Wii Sports is best game ever – casual gamers are taking over
The Wii has been an absolute phenomenon since it was released at the back end of 2006. But does that success really justify Wii Sports being placed at number one in a list of the 50 best video games ever? I don’t think so somehow.
The Wii is great. I’m not one of those snobby PS3 or Xbox 360 owners who think that the Nintendo console isn’t a proper console, doesn’t belong in this generation, or is just a toy not even worth five minutes playing on. It’s not the greatest console in the world, that’s the PS3 according to the current results in our poll, but it has changed the games industry and the stigma that gaming has attached to it.
However, I’m shocked to find that Wii Sports tops the list of the 50 best video games ever in an article published in The Independent newspaper. Seriously, the game which comes free with a Wii is classed as better than any Zelda, Mario, Sonic, Halo, Grand Theft Auto, or Metal Gear Solid title. How wrong can one article be?
This is the top ten in all its messed up glory:
1. Wii Sports
2. Braid
3. Halo 3
4. Fallout 3
5. Rock Band
6. Burnout Paradise
7. Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training
8. Gears Of War
9. Guild Wars
10. Rez HD
I’m sorry but what the hell? I do enjoy playing Wii Sports occasionally when I’ve had a few beers and I have some friends around who are equally sloshed up, but it gets boring after about two hours. As for the rest: Halo 3 deserves its place, as does Rock Band and Gears Of War, but the rest of the top ten is way off.
I don’t know how these placings were arrived at – whether it was the work of a couple of newspaper journalists asked to come up with a top 50 on a Friday afternoon, or whether it was from polling a set of gamers, but either way, it’s clearly not right. But it does show one thing: how casual gamers and casual gaming now rule the industry.
I’ve said on a few occasions that casual gaming and the amount of casual game releases are only going to increase from now on, and this list is another step in that inevitable direction.
Do you agree with any of the list? What would be your number one? Do you hate the idea that casual gaming is now the main focus of attention for all games developers? let us know what you think in the comments.
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15 Responses to “Wii Sports is best game ever – casual gamers are taking over”
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September 20th, 2008
1. Zelda: OOT
2. Mario Galaxy
3. StarCraft
4. FF6
5. Halo (dislike it, but I have to give it its props)
6. Zelda: Majora’s Mask
7. Pokemon R/B/Y (first was the best)
8. Skies of Arcadia
9. Tetris
10. Legend of Dragoon (love the battle system)
That would be my top 10. Nintendo makes quality games, and Mario Bros., a pack in game for the NES could make the top 10 of the list without too many people getting mad, but Wii sports isn’t THAT kind of game. It’s more of an introduction to motion controls.
Most all the games on that list are new, when the reality is that many older games are still more enjoyable than newer ones.
Honorable mention to Yoshi’s Cookie and Kerby Super Star, two games I still love!
September 20th, 2008
Anything without Super Metroid is not valid!
What do you really expect from the independent tho…
Fallout 3… oookkk so a game very few have actualy played gets top 10?
That has to be the most retarded list of top 10 games ever.
September 20th, 2008
what a dumb list of top 10… i think the wii sport is overrated and also the game is bundle with the wii,u dont know how well if is sold as a stand alone game… is a gimmick.. how can fallout 3 be in the top 10 when the game is not even release yet, im not saying the game is crap.. im sure is going to be a great game but how can u judge a game when is not release yet for the public..
September 20th, 2008
Wii sports deserves it’s place
or at least anywere in the top 5.
September 21st, 2008
lmao thats retarted. whers gta? whers mgs4? whers Super Mario World (for super nintendo, my personal fave)? wtf is Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training?
i could think of a long list of how this article is just plain stupid but not gonna waste time
September 21st, 2008
Hmmm wii sports on first place… mebbe ok.. but fallout before MGS… hmm, what was the person who came with this list smoking?
September 21st, 2008
And i am with idiot on this one.. wft is Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training?
September 21st, 2008
Final Fantasy 7/8? Mario 64? Resident Evil 4, at a stretch?
