The Conduit delayed: bad news for The Wii?

Poor old Wii. I still maintain that playing a good game on the Wii is just about the most enjoyable gaming experience you can have, but it’s not an easy thing to do. Given the scarcity of good titles and glut of shovelware, the average Wii sits unattended for lengthy spells waiting for the next arrival of a rarer-than-Hero-dolls Triple A title.

Which is why it probably didn’t need the announcement that the long awaited Wii FPS The Conduit has been delayed due to ‘localisation issues’. It’s only a short delay, moving the game from June 26th back to July 10th, and it goes a little way towards excusing the usually ominous rarity of review samples, but still, it’s a blow to the Wii.

Following an E3 at which Micrsoft and Sony both announced exciting new technology and games, the Wii at present can muster in it’s defence the prospect of four new Mario games, a faint rumour of a new Zelda title and a £15 add-on gadget that simply makes the Wiimote as responsive as most people hoped it would be back when they shelled out £170 for the console in the first place.

Really, with the future looking so unoriginal, the Wii needed The Conduit ASAP to keep people interested.

Ok, so if there are no further delays, it’s a matter of three weeks. But it’s three weeks that will see the release of Fight Night Round 4, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, Ghostbusters and Overlord II on other platforms. Ok, its not like the other consoles are getting new Halo or Metal Gear Solid games, but it’s still a list of highly anticipated titles, and to compete the Wii needed to offer more than just re-issues of old Donkey Kong and Resident Evil games (really, I love Resident Evil games, but I’ve got them all on Wii compatible Gamecube discs, am I really going to pay for them again just for added Wii-waggling?).

To be fair, its only a three week delay, but it’s three weeks at the end of dry spell that goes back several months. I’m sure The Conduit will be great when it finally gets here, but it’s a pattern that repeats itself far too often, and when a Wii lies unused during the huge gulfs between good games, it’s hard not to wonder if gamers eyes will start to wander.