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As you may — or may not — be aware, we have our own Forums here on Nintendo Life that allow discussion on Nintendo platforms, gaming as a whole and even life in general. It's often a source of lively debate on various topics, and occasionally developers that are active in the community will pop up and join in the discussion.

A recent example relates to a post on SPIKEY WALLS, the upcoming Wii U eShop game from RCMADIAX that bears a strong resemblance to the divisive Flappy Bird smart device game. Its gameplay style, simplicity and $0.99 price — along with its promotion that plays itself up as a parody — has been met with a diverse reaction, ranging from enthusiasm to apathy, right through to hostility towards the upcoming release.

As the first of a series, we'll highlight the debate currently taking place in the thread, with the opening post below.

gage_wolf

I'm not much into videogame activism or whatever you wanna call it such as the Bayonetta movement thing... Videogames are entertainment and that's that. But I really do not wanna see the eShop get overrun with crappy cheap mobile games. This Spikey Walls thing is just gross. The dev is trying to play it off like it's all a joke - haha what fun! It's a clone of a terrible game! What's the big deal!?

Don't support this dude or this lazy kind of game development. If this thing makes decent money it will incentivize developers to bring more garbage like this to the eShop instead of trying to take the time to make good games with you know... depth or originality. Home consoles are not mobile devices, let's not let them slide into that territory. Let's say you're bored and you happen to have a dollar to spend... Instead of buying this game go buy a deck of cards and play solitaire. It will be more satisfying. Seriously.

Just don't buy it folks.

A variety of viewpoints follow, two of which are selected below that defend the right for RCMADIAX to release the game, while another post is critical yet acknowledges that market forces will be the determining factor.

DefHalan

Well I wasn't going to buy it anyways, but I don't see why he shouldn't be allowed to sell it to those who want it. I haven't purchased anything from this developer as they aren't the type of games I enjoy. They seem to be very quick experiences that don't dive into deeper mechanics, which is something I don't want for my Wii U (honestly I might be more interested in some of their games on my 3DS)

Dezzy

I'm largely in agreement that we need to consciously oppose lazy developers who are so obviously just trying to make a quick buck. Those aren't the people we should want in the industry. They contribute almost nothing of value and just clog up the space making it harder to find the good games. But I don't feel great about starting threads on a forum to try and persuade people not to buy things. In some sense, we need to let the market decide what is successful and what isn't. Or let Nintendo decide whether they're going to turn things down.

Below is the response from Michael Aschenbrenner, the man behind RCMADIAX, addressing some of the comments around the game.

Wasn't going to respond to this thread, but... why not!

I just want to address a few things being said in a non-offensive way. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and I value that. I think it is important to hear the thought behind putting this game into production in the first place.

If you would have ask me 6 weeks ago if I would have ever made this type of game then I would have said "HELL NO!". This title was made after seeing titles such as "The Letter" and "IQ Test" climbing the charts despite getting really low review scores. My latest title, SHUT THE BOX, received a 7/10 from Nintendo Life and is my highest rated title developed so far, yet it was outsold 100:1 by these games people were calling crappy. If they were so crappy, then why did you buy them? You made TreeFallStudios and NinjaPig very wealthy by joking around and purchasing those titles. As customers you have so much power over companies because you can vote with your wallets.If you don't like a game...THEN DON'T BUY IT. It's very simple folks. No one at RCMADIAX is trying to trick you into buying anything. I didn't take your children and hold them hostage until you buy my games. Its so very simple to just don't buy the game if you don't like it.

As far as sending the message that you don't want low-priced games? If too late for that. You have already proved that there is a market for $1-3 titles and guess what, there are a ton more coming from "thousands" of registered indie devs.

Nintendo does not rate our games on content. They have a set list of guidelines that we must adhere to and that's what they test for. You wanted the eShop more open and this is what you get. It's up to you to make an informed decision on if a title is right for you.

With all this being said, I will continue to develop these small games in my spare time because I enjoy it. My dev kit is already paid for multiple times over and I enjoy trying to create games that are not already on the system to give it some variety. Lots of people enjoy my games and there are plenty looking forward to SPIKEY WALLS.

Thanks for your attention folks and please be respectful of one another and if you want to take a crack at Wii U development, then please sign up and create your own games. Have a good night!

Michael Aschenbrenner
RCMADIAX LLC

It's an interesting topic as it's coming back to the kind of content gamers want on the Wii U eShop, and debates around the Nintendo policies that see small $1 games arrive on the store. Like any topic as divisive as this, there are plenty of grey areas and clashing viewpoints.

Where do you stand on the debate which we initially tackled earlier this year? Let us know in the comments below.