The list was clearly written by a group of journalists who don’t know of many of the games we are talking about – they are probably just reeling off the names of 40 games their families have between them for the DS and Wii that they remembered and a few games that came up on Google when they searched for ‘top game ever’ or something.
Stupid list.
September 22nd, 2008
I won’t lol anymore, but I just found this funny.
“Casual gamers taking over”? I mean, the absurdity of that statement is on so many levels.
1) Casual gaming is not a new “fad”, in fact even Microsoft has acknowledged casual gaming as the most played genre in 2004.
2) How can you measure how good a game is in a completely unbiased way? Sales. Think about it, most hardcore gamers will place Halo, Smash Bros, and Gears of War over Wii Sports, but casual gamers are more likely to hate or not even care about those games. Therefore, a casual game like Wii sports appeals to a much broader demographic of pretty much 100% of the population (casuals and hardcore).
3) Sure, there are developers who are trying to make the next “wii sports” casual game and failing hard, but that doesn’t mean the developers have all stopped caring. The only thing that has really changed in the market is that gaming is becoming more mainstream and now casual gamers have to buy a console instead of playing flash games over the internet.
September 22nd, 2008
Thats a BS list.
We bought our Wii a year ago.It collects dust.
Even my 3 year old would rather play Xbox(yes she plays,So loves force unleashed,Lego star wars,viva piniata,wall-e:).
Wii fit revived it for about a week,So did Super Mario world.After playing the (real)top 3 Wii games our Wii has been in a coma waiting for something worth renting much less buying.
The Wii is so casual it barely ever gets powered on,meanwhile our 360 has seen so many great games played to death they have all become a blur.Not one of them is in this bogus top ten list and all of them are as good or better.(halo3-2 and gears are great games.
After reading several dumb articles like this it is obvious that site is a joke.
September 22nd, 2008
The fact that your angry that he likes Wii Sports best more than you’re angry that Fallout 3 is up there shows your priorities. You’re more pissed that this guy likes a casual game that you don’t like than you are that he thinks that an unreleased game is one of the top ten ever.
DIFFERENT OPINIONS FTL!!!
CASUAL GAMES ARE GONNA KILL US ALL!!!
September 22nd, 2008
Halo 3, Rock Band, and Gears of War don’t deserve their place anymore than Wii Sports does.
It’s ridiculous how gaming sites are constantly listing this list to fuel their theory that casual gaming is destroying the world. There are only two, maybe three, games on that top ten list that appeal to modern casual gamers. Would a casual gamer give a rats ass about Fallout?
September 23rd, 2008
Wow, this is hilarious. How did I miss this article yesterday?
Anyways, it’s pretty clear they just polled some of their readers, and since 90% of Wii owners think that Wii Sports is all their console does, it makes sense that it would get the most votes.
-Arvis
September 25th, 2008
I love casual games and cocks.
December 9th, 2010
Non gaming journalist who probably doesn’t own a PS3 or an xBox or play PC games for that matter. Maybe seen his kids play the WII.
You would need people to be un bias, and therein lies the biggest problem, because human nature gets in the way, you have the WII, Xbox and PS3 fan boys unwilling to admit that the enemy console has games that outshine those available on the consol of their choice.
I would say that any top ten list would really need to be on a per console basis, other wise the casual masses will simply outnumber the hardcore gamers, and you get results like the crap above.
Also some of the best games ever made don’t actually sell all that well in the grand scheme of things and that kind of muddies the water ..fallout3, fable3 & Viva Pinata TIP being just a few possible examples on the xbox, with killzone 2 and uncharted 2 for the PS3. .
The problem is. What are the criteria that make a great game? Is it technical prowess, , is it artistic skill & beautiful graphics, story line, playability, last-ability, all of these things. .it gets tricky. Then there is the difference in what people like and don’t like, sometimes being polar opposites. .different games appeal to different people and you will never get a list that everyone agrees with, because not everyone likes the same stuff.
Any top 10 is going to be controversial, though maybe not as utterly and outright wrong as that particular top 10.