Lackluster Wii Third-Party Support is Killing my Buzz!
We all know about Zelda, Red Steel, and Rayman — all Wii titles that have gotten tons of coverage — but what else will be available this holiday season? According to a press release from Nintendo, before the end of December the third-party landscape should look something like this:
Activision: Call of Duty 3, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Rapala Tournament Fishing, Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam, World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions
Atari: Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2
Atlus: Trauma Center: Second Opinion
EA: Madden NFL ’07, Need for Speed™: Carbon
Konami: Elebits
Midway: Happy Feet, Rampage: Total Destruction, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, The Ant Bully
Sega: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
SNK: Metal Slug Anthology
Tecmo: Super Swing Golf
THQ: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Barnyard, Cars, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Creature from the Krusty Krab
Ubisoft: Far Cry: Vengeance, GT Pro Series, Monster 4X4 World Circuit, Open Season, Rayman Raving Rabbids, Red Steel, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Double Agent
Vivendi: Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
I know what you’re thinking and Nintendo has a snappy retort, “Some of these games might be familiar, but if you haven’t played them on Wii, you’re only getting half the experience.”
Is this the Wii mantra as we wait for developers to come to terms with the innovative hardware? Just play one more old NES game or a three-month-late port from Xbox. Super Mario Galaxy is alllllmost done!
I am unflinchingly tough on Nintendo for reasons that go back to the ancient SNES vs. Genesis days (and most days since) so color me overly skeptical on this one. I’m sure Zelda will keep us all busy for months… but doesn’t that remind you of the N64 and GameCube days?
