By: Kevin Larrabee

As humans we all make mistakes, but few of us affect large populations the size of the gaming community. Thanks to the Internet and a rapidly expanding market, companies are under an immense amount of scrutiny for every decision — and mistake — that they make. Over the course of this article we will observe the five biggest mistakes made so far in this generation (in no particular order), along with how to amend them, if possible. Enjoy.

1. The Mistake: The Absence of Rumble at the PlayStation 3 Launch

When showing off the PlayStation 3 at E3 in 2006, the Sixaxsis controller was presented, absent of rumble. Sony keynote speaker, Phil Harrison (President of Sony Computer Entertainment), told gaming journalists that rumble was a “last generation” feature as he defended the SixAxis’ lack of rumble. Was Sony just letting success go to its head by thinking that its fans wouldn’t mind spending $600 on a console that doesn’t have a feature that has been around for ten years?

So much for those comments, since a little more than one year later the Dual Shock 3 was announced at the Tokyo Gaming Show in September 2007. It is clear that this decision was the result of immense pressure applied by the gaming community, and maybe a little bit of common sense and pride swallowing on Sony’s part. In reality, to be completely honest, it was a decision based on the settlement of a lawsuit with Immersion, the owners of the rumble technology used in the PlayStation 3 andXbox 360 controllers.

After the February 26th announcement from Destination PlayStation, we now know that the Dual Shock 3 will hit North America on April 15 for $54.99. Does this make up for the exclusion of rumble in the first place? Probably not, but sales of the PS3 have nowhere to go but up, thanks to the rock solid line up they have this year and the victory of Blu-Ray.

The Fix: There is no easy fix to this mistake because the damage has already been done. If Sony had a warmed up DeLorian to go back to before E3 2006, I am sure everyone at Sony, from Phil Harrison to Ken Kutaragi, would have made the decision to fork over the cash to Immersion and include rumble in the PS3’s controller. But since a train destroyed the Delorian in Back to the Future: Part III, here is one legitimate idea:

A trade-in Program for SixAxis controllers when the Dual Shock 3 is released. I would be happy with a trade-in program where you could give up your now-obsoleteSixaxis controllers for a Dual Shock 3 and $25. The old controllers could be refurbished with the Dual Shock 3’s guts and resold at a discount at the PlayStation Store. This way everyone wins for the most part.

2. The Mistake: No Online Vision for the Nintendo Wii

The best selling console in the world right now is the Nintendo Wii. You still can’t walk into a store and buy one off the shelf because retailers can’t keep up with demand. That’s after it has been out for 15 months! The features of theWii include the motion controls of the Wii Remote and Nunchuck , a large catalog of classic games, and the ability to print money for Nintendo like it’s going out of style. But with that said, Nintendo made one mistake that pisses off many a gamer, that being the online vision. Nintendo is still stuck in the mindset that theinternet is crawling with nothing but child molesters, homophobes, and racists. In terms of online play, they are correct for the most part. Anyone who has a headset on during a game of Halo 3 knows about the attention-craving assholes who spout racial and homophobic remarks. I mention this so you understand that I see where Nintendo is coming from. But going as far as the abomination that is “Friend Codes” is inexcusable. Having to go through the process of trading codes with the person you want to play with on yourDS or Wii is quite a task. First you must trade each other’s 12-digit friend code. Once you have done that, you must each enter the codes when they’re asked for at the online play screen. A minute or two later, after the codes are confirmed, you finally get to play the damn game. In the age ofXbox Live, it really magnifies the inconvenience of friend codes, and makes you wonder why can’t Nintendo do that too?

The Fix: Nintendo is taking small steps in the right direction with its next big release, Super Smash Brothers Brawl. In SSBB they have added the option of random matches where friend codes don’t need to be swapped and, believe it or not, you have the possibility of playing with someone other than that one friend of yours who was also able to find aWii. For over two years the Xbox 360 has had a unified friends list, and no hassle online gaming. Nintendo (and Sony) need to put some resources into a unified friends list so it doesn’t feel like you are calling some one on freaking Mars with all of those digits. In the end we need to be honest with each other. Nintendo doesn’t need to do jack when the sales of theDS and the Wii continue to break records. But as consumers and fans that doesn’t mean we can’t expect something more from them.

3. The Mistake: Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death Epidemic

Microsoft beat Sony to the market with the Xbox 360 on November 22, 2005. In so doing, it may have cost the software goliath $1 billion due to hardware issues. It is believed that the infamous “Red Ring of Death,” or “Three Red Lights” issue, is caused by cheaply made heat sinks and thermal paste. Other theories include the warping of the motherboard that causes chips to pop out of place. Either way, Microsoft has quite a problem on its hands.

Personally, I have had to send in two 360s a total of three times. I bought a second when my first one died two weeks before Halo 3 came out, and I wasn’t going to miss that. There have been hundreds of threads and thousands of posts on message boards about the issues people are having with their 360s dying and the 4-8 week waiting period required before they receive their replacement unit.

With the latest 360s’ new 65nm CPUs, the problem with overheating seems to have become less of a problem, but there are still 10 million 360s that are ticking time bombs, waiting for those three red lights to blink. At least customers are being given one-monthXbox Live cards along with their refurbished console.

