In his latest "debriefing" on IndustryGamers, EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich suggets that the average score for Wii games may be improving because a significant portion of titles aren't being reviewed. Strictly comparing January to June, in both 2008 and 2009, the analyst group graphed the total number of titles released for the three major platforms and the percentages of those titles that were not reviewed (see above). The number at the bottom of each bar represents the number of titles released for the platform in the stated time period; while the percentage at the top corresponds to the quantity of those titles that was not reviewed.
Divnich recognizes that "while the Wii has experienced a rise in average review scores (from 60 to 66 in one year), this has come at the benefit of critics ignoring some titles that could have possibly dragged down the Wii's average." However, it's possible that such reviews could have also raised the average score -- we know, that's unlikey, but still. Additionally, the report notes that the unreviewed Wii games weren't "core-targeted titles," which also holds true for unreviewed games on Xbox 360 and PS3.
Divnich maintains that Wii games are getting better, but he concludes, "It is just coming at the cost of not reviewing the increase in casual and low-budget titles." He believes that a similar issue could appear occur with respect to PS3 and Xbox 360 as the consoles' casual demographics increase in conjunction with the continued growth of their install bases.
Reader Comments (63)
Posted: Oct 6th 2009 4:02PM Snow Leopard said
If I was a video game reviewer, I wouldn’t want to spend my time on all three thousand of the Hannah Montana and Babyz Party games that are on that system. But then again, what do we know? There could be a Barbie’s Horse Ranch Adventure game out there that is just balls-off-the-wall, halo-killing, face-pwning, genre-definingly awesome. Sadly, we’ll never know and it will be our young squealing daughters who will be the only ones aware of such secret leet titles.
...
Or it could just suck.
Reply
...
Or it could just suck.
Posted: Oct 6th 2009 4:43PM PN04 said
lets think about this for a second. Do casual "gamers" and I use that term lightly because they're NOT gamers, hense the term CASUAL, really give a flying eff about reviews? They're going to buy Hanna Montana and Wiisports games regardless if what a review says because they're only playing it casually anyway they have no deeper vested interest in anything they buy other than that it's cheap and pacifies a bunch of kids or adults who dont really care.
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Posted: Oct 6th 2009 5:10PM (Unverified) said
@PN04
A "gamer" is someone who plays video games. A "Casual Gamer" would be someone who play them casually. Thus the use of the adjective "casual."
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A "gamer" is someone who plays video games. A "Casual Gamer" would be someone who play them casually. Thus the use of the adjective "casual."
Posted: Oct 6th 2009 3:42PM PlatinumSkeet said
They need to bring back the Nintendo Quality Seal. I know it was used for different reasons back in the day but Nintendo needs it now to sift through all the b.s developers are pumping out right now.
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Posted: Oct 6th 2009 4:31PM Omega Aero said
The seal of quality still exists. It's on the back of the box.
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Posted: Oct 6th 2009 4:39PM TheDarkWayne said
now it's just the nintendo seal, it doesn't say Quality on it anymore
Posted: Oct 6th 2009 7:11PM Spunky Monkey 190906 said
Can you blame reviewers, after you've seen Mario party and Play, anything else with the titles aren't worth reviewing.
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Posted: Oct 6th 2009 3:37PM RyanLN said
Well this comes as absolutely no surprise. I would imagine that the games that escape review are such one-shot crap-fests that even people who are paid money to offer their opinion on them can't stand to spend more than 5 minutes of their lives with them. While there is room to argue that the better games are getting better, the worse games may be getting crappier- kinda like picking daisies in a field filled with cow patties.
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Posted: Oct 6th 2009 3:46PM PlatinumSkeet said
I think something to add injury to insult is that half of these games that are left unreviewed you can't even find them in retail stores after. They just blow so bad even Wal Mart knows they can't sell them...
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Posted: Oct 6th 2009 3:39PM RKN said
Jack: Hey Jill, you finished reviewing Catz yet?
Jill: Yawn, yet another boring, tripe excuse for a game that revolves around raising and playing with some stupid polygonal cat. I wasted five hours of my life on that piece of shit. Sigh, what's next on the table to review?
Jack: Well, Catz was actually a big sales success, so the publisher released some new games based on that franchise and their on your desk.
Jill: Dogz, Horsez, Pandaz, Giraffz? Fuck this shit, I'm going home.
Jack: But Jill.......
Jill: Its not worth it Jack, its NOT WORTH IT.
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Jill: Yawn, yet another boring, tripe excuse for a game that revolves around raising and playing with some stupid polygonal cat. I wasted five hours of my life on that piece of shit. Sigh, what's next on the table to review?
Jack: Well, Catz was actually a big sales success, so the publisher released some new games based on that franchise and their on your desk.
Jill: Dogz, Horsez, Pandaz, Giraffz? Fuck this shit, I'm going home.
Jack: But Jill.......
Jill: Its not worth it Jack, its NOT WORTH IT.
Posted: Oct 6th 2009 3:48PM PlatinumSkeet said
Jill did the right thing. Too much more of that could've lead to suicide...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1LeY1YZ7ng
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1LeY1YZ7ng
Posted: Oct 6th 2009 6:07PM Nobledevil Gaming Optimist said
Well, that video just made my day :)
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Posted: Oct 6th 2009 3:44PM ACLerok212 said
People that buy crappy shovelware obviously aren't the kind of people to read up on game site reviews or they'd be buying the better games available on the system in the first place, so what's the point of wasting time telling people, that aren't listening, not to buy those games?
