Has Wii lost the hardcore gamer?

[Guest Maase]

And does it matter?

 

Who's playing Animal Crossing: City Folk? If you guessed 20-to-30-something rich girls with exotic apartments, you guessed right -- at least, that is, according to the official commercial spots for the game, now airing on network television. Two advertisements presently in rotation highlight the title's dauntlessly slow pace and simple presentation while Kim Cattrall look-a-likes wax nonchalantly about collecting seashells and watching fireworks, either side-by-side in one serene living room or across the Internet using WiiSpeak. Reaching out to the coveted female demographic is nothing new for Nintendo, which regularly enlists the services of celebrities like Carrie Underwood for its handheld efforts. The difference between these Animal Crossing ads and pop-star-filled DS spots, however, is that the latter commercials have always been about casual projects and so-called bridge titles -- your Nintendogs and Brain Ages, in other words. In stark contrast, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2008, Nintendo specifically cited City Folk as its answer to the hardcore gamer's demand for more traditional software.

 

This is the state of Nintendo's Wii console, easily number one in monthly hardware sales and reliably dead last where the hardcore gamer is concerned. Is this an unfair criticism? I don't think so. It's not an assertion I make lightly or without ample evidence, either anecdotal or factual. As a so-called "core" gamer, I feel it and I see it. The slim selection of AAA titles from Nintendo this holiday. The missing truly big guns. The countless e-mails I receive from longtime readers who find themselves just as discouraged as I am. Where is the anticipated game designed just for the hardcore player? The one that can't be called casual or bridge software? It sure as heck isn't Wii Music. And obviously Nintendo's own advertising campaign is designed to grab a different type of Animal Crossing fan -- as well it should, people who played the GameCube or DS Animal Crossing titles have already seen and played everything that City Folk has to offer.

 

When I think about genuinely hardcore Wii games in 2008, one piece of software comes to mind: Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which is incidentally our highest-rated Wii project this year. It came out in March. Yeah, the March that ended eight months ago. Since then, the publisher has released a combined 13 games to retail and its console's downloadable WiiWare service. Many are of high quality. The casual-ready Mario Kart Wii, which shipped with a gimmicky steering wheel, for example, remains a satisfying racer. Endless Ocean's scuba-diving-based gameplay is unique and interesting. And then there's Wii Fit, a great exercise tool that regularly redefines software shelf life. It came out in May and enjoyed one of its biggest sales months ever in October. Brawl aside, these are all really good games, but they aren't really good hardcore games.

 

To take another viewpoint, let's examine the numbers. Of all the games Nintendo released this year, only one of them, Smash Bros., earned a review rating higher than 9.0 from IGN.com. Indeed, the combined average for the company's entire 2008 lineup is 7.6, thanks to several lazy or uninspired efforts that resulted in lower scores. Wii Music's overall review rating average -- and this considers every score for the game out there, not just IGN.com's -- is 5.7. Some people thought there was a fun music simulator hidden in there; most of us didn't. And either way, the hardcore crowd didn't care. GameCube's Animal Crossing, innovative for the time, scored a 9.1; the DS sequel earned an 8.8; and the Wii version, an aged mishmash of the two, a 7.5 -- great for rich girls in amazing apartments who have never heard of the franchise before, but a quick cash-in and a mere replica of old games for the rest of us.

 

It is one thing for Nintendo to make casual games, effectively developing new types of engaging software. It's no secret that Wii was created to help nurture fresh ways to play, an undertaking that has since resulted in the birth of many more immersive titles, including Wii Sports and Wii Fit. It is entirely another thing, though, to use the casual label as an excuse to populate the library with easy-to-make, marginally-changed sequels like City Folk and games so lacking in depth and production values, such as Wii Music, that they appeal almost exclusively to kids. Calling this software casual or bridge shouldn't give Nintendo a pass. And yet, if either or both games sell into the millions, as they probably will, the Big N will have no incentive to rethink its development philosophies. If you fashion yourself a hardcore gamer in search of more traditional Wii software, this potentiality should have you worried. City Folk may look and play like its predecessors, but it is at least a new game. Early next year, Nintendo plans to start re-releasing old GameCube titles with new tacked-on Wii controls, the first of which is a waggle-ready version of Mario Tennis. Casuals who never played it a generation before might care. The rest of us, not so much.

