Here’s an e-mail I wrote to Joystiq Podcast of joystiq.com about Episode 45 because I felt that they are misinterpreting the point of certain games and the reasons they do certain things. I felt like they understood the point, and then they went and said that usage of the Wiimote is a gimmick.

Because of the Wiimote, I got my family to play games. I personally enjoy Wii games more because of the controller. The games aren’t great because of the controls, but now it gives me a reason to play them. I don’t think I could ever get my sister to play another game than Twilight Princess. When adding motion controls, even subtle ones that actually do work like they are supposed to (Mario Galaxy), it really adds to the experience and makes you far more immersed in the game and the story. Isn’t that the point Nintendo tries to do with their story-driven games? You are supposed to be immersed. Metroid and Zelda do that great. I hardly think it was for the worse. I recall finishing Twilight Princess and going to finish Wind Waker and repeatedly shaking my Wavebird up and down trying to figure out why my sword isn’t working. Then I realized I had to use the B button, and I haven’t played the game since. Nothing is really that much fun anymore after playing the Wii. It’s not that the games suck, it’s that I’ve been introduced to a new way of doing things and, as you said would happen w/ the 360, makes everything that came before it moot w/o the upgrade in control. Think analog vs digital control or rumble vs no rumble, mono vs surround sound. It’s not a gimmick, it’s part of the experience as a whole.

I do understand there aren’t any games yet that fully utilize motion controls, but stop thinking of things as gimmicks and start looking at them as if the developers put them in there because they care. Look at Brawl, there aren’t any Wiimote controls except for C-stick-style smashing, but wouldn’t it be nicer if you could at least choose your character with the Wiimote instead of the analog stick? It’s subtle, but it’s something. Also, look at Mario Strikers Charged for good use of motion. It’s maybe just one motion, but that’s enough to make it feel like you’re doing something. It’s all you really need. And I’m sure you guys will say Super Paper Mario’s use of the controls was also a gimmick, but I think it was a great way to make it seamless to check things out in the environment and play a new game just as you would a classic NES title. That was the point they were trying to get across and they did it. They weren’t trying to create this epic lush 2D/3D experience with tons and tons of RPG elements and bunches of characters and annoying side quests. Just sayin’.

– Kevin “Saturn” Ghadyani

P.S. Even though this won’t be read on the show, I hope you know that you guys are being a bit too cynical sometimes. I don’t mind you slamming Army of Two, good job, but to slam something like Wii motion so quickly and not to look at what all’s out there, yeah, I feel like it’s missing the point.

So I forgot to put this in my blog as my girlfriend pointed out, but as of Sunday April 23rd, I am now the proud boyfriend of my girlfriend Abby. While my blog usually just includes information about stuff in my life, this would be one of those things even though those things are usually materialistic, I thought I’d add some emotion to spice it up a bit. So to those that don’t know, it’s like I’m announcing this to the world now. Now I have a girlfriend.

And I’m darn happy about it too!

I just beat Revenge of the Sunfish, the game of insanity.

I got No More Heroes today in the mail. The opening presentation all through the entire first boss battle is pretty darn awesome. I think it’ll be really fun as long as I beat it this or next weekend and don’t sit on it too long because it might get boring. The game is The Legend of Zelda plays GTA. It has a lot in common w/ the control and battle system Zelda does and then the openness and job types as well as main character that matches up more w/ the GTA series. The game is the most American game I’ve ever played. When your sword is out and you need to charge it up, you’ll know what I mean. Or wait, what about the first level, the very first boss battle level. Look at the shape of it more closely. Yeah…

There’s a game I bought years ago called Pong: The Next Level. Atari published it, and it is the best Pong game out there. I had gotten to the last levels years ago after playing through the main potion many many times over and over because I had two PCs to play it on, thus, I made a new save on the new PC. Even today I don’t know how to add a save file. What I did was, instead of looking for the CD, I downloaded the game since I own it already. Then I got a trainer which gave me enough gold bars to go to the last levels which I could never beat. I know I beat the first one, maybe the second one, but the last one, I know I never ever beat that game. Well guess what? I finally beat the sucker! I’m so happy. I can’t believe I just did it really quick and with a D-pad no doubt. The game’s controls were very well designed for both analog and digital play. While you apparently can’t edit which buttons you use for what, you can always use Joy2Key to mimic keyboard commands on a joystick and be fine. It even includes mouse play and works with my joysticks. I’m pretty happy since I just beat it, lol.

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