While the Wii has been built around the idea of motion control, it’s rather telling that some of the system’s best games barely use it. In fact, the Classic Controller is a surprisingly essential peripheral for any serious Wii gamer, and that is the reason why Samurai Warriors 3 came to Wii first. Well … that, and the fact that the Wii is still damn popular.
“The main reason is because Wii is the best-selling hardware,” explains producer Hisashi Koinuma. “Another thing that affected this decision was that Nintendo released the Classic Controller Pro. As Warriors games had been developed with traditional controllers in mind, the fact that Nintendo realized Wii is not just about remote-swinging, but also a console where traditional controllers could exist, we could develop without worry.”
I doubt the remote-swinging interests half of the Wii’s current developers. If anything, the cheaper production costs are likely what keeps people making interesting titles for the system. With a much lower risk thanks to the system’s reduced graphical demands, I still believe the Wii is where we’ll see the truly unique titles, as opposed to games that utilize Kinect and Move.