I’ve been regular listener of the show for a number of weeks now. This was one the best podcasts on the subject of the Wii that I have heard for some time. There were some excellent points raised on why the Wii is so divisive, and you get extra props for use the word “Enthusiast Game” rather than the dreadful “hardcore” label. It won’t surprise anyone that I fall in line with Leon’s view of Wii gaming, and I can honestly say that some of the best games I played last year were on the platform.

I think one of the problems with the Wii, for an enthusiast who has all the consoles, is that it actually takes a bit more effort to get the most out of the machine. Mainstream coverage is pretty poor, and promotion of Wii and Wiiware games is often non-existent. If it wasn’t for the wonderful work the guys at WiiDS and the InTheFridge podcast, I’d have missed out on many great titles last year. You actually have to do a bit of research and dedicate some time to explore the systems range of disk and DLC games.

Last year many Wii games actually shifted away from full motion control and you started to see more titles designed form the ground up for the system. Dead Space Extraction, Swords & Soldiers and Anno: Create a New World are excellent examples of third party games that western developers have actually designed around the system’s strengths: the result being some of the finest games of last year with genuinely natural/intuitive controls (as opposed to symbolic “waggle” controls). If you want to play a great console RTS then you can’t go wrong with Swords & Soldiers – it’s inspired.

Once again great show and I hope that fellow listeners seek out some of the games mentioned by the pod-guests; they will be genuinely surprised.