Support NeoGAF

[zero_suit]

People call Microsoft and (before the ps4 lovefest) Sony arrogant but this guy has been just as, if not more, arrogant than anyone from either of those companies.

Nothing beats Sony's PS2-era arrogance.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

It was still better than the Wii trash they put out.

Well that's like... your opinion man.

One that I find disconcerting at best. I mean... I can see why someone would love the visuals of Wind Waker and the vast majority of the game. But neither TP nor SS have anything approaching the bad design of the triforce fetch quest.

Then you've got Kart. Double Dash is by far the slowest of the series because of the focus on dual characters.

And Sunshine... I'd take a million clones of NSMB over something that half-hearted. The only thing half fun in that game was the special levels without Fludd. And SMG is pretty much an entire game of those levels.

If you feel that way cool... but I in no way agree.

 

[D-e-f-]

Wow...poor Iwata. He must have fucked up real bad for this to happen.


Also, all these titles are confusing. What's the hierarchy when it comes to President, CEO, and Chairman?

You do get that he has MORE power now, right? He is now Global President (which he was before) AND NoA CEO.

 

[Tookay]

I don't get it myself.

That era of Nintendo, now called "Panic Mode" brought about some of the worst iterations in their biggest series. Mario Kart was rushed to release and slow in speed. Sunshine had one of the worst cameras in the series and no thematic differences between stage. Wind Waker was missing dungeons and padded the game with irritating fluff.

Melee, Pikmin, and Prime were the consoles premiere titles. And only one of them had great sales potential. And if you ask Ani one of them is just crap in a pretty shell.

Depends on what we're lionizing here.

I got the sense that the "lionizing" comes from the fact that the Gamecube was the last time Nintendo made a system that was graphically up-to-par with its competitors, coupled with the fact that it had stronger (though still anemic) third-party support than its successor consoles.

But if the "lionizing" is directed toward Nintendo's first party efforts, then that makes no sense. Most of the GCN's titles were rushed, ambitious-conceptually-but-poorly-executed misfires that blew a lot of their N64 momentum.

 

[Glass Joe]

At this rate, any move is a good move. 3DS seems to be working in Japan, Wii U is struggling all over. Makes sense to make Iwata more involved in their biggest potential market.

Hopefully he can actually DO things. I'm thinking NOA basically had to just accept what Nintendo said and basically had to follow orders, rather than actually take initiative on anything.

Maybe Iwata can ease tense relations between 3rd parties? That would be my first priority, sucking up to EA to ensure U gets Madden 25th and Take Two to make sure it gets GTA 5 as well.

That, and hopefully we won't see a repeat of good software taking so long to come to America, if it comes at all. Hire a translation staff to work directly with the designers so simultaneous launches are the norm.

 

[Kintaco]

I'm not a big Iwata suporter, but I think this will be a good thing for NOA. Hopefully this will facilitate the localization of more games. Also I think Iwata sees this as a fall back plan, if he is forced to leave his position as President/CEO of NCL, he will still keep his NOA CEO position.

 

[RM8]

It was still better than the Wii trash they put out.

Mario (main games): better on Wii.
Mario Kart: I personally prefer DD! but Wii is a much bigger, replayable game.
Zelda: Uh, I guess it depends. WW vs. SW.
Metroid: better on GCN... but those games were on Wii along with MP3.
Fire Emblem: pretty much the same.
Kirby: Kirby didn't even exist on GCN outside of Air Ride, no contest.
StarFox: Didn't make it to Wii.
F-Zero: Didn't make it to Wii.
Sin & Punishment: Didn't make it to GCN.
Punch Out!: Didn't make it to GCN.
Pokémon: Better on GCN? I'm not a fan of non-handheld Pokémon games.

Seems pretty even to me, or even slightly favoring Wii.

 

[jwhit28]

I'm kind of glad Nintendo still does their own thing. A lot of people keep hoping they will change and become what Sony or Microsoft offer but with Nintendo IP's on top. It's not going to happen. No matter if they have the best selling hardware of the generation or the worst people's choice in if the console is worth it will ultimately come down to how much you enjoy the games Nintendo puts out (which has been almost none on Wii U so far but that's a different problem). Their strength isn't chasing after games that will lead design on another platform and look best on PC anyway. They are going to do some things ass backwards, and they are going to focus on features you might deem inconsequential, but they will also make some of the best playing games of the generation and offer experiences that truly feel unique in a sea of me too releases. Sometimes they get it right and companies scramble to catch up to Nintendo and sometimes they are unbelievably behind. It might change slightly over time but what you have seen is what you get. If that turns you off, well that's why options are great.

