In my view,
it appears that the Wii has done nothing more than allow little kids and gen-y and baby boomer generations to play video games.
in the sense that they start playing the wii because its physical and you can play with friends and a few other reasons which are unnecessary.
Video games are seen as a time waster and useless hobby, where as now, its begining to be recognised as a culture and even though there are the strong critics of gaming and its ways, they are starting to lessen.
the only thing wii has done so far is introduce people to other forms of gaming.
few games today have the same level of difficulty of games back in the old days. as a matter of fact, TMNT on the nes system still gives me migranes.
all in all i'd say the wii has made a differnt "branch" of gaming.
like martial arts has its various styles and techniques i think gaming does too, and as such why not see where this goes.

I think that it has made gaming better. We are use to just a controller but now you can actually like be more part of the game so its like you in the screen you think you are their. Imagin in few years it will be like you on the screen and you will have like no controller you just move say like punch to hit the other person the comp like knows what you are doing.

In my eyes, the Wii hasn't ruined gaming as we know it. As a matter of fact, one day, we might even participate in video games physically (although that, of course, is pure Sci-Fi-ism).

I have never liked the Wii.

The first problems started when they changed the name to Wii from Revolution. Sure, anyone in any country can pronounce the word "Wii", but Revolution has a more menacing feel to it. Wii just sounds completely silly.

The second problem is the backward step Nintendo has taken with the overall package of Wii. I was able to play with the Wii extensively on the first year of its release, when there were still shortages in stores, when I was babysitting two kids for the entire summer. For the first summer, I only had Wii Sports to play with, but it was not very interesting. Sure, the controls are cool and gimmicky for the first week, but it quickly loses its point soon and it simply gets annoying a month or two after that.

When I babysitted them the next summer, I made sure that I brought my laptop to their home because it was extremely boring to play a Wii. I preferred to play Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun over a Wii. It just sat there being unused for the entire summer.

So what made me dislike Wii so much? First, the backward step Nintendo took with the graphics. Sure, casual gamers might not care, but it is still good to have your console powerful enough that it is still relevant years down the road and most importantly, allow programmers like me to extract more out of it as needed. The PS3 and Xbox360 has that potential to deliver more years down the road than currently possible. On the other hand, the Wii has already hit the maximum as reported by DailyTech.

Second thing is the controller. I am glad they kept legacy controller ports, because the new system is absolutely horrendous to play anything except sports and interactive games with. Try playing Call of Duty 3 on a Wii, and it makes you want to throw it out the window. Or even Smash Brothers Brawl. I found it absolutely impossible to play with using the Wiimote.

It's getting long, but that's what made me highly dislike Wii. I would rather buy myself a PS2 instead, because, guess what, PS2 offers superior graphics to Wii, 6 years prior to the Wii!

I dont beleave that anything can truly be ruined. there is only evelution through the trial and errer process. with that said i beleave that it is revolutionizing gameing simply because they continue to find new ways to correct any issues with old games unlike other systems which just leave it as once you buy it its your problems. for example in response the the motion problems with the wii they have created a motion sensative device. the wii is finding new ways to create games for the player to use both body and mind rather then simply using your thumbs. while i think that the wii may still need work i most deffinitly can say it is well on its way to revolutionizing gaming as we know it

Revolutionary ? , hmmm...kinda, but in the end everything depends of the games.

No matter how good the console is if the games do not offer anything new or interesting.

And this is what happens with the Wii, we used to play here, but the games that interest us can be counted with one hand.

I don't think it has revolutionized or ruined anything. It dose have a huge amount of casual games, and some really good games for the hardcore gamers (metroid, zelda etc) but how can you say it ruined the game industry, the hardcore gamers will buy what ever games are released that they like i think its kinda weird to consider games like wii sports and Halo in the same category. In my opinion the casual game market and hardcore game market are completely different. Developers that have always made mature violent games will keep making them, and as long as casual gamers keep buying casual tittles they will be more made.

I would say that the Wii has revolutionalized the gaming market. Nintendo has sought to seek out the audience that both Sony and Microsoft has ignored-- the casual gamers and the elderly. And they've done this through the release of the Wii remote motion sensor, which both Microsoft and Sony are now attempting to recreate. I've heard a lot of arguments against the Wii, but people have to remember that Nintendo originally said that its target audience would include casual gamers and those who don't play games at all. A lot of people tend to complain how Nintendo is "neglecting them", but how many of these people who are complaining even supported Nintendo during its N64 and Gamecube era? Part of the reason Nintendo may have switched audiences is because they weren't getting to the hardcore gamers.

For me, as long as there are the kinds of games I like on the Wii, I don't really care if Nintendo reaches out to the casual gamers as well. Also, it's important to remember that Nintendo doesn't make every game they sell. If Ubisoft wants to publish a casual game, there's no reason for Nintendo to not allow them to. If Nintendo DID refuse, Ubisoft might not make games for them at all and move onto different systems, and Nintendo would lose one more developer.

The porpouse of the wii was "family games"... and by "family games" i refer to the whole family playing wii... like cooking mama or the golf game...

the wii its focused no in the player that nintendo have gained in the past... instead in the player nintendo doesn't have already...

but that is a problem... at the same time nintendo gains a whole new set of player... it lost a entierly set of player that already have...

so IMO wii need to focus more in the "real" players... than the "family" players... and it can be achieve by "real" games more than "family" games...

IMAO

I think the Wii is revolutionary only in the fact that it introduced motion controls to console gaming. When the Wii first came out, I desperately wanted one, mainly to play the Wii versions of Twilight Princess and the Trauma Center game. After owning a Wii for a bit over two years now, my opinion of the system has not lessened, but my opinion of its game library has vastly dropped. I was anticipating a lot of games I'd want to play coming out on the Wii, but other than the Nintendo mainstays like Mario and Zelda and the aforementioned Trauma Center games, there's been nothing I've been that interested in. In fact, I haven't bought a Wii game in over a year.