 

Even if there's a drought of core Wii games at present, Nintendo remains flooded in money. To the point, in fact, where it seems painfully obvious to me that the company simply doesn't need the hardcore any more, a truth evidenced every single month as the latest software tracking data from the NPD Group arrives. Not when sales of Wii triple those of PlayStation 3, PSP and Xbox 360 combined. Not when Wii games released into the market six months ago continue to sell 400,000 and 500,000 copies every 30 days. Honestly, why should Nintendo invest $10 million into a fully rebuilt sequel to Animal Crossing when it can alternatively spend a fraction of that with a repackaged product and it'll still sell out, anyway? The educated hardcore might choose instead to play Gears of War 2, Mirror's Edge, Fallout III, Left 4 Dead, Dead Space and Fable II on other systems, but ultimately, Nintendo's profits won't dip much. It is an incredible business.

 

Third-parties have unfortunately not completely filled in the gaps this year -- an oversight that hasn't gone unnoticed by Nintendo of America's president, Reggie Fils-Aime. "I will be able to say our licensees 'get it' when their very best content is on our platform, and with very few exceptions, that's not the case," he recently said.

 

Absolutely true. Wii is the best-selling console this generation, so there must be a reason why you don't see any of the aforementioned Xbox 360 or PS3 titles leading on Nintendo's system. According to several publisher and developer heads I spoke with when writing this editorial, none of which wanted to go on the record, there's a two-part answer. First, many studios making today's biggest games don't want to work within the limitations of the Wii hardware. That's understandable and there's little that can be done about that. The second reason is that few third-party publishers have been able to consistently capitalize on all of the Wii owners out there, which is much more troubling. I think this may be because many Wii owners truly are casuals who bought the system for a couple of interesting party games, but haven't followed the lineup since, a potential hurdle Nintendo faces as the life cycle wears on. Yet, third-parties themselves are also to blame for this Catch 22 predicament because if they won't ever take the risk and gamble on some AAA quality Wii software with the production values of Dead Space and the scope of Fallout III, for example, how can such an audience ever develop on Wii?

 

It's a hard case to make when the Wii audience chooses Carnival Games over Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, but some publishers are getting the message regardless. Take, for example, Electronic Arts, which has increased development resources for Wii after admitting early on that it underestimated just how popular the system would become. While EA has made some missteps with the platform, it has also created some top-tier software for it, much of it appealing to the hardcore audience. Its port of The Godfather was well done, featuring a smart control system. Its recent Tiger Woods and Madden games are great. And Boom Blox is both uniquely created for the system and innovative. In 2009 and beyond, though, EA will really step up the hardcore selection on Wii with some still-secret top-tier hardcore titles, according to sources. There's another major publisher -- a one-time Nintendo rival -- headed into the right direction, and I'm obviously referring to SEGA, which has three of the most anticipated Wii projects to date in development.

 

"[Our] most popular Wii game out there is not a hardcore game, but that doesn't mean to say there isn't an audience for core gamers," says Sean Ratcliffe, VP of marketing at SEGA of America. "In fact, our research shows that core gamers are the most prolific in terms of console ownership -- they own multiple platforms because they love playing games. There just haven't been many exclusive core games available on Wii to date and SEGA is rectifying that."

