Reggie criticises "hypercritical" media

Wii News | For being too hard on Wii games.

Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime has accused some reviewers of being "hypercritical" and "overly harsh" when it comes to passing judgment on the Wii's first titles. Speaking in an interview with MTV, Nintendo's resident ass-kicker and name-taker was particularly defensive about Ubisoft's Red Steel, one of the Wii launch games that got a critical kicking in certain quarters.

"I think a lot of the reviews have been overly critical," harped Reggie. "Does it take you a few minutes to get used to the Red Steel control scheme? Yes. Once you get used to it does it play extremely well? Absolutely. I think a lot of those reviews are overly harsh. Just like the IGN review of Wii Sports. They're negative on the graphics of the game, but we always said what the graphics would be. I think that's people just being hypercritical."

As is the fashion nowadays, he also used the interview to have a swipe at rivals Sony and Microsoft, claiming that the difference between Nintendo and the rest was the Kyoto giant's lack of arrogance, though we're guessing Dawn Paine was lunching at the time that memo circulated. "We feel we need to earn success every day," declared Reggie. "And we're going to do that by being true to the gamer."

Finally, there was one oh-so-tantalizing quote about a Goldeneye appearance on the Wii's Virtual Console service. “Would I love to see it on Virtual Console? Absolutely," said Fils-Aime, reading our thoughts. "But there are a lot of issues there. Suffice it to say we would love to see it, so we're exploring all the rights issues." You big tease, Reginald.

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25 Comments

Crestfallen

5 years ago

i thought the console was for anyone to "pick up and play". If someone put a lot of time into Red Steel's controls then they will get used to it. i've seen a doco where a guy put on headgear which made the world appear to him upside down. he got used to it after 3 days!

anyway, what does he expect about the graphics? does he think PS3 games won't be criticised because of the lack of rumble? games are going to be reviewed absolutely, not relative to the aims of the console manufacturer.

realitybites

5 years ago

Yeah, but Nintendo are happy to call the Wii a next generation game console which it is clearly not if compared to a PS3 and Xbox 360.

Personally, I think the reviewers have been sensible. Most that I have read have tried to realistically set peoples expectations of the performance of the Wii console without offending anyone (anyone except Reggie of course).

GooberMan

5 years ago

I think half the point is, for example, DS graphics aren't scored in comparison to PSP graphics. It should be scored for what the system is capable of, and in my opinion whether the artistic style holds up well as opposed to how high the normal map's resolution is.

celerystalksme

5 years ago

crestfallen12 wrote

i thought the console was for anyone to "pick up and play".

The console is for anyone to pick up and play...that doesn't mean every game has to be "pick up and play". Because Zelda sure is a pick up and play title (insert sarcasm here) which is the launch flagship. Nintendo stated that they were aiming for a balance for the "hardcore gamer" and "casual gamer".

In saying that im still unsure about Red Steel, which means i will rent it for a night to see if the control system does work.

rodvcpetrie

5 years ago

There's going to be growing pains for the Wii just like the Xbox-360 and PS3, you wait until next year, or two years from now and see how much better the games will be than what they are now.

For the Wii we'll see our movements being duplicated on screen without lag. I think Nintendo will find success because some of the games that will be released will be like the titles you now see for the PS2 being released, you know, the cheap ones that are helping sell PS2 for the casual gamer.

Spanca

5 years ago

celerystalksme wrote

crestfallen12 wrote

i thought the console was for anyone to "pick up and play".

Crestfallen wasn't referring to the gameplay as having been supposed to be 'pick up and play', but rather the control scheme. Is not a hard control scheme the antithesis of the whole Wii remote?

renegadesx

5 years ago

I saw that interview, Red Steel does seem to get a mixed reaction, mostly about the controls take some getting used to and the lack of next-gen graphics, I am looking forward to it, but I agree it probably wont be everybody's cup of tea

Reg is on the ball with IGN's review of Wii Sports, it was not called for

The Brett

5 years ago

I love Reggie's logic- "they knew certain areas of the game would be ****, so they should have ignored them!"

Jim Dash

5 years ago

What a funny man, but he really is having a cry. The Wii Sports review was uncalled for - but unfortunately was that reviewers opinion and thats that..

Having never played Red Steel I can't really say much about it. I don't think I'd like it, but how can I say that when I really don't know.

