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Nintendo's Kensuke Tanabe: We need more studios like Retro, less like a business.

You know what company that could have been owned by Nintendo? Media Molecule. I remember a while back Nintendo wanted to do business with them because of Little Big Planet, I guess. I think LBP is a type of game Nintendo finds appealing to be on their platform.

It's too bad in my opinion Sony got to them first. Sackboy would fit right in with Nintendo's pantheon of characters. I wouldn't mind seeing Sackboy in the next Smash Bros. game.
 
JCRedeems said:
You know what company that could have been owned by Nintendo? Media Molecule. I remember a while back Nintendo wanted to do business with them because of Little Big Planet, I guess. I think LBP is a type of game Nintendo finds appealing to be on their platform.

It's too bad in my opinion Sony got to them first. Sackboy would fit right in with Nintendo's pantheon of characters. I wouldn't mind seeing Sackboy in the next Smash Bros. game.
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You got it wrong. Media Molecule took LBP to Nintendo first and they had no interest in it.
 
shadyspace said:
You got it wrong. Media Molecule took LBP to Nintendo first and they had no interest in it.
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Its kinda understandable based on the stance Nintendo at the time took to online and sharing etc. Game wouldnt have been half as popular as its limited popularity already is without those features.

It does have a more Nintendo console approach though
 
KevinCow said:
So Nintendo, if there should be more studios run like Retro, why don't you use some of your billions of dollars to start some western studios and run them like that?
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Money doesn't create talent. It can buy talent where it already is, sure, but that requires a series of special circumstances before that relationship is established.

I'm always baffled when people say for Nintendo (or Sony or whoever) that they should just "hire more people to make more games." They want more games because they like those games without realizing that they like those games because the people who make them are talented and focused.

A hundred monkeys on a hundred typewriters for a hundred years may write the world's greatest novel but video games have to be made in two.
 
ShockingAlberto said:
Money doesn't create talent. It can buy talent where it already is, sure, but that requires a series of special circumstances before that relationship is established.

I'm always baffled when people say for Nintendo (or Sony or whoever) that they should just "hire more people to make more games." They want more games because they like those games without realizing that they like those games because the people who make them are talented and focused.

A hundred monkeys on a hundred typewriters for a hundred years may write the world's greatest novel but video games have to be made in two.
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I don't understand your comment.

I don't believe anyone is saying Nintendo should hire their carpenter to make some games. People see game studios like Media Molecule or Behemoth or Team Meat making creative content that looks like it could fit on a Nintendo platform, but instead that content is exclusive to the HD twins.

I think when people ask Nintendo to "hire more people," they're not asking to hire the people that wait outside Home Depot for work. They're talking about buying up one of those studios, or moneyhatting them, or even contracting individuals from a selection of different developers and giving them their own studio like EAD Tokyo. Not an unreasonable complaint when you look at the Wii's release schedule.

edit: I also understand why Nintendo doesn't do that. They have a certain culture about the size of their company and their development philosophies as a whole. I just also understand the people who say Nintendo should begin hiring studios or individuals for content.

Personally, I do believe Nintendo needs to expand more, even if slowly. Because it's clear they can't support two platforms alone. Not with rising development costs and with handheld games looking more like console games.
 
What he is saying is that when you outsource development, you either get Retro who deliver quality with passion, or you get a partner who simply churns out features to hit milestones, maybe with no bugs but no polish either.

It's impossible to make a contract to deliver a beautiful videogame, so some companies take the cash and underresource projects etc. to go where it's profitable and some companies want to make great stuff (and still be able to profit enough).

Few developers get part of sales, it's usually only million+ sellers.
 
Keio said:
What he is saying is that when you outsource development, you either get Retro who deliver quality with passion, or you get a partner who simply churns out features to hit milestones, maybe with no bugs but no polish either.

It's impossible to make a contract to deliver a beautiful videogame, so some companies take the cash and underresource projects etc. to go where it's profitable and some companies want to make great stuff (and still be able to profit enough).

Few developers get part of sales, it's usually only million+ sellers.
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They may not share in the profits, but if the contracts are at all decent, you don't want to blow a chance to work again with the one of the biggest publishers in the industry. I'd think the prospect of future work is what incentivizes these studios to make games that are actually good, just like any other industry.
 