 

SEGA is not only publishing House of the Dead: Overkill and MadWorld, both of which look fantastic, but it recently picked up IGN.com's Wii Game of E3 2008, The Conduit, a fan-favorite that features some of the best first-person controls available and pushes the system from a technical standpoint. Ratcliffe argues that games like these -- titles with "tailor-made content" and that "take advantage of the control mechanics" of Wii for experiences that cannot be found on other platforms, will inevitably entice more core players to take notice of Nintendo's platform.

 

Nobody follows the trends, likes and dislikes of the industry more than the gaming press, so I naturally contacted two of my favorite go-tos for further insight.

 

"Has Nintendo lost the hardcore gamer? Depends: Do you mean the Halo and Gears of War fans who want M-rated titles? Yes, they lost them like eight years ago when they failed to follow up on the success of Goldeneye in any meaningful way. But do you mean the gamer who cares about fun, challenging, traditional videogames no matter what they look like? No, Nintendo has not lost these people," says Chris Kohler of Wired, who points to the company's 2009 lineup as proof. And I completely agree with him about Wii's future release list.

 

There seem to be two sides to Nintendo. There's the one which carelessly threw away what might've been a major leap in the Animal Crossing franchise for a me-too sequel. Then there's the one that not only launched The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess alongside Wii, but also released Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption within three moths of each other the following year. That second side of the company has gone into hiding in 2008 but it's not indefinitely gone. Far from it, in fact. Shigeru Miyamoto has already confirmed that the Zelda team is reassembled and poised to make a new Wii entry into the franchise that really takes advantage of the console. The Mario Galaxy team is also hard at work on a new Mario title, be it an official Galaxy sequel or something altogether original. And there's a full-blown Pikmin sequel coming to Wii, also confirmed by Nintendo's master designer. I can easily keep going. There are some truly major next installments and reboots in the works, including a new Punch-Out! from Next Level Games and a rumored Kid Icarus title by Factor 5, not to mention a Sin & Punishment sequel and compellingly original software like Cosmic Walker. Then, of course, there's the third-party support, also significantly improved. For all these reasons and about a dozen more, 2009 is primed to deliver the goods for traditionalists.

 

This editorial is unfortunately not about next year, but rather the long and uneventful wait for it.

 

"Hardcore gamers are not happy with Nintendo right now, and for excellent reason, but in the end they're going to keep their Wii around because they know the games are still coming," added Kohler. He might be right. Will Nintendo's fan base continue to support the system, enticed by the mere promise of better times? As someone who lived through the Great GameCube Depression, I can answer yes to that. But perpetually looking beyond the horizon to the next big thing probably won't win over any Xbox 360 or PS3 owners regularly treated to major releases, many of which shipped just this month. Wii owners aren't so lucky.

 

"If you are a core gamer in the most basic sense, you aren't choosing Wii as your main gaming platform. There are other, better reasons to own a Wii. I believe that Nintendo is attracting the core gamer bit by bit, as expanded audience titles come out that interest PS3/360 owners," says Kevin Cassidy, who operates the popular website Go Nintendo. "Will Nintendo ever have the Wii as the number one home for core gamers in the traditional sense? I think it's safe to answer that question with a 'no.' That's not to say that core gamers aren't experiencing the Wii, or picking it up as a complementary console. If you're a core gamer with an open mind, I think the Wii offers some unique experiences." Cassidy argues that while many Wii owners are dissatisfied with the holiday 2008 lineup, it's primarily because many system owners bought the platform singularly for Nintendo-developed games and without more of them this season, there's little to keep them coming back. By the way, six of the 10 games featured on IGN.com's Wii Holiday Buyer's Guide arrive from third-parties so if you fall in the category that Cassidy describes, I invite you to broaden your horizons.

 

So what's Nintendo's take on the piece? Well, obviously, that it has done much more than I've given it credit for. "Nintendo and our publishing partners have already released many Wii games specifically designed to appeal to core gamers," notes Denise Kaigler, vice president of corporate affairs for the company. "Just this past year we've published Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Mario Galaxy, Wario Land: Shake It!, and Animal Crossing: City Folk. And before this year we've published versions of our classic core-gamer focused franchises like Zelda and Metroid."

