Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Is it me, or does that picture make the wii look like it has really weak graphics?

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Must be you. I'm completely blown away by the visual style.

Look at this one:
http://media.wii.ign.com/media/821/821973/img_3847072.html

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The picture in the post is scaled down so it doesn't look as good. The full-size image on IGN looks great.

You know I just noticed this, but all the screenshots on IGN are about twice the vertical resolution as Wii will allow (480p). So the final game won't actually look this crisp. Isn't that a little disingenuous?

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When you are playing it and it's running at a constant frame rate of (presumably) 60 fps, I don't think it will matter. But nice observation.

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Nothing is more lame than a non-eastern artist trying to copy that style and feel. I'm not saying that this looks bad, but the whole design seems kind of weak to me, at least conceptionally. I wish that these developers would just stick to their roots and include ideas and concepts that are native to them. I'd love to run around swinging a baguette as a weapon with the wiimote.

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Have you seen the video when there out in the street at night with the lighting on the cobbles and the neon street signs? It's beautiful.

As Nintendo fans we've sort of conditioned ourselves in recent years not to be amazed by the "shallowness" of graphics.

But this game, alongside Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, Excite Truck, Rayman Raving Rabbits, Sonic, etc. shows that the Wii is more than capable of great visuals, that we shouldn't be ashamed to be impressed by.

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The wii is capable of good graphics it is just that the artists must be dedicated to make the graphics look good. Metal Gear solid 3 has great graphics and it's on PS2.

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"Nothing is more lame than a non-eastern artist trying to copy that style and feel."

God forbid artists attempt to emulate others' style. I mean, we wouldn't want any variety in art, right? Every artist should just paint one way forever. You're right. Thank god.

As for Red Steel, I think the Eastern influence is really well done - ESPECIALLY because of the way it meshes the Americana and Japanese cultures together into a seamless whole. Red Steel is easily one of the more visual striking games that has been shown for the Wii thus far, and I think that it looks just fine. Nintendo has said from the outset that power is not their primary objective, so let's keep the graphic-whoring to the X-box 360 and PS3 fanboy subsites.

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I find it pretty ironic that while people are constantly emphasizing gameplay, Red Steel is getting huge attention and tons of screenshots for proving that the Wii has horsepower, while it pretty much looks like a run-of-the-mill shooter.

And please stop this nonsense that graphics don't affect gameplay. There's a lot of open space and flat walls, here. That DOES affect gameplay. Are you supposed to just run between rooms all swords blazing, or should you hide behind invisible objects and use the huge quantity of air to sneak around undetected? The lack of lighting effects and texture detail isn't a big deal, but people should be concerned about the lack of geometry and post-processing effects. At least VirtuaCop let you duck.

Also, I'll be more impressed when I see actual screenshots, not 1181x945 renders with 16x anti-aliasing. It's hardly productive to drool over screenshots that merely use real game objects and textures, but are rendered on an emulator (all game developers are guilty of this, and it should stop). In some of the scenes, the bad guys look like sprites. Is this real-world stuff or not?

I don't have high hopes for this game, and hardly does anything to reinforce the creativity levels of 3rd party developers, let alone capabilites of the Wii. They've redesigned the controls how many times? Aren't playtesters supposed to notice these deficiencies?

Hate me all you want, but I'm sick of skeptics acting like idiots, just saying the graphics look bad. The truth is, these graphics seriously impede gameplay, and few people seem to notice that -- or care. A $25 PC video card can do stuff like this, and a PSOne can be fun. At this point in time, with the technology that's available, people should be expecting better, on all levels.

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Graphics can affect gameplay, when they're not solid. I'm not impressed by Red Steel, but the graphics are solid. I think that's all that matters with graphics. It doesn't matter how pretty a game is, you'll soon stop looking about two seconds after you play. And it all boils down to gameplay. That is how I will ultimately judge Red Steel. I'll be picking up Zelda on day one, followed by Corrruption. And if the reviews of Red Steel are better than what I've heard about it at E3, then it'll be the third game I pick up. Then, it'll be a long line to go through as more than a handful of Wii games coming out interest me.
That's another thing that's more important than who has the best graphics. Interesting games. I can't even remember the last GC game I bought. Been focused on DS. And again that's what we're talking about, solid graphics. Wii won't be the strongest in terms of graphical power, but it won't be a mess to look at. That's all that matters. The only way weaker graphics can hurt Wii, is if designers run away from it. Some have visions of their games that can't be done on Wii, fine. But most developers are itching to to develop on the system. So in the end, it may be a non-issue. Because if graphics meant as much as you claim it does, XBox would've won the last gen.

