So I turned my Wii in today at Gamespot for store credit. That’s right the same Wii that was the big gaming system this as well as last Christmas. The Wii that Amanda and I combed the area for and stood in line for hours in the cool just to get. You may ask yourself: why or why would someone get rid of something so cool and hip. Well I will tell you…

The things that really killed it for me when it came to the keeping the Wii was the lack of good “hardcore” games.  Currently there are only two games that I really want to play on the Wii (Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid) but on the 360 there are more games than I can count on one hand that I’m looking forward to playing: Guitar Hero, Mass Effect, Burnout Revenge, Blue Dragon, Timeshift, Overlord  and Crackdown (I’m a little behind).  I want to play these games a lot more than I want to play either of the Wii games.  Most of the game of the year games have been available on the 360.

The lack of multiplayer games is killing me.  I know there are some games coming out next year that have multiplayer support but please, the 360 and PS3 both launched withs game that had multiplayer support.  This is ridiculous, because I thought at least WiiPlay or WiiSports would have  some kind of multiplayer support given the fact that they showcase some the cooler features of the Wii (Mii’s anybody?).

I find the lack of community support to be a real nail in the coffin.  The friend code has been really hard to get to other people mostly because it is a code with easy way to remember it.  The 360 has a gamer tag that identifies you in the games so it isn’t hard to remember (I’m not sure how the PS3 does this but I’m sure it’s easier).  So all one friend has to do is open their friend list and give it to anther friend.

I also wished that there was some kind of achievement system.   I think that this the one thing that the 360 has ruined for me because I don’t want to play a game anymore unless it has some achievements associated with it.  I think that is something that still needs some work on the 360 but it is really nice to be able to see what other people have done in a game.  Before all this I remember having those stupid “face to face” conversations where we discussed how we had done in a game.  But now there are websites devoted to comparing your achievements with your friends.  I also think there are some game where getting the achievements are more fulfilling than actually completing the game *cough* Bioshock *cough*.

The last thing that made me trade in my Wii was the $200 credit I got from Gamespot (they were really happy to have it to sell to).  I used this money to get Guitar Hero and we have played it more tonight that we have used the Wii in the last several months.  I’m sure the other games that I get with that credit will get more use than the Wii too.

This isn’t to say that the Wii is a complete piece of junk.  I did really enjoy playing the virtual console when I was felling nostalgic for some of the game of my youth.   I also thought that the Mii feature was really cool and I would be nice if the other gaming platforms would pick something like this.  The Wiimote is also a very cool input device and I think the things some people have done with them is amazing.  I also really like the interface for accessing your games and the fact that they gave away the Opera browser.

For those of you out there thinking about getting a Wii I leave you with this.  The Wii is an excellent gaming system for really casual gamers or most people who are new in gaming but not for anyone who wants to play the really fun games.