Wot No Wii? Part #3


The last panel in this week's triptych about Wiiblindness in the games industry. In the last part I already mentioned EDGE. EDGE 227 has a largely thoughtful article about online multiplayer in games raising all the interesting points around when and why online multiplayer is shoe-horned into a game (e.g Dead Space 2), whether it's devs, marketeers or the consumers who are responsible for more and more games shipping with online multiplayer and the curious mystery around the virtual non existence of crossplatform onlinemultiplayer with one not so notable exception.
For no discernable reason not a single Wii game, nor the console itself is mentioned even when it may be pertinent to. Sure, the console is still widely viewed as the little engine that couldn't but it's a glaring omission not to mention Mario Kart Wii when testing 2009 titles for how active communities are. That's a three year old game that not only still has an active community but also a title that gets regular DLC through the fortnightly competitions. Furthermore, if a mere 7% of Mario Kart owners are still playing the game online (excluding added players through split screen online) that's more players than all of those who own Dead Space 2. In fact Mario Kart Wii is the biggest online multiplayer console game of this generation. Surely, that's worth a mention?

Furthermore, Monster Hunter Tri isn't discussed at all despite being the best selling console MMORPG and one of only a handful of current gen games in the genre.

Also, notable is that the article doesn't discuss at all online features that aren't co-operative or competitive play such as the voucher sharing in Metroid Prime Corruption or friendly visits in Animal Crossing.

Shoddy journalism or Wii-blinkers? You decide.

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