The Fix: This problem cannot be fixed, but the solution can be improved. Microsoft has already bit the bullet by giving all of the 360 owners a 3-year warranty. People who send in their dead consoles should not have to wait between four and eight weeks to receive a replacement console. Microsoft should have a warehouse of replacement consoles ready to go back out to the customer. The current 360 owners are the most hardcore and loyal customers in the marketplace. The 360 has an attach rate of over seven games for each console, a ridiculously high number. I can only hope that Microsoft’s masterminds are doing everything in their power to get replacement consoles back to the gamers. This way they continue to spend $60 a pop on each game. It is nice that they include a one-monthXbox Live card with the replacement, but what if you were without your 360 for longer than that? Upgrade that one-month card to a three-month card and I would feel a little better.

4. The Mistake: Sega’s Determination to Destroy Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic is the mascot of what is still considered by many to be one of the greatest companies in video games. That company is Sega. But these days being the mascot of such an important company (currently and historically) doesn’t help you much when it comes to making quality games. The last good console Sonic game was Sonic Adventure on the Sega Dreamcast released nine years ago. There have been some good portable Sonic games such as Sonic Advance 1-3 on the Game Boy Advance. Along with the good portable games, in that same time period we have seen, Sonic Heroes (Multi), Sonic Riders, Mario and Sonic at the Olympics (DS, Wii), Shadow the Hedgehog (Multi, and yes this still counts, it was made by Sonic Team), and the latest absolute train wreck, Sonic the Hedgehog, on theXbox 360 and PS3.Why has Sonic hit an all-time low in creativity and gameplay?

Their latest games haven’t emphasized speed. That is what Sonic has been all about — blazing speed. In relation to that, the controls have been as slippery as a lubed up eel in the last four or five console games. A sonic game without tight controls automatically sets it up for failure. And really, do we need Sonic to be some hipbadass that sounds like a parent trying to relate to his/her child with the latest slang? No. That is the last thing we should see.

The Fix: Sonic Team needs to go back to what worked in its glorious past, plain and simple. The outlook for Sonic fans is beginning to look increasingly positive, thanks toSonic’s upcoming appearance in Nintendo’s Super Smash Brothers Brawl and in a still unnamed Sonic RPG for the DS being developed by the makers of Mass Effect, Bioware. The Sonic RPG is the real wildcard here, as the RPG format seems to be the absolute opposite genre of game in which fans would want Sonic to be featured. With Bioware the creator, everyone is expecting a very solid game, even if it is different. One path that I am surprised Sega hasn’t explored is the idea of a remake of the original Sonic the Hedgehog game with 3D backgrounds, set up as a 2D sidescroller. Just take a look at how the Sonic level looks in SSBB (see picture below). Remakes are a big deal right now with the highly anticipated XBLA and PSN game Bionic Commando: Rearmed and Street Fighter HD (on XBLA). If Sonic Team made a great remake, with redone graphics, they could revive the series by selling it on Xbox Live, PSN, and Wii Ware.

5. The Mistake: The Disappearance of Nintendo’s Seal of Quality

Have you gone shopping for a new Wii or DS game lately? If you have, you may have seen, along with games like Super Mario Galaxy and Apollo Justice, titles like “Ninjabread Man,” “Cruis’n,” and “Monster Trux Arenas.” Case and point, for this generation, the Wii has the lowest review score average at 64% (or a 6.4 out of 10).
Back in the day of the NES, the Official Nintendo Seal of Quality meant something. Nintendo implemented the Seal of Quality for the NES to avoid the mistake that Atari made by allowing anyone to sell games for the 2600, many of which were the equivalent of shit in a box. Nintendo only allowed publishers to present five games per year. They were pushed to make sure they were great games, otherwise they would go out of business. If you look at the quality ofNES games overall, this clearly worked. Now, with the Wii’s popularity bridging across all ages, companies are racing as fast as they can to get budget titles out for the system to make some quick cash. The sad fact is that many of the new gamers that have picked up theWii for Wii Sports don’t know the difference in quality between Escape from Bug Island and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Third party publishers have also used the Wii as a port factory for PS2 and PSP games. The craziest example of the porting mess is with Prince of Persia: Rival Swords. This game was originally made for the PlayStation 2, then it was ported to thePSP, then the PSP version was ported over to the Wii. Again, this is just another way publishers are shoveling ports and overall crap onto the Wii.

It’s really disheartening that Nintendo has dropped the “Quality” from their seal. See the difference in the pictures below.

The Fix: Grow a Pair

Hey Nintendo, we all know that the Wii and DS print money for you guys. But at some point you have to remember that you are the most respected name in video games. You should be setting the example for the rest of the class, not turning into a whore for game publishers who want to do nothing but create shitty bargain bin games. Bring back the “Official Nintendo Seal of Quality” and test these games before allowing them to come out on your console. How much money would you really be losing? It’s true that the Wii won’t turn into the Atari 2600. But imagine how nice it would be to have some kind of quality control on the best selling home console of this generation.

Wrap Up:

These five mistakes are the most notable in video games right now, and yes, there are more. I have five more — “Minor Infractions” that I will be putting into another mini article for next week. Let me know what you think are the biggest mistakes of this generation by posting in the comments.