3 years later, here is a graph-ical look at the M-rated titles on the Wii

(For the record, I only listed games with confirmed release dates that have come out in the US. Hence the omission of No More Heroes 2.)

While M-rated games are not the end-all that defines quality games, more than a handful of the best-selling console games this generation are. With that being said, what has the Wii produced for the particular market? Let's see if any conclusions can be drawn from this beyond "omg wii is teh suck failboat."


















(Click for larger)

My personal theory is that for all the talk from developers and publishers about the non-existence of a "mature, hardcore Wii audience," the reality is that third-parties very rarely put in the effort to call their attention. I do not blame them for many of their reasons, and Nintendo rightfully holds some of that blame, but many gave up on the console shortly after its release.

Far Cry Vengeance? Target: Terror? Brothers in Arms: Double Time? Escape from Bug Island? Terrible! Yet these are the types of titles that, over time, publishers have "adorned" on the Wii audience to lap up as if it were luscious mana. How are consumers meant to reward excellence when those titles are anything besides that?

Taking another look at that graph, there are some genuine oddities that could have struck a chord yet did not.

Bully: Scholarship Edition, The Godfather: Blackhand Edition and Scarface: The World is Yours were all considered "better" on the Wii (at least over their PS2 counterparts), and these titles did not have a GTA or Saints Row to compete with. Why, then, did they fail to find an audience on the Wii? There could be some explanations.

Bully is explained by its release date being hilariously close to Super Smash Bros. Brawl. That one was sent to die by Rockstar. Scarface could have suffered a similar fate with the less expensive Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (only $30 for all of the GC and PS2 content) releasing a week after it.

The Godfather had a March 2007 release, though, and there were no monster titles out there to compete with that type of game. Could it be that the scarcity of the Wii -- whether artificially created or not -- led to it being overlooked in favor of owners continuously gushing over Wii Sports? Or is it the fact that it is a port of a game that did not exactly light the world on fire (like RE4 did)?

There have been relative successes, though. No More Heroes, The House of the Dead: Overkill and Call of Duty: World at War have sold well albeit not spectacularly. A cult favorite, a rail-shooter and a slightly gimped FPS can only do so much. But, it does show that smart brand usage and word of mouth can push sales figures higher.

Does the future look any brighter? Maybe. Maybe not. So far, No More Heroes 2 is the only M-rated Wii title slated for 2010. And, obviously, there is far more promising software on the horizon that is not "mature."

Yet, it does seem that unless developers and publishers seriously back a project from every which angle (unlike Dead Space: Extraction) then the Wii will never really have a top-tier M-stamped title.

Whether or not it needs those games is another story.

P.S. - It would take me a lifetime to sort out all the T-rated Wii games. It would be hilarious, though, to look at how an action-adventure title turned into a fighter (Castlevania Judgment) and a fighter turned into an action-adventure title (Soul Calibur Legends).