Gamer's Perspective

I remembered the day like it was yesterday. It started off just like any other with me making my normal Internet rounds when I came upon the major gaming story of the day. Nintendo shows, for the first time, its controller for the new console. I’ll admit it when I first saw it I about cried. These were no tears of joy but instead tears of disappointment and sadness welling up inside. What was to come of Nintendo?

For the vast majority of my gaming life I had been the owner of one Nintendo system or another. Starting out on the Atari 2600, it was only mere months until I was swept away in the hoopla of the Nintendo Entertainment System. While it may have been titles such as Kaboom or Jungle Hunt on the 2600 that got me into gaming, it was the amazing machine that was the N.E.S. that truly opened the door to the gaming world for me. The games that could be played on it truly dwarfed anything previously; from gameplay to graphics the N.E.S. gave us a whole new way to play games and single-handedly resurrected an industry that was decimated by awful software and a lack of innovation.

As time advanced I played and owned just about every system. Some I loved more than others, but each one had its merits. Yet with all the companies that continued to put out systems the Nintendo still held a special place with me, not that they could do no wrong, but just because of what they had been. The Super Nintendo was all about the Role Playing Games. RPGs became my primary gaming focus after the releases of Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy on the N.E.S. and the S.N.E.S. didn’t disappoint. With such great games as Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy III I was completely hooked on my system, not to mention Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past.

While I loved my S.N.E.S. the glory years would not last. Arrogance on the part of the Big N led them down the path of the N64. I could do nothing but watch Third Party support wither. While the system had some great titles scattered throughout its lifespan, only a blind fanboy could call the generation a success. Sony, an unknown in the gaming world, released a system that all but called Big N its bitch. Sony dominated the RPG market and took the majority of Third Party support with its cheaper and larger CD medium. Yet even with the Sony domination Nintendo did at least bring us many games that were geared towards together play, honestly one could argue that cooperative and competitive gaming really began with the N64 in regards to home consoles.

Time marches on unfortunately Nintendo’s Gamecube doesn’t fair as well as their previous machines. While there were some great first party games, third party titles were next to non-existent. With a handful of stellar third party games and only its incredible strength of first party games carrying it, the Gamecube limps across the finish line of the console race. With Playstation 2 and the newcomer, Microsoft’s Xbox, handedly pummeling it in both system sales and sheer amount of great games to play. Compared to previous systems the Gamecube brought little in terms of innovation to the console wars and thus it was easily trounced due to the PS2’s and Xbox’s vastly superior graphical power and third party support.

Now comes a critical time for me. Every generation I never fail to pick up the Nintendo System (truth be told I usually get all the systems anyway). This time it’s different though, I can honestly say I really didn’t think I was going to buy it at launch. With but little buzz in the beginning, a controller that looks just absolutely gross to use I find myself worried that Nintendo has lost it. Then previews start coming in. People are excited because Nintendo has found a way to make games fresh again. Nintendo could always make a great game, just look at its countless million seller characters for proof of that but now they find a way to make you become a bigger part of the gaming experience. So after much hemming and hawing I finally decide to pre-order one. (Though because of my delay in realizing it’s potential I suffered a horrible pre-buying experience, but that’s a rant for another day.)

Finally getting my system and hooking it up I realize its appeal. Gaming for me has always been a solitary experience. Yeah I’ve enjoyed many a death match online and against my college buddies back in the day, but the majority of my life has been spent gaming by myself as my friends and even my wife never really understood my fascination with games. Thousands of hours spent saving the world on countless RPGs (still my first live *sigh*) though when it was done there was no one to really share the experience with. All this being said the Wii is a different beast all together. From the outset my wife was all about trying it out and playing. Call it amazing marketing. Call it my wife not trusting me to flail around the house without destroying it or hurting myself or call it whatever. The fact is she wanted to play…and play she did.

The Wii was able to do in mere minutes what I could not do in 14 years and that was get my wife excited about gaming. Sure she would play Bust-a-Move or Tetris, but there was no way that I saw ever her getting excited about Wii sports. Couple that with the fact that my son (who’s 4 btw) is a natural at tennis, the result is me being surprised many a time by coming home to find them both duking it out against each other.

So here I am, a Wii believer. I’m currently addicted to Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess and my son and wife have an ongoing grudge match in Wii Tennis. For the record he’s kicking her ass all over the place. I’m not going to kid myself though, He’d be kicking my ass if I was secure enough to play him…but I have a rep to maintain. For the first time in a long time I’m genuinely excited to see what’s next for Nintendo as they push the envelop of innovation and fun game design, not only for the hardcore gamer like me but for the casuals out there who are just trying to find out what the excitement is about. In the end lets face it, whether it’s your mom, wife, husband or children, the more people that are gaming the better it is for us all.

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By Jeremy Mravlja Gamer's Perspective