Why Nintendo is going down the drain

[RadarScope1]

@ DanielPrimed

I personally have nothing against casual gaming (whatever that really is), and I partake in it myself. I love EBA, PacMan CE and lots of others. As I said before, I have just come to realize that Nintendo is not aiming its market toward me anymore. And that's fine. There's no shortage of other stuff I enjoy out there to play. And if kids and families who wouldn't otherwise be into gaming get drawn in via the Wii, then so much the better. I don't think the Wii market truly threatens the "traditional" gaming market. There's room for both, and choice is good.

[peace4myheart]

peace4myheart: Nintendo is flooding the market with crappy games. Really, Nintendo is flooding the Wii with crappy games? I can't even make another list, you do it for me. List all the "crappy" first party games for Wii, then balance that number against the total games on the system. Here is a spoiler though, even if you find every single Nintendo created game to be crap like rYaNTHePLayAH (an opinion I would avoid as I can't imagine how you would reasonably back it up), it will not be a large enough number to flood anything. The billion games for Wii aren't made by Nintendo! Shocking. Same goes for DS. Seriously where do people get the idea that the company that makes the console also creates every game for it?

Let me clarify myself as I think you may have misunderstood me by my bad Engrish. When I say "Nintendo is flooding the market with crappy games" I meant that Nintendo allows third parties to release crappy games without checking for quality. In doing so, Nintendo itself is and should be held responsible. If you read my other comments, I did say that the first party games are great, but that was all Nintendo has going for it on the Wii. I hope you know that when I speak of Nintendo, I speak of it as a company, not as a first party game publisher. If after this explanation and you still want me to list all the crappy games on the Wii, then I will do so. I can guarantee you the list will be a lot longer than any list you have.

[marurun]

I don't think Nintendo should be trying to keep crappy games off the Wii so much as doing more to promote better 3rd party titles. Instead of running off lower rung developers they should be providing more support for trying to transform them into better developers.

I don't know what Nintendo's support structures are like, but I hope they're not going the Sega way. In a trend that started on the Geneses and ended with the death of the Saturn, Sega used to keep the best API and programming developments under wraps until they had made a couple games using them, meaning 3rd parties were always 2 steps behind with good programming tools and never truly able to compete directly with Sega's game. Sega changed this tactic with the Dreamcast but it didn't save the Japanese market.

Sony took the US market by storm, and managed to compete with the Saturn in Japan, by effectively making their 3rd party developers first priority.

Nintendo, however, has always succeeded more in spite of their policies rather than because of them. Nintendo has a long history of trying to lock in or censor developers, so it's, in a sense, a good thing they are allowing anyone and everyone to develop for the Wii. But good development support will be key to sustained performance.

[ott0bot]

I'm so nonchalant regarding the current gen, I still intend on skipping it entirely. As long as there's is evolution and competition in the industry, I'm happy just sitting back and watching it roll. I've got 100's of games from the past I still need to get to. I say let Nintendo experiment all they want.

I feel the same way right now. I usually don't buy the systems until they are on the way out and you can buy the system and games for much less. You also have time to assess what the best games are and wheter or not it's worth it at all. When ps2's came out I had sooo many frinds wait in line for a one only to have it break on them and have to wait a month to play it anyway.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Now I'm not trying to flame anyone, but this thread is so full of pooey I am blown away. Lemme see if I can recap highlights.

RyaNtheSlayA: The company that has two of the best selling consoles on the market simultaneously is going down the drain, and Nintendo hasn't made a good game since the GC launched. Friend, if you didn't join a forum to be flamed, making your first caps locked post that Nintendo is bullshit is a funny way of showing it. Let me be clear on the all the games you call mediocre.

Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime Echoes
Zelda: Wind Waker
Zelda: Four Swords
Zelda: Twilight Princess
Smash Bros Melee
Mario Sunshine
Pikmin
Pikmin 2
Paper Mario Thousand Year Door
Animal Crossing
Donkey Konga
Mario Strikers

Super Mario Galaxy
Smash Brothers Brawl
Metroid Pime 3
Super Paper Mario
Mario Strikers Charged

Mario Kart DS
New Super Mario Bros
Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Metroid Prime Hunters
Tetris DS
Animal Crossing Wild World
Nintendogs
Pokemons
Brain Age 1 + 2
Mario v DK 2 March of Minis

That is just first party as you took aim at and I am not even getting into GBA games. Let me tell you what it means when you try to make opinionized generalizations about a console that don't hold up to the slightest scrutiny. It means you are fanboy_9800786347586 on the internet only spewing what you have read elsewhere. Maybe if you could discuss the genres of those games, tell us why they are garbage in their field, list other games of the times that did what those try to do but better...


peace4myheart: Nintendo is flooding the market with crappy games. Really, Nintendo is flooding the Wii with crappy games? I can't even make another list, you do it for me. List all the "crappy" first party games for Wii, then balance that number against the total games on the system. Here is a spoiler though, even if you find every single Nintendo created game to be crap like rYaNTHePLayAH (an opinion I would avoid as I can't imagine how you would reasonably back it up), it will not be a large enough number to flood anything. The billion games for Wii aren't made by Nintendo! Shocking. Same goes for DS. Seriously where do people get the idea that the company that makes the console also creates every game for it?

