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My Random Thoughts on Nintendo's Future
By hostyl1 06-21-2011 11:17 AM
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I originally started writing as a response to mm2barry's blog (which I'll shout out here), but I noticed I was getting long winded and was taking his/her blog down my own path so I decided to just post it here. Comments appreciated, thanks for reading.
Nintendo is stuck in this weird place. At this point, I dont see how copying exactly what MS/Sony are doing helps them. Even if Ninty executed a perfect online system and ran their games in full HD/3D what would set them apart? Their usual franchises? OTOH, what do they do with these millions of people that bought into the Wii? They are at least a little interested in games, but just arent into the traditional shooters and action games. If *I* were Nintendo, and believe me, they are much smarter than I am, I would try and not just go for the "family" aspect of making everything colorful and kid friendly. I would partner with a competent third party developer like a Rockstar or an Ubisoft and try and get games for the adults. Not mature as in bloody, but mature as is dealing with complex themes. Things touched on by games like LA Noire, Heavy Rain, CSI, etc. Have a slew of games with the feeling of a Romantic Comedy or of running a business or deep social interactions...sort of a grown up Animal Crossing, a more engaging Sims. It seems to be such a shame that Nintendo has atractted people who want something different from gaming than the 'bang-bang shoot-em-up' games that you get on the other consoles, but seems ready to dump them and go crawling back to the so-called 'hardcore' gamer who really isnt that into Nintendo in the first place. It seems to me that the reason the attach rate of the Wii is so (comparatively) low is not so much that casual gamers are averse to buying games (hello iOS gaming), but rather there arent games that appeal to them. Seriously, how many mini-game collections does one need? Once you get Wii Sports, Resort, and Carnival Games, you're pretty much covered there. What games tried to break out of that mold? Where was a genre bending experience like a Mirror's Edge? Where was a game that focused on deeper concepts like government conspiracies like a Beyond Good and Evil? The only thing they *kinda* did was adventure games, but they half-assed that too! Zack and Wiki is one of my favorite games of this generation, but where was the promotion for this game? Whereas you saw Wii Fit on the Today Show, I never heard/saw/read anything about Zack and Wiki anywhere but on gaming sites/podcasts. And while they did release Tales of Monkey Island, they did it through WiiWare and not on a disk. Talk about failing to meet your audience where they are! The WiiU has some potential to address some of this. I could see a detective game where you use the WiiU controller as an X-Ray machine or simply a magnifying glass. You could have some sort of flight/driving sim where you move the WiiU controller to look around in 3D space. Heck you could have a "Dirt" esque rally type multiplayer game where one person drives with the Wiimote/wheel and player 2 uses the WiiU controller as a map to give directions to the driver (like in a real rally race). You dont think an "Amazing Race" type game would attract casuals? I guess I'm just looking for *somebody* to do something outside of the "hardcore gamer" mainstream. That's why I applaud games like Heavy Rain and LA Noire for trying to do something different (though they too rely a bit too heavily on traditional gaming conventions). With all the "non-gamers" that have been drawn in by the Wii, Nintendo is in a great position to change what we think of games. They did it in one respect with the fitness area. But if they could tell the stories that gaming is heading towards while de-emphasizing the "game-y" parts (shooting, action sequences, twitch reflexes) they could really hook people. Games like Hotel Dusk, Portal, Stacking could have all done fine even using the motion controls, but you'd be hard press to find their analogues on the Wii. *That's* why casuals stopped buying Wii games. The industry didnt offer them enough new things. |
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Retom7
- 06-21-2011, 03:45 PM
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I like your view on games that choose their own path in game making. Nintendo has always prided themselves on thinking differently, and the Wii showed their new direction, which was to focus on family and children's gaming. While there are still unique and more adult oriented games being offered, the primary focus is on fun. Unfortunately, the Wii focused too much on the peripherals over the content, and shovelware dumped a huge load on Nintendo's chest. If they took a strong arm approach like Microsoft and make companies comply with their image of what an offering should be, the Wii would be less novelty in my opinion.
I think in the coming years though, they will find new ways to reach that audience of non-hardcore gamers who just want to play in a party or family setting, play a game that they can pick up and put down at any time, and non-gamers (like my girlfriend) who have fun playing the "different" games. The gaming focus needs to be less on how to change the way we play and focus more on what groups should be targeted. Microsoft has found its way to offer to all types of experiences by including Netflix, social networking (though, honestly, who cares?), family gold packages, games for all ranges and ages and genres, communication, etc. Not to sound like a fanboy, but Sony caters to the hardcore gamers and Wii caters to the families IMO. It's a shame because Nintendo has always had some really unique offerings and hold so much gaming lore in their lockers that they have the potential to bring themselves back to the top if they truly wanted. I know from the get go that they said they want to do their own thing and present the format they think maintains the image of pure and fun, but not focusing on the entire gaming community is going to make them lose big time in the future. |
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muffin1man
- 06-21-2011, 08:37 PM
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I thought Nintendo had already made a partnership with Ubisoft? They're the only publisher that showed real games for the WiiU at E3. From seeing those games to the other future 3rd party titles, I can see what Nintendo is trying to do this next gen.
Nintendo seems to be trying to achieve the opposite of what's Microsoft doing and it's actually smart. Nintendo is trying to capture the "core" audience because they already have the casual. MS is trying to get the casuals onto their system because the core are already addicted. Just because Nin's trying to change doesn't mean they'll alienate the casuals. It's ridiculous to think they can't succeed at both. They have to change their business practices though. As you noted, Nintendo is pretty bad at giving it's 3rd party games ad support. They have to get behind their games like Microsoft does. They need to show their logo during commercials even if the game isn't an exclusive. Im really rooting for Nintendo to succeed in both markets. I'm tired of seeing all the negativity directed towards the most innovative gaming company. I hope they step up to the challenge |
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mm2barry
- 06-21-2011, 10:31 PM
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excellent, excellent blog. I agree that Nintendo hooked all of these casual gamers and then xeroxed a few games and put them on store shelves. There are a number of interesting uses for their new controller that may not be thought of yet (your ideas are great BTW), but it needs to innovate. The Wii controllers had a great opportunity to be used in a very unique way in FPS's, but Metroid Prime 3 was the only game I saw it used in a different way (I never played any other FPS's, but every review and blog and podcast i paid attention to complained about the poor controls in those types of games). I am not a big FPS gamer. I play pretty much everything. I enjoy the casual iOS games as well as the hardest of hardcore (I hate you Demon's Souls!), so I'm not saying that Nintendo needs to go the route of Sony and Microsoft, but they do need to do something to bring some more traditional gamers back to their side. If they only offer the same games that are released on the other systems, the majority of the gamers on this website won't bother getting the WiiU because we can have those experiences on the consoles we already own.
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