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[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

This is as innocuous a statement as he could have made. It inflaming anybody is kinda ludicrous.

 

[The Albatross]

Of all the ways to punt on this answer, this is probably the worst way.

 

[sublimit]

Well yeah and i respect them for that.We have enough pretendious,politically "sensitive" Western devs as it is.

 

[Parapraxis]

Well yeah and i respect them for that.We have enough pretendious,politically "sensitive" Western devs as it is.

Yeah, screw those devs for being inclusive and respectful. Where are all the devs willing to stereotype and hurl insults at minorities????

 

[archreaper93]

And that is why I will never really care much for Nintendo games. The don't even dare to have any sort of message other than childish fun.

If children enjoy it then it is childish fun. That doesn't mean adults can't also have fun with it. I just desire more than fun.

Jesus, this is embarrassing. This is something I would have said as an early-mid teenager when I went through my "Nintendo games are for kids, I only want mature games for mature people such as myself" phase.

 

[Rncewind]

Well yeah and i respect them for that.We have enough pretendious,politically "sensitive" Western devs as it is.

is it because they are dirty gaijins?

 

[Astral Dog]

Yeah, screw those devs for being inclusive and respectful. Where are all the devs willing to stereotype and hurl insults at minorities????

Huh, i thought this about serious, complex storylines and a theme, not about rights,alsi while Nintendo isn't exactly the most progressive its not like they try to insult minorities what r you talking about 🤔

 

[ShinMaruku]

Sometimes a beloved developer may have politics counter to what you believe and they ain't risking that. Also not everybody has to have a political game.

 

[DAREALGUMMY]

Expected answer coming from Reggie.


But it's not like he has control of what Nintendo makes. Leave it up to the Treehouse to sprinkle in some wokeness.

 

[AcademicSaucer]

Wii Fit is body shaming

Lol, thats ruthless

 

[Jack The Nipper]

I totally agree with you. It's a little soft for my tastes as well. But I respect that he is the face of a family company and honestly, I would expect no less from him specifically.

Yeah, it just makes him feel too much like a company robot to me. I understand what he is doing but it also means I myself have to ignore Reggie opinion as I'd feel he's treating me like I'm ignorant to some things.

I think his answer here is more than fine for me.

 

[watermelons]

You don't think that Nintendo avoids any political statements because they're too afraid potentially 'tarnishing' their image which might lead to minimized profits because certain asshats might feel offended? I remind you that they kicked out that gal from Treehouse after some neckbeard gamer gators started a massive shit storm circling around her lewd photo sidejob and controversial college thesis, but hey we really need that family friendly money don't we

Actually she got fired because Jamie Walton from The Wayne Foundation contacted Nintendo and made them aware of certain things. Her "sidejob" was also a clear violation of her contract with Nintendo.

 

[Neptonic]

That's Nintendo

 

[adamantypants]

For a second I thought cboat was back

 

[CrustyBritches]

When people become religious about politics it's just as bad as the antithesis. We are balls of goo flying through space and time on a wet rock. Stop trying to tell Nintendo what to think.

 

[Cpt Lmao]

Ever play a series called Halo.

Playing as the Arbiter in Halo 2 was a political statement given the social context that game released into. To go against the political grain that was demonizing "the other" and showing the complex nature of people you previously viewed as an enemy in the post 9/11 environment where America was at war with Iraq was a huge statement..

Id argue that the the Game and Watch Mario/DK games make this statement more competently. Where both characters are the villains depending on circumstance.

They then go on to reconcile in Mario Kart.

 

[Pokemaniac]

Well, gay marriage being "a glitch" and then removing it is quite the political statement. That's the point.

The glitch wasn't gay marriage. It was save data corruption. The gay marriage part was only a side effect (and not the only one IIRC) that the western media honed in on.

It's a case of something non-political being made political by misleading reporting.

 

[jdstorm]

Id argue that the the Game and Watch Mario/DK games make this statement more competently. Where both characters are the villains depending on circumstance.

They then go on to reconcile in Mario Kart.

Thats moving the goalposts. We were just talking about examples, not judging them for their quality. Art often reflects life and when something is topical, creative people will often seek to comment on it. If something is relevant enough there will likely be lots of similar works making similar comments.

 

[Dryk]

The argument of 'no politics, just have fun' is annoying when, as a player, I can't have fun with the choices Nintendo and other developers make in their games. I cannot enjoy a game with a socialization aspect that does not allow me to play as a female. I cannot enjoy a sim game that does not allow me to change my skin colour. I wince every time I see a game that wants me to take it seriously when the main female characters are dressed in clothing that does not make sense. And now, even though I cannot wait to pay Super Mario Odyssey, taking the 'damsel in distress' trope to a whole new level with Bowser forcing Peach to marry him, the storyline is no longer 'fun'. It's scary. And I don't know whether the devs know the implications or are just ignorant.

Yes, Nintendo is allowed to create whatever they want, but they need to understand that the choices they make in their games that they think are no big deal can alienate their audience. They are catering to a global market, the least they can do is be aware of the politics surrounding their choices.

