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[evangd007]

Nintendo's going to let the Wii lose its steam and fade away like the last few years of the GameCube.

That is the absolute worst thing that Nintendo could do. It's like starting out looking like you're the PS2 and then ending up being the PSP.

Was the Dead Space light-gun game that friggin' bad? I heard it was good. Maybe that's the only developers EA had available - maybe all their 'real' Dead Space guys were busy working on Dead Space 2 or some other thing that held great interest to the company. I mean, you're acting as if these companies were going to take their big guys off of these systems that totally indulge them and work on something like the Wii. You know that's impossible, right?

Dead Space Extraction was a flawed premise that happened to be well executed. Nobody wanted a story-based rails-shooter, not rails-shooter fans nor Dead Space fans. And the developer that EA contracted to make the game was Eurocom, who recently graced us with the excellent Goldeneye remake. It was well executed as per Eurocom's usual standards (they're very underrated), but it actually was a game that people wanted to play. Hence success.

Heeeeere we go!

Nintendo's timidity with motion controls has been draw-dropping. I mean it's not like it was the freakin' centerpiece of the whole system or anything.

It's the software, not the hardware. It didn't matter that NSMB Wii didn't use motion, did it? Accessibility doesn't necessarily mean waving your arms around. I'm still waiting for MS and Sony to get that.

 

[Kai Dracon]

Heeeeere we go!

Nintendo's timidity with motion controls has been jaw-dropping. I mean it's not like it was the freakin' centerpiece of the whole system or anything.

Here's a thought. Nintendo had the greatest production of "basic" software during the NES era. What I mean by basic, are simple, fun games that cover a wide variety of themes and play mechanics. Nintendo developed and published tons of nice little games, from Balloon Fight, to Ice Climbers, to Kung-Fu. And much more.

The Wii is the first Nintendo console that had the fire of the NES behind its adoption and ascent. It became a legitimate pop-culture phenomenon. I truly believe that this was due to its similarity to the NES in the mind of the average person. Wii Sports was the modern equivalent of those early, pick-up-and-play NES games. Motion controls were just a unique presentation to get people to pick up and try the thing out.

What has happened to Nintendo however, is that they're no longer the same company that supported their own platform as comprehensively as they did the NES. It's often claimed that "people just buy Nintendo branded games due to the name on the box" when it comes to software sales on Nintendo systems... well, so what? What if they do? If that's the case, isn't it Nintendo's job for the good of the platform, to put out enough content so that the average customer isn't bored and stops paying attention to the console?

I'd posit that the sheer amount of quality software Nintendo insured was on the NES benefited 3rd parties because it kept the average person involved and interested. It is often said that the regular person - who we have labeled "the casual" - doesn't play a lot of games because they're not "hardcore". I suspect the truth is closer to the hardcore play so many games because it's their primary hobby. Joe Average needs a good reason to keep messing with that video game boxen and is justified in unplugging it and putting it in the closet if it fails to prove it's not just a passing gimmick.

I suspect the Wii offered Nintendo the chance to recapture their old edge and sensibilities but they don't seem capable of fully recognizing the opportunity. Or the need. I can't blame them to a degree; they're in a tough position. They have to deal with existing fanbase, one that has become "hardcore" in its own way - one that screamed and wailed at the very thought that Nintendo's new console was not exclusively devoted to them. (The great fallacy that Nintendo has abandoned Nintendo fans this generation is bollocks. Nintendo has made more "core fan" games than they did for the Gamecube. 'Tendo fans are nutso, and just hate the fact that mom is playing your videogame too.)

The Wii could have been a hell of a thing, really. The NES II in every way, in terms of its impact. It's partway there, I think. The full effect will be muted though.

 

[poppabk]

Heeeeere we go!

Nintendo's timidity with motion controls has been draw-dropping. I mean it's not like it was the freakin' centerpiece of the whole system or anything.

:lol

 

[Kai Dracon]

It's the software, not the hardware. It didn't matter that NSMB Wii didn't use motion, did it? Accessibility doesn't necessarily mean waving your arms around. I'm still waiting for MS and Sony to get that.

I think the point is more that Nintendo didn't hardly follow up on what games such as Wii Sports established. Not every "missing game" that they should have made, should have been a full motion control gameplay title. But a number of them should have been.

And yes, they should have made more games like NSMB too.

 

[jmdajr]

It's the software, not the hardware. It didn't matter that NSMB Wii didn't use motion, did it? Accessibility doesn't necessarily mean waving your arms around. I'm still waiting for MS and Sony to get that.

No I'm pretty sure the whole point was to get you to play games in different and unique ways. And yet all they did was go old school. Awesome, way to back out of your original plan.

 

[poppabk]

No I'm pretty sure the whole point was to get you to play games in different and unique ways. And yet all they did was go old school. Awesome, way to back out of your original plan.

No, the idea was to court people who had either become disenfranchised with video games or who were never interested in video games before. One way of doing this was through simplifying interactions by making them more intuitive to the non-gaming audience. But the whole console was designed with this ethos in mind - overly simple Mii's, small form factor, the shape and styling of the Wii 'remote', the 'channels' - all played a part in making the Wii a success at reaching lapsed and 'non' gamers.

 

[Little Green Yoda]

What has happened to Nintendo however, is that they're no longer the same company that supported their own platform as comprehensively as they did the NES. It's often claimed that "people just buy Nintendo branded games due to the name on the box" when it comes to software sales on Nintendo systems... well, so what? What if they do? If that's the case, isn't it Nintendo's job for the good of the platform, to put out enough content so that the average customer isn't bored and stops paying attention to the console?

Nintendo is probably too conservative for their own good wrt to not wanting to expand their studios too much but it's not like churning out the next big Wii ____ title is an easy task. Ditto for more NSMBW type titles.

Plus, Nintendo can't exactly afford too many experiments in the vein of Wii Music. There's enough 3rd party shovelware out there on the system already; adding loads of mediocre experimental titles is going to tarnish the Wii brand further in the eyes of the masses.

I'd posit that the sheer amount of quality software Nintendo insured was on the NES benefited 3rd parties because it kept the average person involved and interested.

But do modern 3rd parties see it that way? I don't believe the "we have to compete with mighty Nintendo! wah!" stance is merely PR for stockholders. With the way some of these companies are run, it's hard not to think that the execs are buying into that line of thinking as well.