Nintendo's casual gamer focus.

[The Mole]

I am confused. Did people on here want to see Nintendo go under? Well maybe thats extreme, but at least withdraw from the home console market.

The reason i ask this question, is people seam to be very against the casual game stance Nintendo is taking. I am one of those people. However if you take a look back to last generation and the problems Nintendo had, they came third, which when you consider that was based on sales from Japan, as well as other regions which Microsoft did not have.

If they had brought out another bog standard console, they would have most likely lost out to the power of the PS3 and Xbox 360. I think this would have resulted in developers focusing on PS3 and 360 which won the battle last time.

Nintendo had to take a different tact, their name to the mainstream gamers was/is mud, the only way to keep Nintendo around i feel, was to do something like this. To me The Wii and DS are the best it could have been, yes plenty of crap, but you always get that with the leading console, just look at how much crap software the PS2 has.

I am happy to settle for the odd hardcore game from Nintendo. Mario and Zelda games are in development for Wii and we have Animal Crossing and Captain Rainbow for this year.

Is this the best we could have hoped for?

What do you think would have happened if Nintendo had tried to go for power over innovation again?

I will be interested to hear your thoughts.

[Shozuki]

y'know im happy for Nintendo in the sense they've done something different and have been very successful. Y'know im even happy with stuff like WiiFit and Wii Sports Resort.

But I am really annoyed how it seems as though they've totally given up on making traditional games. I thought that Zelda and Mario had shown them there was money to be made and it would be worth appeasing the core market. Instead we get Animal Crossing, if thats built for veteran gamers then we've all become zombies.

[Brad]

I'm pleased for Nintendo but I never play on my Wii so they're clearly not catering for me anymore. Mario Kart was disappointing although I loved Zelda TP, Galaxy and Metroid Corruption.

[ezee ryder]

As I said in another thread, all credit to Nintendo for the direction they have taken with the Wii as it has worked for them perfectly. I applaud them for introducing gaming to a whole new market out there but that has clearly had some sort of effect on other areas. They seem to have less focus on the more traditional games and they are letting all that potential in the Wii motion controls go untapped. You see all these videos on the internet where people have modded the Wii-mote and sensor bar to create some truly unique concepts and you wonder why Nintendo haven't looked into doing similar things. I really hope they have some more traditional/unique games and some great usage of the motion controls in the pipeline as if they do I would definitely pick up a Wii again. They are doing really well on their current route so I wouldn't expect them to divert much as that is what is making them money at the moment.

[kernow]

I'm finding gaming more tiresome as a whole with every new generation, I think I'll bow out of the next one, I must be getting old or something. With all these firmware updates, getting conned over peripherals, online paid DLC, etc etc. its just getting really tiresome.

[Tig]

I think Mole is right- Nintendo would have got royally screwed if they'd gone down the traditional console route this time. It would have been bad for the industry too... I'd guess that there would be far fewer gamers playing today if Nintendo hadn't changed their direction.

A fifth generation of consoles promising identical things again to an identical target audience would've sent the whole world into a coma.

Unfortunately, Nintendo fans now get to see the company become really insanely successful, as they simulatenously cast away all the stuff we liked about the company in the first place. Damn.


Alternatively this:

This is the deep-dish, delicious irony endured by the Nintendo stalwart: to see their platform of choice ascendant, even as their bright God turns his face away.

yep. righto.

(gotta love PA)

[Family Fry]

Nintendo love it...



Everytime I see it, I smile

Edit - Thats what happens when you dont rightclicksave.

[johnno15]

I'm finding gaming more tiresome as a whole with every new generation, I think I'll bow out of the next one, I must be getting old or something. With all these firmware updates, getting conned over peripherals, online paid DLC, etc etc. its just getting really tiresome.

Hit the nail on the head.

Maybe we are just getting old

[Dogg Thang]

Sure, it's great for Nintendo that they have found a market. But I'm not a shareholder so I honestly don't care a damn about their business workings. I just care about the games.

Unless you're into corporation worship or actively like the new direction Nintendo have taken, I can't see why you'd expect a good word to be said about it.