 

Difficult to argue with those examples -- most of them scored very well by reviewers, IGN included. But there is the fact that Galaxy released last year, Brawl in March and Kart in April. This holiday, only Animal Crossing is genuinely new, and by hardcore expectations it hasn't lived up. Kaigler also says that many third-parties like Activision and SEGA are creating excellent software for Wii and specifically cites Call of Duty: World at War, the Conduit and MadWorld, the latter two of which are set for release next year.

 

"What we have done though, which may be throwing core gamers a little, is not load all our releases into holiday '08," she says. "We've spread them out over the course of the year, and core gamers have been enjoying them all year. Nintendo remains committed to core gamers and we'll announce more great games in 2009."

 

I barely survived Nintendo's year of GameCube Pac-Man so I know a really bad lineup when I see it. The Big N's '08 presence isn't offensive by any means, but it's certainly top-heavy, heavier in the front and much lighter in the rear. While all of the examples Kaigler cites are valid, a quick glance at NPD for the last several months reveals that Wii owners are not still enjoying Super Smash Bros. Brawl or even the semi-newly-released Wario Land: Shake It! -- at least not in great numbers. Only Wii Play, Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii and Activision's Guitar Hero III show up regularly on the top 10 monthly best-selling games lists. Last month's best-selling game was in contrast brand new and purely for the hardcore: Fable II.

 

Nintendo assuredly has core games far greater than Fable II in the works, but the wait for that gourmet software will be months and months. Until then, many Wii owners have been forced to settle for virtual fast food, games that are interesting for a little while, but ultimately lack the depth and production values to impress those who grew up battling their way through epic Nintendo titles like Zelda, Mario and Metroid, and loving every minute of it. It's a prospect that has some traditionalists eying the fatter menus at the Microsoft and Sony restaurants.

 

Article here: http://wii.ign.com/articles/933/933583p1.html

 

So, what do you think? Do you agree, do you disagree?

 

A lot of positive and negative comments about Nintendo Wii in this article, i thought i should share to the (few) guys who don't go to IGN because of Matt.

[LazyBoy]

100% agree. Great article.

[dazzybee]

Great article. Agree with a lot of it. Especially about 2009 being AMAAAAAAZING!!!

[MadDog]

*sigh* Another Hardcore/Casual thread

[Hero-of-Time]

Its a great read and like others I agree with alot of it. I do however like this comment.

 

"Has Nintendo lost the hardcore gamer? Depends: Do you mean the Halo and Gears of War fans who want M-rated titles? Yes, they lost them like eight years ago when they failed to follow up on the success of Goldeneye in any meaningful way. But do you mean the gamer who cares about fun, challenging, traditional videogames no matter what they look like? No, Nintendo has not lost these people," says Chris Kohler of Wired, who points to the company's 2009 lineup as proof. And I completely agree with him about Wii's future release list.

 

Too many gamers are stuck in a rut and refuse to broaden their own horizons when it comes to gaming. Yes we all have our own tastes but we shouldnt judge a game on how it looks but on how much fun and enjoyment you get out of playing it.

[Goron_3]

That article was bloody brilliant! Well done to the writer of it.

[Serebii]

This is the state of Nintendo's Wii console, easily number one in monthly hardware sales and reliably dead last where the hardcore gamer is concerned.

Wow IGN, I had no idea that the NPD sales statistics narrowed down "Core Gamer" and "Casual Gamer". Nice spin you have there

 

Oish, this argument has grown tired and really doesnt need editorials for or against it

[Shino]

Can someone put some highlights? I'm too casual to read it all.

[Zechs Merquise]

Well, I think the Wii has had a good two years - we've seen Zelda, Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, Battalion Wars, Mario Kart (the best one yet in my opinion) and Smash Bros. We've also seen the emergence of some other great titles, both from Nintendo and from 3rd parties.