I'm inclined to agree. The very least they can do is acknowledge that by trying to stay out of politics they're propagating the status quo at best and being regressive at worst.

 

[Cynar]

James Brown songs made political statements. They also made people smile and have fun. Not sure why Nintendo games can't do both too.

Or they could just focus on fun and not have to risk sales. Seriously. There's barely any story in most Nintendo games. There's no reason to go hunting for something that isn't there.

 

[Silurus]

Ugh, terrible answer.

Thought it was a great answer.

 

[Budi]

All right Reggie that's fair, I like fun! I like politics in gaming too though, I wouldn't mind a thoughtful and topical game either. Never expected those from Nintendo, but now I'm curious what would it be.

 

[Majukun]

Anita Sarkeesian said something along the same lines in one of her videos, "We must remember that games don’t just entertain. Intentional or not, they always express a set of values and present us with concepts of normalcy."

that's only true it you take everything as a statement

that's basically the same reason why people bashed violent videogames back in the day...if you are representing violence as an objective,you are normalizing violence and you are pro violence...which was bullshit then as it is now.

something can be made just to be taken as it is, and if you try to get what normal is or some kind of lessons from them it's your fault to discern what is meant to comment on something and have a relationship with reality and what it's there just to be there

and it's not a "leave politics and serious moral issues ouside of videogames" argument,but a "learn to understand when there's a message and when there's not"

 

[Wardancer]

Thought it was a great answer.

Everything has a political statement, hell mario keeps making political statements about it being fine with women just being there to be rescued, so yes it is a shitty response. You cannot absolve yourself of politics, supporting the status quo is political.

 

[Budi]

Everything has a political statement, hell mario keeps making political statements about it being fine with women just being there to be rescued, so yes it is a shitty response. You cannot absolve yourself of politics, supporting the status quo is political.

That's not just what women do in Mario games, they are in other roles too. And no they aren't making a statement that women are helpless and need to be rescued by men. But yes Mario saving Peach/Pauline is tired and archaic plotline.

 

[pitt_norton]

... I'd rather they spent time developing Metroid Prime 4.

So I can have fun.

 

[NHarmonic.]

That's not just what women do in Mario games, they are in other roles too. And no they aren't making a statement that women are helpless and need to be rescued by men. But yes Mario saving Peach/Pauline is tired and archaic plotline.

Most of the time, yes. See every clasic mario game, ever.

 

[Budi]

Most of the time, yes. See every clasic mario game, ever.

Sure classic, but why would we shout at games from 20 to 30 years ago when we have more recent examples. Which one you think is more important, what they are now or what they were? We have playable female characters in Mario games now, we have another old damsel being in charge of a city now. Could they do more, absolutely. And I feel that they probably are. Nintendo has been improving among the other companies. And still, they never made a statement that women are helpless. They made platformer games with lazy motivation for the protagonist, borrowed from old fairytales. Statement implies intent and that they want to say something, but it's just reasoning for Mario to jump and run. It's worth criticizing, but let's not pretend that Mario had/has a "political" message against women. It's a trope and product of it's time.

Nintendo also had woman as a hero in 1986, is that a statement too? Sending mixed messages, did they want to say that women are capable of being heroes or are they just useless damsels in distress? Let's see how they handle Samus now.

 

[ViolentP]

Yeah, it just makes him feel too much like a company robot to me. I understand what he is doing but it also means I myself have to ignore Reggie opinion as I'd feel he's treating me like I'm ignorant to some things.

I think his answer here is more than fine for me.

I think having the understanding that these people are nothing more than employees is quite healthy, actually.

 

[AcademicSaucer]

Most of the time, yes. See every clasic mario game, ever.

Mario is basically Popeye

 

[UnemployedVillain]

Mario is basically Popeye

Read the Mario wiki. Miyamoto literally created him after failing to get the Popeye license

 

[Maledict]

You can't not make a political statement. Politics covers every aspect of life whether we like it or not, and by snarkilky commenting that you're focusing on fun rather than politics you aren't just making a stupid comment to attack your competitors, but also showing you're damn ignorance.

E.g. Nintenod's continued obsession with not having same sex relationships in its games is a political comment. Given that most of their games feature implied relationships in some way (even the most facile ones, such as Bowser constantly kidnapping Peach to marry her) its clearly there. Whether they like it or not that *is* a statement on a p[olitical matter...

 

[KidGalactus]

You seem to be actively ignoring the games Nintendo has been creating and solely looking at this statement for some bizarre, inexplicable reason



I disagree. This seems like art elitists bending the definition to pretentiously define what they consider "art" to be. Like I said, in it's purest form, it's simply an expression of creativity

Are all games art? is picross art?

I'm not trying to quantify what is, or isn't art. It is foolish to do so. Go back, and read what I said.

Any statement qualifying something as art, or DISQUALIFYING it as not art is political in nature. Whether you intend for it to be, or not.