I got a Wii in '08, after painlessly waiting to get one since it launched. Had some of the best years of gaming I've ever experienced. Nearly all of Nintendo's efforts were nothing short of spectacular (I shouldn't have to list the obvious right?), same goes for quite a few third-party efforts as well (Red Steel 2, Conduit 1 and 2, Epic Mickey 1 and 2, etc.) that truly gave Wii its own category in gaming. (the good kind)

If the rival companies tried shoe-horning their consoles with motion control add-ons, Nintendo must've done something right.

Um. I played fun games on it and had fun playing them. Like I did with my GameCube. And my SNES.

Wasn't that hard.

The only companies really supporting the VC were those who had consoles being represented on there. Outside of Sega, Hudson, and SNK, 3rd party support has been pretty much non existent.
Most 3rd's have only really offered up a couple of games at most with only couple exceptions, with capcom being one of the more notable contributors.
I'm also worried for the poor support that the 3DS has been receiving.. There should be atleast double the amount of VC games availble for that service by now, especially as the original Gameboy had games by the bucket load. And what ever happened to the Game Gear suuport, that is now dead in the water.
If the trend carries on like this, I hold very little hope for the WiiU VC. I really don't see much more being made available than what we've already been given through the original Wii VC.

I don't ever remembering that promise. Also, why would you play CDs on a Wii?

So Nintendo had a lot going for it. Weak hardware (terribly weak), limited online services (Virtual Console was fine but what a wasted effort it is now), poor third party support (very difficult to program fir the Wii), casual approach was enormously stretched, developers and gamers turned away from Nintendo's newly found image and really, there's so many more reasons most of you already know.

I still laugh at everyone's definition of "poor third party support". Also, what "newly found image" are you referring to? Nintendo's always focused on the kiddy and casual crowds. They did nothing different on the Wii.

Commercially, the Wii could have done so much better in terms of catering to both gaming crowds not just having its core focus on casuals. Let's just hope the Wii U can do what Wii couldn't.

The Wii was a huge commercial success and outsold the PS3 and Xbox 360 combined. Let's hope the Wii U CAN do that.

It was promised back in 2007. I remember the news on G4 with Reggie discussing it, which, sounded pleasant at that time.

I like to rip CDs onto my computer and PlayStation 3 for obvious reasons. Hell, my 1995 PlayStation 1 can even play CDs. lol

I still laugh at everyone's definition of "poor third party support". Also, what "newly found image" are you referring to? Nintendo's always focused on the kiddy and casual crowds. They did nothing different on the Wii.

Sure, Nintendo has always had the kiddy image but its casual focus on Wii was like no other before. The over abundance of quick, cash-in minigame collections was absurd. Nearl everyone took a slice of that cake.

The Wii was a huge commercial success and outsold the PS3 and Xbox 360 combined. Let's hope the Wii U CAN do that.

The Wii did no such thing. The sales figure for each console is relatively close and in no way is Nintendo ahead by miles and miles like you oh-so wish it was.

http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/

Wii: 98.80
PlayStation 3: 72:54
Xbox 360: 74:25

98.80 does not equal 140+

Yeah, what? You must be thinking of the DS.

Wii outsold the competition, but it definitely could have done much better with the "gaming" crowd by simply having better online play.

I've enjoyed my Wii, but that's mainly because I like playing it with my kid. I never play it on my own.

Some would say that fans are Nintendo's biggest haters.

And here with the Wii U, with all of its cool little features and tools, I feel like these six years were a waste.

I'm glad you're enjoying the Wii U more. It means Nintendo is accomplishing what it set out to do with the Wii U: increase their appeal with their core base and hardcore gamers in general.

You all, as gamers, may have your opinion on the matter. I want to know what you think.

I found the Wii to be the best console Nintendo's ever made, anyone who's ever claimed to be a fan of Nintendo can play their past favorites on it along with awesome new stuff from Nintendo (It's too bad the Wii U won't play GameCube games). The Wii was great for jaded gamers too, looking for something different (you can only tolerate playing so much God of War and GTA). The motion controls were what really set the Wii apart from the PCPS360 at first, but it's also been a bastion for retro gamers.

In my opinion, the biggest problem that the Wii had was Nintendo themselves- they just didn't support it enough. Many games were remakes of GameCube titles and the VC, while offering variety and quality, was just that: a way to play games of the old. I understand that any sane company would support its new console on the pillars of their previous success but I think that Nintendo relied TOO much on their legacy, to the point that I believe the Wii could have done much better than it already did if they didn't. Even in the end of its life cycle, Nintendo deemed the release of Xenoblade Chronicles, Pandora's Tower and Last Story as unnecessary and we almost lost the chance to play these games.
Thankfully, with the Wii U, it seems they try to balance things out: NSMB U looks like it has better level design than the last 3 NSMB games, the remake of an old classic (Wind Waker) is accompanied by the brand new (and exclusive) Bayonetta 2,a s well as The Wonderfull 101 and games from PS3/XBOX also get released for it. I really hope that they keep breathing new life in the Wii U so that it becomes everything that the Wii could have been.