 

I've loved Wii Sports, Wii Fit has been massive and games like Call of Duty World at War and Medal of Honour have shown that online FPS games work on Wii.

 

We've seen the best Sonic game in a while and the rebirth of Nights. We've seen great versions of RE4 and Okami, great light gun games like Ghost Squad and RE Umbrella Chronicles... but some people aren't happy.

 

That's fine, because no line up will please everyone. I've been with Nintendo when they were the biggest thing ever and had the greatest arcade games ever on their system (Donkey Kong and Street Fighter 2), I've been with Nintendo when they were the choice for hardcore gamers and we had the most powerful system. I've seen Nintendo as the choice for the kiddy gamer with a purple console and virtually no third party support.

 

Now we're seeing another Nintendo. What ever they do they're never gonna please everyone. They didn't please everyone with the SNES, Goldeneye was and still is the best shooter ever (and probably one of the best games ever) but the PS1 still sold more.

 

The Gamecube had some of the most beautiful games - Wind Waker, Prime and RE4, but it was branded as a kids option! Now the Wii is here and Nintendo are winning the sales war, so they're just for casuals... I wonder what people would be saying now if they had released the most powerful of the three consoles and were struggling away churning out niche games for the same old fanboys?

[D_prOdigy]

It was an alright article, but once again the whole topic is let down by retorts like this:

 

"If you are a core gamer in the most basic sense, you aren't choosing Wii as your main gaming platform..."

 

Wow, glad someone told me what I am and am not. I was getting really confused.

 

Sega continue to exhume awesomeness though.

[Hellfire]

Difficult to argue with those examples -- most of them scored very well by reviewers, IGN included. But there is the fact that Galaxy released last year, Brawl in March and Kart in April

Yes let's ignore Wario, oh wait:

semi-newly-released Wario Land: Shake It!

Aaah it's semi-newly released. Games need to be a week old to be new. Americans didn't get Disaster, so he can't really mention that. I can though.

 

By the way, six of the 10 games featured on IGN.com's Wii Holiday Buyer's Guide arrive from third-parties

 

Third-parties have unfortunately not completely filled in the gaps this year

*Scratches head*

when most games are from Nintendo they get attacked because there are no 3rd party games, when there are 3rd party games they get attacked because there are no Nintendo games.

 

It's not that the article's totally off, it's that it's basing itself, as usual on narrow premises, like the definition of hardcore and casual gamer.

 

Brawl aside, these are all really good games, but they aren't really good hardcore games.

Oh snap!

 

There's never a middle ground it's always so damn black & white. Nintendo had abandoned the hardcore even before the console was released, so with a year and a half of Zelda, Metroid, SPM, Excite Truck, Mario Kart, Brawl, Mario, Wario and Disaster they still didn't make up for it, and a month later the past releases ceased to matter, because Nintendo must pump out game after game, which apparently is something they always did and with all the talk of needing 3rd party games, when there's room for them, it's the end of the world. Not very consistent.

 

While all of the examples Kaigler cites are valid, a quick glance at NPD for the last several months reveals that Wii owners are not still enjoying Super Smash Bros. Brawl or even the semi-newly-released Wario Land: Shake It! -- at least not in great numbers.

Never mind Brawl sold like 3.5 million games worldwide, if the examples are valid is the lineup being judged on sales?

Last month's best-selling game was in contrast brand new and purely for the hardcore: Fable II.

Interestingly enough, it's not brand new, it's a sequel and Molyneux admitedly simplified gameplay combat and whatnot to appeal to others than the hardcore. Funny huh?

 

Like I said, it's not that the article's completly wrong, it has good quotes and brings up valid points, but I still think the conclusions are wrong. It's obvious that Nintendo games are now more spreaded due to heavy releases the first year and a half, but exagerating as usual, is not nice nor smart. And whoever doesn't exaggerate like this is obviously a fanboy.

