Some like it, some hate it. I'm among the latter group.

So that's a sample of what people actually care about on the service ATM. There's plenty of older games that are worth a look and also plenty that aren't. Does that mean the service is worth it or not? Well, there's games you should buy so overall it's worth it. I got more games out of WiiWare than XBLA.