I don't remember when my family got our Wii, but I didn't play it much for a while(hey, I wasn't a big gamer until like 2010, ok?) so I'm blaming me not playing it on that. However, I feel like I haven't played enough on it; I still need to defeat like 10 games I've put off.

Yeah, this. I have no clue how a gamer with only a Wii could not buy a game in a nearly two year time-span, unless if said person was lacking in funds or lacking it time. There were definitely games each year worth playing on the system. Their quantity just wasn't very high during some (particularly 2012 and 2011, but even then you've got Game of the Year contenders in both of those years with Skyward Sword and Xenoblade).

However, to say the Wii didn't have a ton of flaws is insane. The Wii had a ton of problems, but when it comes to having more than 30 worthwhile games to play (which, at least from my library, does) then it succeeds. Now, that's objective, but for a fanboy I don't know how it'd be possible to not be willing to try new things.

This.
Maybe it was just me, but the internet wasn't a huge part of my life in my Gamecube and early Wii days so I'm still catching up on all the games I missed. There never was a time where I really felt like there were no new games for me to play. Plus, in my case, the games coming to Nintendo's systems interested me a whole lot more than the competition.

I got a Wii at launch (well, a couple months afterwards, that is) while I was going to a university out of state. I played a lot of Zelda when I first got it, but I got so busy with school that I didn't actually spend a ton of time on it. In fact, I'd say my roommates played my Wii more than I did. The often had SSBB tournaments and when they asked me to join, I'd have to tell them no because I was busy studying.

I graduated and got married in 2009 and had some "down time" to catch up on a handful of my existing Wii games...but by the following year I was anxious to be able to play some styles of games on the other systems. My brother had a 360 at my parents' house and I had previously enjoyed playing Assassin's Creed on there among other games. So I bought a 360 in 2010 and have enjoyed that greatly since then. So, all that to say I didn't really get a chance to notice a "drought" with the Wii because I was so busy trying to catch up on all the 360 games I'd missed out on. I eventually bought Xenoblade and Skyward Sword, but I still have yet to finish those (it's a terrible habit of mine). And I bought a PS3 as well, but it doesn't get used much for games...

Anyway, over the past few years I've gotten tired of having such a giant backlog (check it out, if you're not too afraid...) between all of my consoles, so I'm hoping that I can stick with just the Wii U this next generation. Hopefully MS and Sony won't push new technologies too much... :-/

P.S. Sorry for going so far off topic... To clarify, my point was that because I stopped gaming with my Wii exclusively, I didn't notice the lack of games for it. Now after all this time, I actually have a lot of games for it that I would like to finish!

I probably wouldn't be as much of a gamer if I just had a Wii. My PS3 has really supported me in gaming the most. I don't think I could've surrvived on just Wii.

I honestly have always been amazed at all you people who DO have all these multiple consoles and games. I have had a Wii since a couple months after launch, never had a 360 or a PS3, and I still haven't played all the Wii games I would like to. I simply do not have the time or money. Actually, I probably have the money but also more important things to spend it on. I know not everybody has a wife, a kid (although he is only 13 months), and a job, but I don't have school like most people without jobs and I probably have more money. How anybody can complain about not having enough games is mindboggling to me.

Because there are better games on the other consoles with better features and more multimedia functionality.

The Wii can't possibly satisfy the average too-much-time-on-my-hands gamer with its lackluster library.

Me too. At one point for me the Wii even eclipsed the NES and SNES. So much for that epic hardcore late 80's & early 90's nostalgia.lol I was extactic over it during 07'. I'll never forget those brilliant gaming experiences i had with this little whimsical white box, which included Klonoa, game changers like Metroid Prime 3 & Elebits, Wario Land Shake it!, Zack & Wiki, Super paper Mario, Wario Ware:Smooth Moves. Mario Galaxy ect ect and many other titles that brang me so much joy, and the enormous OMFG hype machine that surrounding the soon to be released 'mega man 9'

The Wii was a revolution in terms of innovative controls and breathed new life into so many genre's and improved
opon them enormously. It was also home to the 2D platofmer, something that the N64 and GCN completely lacked, then there's the VC and the amazing nintendo exclusives that hit it out of the park. I'm just glad i experienced most of these motion control based games on a lag free TUBE TV(via component cables) because it makes all the difference performance wise. I've got plenty more Wii games to play, with A Boy & his Blob and Pikmin 2 being the next in line.

Almost every complaint you'll find for the Wii boils down to "it didn't have this or that game when the PS360 and PC all shared said game", but any gamer who feels that way completely missed the point of the Wii. Understand that the Wii console was a success only because it wasn't doing what everyone else was doing.

Actually, I'm pretty sure it was because I was a hit with almost everyone, and introduced many to playing video games. But I guess that contributed to the hardcore's enjoyment of it.

By obsessive replaying. I played Twilight Princess for over 400 hours.

Between VC, Gamecube (which I didn't have before the Wii), a few decent WiiWare games and Wii games, I did just fine with just a Wii. I did finally get a PS3 last November though.