GameBrain: October 2007 Archives

The Wii is constantly being praised in the mainstream media, but it isn't without the backlash of so-called 'marks' in the games industry; opinionated persons with a viewpoint that we all need to be told about, because they know.  According to them, we should listen.  So, what are they saying and should we agree?

One regular charge is that the Wii is a gimmick driven console.  Ok; for a start you'd need to define exactly what you mean by gimmick and also show how a gimmick is automatically a negative thing in all cases.  Today's case in point?  The nunchuk.

Is it just a 'broken off control stick', akin to splitting a traditional control pad in two and using the left hand side?  I say no.  For a start, the nunchuk is very small.  It sits neatly in your hand and is incredibly light to hold.  It contains two buttons as well as the directional stick, and all that is before you start to shake, rattle n' roll, or fit the device into the Zapper housing.

The nunchuk acts as a secondary motion device, allowing you to do such things as boxing (where the nunchuk acts as your left glove and the Wiimote as your right), and special sword attacks in Twilight Princess.  Dragonball Z 2 sees you executing forward thrusting moves which could never be possible with just one, stocky remote that was wireless.  You'd look as though you were doing an 80's morning TV fitness routine!  The nunchuk is not Nintendo trying to sell you a controller twice over.  What it does is far more than just 'the left half of the pad' on a traditional model.

I say to the chuk-haters: you're wrong. The secondary nature of the nunchuk is the best thing to happen to gaming since the DS stylus.  Of course, if you don't agree we'd like to hear why.  Saying you wish your nunchuk was bright, neon pink doesn't derail my point ...

If this is you (or your close relative) then I apologise immediately for what I am about to say.  Is this what a girl gamer looks like?  Is it? I don't know, I guess that some will look like this.  The loose clothing is at least a tad realistic, but have you ever worn that much makeup or done your hair so nicely for your TV set at home?

Nintendo recently ran a TV ad showing a girl gamer playing the dark and gritty shooter title, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.  It's out today by the way, so if you were waiting for it, the wait is over.  From the looks of our review though, so's the traditional element of claustrophobia in that Samus never actually meets anyone in the game, at the most she only ever got notes from other pirates.  Now she has some company ...

Did seeing a girl playing Metroid in the advert enduce any females to purchase this game?  Does this show girl gamers in a more serious light than simply playing The Sims, Wii Fit or Cooking Mama?  Certainly it's a step forward to see girls playing shooting games in a non cheesy setting, but it remains to be seen if any girl gamers who so far have only been attracted to girly titles will be won over by the Metroid ad. Personally, I would have gone for a Samus Zero Suit angle to show that the game's actual hero is a heroine, and that she breaks open cans of whoopass at every opportunity.  The preview running on Wii Shop did far more for me as a girl gamer than just seeing a girl playing the game.  The whole 'she likes it' bit was attractive. Doesn't every good girl want to be bad?  That's a question only each one can answer, but it is this girl gamer's view that creeping darkness over Samus is far more interesting than watching someone running around shooting things.  Bursting cannonfire may attract guy gamers, but girls may like to go deeper into the mind behind what's going on.

I had no idea what to call this.  In a sense, it really doesn't matter because the content needs to be driven not by a snazzy name but by real thoughts on real gaming, in the real world. Drop the journo feed for a sec, that's what we'll be doing here.  As a female gamer and the Editor of this little corner of cyberspace, it's not always as easy as we're led to think to get inside the head of every breed of gamer.

The idea of this is to present current thoughts, and simply throw them into the air for questioning.  Maybe there's nothing to them at all - yet maybe there is.  You decide.

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