Not IGN specific, it's what lots of people have been saying, a more specific criticism here is that he sill is completly uninformed and blind when it comes to Wii Music, a game with lots of depth, while he still claims the opposite and apparently he also thinks for the informed gamers.

 

As usual, no matter what, the result is the same.

 

Casual is the new kiddy.

 

 

Sega continue to exhume awesomeness though.

Don't you mean exude? lol

[D_prOdigy]

 

Don't you mean exude? lol

 

Well, with HotD: Overkill, they're exhuming awesomeness also

[Jonnas]

Honestly, that article was very good. I've never seen the hipocrisy of the "casual/hardcore/AAA titles" situation so well represented.

 

Double standards regarding Nintendo/3rd party games? Check

Stating that good games that happen to appeal to casual gamers don't matter? Check

Passing off already existing games as if they're old? Check (with lame excuses to boot!)

Treating "Core" and "Casual" gamers as if they're in the middle of a cold war? Check

[Konfucius]

Pretty good article and when I gave it some more thought I noticed that actually there is a nice flow of more traditional games, be it from Nintendo or third parties.

I think the problem is though that Nintendo makes it seem as if all they care about is their precious "blue ocean". I mean the people they try to market WiiFit and stuff like that to. Usually their presentations are all about things like that while for instance Disaster got almost no mentioning prior to release. Still the more traditional kinds of games are also coming.

 

I only hope that Nintendo will keep them coming and keep them at the complexity-, difficulty- and quality-level we are used to.

[Hellfire]

Honestly, that article was very good. I've never seen the hipocrisy of the "casual/hardcore/AAA titles" situation so well represented.

 

Double standards regarding Nintendo/3rd party games? Check

Stating that good games that happen to appeal to casual gamers don't matter? Check

Passing off already existing games as if they're old? Check (with lame excuses to boot!)

Treating "Core" and "Casual" gamers as if they're in the middle of a cold war? Check

Aaah it's that kind of article! lol

[Marcamillian]

At the risk of sounding like a fanboy, I'm in Hellfires camp here. Its clear that the writer has set out with a message he wants to put across and sought to find information to support this rather than weighing up the research to see if his oppinion is correct. The whole thing seems a little incoherant to me.

 

Its an old worn out point but to me "hardcore" means gaming hobbyist, someone who has a real interest in games and games design in gerneral (or that could be me being elitist). From my point of view the PS2's lead last gen was entirely due to the casual crowd (that is not hobbiyst) I would wager that a great deal of GTA buyers wern't interested in the design or narrative so much as being able to break taboo's they can't in real life. Yet these are considered "hardcore" gamers?

 

Aside from the GTA audience of 12-30 year old males, last gen when you said games to the general populus they thought of playstation, it was the casuals choice. The Wii seems to have attracted these casual gamers and not the GTA crowd, leaving them more visible.

 

I feel the authors pain in that I can see so much potential for Nintendo and it dissapoints me that its not being fulfilled. But I am aware that they are one publisher, yet they seem to be criticised more harshly because they also produce consoles in house. At the end of the day if you'd really didn't like what Nintendo are doing... why waste time moaning? Get going to greener pastures.

[Hellfire]

You've painted a bullseye on your ass Marcamillian. And I salute you for it my friend.

[Jonnas]

Aaah it's that kind of article! lol

 

Well, what else could it be? I was about to facepalm in the 2nd paragraph, before I realised it just...looked so obvious.

 

Oh, and good post, Marcamillian

[Guest Maase]

Marcamillian, you better edit that post, i'm already hearing the Nintendo Haters from the "Other Console" board coming to ya

[Ren of Heavens]

Ironically I've always seen Nintendo as a unique developer by bridging the gap between core and casual. Target audience = Everyone. Most Mario and Zelda games are perfect examples of this. Very accessible, yet very deap. I find it impossible to regard games such as Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart Wii and Super Mario Galaxy as either casual or core. They're being loved equally by both camps.