Freezie KO said:
They may not share in the profits, but if the contracts are at all decent, you don't want to blow a chance to work again with the one of the biggest publishers in the industry. I'd think the prospect of future work is what incentivizes these studios to make games that are actually good, just like any other industry.
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Money is a terrible motivator. It's strange but that's human psychology. You cannot get people to put in their best effort with any amount of money.
 
Why not make Eternal Darkness 2? Such graphics would be enough.

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I would like if they bought Next Level games so they could make incredible arcade games like Punch-Out!! and Monster for their extreme sports stuff.
They would be free of the burden of needing to make licensed games to pay the bills, and they could focus entirely with Tanabe to make great Nintendo games.
 
Give me another Excite game from Monster please. Excite Truck/Bots are my two favourite racers of this gen, by a mile.
 
Android18a said:
I suspect if we see another WaveRace, it'll be WaveRace Resort now.
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I would put money on this (*bet you there'd be new nearby islands with canals and shit).

But the sequel I'm most looking forward to is Find Mii Again!
 
v1oz said:
If its not about money. So why wouldn't they give Retro Studios more creative freedom?
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They make amazing games with direction, and we don't know if their games would be as good without direction. So why would you want them to have more creative freedom?

And it's not like they have no freedom to begin with, but Nintendo usually reserves the right to intervene as they deem necessary (like all publishers do; at the very least, Nintendo produced games look far less "designed by committee" than, say, Activision's output). In fact, to name a recent example, Ganbarion would most likely be stuck doing license games for all eternity if it weren't for Nintendo. Now they have a chance to work on a new IP, a project that's most likely bigger in scope and higher budget than anything they ever did for NBGI. But I guess those external developers actually have more freedom than a subsidiary like Retro. Nintendo already knows very well what Retro is capable of, they don't want them to waste their talent - there's little room for experiments.
 
SamBishop said:
What the fuck was the point of WiiWare then, dickhead?
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I'm not sure what this anger is about...
Tanabe wasn't talking about devs that create small games for downloadable platforms.
He was talking about Nintendo's second party partners that share a similar philosophy to Nintendo itself.
WiiWare (an acknowledged failure by Nintendo) was just for everyone else. There were good, creative games, and also by the numbers games.
 
AceBandage said:
Nintendo loves to work with smaller studios, but they've shown they aren't going to pull them out of a heap of debt. (Factor 5...)
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In the case of Factor 5, its a tragedy, They really should have stuck to what they do best and that was bringing out the best in small consoles like they did with the GameCube.
 
GCX said:
Monster Games has re-launched two pretty big Nintendo franchises (Excitebike and Pilotwings).

Next logical step is clearly F-Zero or Wave Race.
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They can do Wave Race but I feel that Monster may not be able to do a good F-Zero. It should be made by Intelligent systems or whoever made GX.
 
This comment seems to contradict what Nintendo has been saying and doing for years. Nintendo is so successful because they treat their craft as a business and make decisions about design based on how much they think it will sell. They don't let their developers go all out and create their dream games.
 
ksamedi said:
This comment seems to contradict what Nintendo has been saying and doing for years. Nintendo is so successful because they treat their craft as a business and make decisions about design based on how much they think it will sell. They don't let their developers go all out and create their dream games.
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You're talking about the process of which experiments are going into full production, but as far as experiments go, they really give people free reign.
 
Cow Mengde said:
3 pages of talk and not a single mention of a small little Germany company with only 5 employees?

Here's a little hint.

]
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Well, Nintendo doesn't specifically work WITH Shin'en. But they are still awesome.
Speaking of which, their 3DS game will be announced in a week or two!
:D
 
AceBandage said:
Well, Nintendo doesn't specifically work WITH Shin'en. But they are still awesome.
Speaking of which, their 3DS game will be announced in a week or two!
:D
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Yeah, that's true, but no doubt their work has at least caught the eye of Nintendo. They've actually provided some music tools to developers or something. No, I'm not talking about MusyX by Factor 5. Shin'en had their own tools.
 
big_z said:
Nintendo to buy valve. News at e3! half life 3 wii 2 & pc exclusive.