Frozencry

5 years ago

Who the F**k cares? Stop whining you pansy. Your console is selling anyway.

Ellegarden

5 years ago

What's dumb is the fact its selling well, so why you'd care? you're getting bloody rich. Now if it was Sony's case, maybe I agree a little.

Se7en

5 years ago

Frozencry wrote

Who the F**k cares? Stop whining you pansy. Your console is selling anyway.

Damn that was the first interestingly logical and intelligent Nintendo discussion I have even read - until you weighed in.

slasherD

5 years ago

I really don't see his problem with the Wii Sports review. IGN explicitly state at the beginning of the interview that the title is being reviewed as if it were a separately purchased, stand-alone game. If you paid $60 for a game that looked like this on the Wii, you'd probably be pretty unimpressed with the graphics. Nevertheless, they make an effort to point out the upside of this graphical style and I thought the review was pretty positive overall.

ugh the boot

5 years ago

See the thing is Nintendo chose to upgrade the controls in their next-gen console whereas Sony and Microsoft primarily focused on graphics/horsepower........so I don't know what Nintendo are on about....they are a next-gen console and really all 3 platforms imo are competing with each other. So compare the graphics, controls....compare it all....I wanna know the real deal (especially seeing as I will have all 3 and I will basically be comparing everything to each other....same as last gen). Guarateed I won't be getting any 3rd party/multiplatform stuff on the Wii mostly because graphics are my main focus (as long as the controls are solid) and i'll be mostly looking for games with a big 'wow' factor.

I really hope Nintendo go mental with the 1st party releases and really show off what the Wiimote can do. I would really like so see FPS games on the Wii not use a bounding box type setup....once they can nail this I will seriously consider FPS games for it.

InvivnI

5 years ago

GooberMan wrote

It should be scored for what the system is capable of, and in my opinion whether the artistic style holds up well as opposed to how high the normal map's resolution is.

The issue is that so far we've seen games on par with PS2 and at best, Xbox. This is on a console that's supposed to be more powerful than the Xbox. Of course, we're talking launch titles here, and in that respect reviews have been a tad too harsh.

Ellegarden

5 years ago

ugh the boot wrote

See the thing is Nintendo chose to upgrade the controls in their next-gen console whereas Sony and Microsoft primarily focused on graphics/horsepower.

I think the big problem with that, is the control it self isnt universal there will be games that totally wont work with it, and if you dont have the main aspect of the console. You're pretty much stuck with the same overclocked gamecube which sucks. By the way PS3, I've mention this a few times but PS3 also has different control scheme.

celerystalksme

5 years ago

UmbrellaCEO wrote

ugh the boot wrote

See the thing is Nintendo chose to upgrade the controls in their next-gen console whereas Sony and Microsoft primarily focused on graphics/horsepower.

Sixaxis...w00t!!!! thats revolutionary!

Ellegarden

5 years ago

celerystalksme wrote

Sixaxis...w00t!!!! thats revolutionary!

Revolutionary as the wiimote or the sidewinder or those cheap video game toys.

celerystalksme

5 years ago

UmbrellaCEO wrote

celerystalksme wrote

Sixaxis...w00t!!!! thats revolutionary!

Revolutionary as the wiimote or the sidewinder or those cheap video game toys.

Yeah, but i think funding your own Cuban style revolutions will be a lot more profitable than a PS3.

admeister

5 years ago

InvivnI wrote

Exactly. That's what people have to keep in mind. Launch titles are always fairly underwhelming, but in a year or so, things will be very different.

Ugh: Did you see COD3 for Wii? That seems to fit your criteria somewhat.

Spanca

5 years ago

^ I'm fairly certain Ugh already has CoD3 on the 360, which is widely regarded as the superior version.

admeister

5 years ago

That wasn't my point though, we're talking Wii here, the 360 version is irrelevant. He was mentioning Wii games without the bounding box, so I mentioned it. Simple.

Spanca

5 years ago

I disagree. I'd say it is highly relevant that he already has the superior version of the game.

admeister

5 years ago

Spanca wrote

I disagree. I'd say it is highly relevant that he already has the superior version of the game.

Sure, it's relevant that he has the 360 version, but once again that wasn't my point. I didn't know he had the 360 version, how could I?
The point that I was trying to make was that COD3 on Wii is a game without the bonding box.

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