Hoping Project Café is something good!

What did the Wii even accomplish? All it did was introduce a 7-year fad! Yes it’s the most successful console ever. That goes without saying…even though I just said it, ah—wrote it! Regardless, it wasn’t revolutionary by any means and it certainly didn’t represent the future of gaming. The casual crowd owns a Wii. But that install base isn’t going to buy many other games other than Wii Sports, which is packaged with the Wii.

If the name hadn’t changed—from The Revolution to the Wii, it would seem like an even bigger joke. What’s so revolutionary really, or innovative for that matter?

Nintendo did make Sony and Microsoft put on their thinking caps and completely botch and shit out motion controllers as well. I guess that’s a win! If you make your competition so jealous that they feel they need to copy you—that’s kind of something!

Looking at Wii—I mean actually stare at it! When was the last time you turned it on? Or even considered turning it on? I really just can’t say myself, maybe…not within the last year and a half to be sure.

Project Café needs to have a bigger focus on the 3^rd party titles to pull me back to the land of Nintendo. And a game where I just eat fungus and have adverse growth effects doesn’t intrigue me to get their next system either; nor does a grown man wearing a tunic that saves a dim witted Princess.

I'm tired of this...

Think about this, it’s been since the Nintendo 64’s lifespan ended, a full decade ago, that 3^rd party support was relevant on a Nintendo console. The GameCube had nothing, and the Wii is seems in it’s own world—a successful world, but the hardcore audience still wants games that don’t require you to flail your arms around like your fanning away a really gnarly fart.

I’ve felt mixed about Nintendo. I don’t hate them. Not at all. Some of my fondest memories are with Nintendo—but expecting this new console to blow us away is too much. I haven’t gotten excited about a Nintendo product in a long time—when did the Ice Age end?

There are really two main concepts Nintendo needs to focus on with Project Café. One, games…simple, we want games! Not just from Nintendo itself but also from other developers and producers: EA, Activision, Bethesda, Valve, Bioware to name a few. Getting a decent Call of Duty on a Nintendo console would be a great first step. Yet we still need something new; a killer app that really drives people back to Nintendo.

Microsoft had Halo with the original Xbox, and then it had Gears of War and many other exclusive titles. PlayStation 3 has even more. No longer is a mentally challenged red Bandicoot the reason to buy Sony’s console (people actually bought a PlayStation for Crash Bandicoot?), but instead Metal Gear, Uncharted, Infamous and a host of great quality games are what makes Sony a heavyweight in the console ring.

Nintendo needs the heavy hitters like Activision and EA; but it also needs new franchises to take shape. Microsoft has thrived without Halo. And Sony it’s own exclusives. Nintendo still shovels out the same compost that we’ve smelled for the past ten years.

The second thing Nintendo needs to focus on is community—something it left behind when it decided to focus on Soccer Moms being its core console audience. Having an online service that has more excitement than a crypt also helps. 

...and I don't want this!

Sometimes I don’t even play online with friends, I just look at what everybody is playing. I’m linked to a gaming world. It’s more than just having a friend to invite to a match in Mortal Kombat.

Turning on the Wii is a lonely experience. It feels lifeless and dull. The moment it powers on I don’t want to play it. I like the little blip that comes up on Xbox Live that shows my friends. With Nintendo it’s only me.

Things need to change, but will Project Café really step to up to the plate? I hope so. I don’t like making fun of Nintendo. Playing with the Wii is like playing with a dog that has three legs: you play because you feel sorry for it. All the while wishing you had a healthy dog to play with—that’s what Sony and Microsoft are to Nintendo: Healthy pups. Nintendo is the lame pet you wish was whole. So you could play with it, like you used to.