You've probably heard this one on message boards already, that companies make mediocre Wii games to pay for their "next-gen" products, that cost a lot more to make.

It's also easy to dismiss this theory because it's just not logical. Next-gen games are not making that much money, nor are they such a great investment, since they can just not sell as well as you'd expect.

But let's consider for a second that not everything the industry does is logical or smart (like announcing a PlayStation 2 version of Resident Evil 4 weeks before the GameCube one is out).

Could this be actually happening? And what does it mean for us?



It's not hard to see a bad game on Wii, specially when there's a ridiculous amount of them, but what it's hard to let it go is that even "respectable" companies are launching incredibly bad (refrain the use of the word "$#!@") games on what it seens a desperate measure to cash in.

Not all of them are that obvious, but if you pay atention, some numbers still just don't add up.

Consider companies like Capcom, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Square Enix, and start counting how many great games they showed for Wii and how many for the next-gen consoles.

Nothing wrong with picking favorites, but then start to count the income for these games. Is it just me or are Wii games generating more money while the console gets less impressive games?

Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles is one of the greatest examples. When Capcom told us the game would be a full Resident Evil game, with Resident Evil 4 controls, and then it became an on-rails shooter to better accommodate the public of the console, we were angry, but we tried to understand, it was still a good game after all.

Then the next-gen got Resident Evil 5. It sold more than Umbrella Chronicles, that's true, but it had way higher production value, not to mention higher marketing costs. Heck, Nintendo even helped Capcom by marketing Umbrella Chronicles together with the Zapper extension for Wii.

And where do we stand now? It's not hard to imagine that Umbrella Chronicles actually was more profitable than Resident Evil 5. So, the PSP is getting a new Resident Evil, and Wii is getting... "Umbrella Chronicles 2". Anyone else see a problem with that?

In the beginning Capcom made a really great effort with Zack & Wiki, but bad games like Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop leave a bad impression, specially when Dead Rising 2 is not coming out on Wii.

And then we have to hear that they don't rule out the possibility of Street Fighter IV on Wii. Do they know anything about timing?



Electronic Arts is just a devil on its own. Sometimes they say they're gonna focus all their efforts on Wii, other times they show the exact opposite. In the end, while we have the fantastic Boom Blox, we are also stuck with Dead Space Extraction, a prequel to a game that's not playable on the console! That's not smart! It's like putting Halo Wars on Wii!

Square Enix has been releasing quite some games on Wii Ware, and they are sure good, like Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King / Dark Lord and Final Fantasy IV: The Late Years, but if there's one thing you can quickly notice about them, and it stands out so much, is downloadable content you have to buy separately.

So you can guess Square Enix is making some good money from the service and games that are simple enough, and that is surely gonna translate into great games, right? So why do the next-gen consoles get Final Fantasy XIII (and XIV) while Wii gets Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers? From what we have seen until now, there's no sign of it being any better than, let's say, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.

I'm not counting Dragon Quest IX and X here because that's obviously a Japan driven decision.



But not all is lost! Even if Wii games are paying next-gen productions, Wii games can also pay... Wii gmes! While we can see Ubisoft trough the same lens we did with the previous companies mentioned, there's a bit of hope.

Games like Assassin's Creed, in development for three years, probably costed a lot, and Beyond Good and Evil 2 must not have high expectation for them. But are these actually paid by Wii games?

Rayman has never been quite as famous as we wished, and even tough Rayman 2 was great, we haven't seen a true Rayman Platformer in a while. But now, thanks to thre successful minigame collections, we're seeing Rabbids Go Home, which looks like what Michael Ancel wanted to do since the beginning. Red Steel 2 was an unexpected move too, considering how some of these companies think.



I do believe altough, that this is all temporary, and the more penetration Wii get, less room for doubt there'll be, and companies will stop pretending they can't take it seriously.

One company that does deserve some credit is Sega, who have been publishing some great games for us, and I hope they find success on their strategy.

To all the others... shame on you...