The End of an Era

Last weekend I sold my Wii back to Gamestop.  It felt like a big decision, like a sacrifice I was making in the face of an austere personal budget colliding with a a fall release schedule overflowing with awesome games.

This week, I hardly noticed it was gone.  Turns out I'd already made the sacrifice a long time ago.


Breaking Up is Surprisingly Easy to Do


In the end, like most things do, it came down to money.  I needed it, I had invested a significant chunk of it into the Wii when it first came out, and it was time to trade it in.  Gamestop's recent promotions offering big trade-in bonuses to drum up sales figures for releases like Batman: Arkham City and Skyrim were an awfully big lure, and what pointed me toward an uncomfortable truth.

I just wasn't playing the Wii anymore.

You could, and I would, blame it on the games:  there's just not enough of them to hold my attention and make me want to put down my mouse (World of Warcraft) or Xbox controller (Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Fable).  Considering I'm not a pre-teen or a senior citizen, I'm apparently not in the age brackets the Wii and its titles seem to be intended for.

Don't get me wrong, there were some amazing games like the Metroid Prime series and Super Smash Brothers, and the nostalgia of the old NES and SNES games on the Virtual Console were always a big hook for me.  But nostalgia wanes, Smash requires lots of people that really, really like Smash in order to remain relevant for more than 15 minutes, and the Metroid series has gone on to other, less fruitful pastures.

You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling

I think the changes in Metroid: Other M were indicative of why I stopped playing the Wii.  In Metroid Prime you get into Samus Arans' head, experience what it's like to be her in a way that hadn't been done before thanks to the Wii controls.  Other M takes the action back to third person, and even though it finally gives Samus a voice it's hardly enough to make the game as fulfilling of an experience as Prime.

When I held a Wii remote for the first time, I played Wii Sports for almost an hour straight.  Baseball, golf, tennis, all of it felt amazing and compelling because of the added value of the unique control experience.  I thought all (or even just the really good) Wii games would have that kind of experience, but instead I've been disappointed by unimaginative, lackluster implementation that doesn't add anything to the games and makes me wish I was using the Virtual Console's gamepad instead.

Give me a new Mega Man that plays like Metroid: Prime.  Give me more Link games instead of pumping them out left and right on the DS.  Give me my freaking lightsaber simulator already, you blasted plumber!

So instead, it was off to Gamestop for almost $150 in store credit that'll keep me from going broke this November. Even though the Kinect is tempting me with its voice-activated abilities (which I think really will open up great gaming possibilities), I'm resisting.  Fool me once, shame on you:  fool me twice and my wife will never let me buy another piece of video game hardware again.