rscaramelo: I don't think waving my arms around helps most games. You're right it doesn't and good news you don't have to! I understand how the general public thinks the Wii is about spinning in circles to play a game as all you hear about from the news is retards putting the controller through the screen, and all you hear from Nintendo is "Our games waggle" because they know that will sell it to gramps. But if you even come to this site you should be educated enough to know that it is a myth. There is not a single Wii game that cannot be played, 100% effectivley, by sitting on your ass making occasional wrist flicks. Fat kids don't get exercise, neither will you. Now this isn''t you I am sure, but most people I hear making this comment are reserving GTA4 in GameStop and haven't played anything but Madden and Halo for the past 3 years and wouldn't touch a Wiimote for fear it would somehow expose their latent homosexuality in front of their frat mates.

peace4myheart: Let's just hope Nintendo didn't forget its hardcore gamers who supported them since the early 16-bits days as well as the days of N64 and Gamecube. This is something interesting that I do not quite understand, but I hear often so maybe you can help me. What games did Nintendo make for the SNES, N64, and GC that were more "hardcore" than what they make for DS and Wii? And what does hardcore even mean in relation to Nintendo? And what makes you think that consumers supported the N64 and Gamecube? Last I checked, a continuation of sales for the Wii by those two console's standards would have put Nintendo out of the console business entirely, so whatever they have done differently has kept them from being SEGA 2.0.

First of all, i never said that they hadnt made a good game since the GC was launched, that was a reply. Also, different games apeal to different people, sure, alot of games I like are on GameCube, what I am saying is that Nintendo is taking a turn for the worse.

[Daniel Primed]

This whole hate on casual gaming really fires me up. So yeah sorry if I went overboard.

@ DanielPrimed

I personally have nothing against casual gaming (whatever that really is), and I partake in it myself. I love EBA, PacMan CE and lots of others. As I said before, I have just come to realize that Nintendo is not aiming its market toward me anymore. And that's fine. There's no shortage of other stuff I enjoy out there to play. And if kids and families who wouldn't otherwise be into gaming get drawn in via the Wii, then so much the better. I don't think the Wii market truly threatens the "traditional" gaming market. There's room for both, and choice is good.

Yeah I agree, I bolded that part because I think that a lack of clarity on what casual gaming really is, is one of the major problems. I have had an article that should go up tonight on my blog about these issues.

People should be worried about the real issues with Nintendo such as the hardware issues (lack of Wii hard drive), them 1.5ing these GCN games for the Wii and DS (Strikers, Sluggers, Advance Wars etc), their consistent refusal to release cheaper, budgets games and probably most importantly helping ailing 3rd party titles that aren't just Capcom or Square-Enix.

[Curlypaul]

Wow, this is quite heated in here isnt it?

Well let me just add my 2 cents - I love my wii and my ds. Yes the controls can sometimes be a bit of a gimmick but in the whole I think they have breathed new life into games that I think had grown stale and had little interest for me.

I understand that most of the internet thinks that this will be the end of the hardcore games market but I dont think so. There are still the same number of people out there that will buy hardcore games its just that now there are also a load of people buying brain training and imagine babies too. As long as people keep buying Street Fighter capcom will continue to make more. simple as.

If you dont like what the wii offers then there are plenty 10 a penny shooters/puzzlers/platformers on whatever other console takes your fancy

[D.D.D.]

Wow, this is quite heated in here isnt it?

But of course it is. Nintendo fan boys are probably the hottest of them all. Of course I am one too but I have nothing to prove nor argue for a company that I have no direct relation to other than purchasing products that I like (and not purchasing ones I don't care for).
Besides, even this was a pro-Nintendo topic, it still would be too heated amongst the N-bretheren so I'm just surprised that it's not beyond 10 pages already.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I'm so nonchalant regarding the current gen, I still intend on skipping it entirely. As long as there's is evolution and competition in the industry, I'm happy just sitting back and watching it roll. I've got 100's of games from the past I still need to get to. I say let Nintendo experiment all they want.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Im alot of the same, however, I do like my PS3 alot mainly cause im a big racing game fan (GT5). For now, im happy with my newly aquired 32x and Dreamcast.

[soniklife]

This constant chatter of "casual gamers" ruining the industry is absolutely insane and I am so tired of hearing it. Tetris and Pac Man are by far the two biggest video games EVER, so much that they make the Wii's success look insignificant, and did their broad appeal destroy the industry? Absolutely not. What destroys the industry is the greed of people within the industry trying to capitalize on a successful trend and in turn making garbage. Like mircosoft and Sony trying to carve a piece out of the "casual" pie. Heck, most of the liscensed stuff on all the systems is far worse then some of the "casaul" Wii and DS games. While there is something to be said about a cult following, any means of entertainment I think benefits from having a broad appeal. All of this "casual gamer" backlash is just elitist nonsense. Games are meant to be played, and I never knew there was a requirement in regards to who is allowed to play games and what types of games can exist. I know heaven forbid if there were a variety of different games to appeal to different audiences. Games are meant to be a means of entertainment, and relaxation. Yeah, personally I may have myself heavily vested in the culture of video games playing just about every day, participating in forums, owning and playing multiple systems but that doesn't give me liscense to judge the mom who plays Brain Age or Suduko on her DS, or the dad he gets a kick out of Wii Bowling or the grandfather who enjoys tetris. I'm a nerd and will get heavily involved with playing Halo 3 into the wee hours of the morning or playing every possible scenario of the Shining Force series but at the same time I think it is awesome that I can set up the Wii at my parents house and play Wii sports or get together with my friends who generally don't like video games but will have a good time playing Mario Kart. To me that is awesome. How that can be construed as bad is beyond me.