Retro_Link Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 (edited) Did anyone else find it particularly refreshing how open Nintendo were in the latest Nintendo direct? Where there was potential for disappointment they tackled these face on. The only exception for me was no mention of Gamecube games on the Virtual Console. - In most cases where footage of a game was not ready/available, they said when it would be (E3), or they had a statement to read out, or even a video to show from the games development team about the progress. - They acknowledged the fact that they have become somewhat predictable in their development programme with Mario titles and Party Games, almost made a joke out of it themselves 'games you'd expect us to be making'... and addressed it head on with new titles. - The fact that they're still getting used to the HD Console as evidenced by the background work they're doing on Zelda Wii U... and by that process delivering us Wind Waker HD as a bit of fan service. - Expressed that the Wii U's OS isn't up to scratch (although summer does seem a little long to address it). Basically the Wii U is one big learning process for Nintendo. I don't know, other than the fact release dates are a bit sketchy (they still aren't giving dates for Wario Ware, Pikmin, Wonderful 101 etc...), I came away from that Nintendo Direct feeling like Nintendo are beginning to get a much better grip on things. Edited January 23, 2013 by Retro_Link
darkjak Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 Seems like they indiscriminately murdered their old "say nothing" policy as well as realising what dicks they have been against their own fans.
Grazza Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 I completely agree, Retro Link. I'm not a fan of secrecy unless it's genuinely needed to protect a company. There's no point in using it just to make waits seem less long. If you look at the 3DS, I know people have been waiting quite a long time for Animal Crossing, Luigi's Mansion etc, but how bad is that really? In my opinion, it's far better to know they're coming (and to see early builds) because it makes you relax and gives you confidence about a machine's future. By the way, I think GameCube titles simply might not come to Virtual Console (because of the lack of analogue triggers). Instead, they might just opt to remake their best games, as quite a lot of the big ones did use them (although not Wind Waker, ironically). That said, the fact they didn't announce N64 either (which the Wii U should be well capable of) gives hope. I feel so much happier and more confident about Nintendo today.
Wii Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 Absolutely. Far better to know a game is coming and get a glimpse of what'll look like. Xenoblade sequel is a perfect example. I don't care if it doesn't come out until Christmas 2014, I'm just glad to know it exists and is coming. Gamecube Virtual Console is coming and they have a solution to the analogue triggers
M_rock Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 I really like it if a company is honest, it just makes me have so much respect for them! I don't mind waiting for games, as long as they don't let fans in the dark. I think the nintendo direct was brilliant this time, and it certainly did affect the future of the WiiU in a postitive way!
Ville Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 Yeah, I think the presentation is quite excellent. Like the name, it's pretty direct, yet still feels personal and casual, no boasting or over the top marketing speeches like in the West. Makes you feel like they actually care about their customers. Overall, I think these NDs are a very good move on Nintendo's part. Regular news = much better than yearly hypefests.
Retro_Link Posted January 23, 2013 Author Posted January 23, 2013 Yeah, I think the presentation is quite excellent. Like the name, it's pretty direct, yet still feels personal and casual, no boasting or over the top marketing speeches like in the West. Makes you feel like they actually care about their customers. Overall, I think these NDs are a very good move on Nintendo's part. Regular news = much better than yearly hypefests. I dunno, I thought todays ND was the first of its kind tbh. With this one it was like Nintendo felt they hadn't been treating their long term fans properly lately and came right out and addressed the major issues. Their last few ND's have been terrible IMO. This was almost like Nintendo Direct Apology! :p
Daft Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 I'd rather they just say this year well looking to have X, X and X - but just do that when they are confident they should hit their target. Like virtually all games companies attempt to do and are pretty good with. After that ND, all I know is Nintendo have a few games coming out in the vague not-too-distant future. Maybe. If things get delayed, I have no problems. The only time in recent memory I got frustrated with a delay was The Last Guardian but that's mainly because there's no information about where it's out and when it will come out.
Retro_Link Posted January 23, 2013 Author Posted January 23, 2013 Yeah release dates continue to be Nintendo's biggest problem. The fact Pikmin 3 still hasn't got one, even if it's in May or something is ridiculous, it should be absolutely locked in and dated now. The whole 'window'/'we're looking at this vague period, but we might delay it into this vague period' gets annoying.
Serebii Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 Yeah release dates continue to be Nintendo's biggest problem. The fact Pikmin 3 still hasn't got one, even if it's in May or something is ridiculous, it should be absolutely locked in and dated now. The whole 'window'/'we're looking at this vague period, but we might delay it into this vague period' gets annoying. Nintendo doesn't like working to dates as they feel it rushes them, and then delays would happen, and people would bitch...as seen with the times they've done that.
Retro_Link Posted January 23, 2013 Author Posted January 23, 2013 Nintendo doesn't like working to dates as they feel it rushes them, and then delays would happen, and people would bitch...as seen with the times they've done that.Come on, the Pikmin 3 situation has been ridiculous. In that case they should structure their reveals better/had more games in place before they launched the Wii U.
Serebii Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 Come on, the Pikmin 3 situation has been ridiculous. In that case they should structure their reveals better/had more games in place before they launched the Wii U. Well they tried to structure their reveals better, but people started bitching
Deathjam Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 Either way, this new 'openness' has convinced me to definitely get a Wii U sometime this year, just need to find the money. I wonder though, are only Nintendo fans seeing this information rather than possible prospective buyers?