 

[Meelow]

I think what this might mean, and hopefully what ends up happening, is that what NCL does, NoA does. Instead of this: NCL does something, NoA sometimes does the same thing, but it takes forever before it happens, if it even does happen at all.

What I think this means is: Global Nintendo Directs without a lot of significant region-only announcements or products. There are exceptions, obviously, things like Tomadachi and Giftpia probably don't appeal to Western audiences, and vice versa, 3D Metroid games for example don't appeal to Japanese audiences. Overall though, I expect more uniformity in product launches and announcements.

I think this also makes E3 more significant for them. If Iwata is now also CEO of NoA, he now has far more direct control over NoA-specific trade shows and expos like E3.

This can only be a good thing. Not merely because of the person (Iwata) that is assuming the role, but because NCL and NoA will now be more unified and work closer together than ever before.

It's a net benefit to fans.

That's a good point, NoA and NCL working together can really help, not like with Sega of America and Sega of Japan which they were competing with each other at the time.

I really hope good things come out of this for North America users like myself for Wii U and 3DS.

 

[Pikma]

I'm kind of glad Nintendo still does their own thing. A lot of people keep hoping they will change and become what Sony or Microsoft offer but with Nintendo IP's on top. It's not going to happen. No matter if they have the best selling hardware of the generation or the worst people's choice in if the console is worth it will ultimately come down to how much you enjoy the games Nintendo puts out (which has been almost none on Wii U so far but that's a different problem). Their strength isn't chasing after games that will lead design on another platform and look best on PC anyway. They are going to do some things ass backwards, and they are going to focus on features you might deem inconsequential, but they will also make some of the best playing games of the generation and offer experiences that truly feel unique in a sea of me too releases. Sometimes they get it right and companies scramble to catch up to Nintendo and sometimes they are unbelievably behind. It might change slightly over time but what you have seen is what you get. If that turns you off, well that's why options are great.

You and me, we agree.

 

[velvet_nitemare]

People might want to wait for Holiday 2014 PS720 games to get more of an idea of what they can do, same with any console launch games don't even begin to scratch the surface of what they can do.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

Depends on what we're lionizing here.

I got the sense that the "lionizing" comes from the fact that the Gamecube was the last time Nintendo made a system that was graphically up-to-par with its competitors, coupled with the fact that it had stronger (though still anemic) third-party support than its successor consoles.

But if the "lionizing" is directed toward Nintendo's first party efforts, then that makes no sense. Most of the GCN's titles were rushed, ambitious-conceptually-but-poorly-executed misfires that blew a lot of their N64 momentum.

I agree with this outlook.

But we've literally got people talking up their GCN wares as being in another world entirely from their Wii efforts. I agree. Their Wii output barring Brawl was infinitely better than their Cube output.

 

[lovegames718]

Nintendo would do lol Keep that staleness in the air!

 

[Kai Dracon]

On the subject of Nintendo attempting to synchronize all their operations across both regions and platforms: I wonder if they'll leverage the fact that they have a full digital distribution platform now.

Example: Xenoblade worldwide release is greatly delayed and in doubt due to NOE and NOA unsure of its sales potential and demand. Wasn't possible to mitigate retail costs by releasing it digitally in potentially lower sales regions.

Perhaps now Nintendo will feel more comfortable with worldwide releases because they've got options. A game fans demand from Japan that would be very obscure in the west could, as a backup plan, get an eshop only release for Wii U in western territories.

This would upset people who don't want to buy DD games, but if it gets more games released in the west and without a years-long wait, it's not all bad.

 

[JordanN]

I'm kind of glad Nintendo still does their own thing. A lot of people keep hoping they will change and become what Sony or Microsoft offer but with Nintendo IP's on top.

Do you really like Nintendo doing their own thing for everything? For example, would you really disagree 3DS could have been alot better if it had 2 analogs like Vita instead of one?

I like a unique Nintendo too but I don't like it at the expense of having a proper experience.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

Nintendo would do lol Keep that staleness in the air!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IC3W1BiUjp0

 

[emb]

I think what this might mean, and hopefully what ends up happening, is that what NCL does, NoA does. Instead of this: NCL does something, NoA sometimes does the same thing, but it takes forever before it happens, if it even does happen at all.

