First Person Shooters...Can They Survive on Wii?

WARNING! LONG ARTICLE AHEAD! HOWEVER IF YOU READ IT ALL AND COMMENT YOU WILL BE A LEGEND!

When you think of first persn shooters usually the first few games that will pop into your mind would be Halo 3, Call of Duty, Metroid, Oblivion, various games like that. And of course when you think of the best system to support first person shooters you think of Xbox 360 or PS3. Well it wasn't always this way.....

A long time ago (about 2 years) people heard of a new gaming sensation. Something from the company Nintendo...it was known as the Revolution. The name fit perfectly but it was soon announced that the revolutionary system (so that's where the name came from) would be know to the general public as the "Wii". It was rumored to have full motion controll and which ignited a fire within the hearts of many hardcore gamers. "The Wii is perfect for first person shooters!" And so we thought.....

The Wii made it's grand debut on November 19th 2006 and first person shooter fans from all around gathered to witness it's glory. Red Steel was the game that attracted all the attention. After moments of playing the game gamers got sick of it and turned back to Xbox 360 and PS3 for their first person shooters...

Ok story time is over! Most of you probably already knew this but I'm just restating the facts. Red Steel, as we all now, was released close to launch and was clearly a victim of not fully understanding the technology. Which for some of us is understandable.

However it's been two years and only two first person shooter games have been made and made WELL for the Wii. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Medal of Honor Heroes 2.

With the major lack of first person shooters on Wii many find themselves asking: "Can first person shooters work on the Wii?"

I'm sad to say that I do not know the answer. However I do know this; Think back to your early days with the Wii. You were excited and just picked up Red Steel. You put the game in and you were immediatly impressed by the gameplay. But as you play through it you realize how poorly constructed it really is. So you explore some different Wii games.

Now I have found some great games on the Wii that have kept me entertained for hours, however most were made my Nintendo and the third party games all felt somewhat lacking. Throughout the Wii's two years of life, Nintendo has been marketing it to the casual gamer, leaving us hardcore gamers looking for great first person shooters out. Don't get me wrong, I loved Metroid 3, Mario and Zelda kept me even more entertained than most first person shooters put together but while you are waiting for Nintendo's next big title, (Wii Fit, Wii Play, Wii Music, Wii Sports Resort...those don't count) it's nice to have a good first person shooter to back you up. However the console's third party support is low, and Nintendo refuses to do anything about it.

Nintendo is just a company. AS long as you buy their system and their games they're happy, whether you truly enjoy them or not. I've seen this happen with too many Wii owners over and over:

Buy the Wii and the big Nintendo titles. Finish the titles in a month or so and never touch the Wii again untill Nintendo makes a new game.

But does that matter to Nintendo? They get their money...whether you enjoy their console or not doesnt matter all that much to them does it? They have their money and thats all they need. They're ignoring the hardcore gamers so they can get rich off the casual gamers. If you're a Wii owner you can't deny it. You know it's true.

However nothing truly lasts forever and I think we may be seing in upward trend in third party activity in making first person shooters for the Nintendo Wii. (And when I say that I mean quality games not your avrage crapy games) There are two games in particular that come to mind, unfortunatly neither will release in 2008.

Red Steel 2. Intresting name for a sequel eh? Get's you all pumped up right? Not really. Red Steel was a first attempt (a good one at that) to make a quality first person shooter for the Wii. It will utilze Nintendo's new hardware (Ugh, more plastic junk?) Wii Motion Plus. This will allow the sword movements to be much more pecise and maybe catch more of a Metroid Prime feel as well. It HAS to be at least decent right?

The Conduit. This may be a stretch but I hope for this game to be the "Halo" of Wii. It's a Wii exclusive (thats usually good) and is using the Quantum3 graphics engine. (For those of you who dont know what that is or havent seen this game in action, expect good graphics)The gameplay looks solid and easy yet fun to master and the game looks interesting as well. It is rumored to have an online deathmatch feature ("Just what I needed!"-Mario-Super Mario Bros. 3 for GBA) that will support Wii Speak, Nintendo's new voicechat feature.

With two games like these coming I believe there is hope for the future. Will they sell well? Nobody knows yet. If the Conduit lives up to all it's hype I think it will be the best Wii game ever. (Mario Galaxy and Twilight Princess will always be better!) Red Steel 2 will be at least decent if not better assuming Ubisoft learned from their mistakes last time around.

These two games may just be...our only hope...