[kallbrand]

http://malstrom.50webs.com/theblueoceanarticles.htm

we (gamers) are all doomed

[yesteryeargames]

I am confused. Did people on here want to see Nintendo go under? Well maybe thats extreme, but at least withdraw from the home console market.

The reason i ask this question, is people seam to be very against the casual game stance Nintendo is taking. I am one of those people. However if you take a look back to last generation and the problems Nintendo had, they came third, which when you consider that was based on sales from Japan, as well as other regions which Microsoft did not have.

If they had brought out another bog standard console, they would have most likely lost out to the power of the PS3 and Xbox 360. I think this would have resulted in developers focusing on PS3 and 360 which won the battle last time.

Nintendo had to take a different tact, their name to the mainstream gamers was/is mud, the only way to keep Nintendo around i feel, was to do something like this. To me The Wii and DS are the best it could have been, yes plenty of crap, but you always get that with the leading console, just look at how much crap software the PS2 has.

I am happy to settle for the odd hardcore game from Nintendo. Mario and Zelda games are in development for Wii and we have Animal Crossing and Captain Rainbow for this year.

Is this the best we could have hoped for?

What do you think would have happened if Nintendo had tried to go for power over innovation again?

I will be interested to hear your thoughts.

Hear Hear, Agree with you 100% mole...man !

I am also very happy to settle for the hardcore nintendo games like Mario, Zelda etc but still very much enjoy the likes of wii sports.
As long as nintendo make new versions of Pikmin, Starfox, F-zero, Waverace, Zelda, Mario Galaxy 2, A Proper paper mario and Pilotwings I will be a very, Very happy chappy!

What I think from what nintendo have done so far with the wii is that they have made games like wii sports - with the simplified graphics and easy to pick up and play - in order to bring in a new audience (which they have done) and once they feel everyone is comfortable with the motion controller you will begin to see more full and proper nintendo franchise games.

For instance if you look at wii sports you can see hints of nintendo franchises - Mario Golf & Mario Tennis - And in wii fit you have the Snowboarding which could be an early sign of 1080 wii and now you see in wii sports resort the Jet Ski game, which may well lead to a new waverace!

So I firmly beleive (and hope!) that we will see more proper nintendo franchise games in the not too distant future and the more other developers get to grips with the wii i'm sure we will see some good hardcore games from them too.

Without Nintendo and thier innovation I would definitly have given up gaming a long time ago.

[Team Andromeda]

What do you think would have happened if Nintendo had tried to go for power over innovation again?

I really don?t see why you can?t have a combination of both , myself . I?m not asking for 360 or PS3 levels of graphics and grunt , but something approaching a mid range PC would have been nice say on the levels of Lindberg , and I really don?t see when massed produced that it would have cost NCL that much in terms of tech.

The low-ish tech and small ram amounts almost encourage developers to take the easy route of piss poor ports , or use thier old PSP2, PSP Cube game engines and they?ll hide behind tech issues . If it had Lindberg levels of performance and 720p output I don?t think that wouldn't haven added much expense or in any way take away from the new experience and controls the Wii offered , but would mean that developers wouldn?t have been held back so much , the low ram limits of the Wii must hard for a developer .

[Dogg Thang]

hardcore nintendo games like Mario, Zelda etc

Is this a side effect of Nintendo's focus? That Mario and Zelda are now seen as 'hardcore'?

That's like saying Bon Jovi is hardcore.

[Brats]

I'm really happy with Nintendo's focus. As I've grown older and gained a family, I've wanted more games I can play with my non-gamer wife and seven year old daughter. The Wii gives me this.

I have my 360 for the 'hardcore' games and personally I think some of the other companies have caught up with Nintendo in terms of quality, so I'm happy here too.

I'm looking forward to more Wii Sports and Wii Fits. There's already too much on the 360 that I could ever spend the time to completely enjoy. If I only had a Wii, then it might be different, but as most of us have at least two consoles, I can't see the problem tbh.

[Family Fry]

Well at least they confirmed Pikmin is coming to Wii this morning, nice news to wake up to.