Destineer's Summer Sports: Paradise Island follows the same idea as Wii Sports: an assortment of casual sporting events to be played in multiplayer, with simple, representative motion-based controls. While it's obvious that this is where the money is on the Wii (to the point that even Game Party is a hit), Destineer smartly chose not to imitate Wii Sports outright.Summer Sports seems to be an attempt not just to cash in on the Wii Sports phenomenon, but to serve as a companion to Nintendo's remarkably popular Wii pack-in. To that end, it features eight games that Wii Sports does not, and a surprisingly effective island theme.
Some of the minigames are total clunkers that make a compelling argument against motion controls, but some manage to deliver on the promise of Wii minigame collections: simple-to-understand controls in unique, fun games.
Simulation racing games have never been a major interest of mine. They focus on realistically modeling car movement and performance, with the goal of encapsulating the true experience of doing something that most people cannot do: driving expensive, powerful cars very fast. Often efforts are made to model real locations as well to enhance the veracity of the experience. Simulation racing games provide a form of wish fulfillment that serves an interest shared by a lot of people. But I'm a lot more likely to wish for not having to drive than for more advanced forms of car driving.