Ville Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 I dunno, I thought todays ND was the first of its kind tbh. With this one it was like Nintendo felt they hadn't been treating their long term fans properly lately and came right out and addressed the major issues. Their last few ND's have been terrible IMO. This was almost like Nintendo Direct Apology! :p Haha, well let's hope they get their stuff sorted, or otherwise it's gonna be a NDA everytime from this point onwards : D I'd rather they just say this year well looking to have X, X and X - but just do that when they are confident they should hit their target. Like virtually all games companies attempt to do and are pretty good with. After that ND, all I know is Nintendo have a few games coming out in the vague not-too-distant future. Maybe. If things get delayed, I have no problems. The only time in recent memory I got frustrated with a delay was The Last Guardian but that's mainly because there's no information about where it's out and when it will come out. Yeah, that's true, no release dates yet. It does make one wonder if the drought will continue after March...
Aneres11 Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 Either way, this new 'openness' has convinced me to definitely get a Wii U sometime this year, just need to find the money. I wonder though, are only Nintendo fans seeing this information rather than possible prospective buyers? That's a good point you make re the news getting to the masses. I think it may filter to the potential buyers though. I use DigitalSpy for all music and entertainment news and this was reported (along with the Yoshi game) on there. That website has millions of people viewing it so hopefully with that kind of exposure it'll maybe help the Wii U along a bit. Big maybe, but you never know!
Jonnas Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 Either way, this new 'openness' has convinced me to definitely get a Wii U sometime this year, just need to find the money. I wonder though, are only Nintendo fans seeing this information rather than possible prospective buyers? They have streams available for anyone on their site (though I'd rather use N-E to keep up with the dates). To watch them after they happened, I believe they upload them to their Youtube account.
Deathjam Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 They have streams available for anyone on their site (though I'd rather use N-E to keep up with the dates). To watch them after they happened, I believe they upload them to their Youtube account. Needs to reach more people than these watching Nintendo sites to be effective. That's my point. Some of the information gathered here could entice some of those who have 'switched off' from Nintendo.
Serebii Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 Needs to reach more people than these watching Nintendo sites to be effective. That's my point. Some of the information gathered here could entice some of those who have 'switched off' from Nintendo. That's what the press releases released after the Nintendo Direct do
Fused King Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 I'm also really liking all these new partnerships NINTENDO is making. It's nice that they acknowledge that for top-quality games, they'd do better to work with other developers for more man power and experience.
Grazza Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 Needs to reach more people than these watching Nintendo sites to be effective. That's my point. Some of the information gathered here could entice some of those who have 'switched off' from Nintendo. It's a good point, but I assume we're all putting this stuff on social networks? One of the biggest problems was that the Wii U wasn't trending on them at all, resulting in no awareness of it. Some of my mates have already "liked" the news about Wind Waker HD, even though they probably don't know what Nintendo Direct is.
Debug Mode Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 It is indeed pretty great to see how open they are becoming with the Nintendo Directs and such.. Just a shame it's limited to their public relations only while their systems become more and more closed. Forever hating that pain in the ass that is region locking.
Wii Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 I don't think this Nintendo Direct changes the way they generally are as a company. They're still a closed book. If things had been going to Nintendo's plan we wouldn't have seen this today. I think it's a little bit of panic setting in.
Retro_Link Posted January 23, 2013 Author Posted January 23, 2013 Yeah I think this particular Nintendo Direct was very much born out of the fact that a) the console hasn't maybe sold what they expected and b) that they have no games out in Q1 (and a dubious looking Q2).
Dcubed Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 After that Nintendo Direct I feel like a right jerk now I got pretty much everything I predicted and asked for (even though Yoshi Wii U looked much closer to Kirby's Epic Yarn than I had expected) and then some! (I didn't call GBA games on the Wii U and certainly not SMTXFE!) But the whole thing left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. I get a bad feeling about the whole thing; it's really obvious that Iwata's hand is being forced here as they clearly weren't ready to show the stuff they announced there. The details about Zelda Wii U also worry me. I get a bad feeling that Aonuma is being forced to pander to his fanbase, rather than being able to make the game he wants... That came across to me like a check list of things that they know the fanbase wants and that they're just trying to make them happy (and Wind Waker HD also seems like it's being made for them, rather than for Aonuma himself - though if Greezo is making it rather than EAD, then that's ok I guess...) The only thing I want to really see from Nintendo is for them to make the games that they actually WANT to make themselves - not pandering to mouthbreathers on the Internet I really hope that my suspicions are wrong here (though considering that I correctly predicted almost everything that would be shown here, that's not a good sign!)
Fused King Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 I don't know. To me it felt more like: 'Okay, we're new to this HD game and we're having a bit of trouble with it, but rest assured, we still know how to make games and we're making new partnerships to cater to the needs of the gamer. Mario and Zelda are coming, and so is Smash Bros. It will just take a bit of time because we want to guarantee the quality, but by golly we are putting our best foot forward to create some amazing experiences again Miyamoto is working on StarFox and Retro is working on Metroid'
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