I think this may be the very best explanation. I've become increasingly jaded as a gamer. Things I would have thought awesome at one time now feel played out. I mean, for crying out loud, I often get burned out on JRPGs where I didn't anymore because I've seen it all before. This isn't necessarily a slam against that game's quality, it just means that I've been gaming for too long for anything to really hit me with "newness".Jmustang1968 wrote:I am far from being a Nintendo fanboy, and am actually often critical of them, so no bias when I say this. But, it would he hard for almost any game now to give that same feeling as the first time we played SMB or Zelda.
We were all 30 years younger for one, and most of usnyoung impressionable kids. It was also most of our first video game and especially console video game experiences. Yes, I had played pong and some 2600 before... Video games have exploded since then and cynical adults who have played 100s of games cant compare new experiences that cant compete with wide-eyed kid nostalgia.
I agree with this as well. Much of the furor around Nintendo is often that they haven't "grown up", as if they were supposed to cater to their original fans from cradle to grave. Why, how dare they stick to what they do best! Much of what they do isn't necessarily for us, although those of us who still love Nintendo's style of game are very much catered to, outside of the depressing lack of Metroid. Thanks, Internet, for screwing us over with your reaction on Other M.prfsnl_gmr wrote:I think that this is important to remember. Not every game is made for experienced gamers - like us - and a lot of people derive a tremendous amount of enjoyment from games many of us wouldn't consider playing. For example, I gave a loose copy of Mario Party DS to my 4-year-old son the other day. The game is, by all accounts, not that great, and playing Mario Party by yourself pretty much defeats the point. Nonetheless, he loves it, and he enjoys it drastically more than the critically-acclaimed racing game I gave to him with his system. Accordingly, I think we should avoid thinking that gamers like us are the intended audience for all games - and especially games published by Nintendo - and I think we should avoid judging (or pre-judging) the merits of a game that may not be intended fo us.
I think Nintendo has a lot of properties that are essentially all-age appeal. The Mario games fit there, and to some degree Zelda as well. In a lot of ways, they've always been like that. The only issue is that, again, we're missing some Metroid, but at least they're taking a stab with Star Fox. (I'm not a huge Star Fox fan, but I'm hoping for the best from it.)Exhuminator wrote:I said it before but it got overlooked so:
Games like Splatoon, Tomodachi Life, Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition, Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash, Style Savvy 3, Pokémon Art Academy, and Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival just do not appeal to me.
So tell me what Nintendo is developing themselves that does cater to older more experienced gamers. What is Nintendo internally developing right now to be released soon, that does appeal to hardcore gamers?
Also Nintendo chasing children and casuals is a dumb idea, because smartphone and tablets have those demographics locked down. That ship has sailed. Nintendo's idea to start making games for mobile platforms they don't own shows Nintendo is finally admitting this is the case.
As a publisher, they've also picked up some properties that could cater to more core-gamer tastes, like Bayonetta 2, XCX, Devil's Third, and Dragon Quest VII/VIII. (Too bad Devil's Third apparently sucks.)
Now, all that being said, it's pretty clear they're not being quite as wild as they were in the Wii era, but I think that's a direct result of having a failure of a system in the Wii U. They have no real choice but to lean on their biggest properties to limit the losses. While they do still release new properties, it's much tougher internally to justify the risk when there's a big chance it will cut into the company resources and put them in an even worse fiscal position. I suspect there may be things in the pipeline for when things look rosier financially, but we shall see.
As for catering to the young/casual, I'd argue that's the only way Nintendo is going to increase their mindshare. It's not like they can become a mature gaming company overnight, and at this point, too many of the "hardcore" have already abandoned Nintendo anyway. Honestly, I believe that even if they had the most powerful system out there, they'd still get ignored by the college-plus crowd as "kiddie". Mobile certainly isn't helping them, though, but at least they're taking steps to get things moving potentially in the right direction. They've got a better chance working in that space than they do against Sony and Microsoft in the "core" gamer segment.
Blah, lots of word vomit. And maybe I'm being too apologetic for Ninty. Lord knows I have before.