What I think this means is: Global Nintendo Directs without a lot of significant region-only announcements or products. There are exceptions, obviously, things like Tomadachi and Giftpia probably don't appeal to Western audiences, and vice versa, 3D Metroid games for example don't appeal to Japanese audiences. Overall though, I expect more uniformity in product launches and announcements.

I think this also makes E3 more significant for them. If Iwata is now also CEO of NoA, he now has far more direct control over NoA-specific trade shows and expos like E3.

This can only be a good thing. Not merely because of the person (Iwata) that is assuming the role, but because NCL and NoA will now be more unified and work closer together than ever before.

It's a net benefit to fans.

I think this process has already started. Directs are now all (or at least the US ones are) done by Iwata, and simultaneously. They just made a big deal about Pokemon getting a worldwide release. Earthbound VC and Bravely Default are finally getting releases over here. Nintendo is at least trying to think internationally. It might have something to do with the Rainfall debacle, or more likely is just an issue with Nintendo generally struggling overseas. Either way, I hope it really is a trend and that it continues.

 

[Tookay]

I agree with this outlook.

But we've literally got people talking up their GCN wares as being in another world entirely from their Wii efforts. I agree. Their Wii output barring Brawl was infinitely better than their Cube output.

If Brawl had pulled it off, man, that would have been something.

But, yeah, we're usually on the same page when it comes to Nintendo.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

But, yeah, we're usually on the same page when it comes to Nintendo.

Both good and bad.

 

[D-e-f-]

well i remember the wii getting way better support than the gamecube. the wii u doesn't even have much support from nintendo.

on the shelves right now? not really, although it's easy to ignore games they published and disregard them when thinking of "nintendo" supporting their own platform because they weren't internally.

 

[VXLbeast]

Fantastic! Maybe NoA will actually do work now?

Also, this would be even better if they said, "And Iwata now delivering all E3 presentations." Even with his accent, would listen to an hour of him rambling over 5 minutes of Reggie talking.

 

[vdoggie]

Surprised people are throwing Reggie under the bus. Is there really any reason to think Wii U's "failure" has more to do with NA's corporate leadership than it does upper management in Japan?

I love Iwata, but more as an affable figurehead than an actual "get things done" CEO. Nintendo has been indefensibly slow to adapt to online gaming and distribution, unable to incorporate core, up-to-date graphical technologies, embarrassingly behind in interface design and optimization, and their management of staggered Wii U game releases has been an abysmal failure.

If management outside Japan has any blame to shoulder, then it's probably that they didn't speak up to their superiors and say "look, these are things gamers are demanding and they need to be there if we want to compete in the larger market."

You can blame Japan, but the Wii pretty much refuted EVERYTHING in your statement.. I won't bother to list everything out.. but when an SD goes on to sell 100 million when HD was largely prevalent two years from it's own on set the rest are even less representative of what is going on now.. and what is going on now has almost NOTHING to do with your points either.. the industry is in a serious funk and it includes ALL console manufacturers to publishers.. have you even noticed how many have gone out of business.. checked EA's stock lately? People need to get a serious reality check on what is going on..

 

[Van Owen]

Well that's like... your opinion man.

One that I find disconcerting at best. I mean... I can see why someone would love the visuals of Wind Waker and the vast majority of the game. But neither TP nor SS have anything approaching the bad design of the triforce fetch quest.

Then you've got Kart. Double Dash is by far the slowest of the series because of the focus on dual characters.

And Sunshine... I'd take a million clones of NSMB over something that half-hearted. The only thing half fun in that game was the special levels without Fludd. And SMG is pretty much an entire game of those levels.

If you feel that way cool... but I in no way agree.

I'm thinking more along the lines of Wii Music.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

You can blame Japan, but the Wii pretty much refuted EVERYTHING in your statement.. I won't bother to list everything out.. but when an SD goes on to sell 100 million when HD was largely prevalent two years from it's own on set the rest are even less representative of what is going on now.. and what is going on now has almost NOTHING to do with your points either.. the industry is in a serious funk and it includes ALL console manufacturers to publishers.. have you even noticed how many have gone out of business.. checked EA's stock lately? People need to get a serious reality check on what is going on..

From the outside looking in it kind of looks like the industry is slowly contracting.

Well... one segment of the dedicated gaming market crashed quickly. The other has seen a slow long bleed. I won't know if it's because of disinterest until the other new consoles launch, or just because of unsustainable high budgets.

I'm thinking more along the lines of Wii Music.

So I really shouldn't take you seriously then?