[Shino]

Why are you defending Nintendo? Do you WORK at Nintendo? Do you get paid to advertise Nintendo? HUEAHUEAHUEAH, such a fanboy.

[david.dakota]

There's one comment that hits the nail on the head- after Goldeneye, Nintendo completely failed to capitalise on the FPS genre. The world and his dog bought Goldeneye, but Nintendo let the genre go- with Sony and eventually Microsoft capitalising on the genres popularity.

[Chris the great]

well, the article was long, and i got bored about 1/5th of the way in.

 

havign skimmed the article, it does seem like good points are made, but rather then saying nintendo had forgotten the core gamers, id say this,

schedualing was poor.

we got alot of great games pretty quick on the wii, by the end of the first year we had mario, metroid and zelda, with mario kart, fire emblem and smash bros by the middle of the second year. the problem is, they gave us alot very early on, and havent thought to put in anything that appeals afterwards, nor is there a date set in the near future for anything to truly appeal to the core, as we seem to be known.

 

we hear pikmin, kid iccasus, a new zelda and even a new mario are in the pipe line, but we havent seen anything. we dont know when to expect it. for that reason its out of sight and out of mind.

 

i respect nintendo for trying somthing new, wii fit is a great idea. just a shame i go to the gym, which is obviosuly more benefital to physical fitness then the wii fit. for me, £70 for an inferior work out is a bit much.

 

i think wii music looks missguided. its not cashing in on the guitar hero success, its giving us a chance to play at being musicians. it looks more like a toy then a game, somthing to distract the kids in an edutainment kinda way.

 

3rd party have delivered some good games, no more heros and okami being stand out examples. however, theres also a ton of crap cashing in on the wiis success, shodily made games aimed squarely at the new none gaming market. not a problem if youve never played games before, but when you have, its not what you want to see.

 

i have hope for nintendo, i really do. i was playing smash bros the outher day and remebered what it was about nintendo i had loved so much, the pure fun. we could play games that were called kiddy because we knew ehat mattered, the fun and enjoyment you got out of it. the game didnt treat you like a kid, it treated you like a gamer. what worries me is that games are treating me more and more like a kid. constant reminders not to let go of the wii remote while i swing (do you think sword instructers constatly remind pupils to keep hold of the blade?), a decline of difficulty (outher then about 5 stars, mario galexy was the equivelent of pissing into a pot. fun, but no challenege), and the general hand holding nature of games, ive been left feeling like im in a more kiddy market then ever before.

 

 

its a testiment to nintendo's situation that ive had my wii for 2 years, my ps3 for 6 months and the number of games i have for my ps3 will soon have over taken the games i have for the wii. lets just hope nintendo do have the old magic wating in the wings.

[Hellfire]

There's one comment that hits the nail on the head- after Goldeneye, Nintendo completely failed to capitalise on the FPS genre. The world and his dog bought Goldeneye, but Nintendo let the genre go- with Sony and eventually Microsoft capitalising on the genres popularity.

That's true, but although Prime isn't an FPS, it's a great take on the genre. Maybe they should buy High Voltage :P

[Nolan]

EPIC READ!

 

I skimmed about 1/3 of it then skimmed the comments.

 

All I'm going to say is in the last 2 years Nintendo has consistently put out games from launch to today. Most of the games are good, some of them can appeal to any player(MK/AC for example), some to the "core" (MP3 SPM), then the gimmicks (Wii*insert suffix here*)

 

Some quick numbers, since 2006 Nintendo has published 26 titles(not including japan only titles.) Sony enjoys the same number of titles published. Microsoft has published 31 titles, or 28 if you don't count 2005. Most of sonys titles were sports(bleh) at that. They're not doing anyless than the other companies, they're just spreading their target audience more.

 

Besides, they blew their load early on, do you really think we'll get another Zelda after 2 years? or MP? The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.