I had three quick impressions on Ubisoft's trailer for their upcoming Racquet Sports on Nintendo Wii: 1) Oh, no, another cheap mini-game collection; 2) This game came packaged with my Wii, it's called Wii Sports; 3) Another game set in a "sports resort"; and 4) Hmm....You know, this actually looks pretty good.
I'm sure there is still a demand for more games like Wii Sports, but the titles by third-party developers have become a running joke. I don't think anybody wants to see another mini-games package on the Wii. Either Racquet Sports has been in the pipeline for a very long time, and they just missed the boat; or Ubisoft is really confident they have a great game on their hands.
So this is going to be variations on Wii Sports Tennis and WSR Table Tennis. I think it's going to be very difficult to beat the Nintendo originals; Ubisoft is incredibly dumb or incredibly bold. In another six weeks, we'll find out which.
Games like this live or die by the controls. WM+ support is good news, as it suggests the designers are devoting that needed energy to making the controls handle right. Nintendo has a masterful sense for perfectly intuitive game controls, so natural. Other developers could learn if they seriously studied the "Wii series" games.
I don't know how Racquet Sports will turn out; this game would be the perfect candidate for a demo disc. Remember those? They were so effective during the PSX and Dreamcast days. Where are the demo discs for the Nintendo Wii? Why do I have to come up with all these ideas myself? What are they paying these people?
Oh, and Ubi? Change the damn game cover. Shamelessly ripping off other, more successful products is the mark of desperation. This had better be good, or I'm throwing eggs at your house.
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