Oh Nintendo, how the mighty have fallen
by oni
Guitar Hero, eat your heart out? I guess? If you need any more proof that money will make anyone go totally batshit crazy, one needs look no further than Miyamoto's latest attempt at settling you Wii Music. This is the man who made all the Mario games that mattered, the man what brought you Zelda, the man whose games used to sell themselves. And, to be fair, the Wii does sell itself. But Wii ga...
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Guitar Hero, eat your heart out? I guess?If you need any more proof that money will make anyone go totally batshit crazy, one needs look no further than Miyamoto's latest attempt at settling you Wii Music. This is the man who made all the Mario games that mattered, the man what brought you Zelda, the man whose games used to sell themselves. And, to be fair, the Wii does sell itself. But Wii games may sell well, critics are often left cold by them. So who is Miyamoto trying to convince here? The casual crowd that buys the fifty million copies of Wii Play and Carnival Games won't be reading games websites on a daily basis, and the "core" gamers are too busy playing actual good rhythm games to care about Wii Music's approach.
The writing is on the wall: Nintendo doesn't care about "us" anymore. "Us" being the people editing Giant Bomb pages, the people buying games like Bioshock, Fable 2, and yes, Zelda. And why should they, right? The Wii, 3 years on, is still outselling the PS3 and 360 combined, even with the lack of games that appeal to the "core" gamer demographic, the 16-30 year old males, which probably constitutes most of us.
But can the Wii's popularity last forever?
The Wii has clearly proven itself to be more than just a fad, and it may well carry Nintendo into the 201x's. But how long until people tire of novel mechanics? On one hand, I think the Wii, and the upcoming Wii HD, will remain popular for quite a while. Casual gaming is still proving very popular, and the Wii is the ultimate party machine, in a sense, as it is easy to get to grips with the controls and most games aren't terribly complicated. But software sales are lagging far behind. The Wii's attachment rate (number of games sold compared to number of consoles sold) is quite low compared to the other consoles. Third party games, with some exceptions, fail to achieve the sales figures of Nintendo's own games. Nintendo has tapped into their demographic's needs and wants in a very impressive way, bundling games like Mario Kart with wheel peripherals that are nothing more than plastic molds, but to children and the easily impressed, it's like you're actually driving! Then there's Wii Fit, which comes with a peripheral that is actually slightly less gimmicky. But only slightly. Nevertheless, for games like skate, I think it can prove a worthwhile addition. But can Nintendo keep innovating and appealing to the casual crowd like this? When they run out of ideas, how many versions of Wii Sports can people stand to buy before the novelty wears off?
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More of this, please!I don't begrudge Nintendo.
I am glad that they have managed to climb out of the dark pit they were in during the last generation of consoles, and to a lesser degree during the N64 days. But it's hard not to feel left out in the cold. When they're only making 2 games a year I care about, and third parties not even reaching that figure, how couldn't I? I just wish they would throw people like me a bone, show us that they still care about their fans, the people that stuck by them through the dark days because of games like Metroid Prime, the Zelda series and the other franchises that have kept them alive throughout the years and endeared them to the "core" gamers companies are so keen of speaking about these days.
Guitar Hero, eat your heart out? I guess?If you need any more proof that money will make anyone go totally batshit crazy, one needs look no further than Miyamoto's latest attempt at settling you Wii Music. This is the man who made all the Mario games that mattered, the man what brought you Zelda, the man whose games used to sell themselves. And, to be fair, the Wii does sell itself. But Wii games may sell well, critics are often left cold by them. So who is Miyamoto trying to convince here? The casual crowd that buys the fifty million copies of Wii Play and Carnival Games won't be reading games websites on a daily basis, and the "core" gamers are too busy playing actual good rhythm games to care about Wii Music's approach.
More of this, please!I don't begrudge Nintendo.