2008's Essential Nintendo Wii and DS Games

CVG writes, "The DS will continue to do well - there's no doubt about that, but this is a crucial year for Wii."

"Will Nintendo's currently phenomenally popular Wii continue to dominate the market, or will its bubble burst as some predict, making way for PS3 to storm in?"

"We can't tell you the answer to that, but we can tell you what games we're looking forward to most on Nintendo's two platforms."

[MK_Red]

Aside from No More Heroes and to a lesser extent Samba De Amigo, none of those games feel essential (Zack & Wiki is but it's a 2007 game).

I'm no fan of SSBB so there are only to 2008 Wii games for me... At least 2007 had 4 but hey, I also have a most UNTImost-anticipated game: Wii Fit.

[TruthbeTold]

Just like Virtua fighter, people tend to either love Smash Bros or have nothing to do with it. That being said, millions of gamers who are fans of all major consoles are chomping at the bit for this game.

Regarding Zack and Wiki... I really hope that it takes off well in Europe. Then maybe people here in the U.S. will give it a second look, and we'll really end up with a sequel. Any Wii owner who is a fan of the motion control system should own that game.

[LanRanger]

"At least 2007 had 4"

Right, because the only interesting games coming out in 2008 are on that list. There aren't any unannounced games, surprise hits, or games that just got left off that list.

Don't you think you ought to wait to compare the 2008 release schedule to 2007's until we're actually in 2008?

[MK_Red]

Good point TruthbeTold on VF and SSBB. It's indeed like that. Also, agreed on Z&W, hope it sells well enough in Europe.

LanRanger, if we think about "unannounced games, surprise hits, or games that just got left off that list", then PC, PS3 and 360 will also have their own. Right now based on all that is annonunced, Wii has nothing compared to PS3/360. And on PS3 front, there will be ton of surprises for E3 and others. Let's not forget about TBA games like Getaway 3, 8 Days, Afrika, Team Ico project and others.
On 360 front, there are Perfect Dark 2, Gears of War 2, Halo spin-offs, Killer Instinct 3 and more.

The essentials list for Wii is based on known games and so are PS3 and 360's lists. If I excluded unannounced games and such from Wii list, is because I did the same for PS3 and 360 lists and they still ended up ages beyond Wii's.

[LanRanger]

MK_Red: "there are only to 2008 Wii games for me... At least 2007 had 4" ... "If I excluded unannounced games and such from Wii list, is because I did the same for PS3 and 360 lists"

You didn't even mention the PS3 and 360 in your original post. You were comparing the entire 2007 Wii catalog against a list of ten 2008 releases. Drawing any conclusions based on that comparison is foolish.

[Devr]

Wait a sec, didn't you say you hate the Wii because hardcore games like Z&W and NMH don't sell? Then, aren't you a part of the problem if you're not going to buy SSBB, the most hardcore Wii game of 2008?

[MK_Red]

Why is comparison wrong? Comparing known Wii games of 2008 with PS3 and 360 known games of 2008.

Devr, I'm pretty sure more than a few people will buy SSBB. Plus it's a sequel and I didn't like the previous games much. Z&W and NMH were original IPs.
And I didn't say I'm not getting SSBB. There are games that I buy but aren't on my must have list. In 2007, there were games like The Simpsons Game and Halo 3 that I wasn't anticipating much buteventually bought them.

[LanRanger]

MK_Red: "Why is comparison wrong? Comparing known Wii games of 2008 with PS3 and 360 known games of 2008. "

Are you even reading my posts? There's nothing wrong with comparing upcoming Wii releases with those on PS3 and 360, but that has nothing to do with what you said or what I'm criticizing you for (so why do you keep bringing it up?).

It's your comparison to the 2007 Wii catalog, and the implication that the 2008 releases aren't as good that is troubling.

[MK_Red]

Wii's own 2007 vs known 2008 might seem harsh but in terms of highly anticipated titles, back in 2007 we knew about games like Metroid Prime 3, SMG and of course, SSBB. Now we only know about one big game (SSBB and it was supposed to be a 2007 game).
But yeah, talking about whole Wii catalog vs 2008 in general was a bit indeed unfair.

[gaffyh]

Oh god 10 games and some aren't even that good?!?!? That's all we have to look forward to for 2008?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!? The only good DS game on that list is Advance Wars, Revnant wings is soo annoying to play

[Rice]

Will wii win the next gen war? Who knows? And i find the statement "games sale consoles" kinda false, look at the wii, has no games but look at its sales

[jack who]

wii is a shame

[Shadow Flare]

The picture for this article basically sums up Nintendo for the past 20 years. When it comes to software, i dont think they know the meaning of the word 'fresh'

[LanRanger]

The NES, Super NES, Gameboy, Nintendo DS, etc. were all just a fad, right? None of them contributed anything to gaming? Don't be so ignorant.

[YoungKingDoran]

ok... its taken 6 years for us to get 3 halo games, and a halo rts is coming out. i'm just using halo as a franchise as just an example, and hey i could say the same about metroid, but i think you should give your team (microsoft or sony) aliiiittle bit more time to milk THEIR franchises more before you complain about nintendo

[wiizy]

playstation 3 is garbage.. xbox 360 is good but just not good enough..;.... 08 is going to be a huge year for nintendo especially with the games.... im looking forward to more crying from fanboys all year long

[Brainiac 8]

Maybe with the new year we can move on from FPS territory. You want unoriginal, take the FPS genre...since they flooded the market so much last year, it sucked almost any originality the genre had.

I have several Wii games I'm looking forward to this coming year, first and foremost being SSBB. Between the Wii and my PS3 the new year will be pure awesomeness. Truth be told though, so far I have more I'm looking forward to from the Wii in terms of games than the PS3.

Also it's ignorant to think that Nintendo does not come up with new franchises, since that is not the case. Of course, they milk certain franchises, but that is because they are great franchises that people enjoy and ask Nintendo for. Heck to me, there can't be enough Mario and Metroid games out there, I love them that much. But for every Mario or Metroid or Zelda, Nintendo introduces Pikmin, or Animal Crossing, or Geist. So yes, Nintendo likes using their popular characters, but new franchises will come...just like they do every generation.

[FelicityOldGamer]

All these games will do very well for NIntendo

[PS360WII]

What about the RPG's that are coming out? A new Tales of game, Oopona, DQ Swords. This one list is not all the essentials just a FYI to the already 'really known' titles.

If you go by announced games then of course the other consoles will look better. Nintendo is the one company that really doesn't like talking about anything until it's about to be released. While MS and Sony will talk about games that'll be coming out in 2-3 years.

[Vizion26]

Nintendo is dominating the market. According to the latest sales charts, the Wii sold over 1.4 million worldwide last week and the DS over 2 million. Remarkable.

2008 should be a much better year for the Wii software wise. I think we should see much better quality third party games since many third parties jumped on the Wii bandwagon about 6 months ago. I also expect Nintendo to release some new franchises for 2008 as Miyamoto once said along with the successors to popular franchises such as Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, and Pikmin.

I also expect 2008 to be another year of fanboys bashing the Wii calling it fad while it outsells the PS3 and 360 combined. 2008 should be interesting indeed.