Man, there are those who really love to complain. After viewing Zero Punctuation's latest video, I've decided that the old phrase distributed liberally by parents and teachers is indeed very true: "you can't please everyone." Nintendo themselves must have felt this pretty hard after their E3 showing was widely perceived as sub-par. On the gamers' side, even those who were most disappointed usually turned to any of the numerous third party efforts for hope. Understanding that Zero Punctuation is mostly intended as farce, it's difficult to call them out. Yet one glaring assertion must be rebutted: E3 2008 was most definitely not the year of the sequel. In fact, on the Nintendo side, the exact opposite was true.
For the first time in a long while, I'm much more excited about upcoming third party releases than Nintendo titles as a whole (save for Wario Land: Shake It!). As those of us who braved the GameCube generation quickly learned, a console cannot survive on first party titles alone -- even those of the highest quality. Here are the top five original third party games that we are excited about.
The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, check out What Are You Playing?, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up. 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-11-2008 @ 12:40PM
samfish said...
You DO realize that there isn't a hope or chance in Hell that Silicon Knights game is Wii-bound, right?
Also, Mad World should be number 1. Any game where the gameplay is compared to God Hand (and made by the same studio) is ALWAYS going to be number 1.
FACT.
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8-11-2008 @ 1:14PM
Atlantis1982 said...
Except that Madworld looks boring if you ask me. Conduit is the sure #1, and Animales should be higher; I just see de Blob being the next Elebits in the "it's the same dang thing every round" type of game play.
8-11-2008 @ 1:55PM
Nigeria said...
"Conduit is the sure #1"
???
I don't want to bash the game, especially without playing it first, but it looks so, so generic. Blandness is its strength, yet there is so much anticpation for this game. It's incredible; are people really that starved for a FPS that they'll latch onto anything? I don't know, I don't really get the push, it seems a little manufactured.
I have to agree with Samfish. I never played God Hand, but one screenshot of Madworld screams more character than anything I've seen from the Conduit.
8-11-2008 @ 1:03PM
SegaPleaseMakePanzerDragoonWii! said...
Looking forward to every game on this list, except for the Silicon Knights game, I'll wait to get my hopes up on that one when/if more details are revealed.
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8-11-2008 @ 1:10PM
Sean said...
Maybe it's just me but I hated Eternal Darkness. I got so far in the game and just got stuck. The game seemed to be an exercise in boredom.
Too Human seems to bear the same fate - overhyped with piss poor camera and controls. I, for one, am not excited about anything this company turns out.
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8-11-2008 @ 1:37PM
James said...
I want conduit to be good... but I just don't think it will be.
I just want another Timesplitters really. I want an FPS where I can do some actual stealth and have objectives are than "Go from A to B... maybe kill some guys...".
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8-11-2008 @ 1:50PM
al3xand3r said...
Why the hell only top 5? You can make a list of at least 10 titles of only the most HIGHLY PROMISING third party exclusive & brand new non sequel games.
Where are the likes of Sky Crawlers, Fragile, Arc Rise Fantasia, Little King Story, Deadly Creatures, Crystal Bearers, etc?
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8-11-2008 @ 2:01PM
Kaes Delgrego said...
Very fair, al3xand3r. Those are all promising games. I've gotta keep the column consistent from week to week, so Top 5 it will stay. :)
8-11-2008 @ 2:28PM
Al3xand3r said...
Well then it's a featured 5, not a TOP five... TOP implies the best of the best... If you have 5 a week (I don't think you can keep it up every week, we don't get 5 titles announced so close to each other, you just happen to have a little pool of unmentioned games now), tnen they're just featured...
8-11-2008 @ 3:27PM
David Hinkle said...
Semantics, al3xand3r. We dig Kaes's column the way it is. :)
8-11-2008 @ 9:19PM
Kenneth Caldwell said...
I'll second that.
8-11-2008 @ 2:07PM
iMeh said...
A Silicon Knights game?! Psha!
Where's Tales of Symphonia? Deadly Creatures? Fragile?
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8-11-2008 @ 2:13PM
Mr Khan said...
If Silicon Knights had spoken of a new Eternal Darkness, that would have to come to Wii, since Nintendo owns the patents that made that game possible (like the Sanity Meter)
As it is, i doubt we'll see it
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8-11-2008 @ 2:20PM
Mr Khan said...
Also: i remembered another one for the Easter Eggs thing on Wii Warm Up
The pendants used on Malon and Talon's (of Lon Lon Ranch) tunics are miniature Bowser heads
8-11-2008 @ 3:20PM
s.mario said...
I'm selling my Wii...with crap like this, I'm totally disinterested in it...
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8-11-2008 @ 8:37PM
devo said...
Um.. what? The Conduit? Just because it's the only FPS coming to the wii doesn't mean it's any good. Haven't you noticed that everything about it looks terrible?
Where the heck was Mushroom Men??
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8-11-2008 @ 8:45PM
nealpatten said...
How you could put an un-announced, unlikely to ever come to Wii game from Silicon Knights on there, but not Mushroom Men is beyond me. Mushroom Men looks brilliant, with a wicked style, unique music and a strong effort from Red Fly, it needs way more loving than it's getting!
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8-12-2008 @ 10:56PM
Boo!? said...
I was expecting Sadness... but very nice list anyway =)
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8-14-2008 @ 11:42AM
Highlar said...
I kind of have to agree with Al3xand3r on this one. There really are a TON of new, original IPs heading for the Wii this and early next year, ALL via the friendly way of THIRD PARTIES. When I compare what is happening with the Wii to the PS3/X360, I see more original IP heading to the experimental system than I do to the others, and I have absolutely no problem with that. :-) And the best thing is, most of them look pretty good, or have a really interesting idea behind them, like Mushroom Men and Conduit (the control scheme seems out-of-this world heavenly for a game like it is) and MadWorld and...ummm...shoot, can't think of its name now, but the new one announced based in the Himalayas(?). Deep Silver it appears is taking a page from HVS and developing an engine that sounds like it should offer just as amazing graphics for the system compared to other games on the hardware as The Conduit does (the sweeping vistas of mountain ranges sounds particularly interesting to me). Can't wait for Leipzig, because Deep Silver is supposed to be there and I'm hoping this new one gets shown off. :-) The Wii is really starting to pick up steam now, heading pretty much roughly the same way the DS did, in my opinion. And I say, let the train steam on!!
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