Game dis-Informer Part 2

……continued from previous post.

In the December 2007 issue, GI laments the lack of online games for the Wii. At the time, SSBB was the only online option for Wii players, so the point was valid. However, in the following eight issues I looked through, Game Informer does a very poor job of touting the success of online Wii games like CoD: WaW & Reflex, as well as the Conduit for online play.

In the July 2008 issue, GI bashes Smash Brothers series pretty hard (and I quote), "The gameplay itself is designed to be fun for all ages, which basically means skill has nothing to do with winning or losing…" Excuse me, but there are some very tough, very skilled, very hard-core SSBB players who do not play with available items. Anyone who has spent any time in the SSBB arena knows this. I challenge any of the folks at Game Informer to stop by the All Is Brawl web site and pick up a 1 vs. 1 match with someone there. I have a feeling their arses would be handed to them in short order.

In the September 2008 issue, GI wrote an article describing a recent Nintendo press conference they attended. It was largely negative, and some of the points they made were valid. I thought to myself, "Hmm, when was the last time GI did a largely negative article on X-Box or PS?" Through the remaining seven issues I had to go through, I couldn't find a single one, and believe me, I looked.

The February 2009 issue addresses the hardcore gamers guide to the Wii. They site Metroid Prime 3, MK Wii, and a few other noteworthy games, but, even in its praise of good Wii games, GI still has Wii bashing on the mind, as can be seen in the following sentence taken from the article: "While there's no doubt the Wii is drowning in a deluge of party games, there is still a good number of…..well made games ….for the system." What is so hard, GI, about focusing solely on the good for Wii when goddness happens, rather than framing the positive things you say about the Wii within negative statements?

The magazine also laments the potential and ability of the Wii for good game development. I would argue this point. While I am not a great fan of The Conduit, in many ways, the game, and High Voltage Software, revolutionized the potential for future Wii games with their Quantum engine. Monster Hunter Tri, which will be released April 20, 2010, is another Game where the developer took the time to develop a game properly for the Wii. I would suggest to the folks at GI that it is not the Wii that is lacking in the ability to produce so much as it is lazy developers who do not want to put forth the time or the effort to produce a quality, Wii worthy game. I would like to see GI shift their focus more from Wii bashing to game developer bashing when developers fail to push the Wii to its full potential.

So now, decide for yourself wether or not GI likes the Wii. I could most likely continue this thread with future issues of GI if I chose to do so, but I think it can be clearly seen that GI has it's favorites, and the Wii is not one of them.