Good to see nintendo strengthening their second party line and developer relationships.
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This reminds me, does anyone know if there was any merit to the old rumors of Half Life 2 being ported to Wii? Way back when it was still called the Revolution
 
Not too amazed with Retro lately, but they did make Metroid Prime, one of the best games last gen. They're cool. It would be nice to see them get some more creative freedom and perhaps make a new IP. Though as long as they're doing old stuff, I'd love to see a Star Fox game by Retro.
 
ruby_onix said:
IIRC, Factor 5 called the Wii a GameCube 1.5, and said that their old GameCube game engines were superior to most dev's Wii game engines, and said that third parties had approached them to buy their GameCube tool sets for use on Wii.

If that's what it means to be a Wii developer, I fear for the 3DS.
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This sounds like they didn't sell or license out their engines in the end. If that's the case not sure how I feel about that. Things perhaps would have been a LOT better in terms of 3rd parties if they had.
 
Nintendo has yet to find their modern-day equivalent of N64-era Rare. Remember, N64-era Rare gave us:

- Killer Instinct Gold
- Blast Corps
- GoldenEye 007
- Diddy Kong Racing
- Banjo-Kazooie
- Jet Force Gemini
- Donkey Kong 64
- Perfect Dark
- Mickey's Speedway USA
- Banjo-Tooie
- Conker's Bad Fur Day

And that's all for ONE system. By comparison, what did Retro give us in the GameCube's lifespan? Two very good games. What did they give us in the Wii's lifespan so far? Two very good games. But Rare, for the N64 alone, gave us Blast Corps, GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Diddy Kong Racing, Jet Force Gemini, etc. Many, many more classics, in additon to all the games they were making for the Game Boy Color as well.

Really, Nintendo should expand Retro to juggle more balls at once. Find a way to keep them structured and focused for the same quality, but empower them to do more than one project at a time. And maybe even let them create new IPs, just as Rare was doing left and right.
 
Neiteio said:
Nintendo has yet to find their modern-day equivalent of N64-era Rare. Remember, N64-era Rare gave us:

- Killer Instinct Gold
- Blast Corps
- GoldenEye 007
- Diddy Kong Racing
- Banjo-Kazooie
- Jet Force Gemini
- Donkey Kong 64
- Perfect Dark
- Mickey's Speedway USA
- Banjo-Tooie
- Conker's Bad Fur Day

And that's all for ONE system. By comparison, what did Retro give us in the GameCube's lifespan? Two very good games. What did they give us in the Wii's lifespan so far? Two very good games. But Rare, for the N64 alone, gave us Blast Corps, GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Diddy Kong Racing, Jet Force Gemini, etc. Many, many more classics, in additon to all the games they were making for the Game Boy Color as well.

Really, Nintendo should expand Retro to juggle more balls at once. Find a way to keep them structured and focused for the same quality, but empower them to do more than one project at a time. And maybe even let them create new IPs, just as Rare was doing left and right.
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And have Nintendo actually keep them this time should anything happen.
 
Hero of Legend said:
And have Nintendo actually keep them this time should anything happen.
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The greatest loss was Banjo-Kazooie, but if Nintendo had kept the rights to the franchise I don't know what good it would've done, since Rare's British personality and humor was the heart and soul of the series.
 
Hero of Legend said:
And have Nintendo actually keep them this time should anything happen.
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I think HAL on the books still owns the Kirby IP, so if for some odd reason the two companies every split off from one anther, Nintendo could loose the Kirby IP.

Also, did you know HAL and Nintendo made a company to oversee all Kirby Related merchandise, similar to the Pokemon Company? They ether expected the Kirby Anime to take off better, or just didn't want to be bogged down with the day to day of dealing with making an Anime and plushes. That, or Kirby Merchandise is big in Japan.
 
AceBandage said:
Wait... what?
1080 is a snowboarding game...
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Lol you meant 1080°, but you were replying to a post about the next F-Zero made by MG, so I thought you wanted it in 1080p 3D :P
You want a 1080° game for 3DS made by Monster Games instead? :)
 
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