Wii's "Demo Play"

It is actually kind of funny to me that the day after I write an article about the learning curve of video games I read this. Obviously, I am all for helping new gamers learn the ropes, but I do not think the games should be played for them.

Do we really want to teach our children that if something is too difficult you can push a button and have someone do it for us. Is that honestly what we want for ourselves? I really hope that Nintendo reconsiders this new "help" feature. As I said yesterday, I am all for making games easier to learn, but I assure you I did not mean this. Gaming is a hobby that is meant to be enjoyable. We gamers know that there is a great amount of enjoyment when we beat a difficult part of a game for the first time. This sense of satisfaction will be lost with this feature.

The article says that Nintendo wants players to be able to play, "without purchasing a strategy guide or resorting to websites that list cheat codes." I really have to question their logic. At least with a strategy guide, the player still has to do a lot of the work. The guide might help by giving strategy suggestions or even maps, but it is still up to the player to actually do it. How is this new "demo play" anything other than cheating?

I sincerely hope that there was some sort of translation issue when conducting this interview. How about having a demo feature that acts more like an in-game strategy guide? In Mario Kart players were able to learn tips and tricks by unlocking the expert ghosts, but it was still up to the player to use this knowledge and their own skill to play. No one is an expert on the first try and I greatly fear that this new feature will only hurt the new and casual gamers in the long run.