 

[campfireweekend]

I'm thinking more along the lines of Wii Music.

So one bad game defines a system? Then is there any platform that didn't suck by your metric?

 

[Cosmozone]

People call Microsoft and (before the ps4 lovefest) Sony arrogant but this guy has been just as, if not more, arrogant than anyone from either of those companies.

Some posters in this thread are worse than Iwata or any other exec could ever be (well, that Sony PS2 presentation was close, or that Microsoft guy's stupid rant he got sacked for recently). The game industry has to cater to all sorts of demographics as well as their own pockets while those guys roll on the floor crying when they can't have their lollipop.

Edit:
The way I see this NOA thing: Iwata is emphasizing putting himself at the stake for that 100 billion yen goal. When he fails, he'll resign and take responsibility so the rest of the company can save some face more easily. But he'll still say with the company in this case I think.

 

[Schnozberry]

You can blame Japan, but the Wii pretty much refuted EVERYTHING in your statement.. I won't bother to list everything out.. but when an SD goes on to sell 100 million when HD was largely prevalent two years from it's own on set the rest are even less representative of what is going on now.. and what is going on now has almost NOTHING to do with your points either.. the industry is in a serious funk and it includes ALL console manufacturers to publishers.. have you even noticed how many have gone out of business.. checked EA's stock lately? People need to get a serious reality check on what is going on..

Publishers are making more money than Nintendo, but Sony and Microsoft have yet to make back the money they spend subsidizing the PS3 and 360 into mass adoption. Microsoft hasn't even made back the money they spent getting people on board with the OG Xbox. Hardware has always been less profitable than software, this last Gen was so lopsided as to be preposterous. Nintendo was laughing in the face of that trend for a while, but now reality has set in for them as well.

I find it hard to shit all over Iwata for his performance, when he's the only CEO at a hardware manufacturer over the last 8 years to turn a profit over that term. Sony and Microsoft have turned in yearly and quarterly profits, but they are still digging out of a long term hole. You can't really defend him Iwata botching two launches in a row, but we only have one other launch in the last 3 years to compare them to an that one sucked too. If Durango and PS4 take off like rockets to the moon and Wii U continues to struggle even with a better software lineup, then Iwata has to go. Plain and simple.

 

[Daingurse]

If Wii U came out in 2006, I'd agree with you.

But it's 2013. Extra resources are still needed when porting these games. These resources are better off being used for the fast approaching next gen.

Edit: Some games were also in development before Wii U even existed.

Imagine if it did? Gamepad, Wiimotes, stronger than PS360. Absolute Juggernaut.

 

[mantidor]

People might want to wait for Holiday 2014 PS720 games to get more of an idea of what they can do, same with any console launch games don't even begin to scratch the surface of what they can do.

This is perfectly valid for the WiiU as well.

 

[luca1980]

Well, hopefully Iwata can see why the Wii U is having problems in the US if he has to run the US branch.

It might help.

Like....it's a console not suited for us and European market?
People bought a wii but won't buy a wii u

 

[The Horror the horror]

Nothing beats Sony's PS2-era arrogance.

Let me guess: you weren't a gamer during the NES era.

 

[Meelow]

Imagine if it did? Gamepad, Wiimotes, stronger than PS360. Absolute Juggernaut.

For a cheap price of $999 US dollars

 

[Brera]

The sad thing is, Nintendo don't understand the shitstorm of pain that's ahead of them this gen.

I have no doubt that Nintendo will "bring it" this E3 and will have the best games of the show.

They will still get decimated by MS and Sony because everyone is sick of PS360 gen tech. Nintendo are basically trying to fight their way out a paperbag and losing.

They've just entered a gen that people wanted to move forward from 2 years ago...when the Wii died.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

I'm thinking more along the lines of Wii Music.

For every Wii _____ game they produced, they produced something like Sin and Punishment.

 

[Socreges]

oh god for a second I thought reggie was gone. he's COO, not CEO.

what does this mean for NOA?

That would be a good thing.

 

[ColdBlooder]

The sad thing is, Nintendo don't understand the shitstorm of pain that's ahead of them this gen.

I have no doubt that Nintendo will "bring it" this E3 and will have the best games of the show.

They will still get decimated by MS and Sony because everyone is sick of PS360 gen tech. Nintendo are basically trying to fight their way out a paperbag and losing.

They've just entered a gen that people wanted to move forward from 2 years ago...when the Wii died.

Its not current gen tech.

Yeah i said it. Sue me.