I don't really regret buying a Wii, and a few upcoming games have my interest, but I have looked back and often thought that the Wii really wasn't worth all the hype, mainly because of all the party/casual/exercise games that companies seem to churn out for the thing. I know that they're trying to market to a broader range of consumers, but I just wish the system would get a bit more RPG or action love.

I say ruined it, for one reason: gaming is made to be in a way, to make it any other way needs to be a good appealing revolutionary system, gaming is made primary with the reaction of the mind, to be made with the reaction of the body, it needs to be way better than Wii, I say Wii was released prematurely, An unperfected beta console with good concepts gone bad

The Wii would be better if the platform had more REAL games.

Probably the Wii defenders won't agree with me (and they will be wrong :D) but the problem with that platform is that 90% of the games released on it are:

-Games like the Babiez, Petz and that kind of virtual mascot simulators.
-Useless software like those cooking games.
-Half-assed PS2 or GCN ports with mediocre wiimote controls. Fortunately, in this case you can also use the GCN controller or the classic controller.
-Absolute garbage that, surprisingly, sells, like Wiimusic.

And also we have another problem: a lot of really serious games for the platform (see: Madworld, an awesome game) don't sell at all. I don't want to imagine how games like The Conduit or Tatsunoko vs Capcom will do in occidental lands, sales wise (domestic version of Tatsunoko vs Capcom was a complete failure in Japan).

I dont think it has ruined gaming...it is merely a blip on the radar when it comes to hardcore gaming...The wii is aimed at people who play for maybe 20 minutes at a time...The controller was a big thing when it first was announced, and I thought it had potential...and it still does to an extent...but mostly developers have wasted that potential on rubbish games...This is also due to the lack of power in the console itself...the thing isnt even HD for example, and therefore probably doesnt appeal to developers when they plan to make a game for the PS3 or Xbox...

I think however that the motion controller is digging itself into a hole that it may not get out of anytime soon...Microsoft and Sony are stumping up their own versions and its hard not to see the same rubbish games getting made for those platforms while quality games such as Halo 4 and MGS5 and the like are just going to ignore the massive potential these controllers bring...however, maybe, just maybe there are the developers out there with the nous to figure out how to utilise them in great games that truly stand out...

Unfortunately while the wii has a cheap price tag and a library of rubbish games, it will continue to be merely a kid's toy rather than a major player in the future...Not to mention in the next generation of consoles, Nintendo really has to get their finger out and make a console that actually competes with the rest of the competition or their currently growing reputation of sellouts will become even bigger...

The Wii was never meant to be used as a console for hardcore-gamers. It hasn't ruined it nor has it revolutionized it. It's pretty much just invited a large amount of the family-market. That being-said, it's all preference. IMO it's a fad, and my Nintendo Wii has been collecting dust for a year. I'll dust it off once Muramasa comes out.

The Wii makes me depressed. It could be great, it really could be, but it's not. It's mediocre. The best use for my Wii so far has been the Homebrew channel and it's SNES Emulators. Right now, at this very moment, the disk in my Wii is a from the Gamecube (SSBM).

It should be noted that I am a Nintendo fan. I haven't ever owned any console other than a Nintendo console. Something I'm starting to regret at this point. My favorite games are on console I don't own.

Here's a list of games I like from the latest generation of consoles, in no particular order:

Gears of War 2
Guilty Gear series
Super Smash Bros Brawl (Melee is better though)
Resident Evil 5 (Only played the demo)
Mario Kart Wii
Blaz Blue
Super Mario Galaxy
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Exactly half are from the Wii. The ones from non-Nintendo consoles, however, are still better than those from the Wii, especially Gears of War.



This brings me to my next point. Aside from the Wii doing poorly in comparison with the rest of its generation, it also does poorly -- more poorly, actually -- when compared with it's predecessors.

Games from the last generation I liked, again in no order:

Super Smash Bros Melee
Custom Robo
Pikmin 1 & 2
Metroid Prime 1 & 2
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Tales of Symphonia

This list, though shorter, is, in my opinion, composed of better games all around. I've had more fun and put more hours into these games than I could ever hope to get from the Wii. This list has some of my favorite games of all time. Note the lack of games from XBox or PS2. There just wasn't anything I really liked on those.



But now let's look at the older consoles, the N64, SNES, and NES.

N64:

Perfect Dark
Super Mario 64
Starfox 64
Super Smash Bros
Bomberman 64
Quest 64
Kirby 64 The Crystal Shards
XG2
Banjo-Kazooie + Tooie
Paper Mario
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

SNES:

Chrono Trigger
Earthbound
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Megaman (Back when it was good)
Super Metroid

NES:

Super Mario Bros
The Legend of Zelda
Megaman (Back when it was really good)

Take particular note of the sheer length of the N64 list. The games mentioned are still only a fraction of the number of games I actually own. What fraction? About 1/5, maybe 1/4. The N64 simply had a lot of really good games.

As for the SNES, I never actually owned one. I've been messing with emulators quite a bit recently, and the list is thus shorter than it probably would be if I had played the SNES for a few years. As for actual quality, these games were for the most part, good, but not amazing.

And we come to the NES. The same circumstances as the SNES apply, except I've played NES emulators even less. Still, I enjoy these games, even if they aren't that great. I'd still take them over some of the games on the list of current consoles.



But I seem to have strayed from the point. My point is this: the Wii is not very good (especially by comparison), but it hasn't destroyed gaming. And I also think that there is still hope for it if developers would get over their preconceptions of the system and make hardcore games.