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@Waccoon,

Well yes, there has to be a balance between graphics and gameplay. Emphasize one over the other and you end up with a "meh" game. The reason we are looking at screenshots is that we have already heard about some great gameplay mechanics (ability to have bosses surrender and join your side, AI on the level of FEAR, controls that have you turning door knobs, holding your gun sideways, making a reload motion to reload your gun, etc), so now we need the graphical side. It doesn't need to be mind-blowing amazing to be fun. I feel that the style shown in these screens sets Red Steel apart from "run-of-the-mill shooter"s, but you are welcome to your own opinion. Because I'm impressed by the STYLE, I couldn't care less about "texture detail... lack of geometry and post-processing effects."

Not only does Red Steel allow you to duck and jump (via the C and Z buttons on the nunchuk), but you can use objects as shields. Pick up a small table and hold it in front of you, but watch out because that table will get shot up and won't provide cover for very long. Enemies jump and dive under tables. They will often find cover and shoot you from around the objects. We haven't seen these things because they don't make for very good screenshots, but I've talked to some people that played the game at E3 and they said these things blew them away, they were so impressive. And that was an unfinished build of the game.

Redesigning the controls is hardly a negative. The Wii's objective is to bring something new to controls, so it makes sense that developers need to test out some different control methods before they find the perfect one. Yes there are playtesters. But Red Steel's problem wasn't "the jump doesn't work when I'm firing", but "this isn't the optimal control method". Ubisoft needed to hear from large groups of gamers to get an idea of where to reach that perfect control.

I find Red Steel MUCH more impressive than, oh let's say, Halo 3, Too Human, or Metal Gear Solid 4. The reasoning is that I'm not impressed by higher-poly models of the same things we've been seeing for ten years. Red Steel may not have the highest poly count, but the design style is fresh, even though similar styles have been used before. It's something different, and that's what I'm after. But just so you know where I'm coming from, I'm more excited about LoZ:TP, Super Mario Galaxy, SSBB, and Red Steel than I am for Halo 3, Too Human, or Metal Gear Solid 4. Come to think of it, I probably won't play Too Human or MGS4 at all, and I'll only play the multiplayer of Halo 3.

And I'm far from a Nintendo-only gamer. I just finished Dead Rising this weekend, I'm almost done with Prey, and some of my favorite games last gen are Guitar Hero, Metal Gear Solid 3, Final Fantasy X, etc.

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well said vidguy. And I'm pretty sure you couldnt duck in virtuacop, that would be time crisis.

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I'm not saying that you shouldnt try different art styles, I'm just saying that I'm tired of all these faux-asian design crap. To me they look silly, and I'm tired of seeing white guys with katanas. That and I'm tired of the yakuza popping all the time in games. Red Steel, in my opinion, tries really hard to be tough and edgy, but fails at this. Dont people bleed when they get their necks slashed by swords?

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Of course graphics matter...but GAMEPLAY MATTERS MORE. I have a 360, however I've found myself playing my Xbox and GC more than my 360 recently. Why? There are more good games on the Xbox and GC despite the fact that the 360 looks many times better...especially on my 100" display. Gameplay first, graphic second...and this is coming from a videophile.

HD gaming is nothing new to me, we've been doing it for years on the PC.

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The graphics on Wii can compete with 360 and PS3, but only if the developers dare to go the extra mile. Most "next gen" titles that I've seen so far look like Xbox one games in HD running at a more solid framerate. Who cares about how many more polygons System A can run in comparision to System B; It all comes down to your art direction. I'm sick of people bitching about how underpowered the Wii is. Have you seen Resident Evil 4 on GC? Consider the fact that the GC was never really pushed that hard and then ponder what can be done on Wii.

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Well said Adam Johnson, if every game on Wii can look as good as Resi 4, then im good to go. And overall, Wii is more powerful than an X-box, and those of you who have one know just how powerful that console is. Halo2, Black, Sudeki, Splinter cell: CT, DOA, NIJA GAIDEN......c'mon. I dnt need to be playing Square-enixs FMV's to have a good time. I prefere playing Mario KArt(multiplayer)on Ds than Double dash on GC.

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Nintendo made the right decision this time with the Wii. Here is a system that if totally capable of producing "next gen" graphics, has a new and exciting controller interface, and will cost roughly half the price of it's competeters systems. It's refreshing to see a company make the right decision every once in a while.

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