 

[Brera]

COO?

Reggie is the HHH of Nintendo.

Pissed off that Iwata and miyamoto get the most memes on the Internet and just wants to see the world burn every e3 but the horses have come home to roost.

He'll be the first to fall.

 

[Brera]

Its not current gen tech.

Yeah i said it. Sue me.

The 3DS is supposed to have some functions beyond what PS360 are capable of. Doesn't make it next gen tech.

 

[Ondore]

Its not current gen tech.

Yeah i said it. Sue me.

haha you responded to brera

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

COO?

Reggie is the HHH of Nintendo.

Pissed off that Iwata and miyamoto get the most memes on the Internet and just wants to see the world burn every e3 but the horses have come home to roost.

He'll be the first to fall.

Yes, I'm sure he loses plenty sleep over that.

 

[Liha]

Nintendo release a next-gen console, please!

 

[ColdBlooder]

The 3DS is supposed to have some functions beyond what PS360 are capable of. Doesn't make it next gen tech.

LOL

Wii U a good pretty good step up over PS360.

Unless you are one of the insane ones saying Wii U is maxed out day 1

 

[zero_suit]

Let me guess: you weren't a gamer during the NES era.

I wasn't born yet.

 

[mantidor]

They will still get decimated by MS and Sony because everyone is sick of PS360 gen tech. Nintendo are basically trying to fight their way out a paperbag and losing.

People should really stop measuring market expectations by Gaf standards, no, not everyone is sick of this gen, which is clearly obvious by sales numbers (the fact that ps360 are dirty cheap now also helps).

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

Its not current gen tech.

Yeah i said it. Sue me.

Well its definitely not next gen tech. Its closer to the ps3/360 than ps4.

 

[Brera]

haha you responded to brera

I'm the only one speaking sense until Dave comes and backs me up.

Do you know what? You guys deserve a CEO like Iwata. You are all happy to lap up your shoddy photocopies of old classics with crap gimmicks like blowing on the control pad to make a boat sail.

When Iwata is gone and we start getting truly quality Nintendo games, then you will see what the rest of us were going on about.

Enjoy Yoshi's Land suckers. I'm off to play Yoshi's island on my snes!

 

[Mpl90]

For every Wii _____ game they produced, they produced something like Sin and Punishment.

You lie. It doesn't exist. It was a GameCube game then ported to Wii just 'cause it was too far in development...you all know it!!111!!!

 

[Thunder Monkey]

The sad thing is, Nintendo don't understand the shitstorm of pain that's ahead of them this gen.

I have no doubt that Nintendo will "bring it" this E3 and will have the best games of the show.

They will still get decimated by MS and Sony because everyone is sick of PS360 gen tech. Nintendo are basically trying to fight their way out a paperbag and losing.

They've just entered a gen that people wanted to move forward from 2 years ago...when the Wii died.

Its not current gen tech.

Yeah i said it. Sue me.

The 3DS is supposed to have some functions beyond what PS360 are capable of. Doesn't make it next gen tech.

LOL

Wii U a good pretty good step up over PS360.

Unless you are one of the insane ones saying Wii U is maxed out day 1

You guys are drunk right?

 

[jaz013]

The more I read this thread, the more I'm convinced this moved was just for sh*ts and giggles.

 

[vdoggie]

From the outside looking in it kind of looks like the industry is slowly contracting.

Well... one segment of the dedicated gaming market crashed quickly. The other has seen a slow long bleed. I won't know if it's because of disinterest until the other new consoles launch, or just because of unsustainable high budgets.


It definitely is.. I think it's a culmination of a lot of market trends.. and don't think for a second .99 cent, F2P and free social web games don't have an impact.. it does.. and the proof is simple.. go back to GBA/DS era.. ALL those types of games were mainly on these systems with a $10 - $29 price tag on games.. as the power increased in portables, so did the cost and style of games.. and the kicker is.. a LOT of those simple 2d games all shifted to iOS/web etc... now 3DS games are $40 and Nintendo lost that whole segment..

It's no wonder they are almost giving away Wii U dev kits and who knows how discounted it is for 3DS.. but their mind set has radically shifted as of late.. it's almost like they ignored these facts and are now reacting.. this is why LONG console cycles are incredibly risky.. some other technology comes in during the lifespan of your console and you have NO time to react because two console manufacturers were going for the 8-9 year cycle... and Nintendo didn't even chose this route and it STILL hurt them... every company is vulnerable... it's quite amazing actually..