Nintendo: Not as good as they were.

[tamago]

I think Nintendo are doing fine. The problem is people's expectations of them are too unrealistic.

Even when they do make quality titles, they're ignored. They just can't win.

And yeah, other devs are getting better. Ico is more of an adventure game than a classic platformer to me.

The're suffering from their previous success.

[daxus]

The irony of this thread is that there simply is no other company that Nintendo can be compared to and come out worse - other than themselves, perhaps...

Yeah Halo is fantastic, but how many other top notch products have Bungie produced. Oni? Yeah, right. And what are they following up Halo with? A sequel. And guess what their next release after that will be? Erm, Halo 3...

Rockstar produce GTA, then sequel after sequel. What other top notch product have they produced? State of Emergency? Yeah, right.

Most other companies are one trick ponies, or ultra-conservative, or 'me too, copy' companies. The few that aren't still pale in comparison with Nintendo and the sheer number of class games they produce.

Sega are their nearest equivalent, but they are much more patchy in their output. Varying from genius to ordinary with amazing ease.

Nintendo are in a league of their own. And by the looks of it always will be.

[Keith@gamesTM]

Nintendo are in a league of their own. And by the looks of it always will be.

I agree - as far as producing a handful of decent, varied titles goes, Nintendo can't be beat. However, while other less prolific developers have fewer titles overall, some are now matching or even bettering Nintendo's quality with the odd title.

I'd say the nearest game companies to match Nintendo are:

SEGA (though its recent output has been somewhat underwhelming)
Ubisoft
Konami
Capcom
Micorosft Game Studios (though strictly speaking this is a group of smaller developers. Of course, with Camelot, Hudson, Namco, Retro Studios, SEGA, Namco and others making games for Nintendo, there are certainly parallels between the two companies.)

[Crispin]

I wish Camelot would hurry up with Mario Tennis. Goodness, it was nearly two years ago that they showed screens from the thing. I'm hoping they get rid of the current CGI mario style as beloved in Luigi's Mansion, but I'll buy it anyway.

[SharkAttack]

I wish Camelot would hurry up with Mario Tennis. Goodness, it was nearly two years ago that they showed screens from the thing. I'm hoping they get rid of the current CGI mario style as beloved in Luigi's Mansion, but I'll buy it anyway.

Be fair, they were working on Mario Golf, plus GBA games? plus apparently a long term Cube RPG project. Mario Tennis and Mario Golf coming out in the same summer would have done Nintendo no favours at all. Golf sold crap enough as it is!

[Crispin]

I wish Camelot would hurry up with Mario Tennis. Goodness, it was nearly two years ago that they showed screens from the thing. I'm hoping they get rid of the current CGI mario style as beloved in Luigi's Mansion, but I'll buy it anyway.

Be fair, they were working on Mario Golf, plus GBA games? plus apparently a long term Cube RPG project. Mario Tennis and Mario Golf coming out in the same summer would have done Nintendo no favours at all. Golf sold crap enough as it is!

Oh, right, I wondered what they were working on. Didn't know they were working on a RPG.

Ah! It all makes sense! This will be the new franchise that Nintendo said would take Pokemon's place? Groovy. I can't wait. Ok, that might sound fanboyish but for me Mario Tennis came out of nowhere. I bought it cheap along with Castlevania, Perfect Dark, CBFD and Mario Party 2.

And it was the second best game in that lot, the first place going to both of Rare's efforts . And I now have a high opinion on Camelot.

Well, I hope it comes soon, but when you put it like that, I don't mind waiting. I am a Rare fan after all!

[Smeghead]

If I didn't really enjoy:

SMS
SSBM
Pikmin
Luigi's Mansion
MK: DD

amongst the other cube titles I've loved, I'd be inclined to agree that Nintendo are losing it, however I didn't go into them expectin the best thing ever, I just took them at face value, and enjoyed every minute. I was initially dissapointed with Mario Kart DD but once the changes from the MK formula had set in and "clicked" I'd say it's closest to SMK yet. I just think far too many people are expecting far too much from them, they make fun games, thats good enough for me, as far too many games are losing the fun factor.