Something Old, Nothing New?

New console, same plumber. 

I recently heard someone saying that their problem with the Wii is that with the exception of the Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Music, and Wii Fit series there hasn't been any new first party IP released. They pointed out that the Gamecube gave us Pikmin, Animal Crossing (although Japan had a N64 release), and Luigi's Mansion. I have three major problems with this objection.

The first is 'if it ain't broke don't fix it!' One of the main reason's people buy a Nintendo console is to play the latest Mario or Zelda game. More often than not third party companies are heard to complain about how hard it is to get their product noticed on a Nintendo system.

Secondly, the Wii implemented a new control scheme, so everything that was old was new again! They were even able to rerelease half a dozen Gamecube games under the New Play Control heading. Skyward Sword played like no other Zelda game before it, sure it used similar ideas and plot points but that's what you expect, after all I expect that the next Call of Duty game will have players shooting people.

My final point is that such a mentality is incredibly harsh and disrespectful to the many great second and third party new IP exclusives. For example Endless Ocean, Xenoblade Chronicles, Zack & Wiki, Little King's Story, Lost Winds, Boom Blox, Red Steel 2, No More Heroes (although this has now gone multi-platform), The Last Story, Mad World, and The Conduit.

So sure the Wii might not have given birth to the next great Nintendo gaming franchise but it has managed to inject a new spin on a lot of the classics, while also providing a platform for some fantastic new titles, many of which were criminally over looked (Zack and Wiki)!

Why make a fantastic new IP when people will just walk past it?