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Posted: Oct 6th 2009 3:50PM NaeemTHM said
That's why I don't get why sites like IGN or Gamespot even waste time on reviewing games like Hanna Montana: The Movie, Tale of Despereaux: The Movie, and Alvin and the Chimpmunks....the movie.
1) Their movie games so it's implied they suck
2) The people reading your site really could careless about those kind of games
Quit wasting time on shitty games!
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1) Their movie games so it's implied they suck
2) The people reading your site really could careless about those kind of games
Quit wasting time on shitty games!
Posted: Oct 6th 2009 3:46PM Dr Perry Ulysses Cox said
Damn you, shovelware for ruining my Wii's library! I bet Seanbaby is getting quite the work overload about now...
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Posted: Oct 6th 2009 4:03PM ArchiGamer said
I kind of agree that must shovelware games are probably better off not reviewed, especially considering the market they are after rarely check upon reviews.
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Posted: Oct 6th 2009 4:04PM Lord Il Palazzo said
WHAT?!! Are you SERIOUS?!!
...but seriously, this isn't anything we should be surprised about. This isn't even news....
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...but seriously, this isn't anything we should be surprised about. This isn't even news....
Posted: Oct 6th 2009 4:12PM Istari Spartan said
Here's the missing review for all those games:
Waste batteries waggling your remote to
a half-assed concept with graphics that
would look poor on an N-fucking-64!
Reply
Waste batteries waggling your remote to
a half-assed concept with graphics that
would look poor on an N-fucking-64!
Posted: Oct 7th 2009 3:40AM emperorzeroxx said
Most games that come out are multi console games and those games on wii are the same as the 360/ps3 version except worse graphics and usually annoying controls. Don't get me wrong I love all nintendo first party games but any multi console game is automatically assumed worse than the 360/ps3 equivalent and no one bothers to review them....... The games that get reviewed on wii are most often exclusive games in which you cannot compare to a superior version on another system.
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Posted: Oct 6th 2009 4:34PM Fullmetal Salchemist said
You love all first-party Nintendo games? Because Animal Crossing Wii was the worst kind of rehash and Mario Kart Wii was easily the worst in the franchise.
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Posted: Oct 6th 2009 4:30PM ACLerok212 said
I wouldn't say it's working in their favor, I'd say it's irrelevant. People buying these games don't care about reviews. If they did, these games wouldn't sell because they'd be spending their money on games that actually receive good reviews.
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Posted: Oct 6th 2009 6:53PM SheppyReturns said
Biase media? Oh for fucks sake...
If this isn't in your collection come October 20th,
http://www.ebgames.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=75145
You're a hypocritical idiot.
There's a reason why a lot of this shit is passed over. THAT'S A FUCKING WALKING SIMULATOR. Not dancing, running, exercise, FUCKING WALKING. How dare Giant Bomb and their biased ways not cover Konami's Walking Simulator... everyone hates Nintendo boohoohoo.
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If this isn't in your collection come October 20th,
http://www.ebgames.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=75145
You're a hypocritical idiot.
There's a reason why a lot of this shit is passed over. THAT'S A FUCKING WALKING SIMULATOR. Not dancing, running, exercise, FUCKING WALKING. How dare Giant Bomb and their biased ways not cover Konami's Walking Simulator... everyone hates Nintendo boohoohoo.
Posted: Oct 6th 2009 4:35PM Fullmetal Salchemist said
Madden might be the exact same game after 10 years, but at least it's functional. It might be a rehash, and we might find it boring, but it's playable. The same can't be said for "Imaginez: Baby Three-Toed Slothz."
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Posted: Oct 6th 2009 4:40PM ducttapeBigSexy said
I was just browsing through Amazon's best selling Wii games this morning, debating if I need to buy a Wii. After seeing that list I can honestly say that, no, I don't need to buy a Wii.
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Posted: Oct 6th 2009 5:11PM (Unverified) said
Well duhhh who the fuck would review babyz and petz and whateverz? Reviewers only review the games that are good!
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Posted: Oct 6th 2009 6:06PM (Unverified) said
Super Mario Galaxy
Zelda
SSBB
Metroid
Punch out!
Paper Mario
Boom Blox
No more heroes
Madworld
Yeah, there is absolutely nothing worth playing on the Wii. Not to mention all the virtual console.
Reply
Zelda
SSBB
Metroid
Punch out!
Paper Mario
Boom Blox
No more heroes
Madworld
Yeah, there is absolutely nothing worth playing on the Wii. Not to mention all the virtual console.
Posted: Oct 6th 2009 6:56PM SheppyReturns said
You know, I won't bash Wii too much here, but when the crux of your argument on great games to play aren't actually Wii games but NES/SNES/etc, you've failed to back up your point.
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Posted: Oct 6th 2009 7:24PM (Unverified) said
What are you talking about? Every game I mentioned Is a Wii game. Just 'cause I mentioned the virtual console?
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Posted: Oct 6th 2009 5:34PM mywhitenoise said
"Divnich maintains that Wii games are getting better"
...they are!? I can't think of a single good Wii game that has come out this year.
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...they are!? I can't think of a single good Wii game that has come out this year.
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