Did you like Nintendo's direction?
I don't know if I
liked the direction, if by direction you meant abandoning the core fanbase and marketing towards non-gamers and people who only play games from time to time or in their spare time. However, it was a financially successful move for Nintendo. I do not think it will work the next time around, but a lot of people out there just don't use common sense.. if so many scooped up the 3DS, which was nothing more than an unnecessary upgrade, I'm sure they'd buy the Wii 2.0, as well.
Can motion controls be the future of gaming?
In a word, no. I think they may have a future elsewhere, as as interacting with electronics and software, but not really with gaming, not as they are right now. Most of the time they interfered with the core gameplay, even when the motion controls WERE at the core of the gameplay, largely because they just weren't responsive enough and the Motion Plus which SHOULD have been out from Day 1 just didn't improve it much.
Did the lacking specs affect your opinion of it?
Not at all. I continue to play more of my older games than I do newer games because it's become commonplace for many modern games rely too heavily on graphics over storyline or substance. The appeal of sprite-based graphics is that it took a lot of imagination and creativity, and not everything looks better "realistic". I personally feel that a lot of games on the 360 and PS3 could've done fine on the Wii if they'd down-scaled the graphics.
Despite its setbacks, where the exclusives up to standard?
The exclusives I played.. I honestly can't say really say. Mostly because things got in the way of the games that had little to do with "setbacks" or "specs". Motion controls, poor writing, beautiful soundtracks, questionable difficulty (such as false or artificially extended length).. these are noticeable within all three consoles, save perhaps the Motion Controls but that's not entirely true anymore.
Other M had nice gameplay, but the writing and character rape made it horrible. Donkey Kong Country Returns relied on retro appeal but didn't learn from previous mistakes. Mario Galaxy had fun gameplay, but getting 200% is pretty much impossible for a great many gamers. Twilight Princess was good but belonged on the GameCube. Likewise, Skyward Sword was breath-taking but burdened by the heavy-handed use of motion controls.
I can, of course, go off and name exclusives from the PS3 and 360 which I also think were poorly done, but that's not what this thread is about.
Did you own one?
I owned two. My launch console (got it midnight release) was stolen about 3 years after I got it while I was away with family. I got a replacement, which I still use.
Overall, what are your opinions on it?
If not for the Homebrew Channel with it's ability to run emulators, use codes to extend my gaming range or breathe new life into old titles, and help me recover a lot of what I lost when my previous Wii was stolen, I don't think I'd have kept using my Wii. I barely touched the WiiWare since a lot of it was pure shovel-ware, almost as bad as some of the junk that used to get made for Atari and the NES.
Far too many titles were not aimed at the kind of gamer I am. A lack of RPGs, too many sports or minigame-based titles, not enough first and third party support I was actually interested in. Sort of like the N64, except that had better exclusives.
..come to think it, much of the last 3-4 console generations had better exclusives than this generation. I'll keep tabs on the new Nintendo console, but if it's anything like the 3DS, I'll pass thanks, and keep playing my SNES, GBA, PS1, and PS2. When I'm not playing stuff on my computer, that is. Sometimes both at the same time, yay emulators.
