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Topic: Is Nintendo resting on its laurels?

Posts 301 to 320 of 543

Grumblevolcano

@Alber-san When you look at the other consoles, there's open world adventures everywhere and constantly end up being received very well. Some of that audience for example will have been excited by BotW being much more like your typical open world adventure game than a Zelda game. There's been nothing for that audience on Switch since Skyrim in November.

Grumblevolcano

GrailUK

@Grumblevolcano Is Dark Souls open world (I've never played it). That seems to have suffered an unforeseen delay which may have left a sour taste in folks mouths...they should really stop sucking cards...

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Therad

Personally I don't like the AAA moniker, it is highly subjective. It has no clear-cut definition, so every gamer have their own definition.

It is much better to find games that are system sellers. And when I talk about system sellers, I mean games that when they are released make a noticeable hike in hardware sales.

Zelda and Mario are the most obvious suspects. Splatoon and Mario kart are also heavy hitters. Sales that are outside of statistical margins of error.

This year I would say Smash is one of those series from Nintendo. Pokemon is another. I don't know if let's go will have that kind of impact though.

Tennis, Kirby and DK I wouldn't classify as system sellers. They might be appreciated series and loved by many, but not so much that many would spend $360 to get. So to me, it seems like this year is mediocre.

But they will still hit 20 mill, because Nintendo will have at least 5 big games out in different genres.

Therad

Grumblevolcano

@GrailUK Don't know but given what's happened so far I'm starting to doubt a 2018 release at this point. We got the May release announcement in the March Direct and then it got delayed, the E3 Direct said new release of summer 2018 yet here we are 2 months later and know nothing.

Grumblevolcano

GrailUK

@Grumblevolcano Aye, Nintendo are being unusually opaque regarding their distribution (delays / card sizes etc)

I never drive faster than I can see. Besides, it's all in the reflexes.

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electrolite77

If the game types are a thing I guess Metroid is the next Zelda type game. Maybe Fire Emblem? It seems a very specific set of criteria.

However Smash is historically a bigger seller than Zelda.

Smash N64 outsold Majoras Mask

Melee outsold Wind Waker 2 to 1 and outsold Wind Waker and Twilight Princess GameCube combined

Brawl outsold Twilight Princess Wii and Skyward Sword combined

Smash 3DS outsold Majoras Mask 3D, Link Between Worlds and Ocarina of Time 3D combined

Smash U outsold Wind Waker HD, BOTW Wii U and even anytime Warriors combined.

If Zelda is AAA (which it is), Smash is (which it is).

I’m not even a Smash fan but it’s strange watching people try and convince themselves it isn’t a huge game.

[Edited by electrolite77]

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Cobalt

The thing that I really like with some people here, is the way they see a "huge" game. It's always about the sells ! Like the first stuff that comes to their mind is how much it has sold or outsold...

I thought that every gamer would think that a big game would be more a game that has moved you or a game that gaves you something special and/or brought something so great like BOTW did... instead of "how much sells a game did".

Really a strange way to define a game, except if you work at Nintendo or if you are a PR for example...
But as a gamer, seriously...

[Edited by Cobalt]

Cobalt

electrolite77

@StuTwo

I think this year has basically been library building. Forget the Wii U, the mass market never cared. What they're looking for from a Nintendo system is Mario, Mario Kart, Zelda, Pokemon, Donkey Kong, Smash, Kirby, Splatoon etc.

Nintendo have gone out of the way to make sure all the big names are on the shelves come the big shopping season (or at least have a 'Coming soon' box on the shelves for those shopping in November 😉)

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Therad

@electrolite77 What is your definition of AAA? Because everyone uses AAA differently. I would have thought most talks about the budget and scope of a game, rather than sales. I would guess that smash is smaller in both scope and budget.

If it is only sales that matters, than Wii sports resort would be one of the biggest AAA titles ever released... and angry birds would be a AAAAA title...

[Edited by Therad]

Therad

Cobalt

@electrolite77 said "I think this year has basically been library building."

Yeah, by porting the Wii U games on the Switch one after the other.

@electrolite77 said "Forget the Wii U, the mass market never cared. What they're looking for from a Nintendo system is Mario, Mario Kart, Zelda, Pokemon, Donkey Kong, Smash, Kirby, Splatoon etc."

So the Wii U has :

-Mario Games
-MarioKart 8
-Zelda Games
-Pokemon Games via VC
-Donkey Kong CTF
-Smash
-Kirby games
-Splatoon

How you can say at the same time : "People never cared about the Wii U but what they're looking for is more about those games just above" ?

It's a nonsense by essence...

[Edited by Cobalt]

Cobalt

skywake

@Therad
I'd argue it's a combination of metrics. Sales are a factor as are budget and scope. But none of them in isolation because, as you pointed out, there are strange outliers.

Probably the best definition would be a game that a major developer is putting a lot of resources into. Mostly as a result of previous sales success with the franchise. Resources which, inevitably, increase the scale of the game.

[Edited by skywake]

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electrolite77

@Therad

I suppose in this context I mean ‘system seller’. I know often people take into account budgets but I think that’s vague. While Western AAA games often appear big budget it could be that your Assassins Creed games reuse so many assets and an engine that an individual games budget may be that big.

I would actually agree about Wii Sports and Angry Birds being AAA. Certainly Wii Sports was as big a system seller as there’s been. Angry Birds releases were huge at the time though how do you define a phone game as a system seller? It’s tricky.

I tend to think of ‘AAA’ as ‘big unit shifter’ which really equates to ‘system seller’. I suspect (🤣) others will think differently

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electrolite77

@Cobalt

“The thing that I really like with some people here, is the way they see a "huge" game. It's always about the sells ”

Well of course, because that’s what it means. A new Pikmin would be bigger to me personally than Smash, but Smash is a bigger game. A new Gaslight Anthem album would be bigger to me personally than a new Adele album, but the Adele album would be bigger. A new Twin Peaks series would be bigger to me personally than a new Game of Thrones etc.etc....

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Agriculture

Cobalt wrote:

So the Wii U has :

-Mario Games
-MarioKart 8
-Zelda Games
-Pokemon Games via VC
-Donkey Kong CTF
-Smash
-Kirby games
-Splatoon

How you can say at the same time : "People never cared about the Wii U but what they're looking for is more about those games just above" ?

The youtuber Arlo talked about this a while ago. Basically it comes down to the games not being comparable. People wanted Super Mario Odyssey, not a 2D Mario and not a "technically 3D, but same level layout as 2D"-Mario. They also wanted Breath of the Wild, not the older type of Zelda games. The WiiU never got Breath of the Wild during the main part of it's life cycle.

Mario Kart 8 and Tropical Freeze also seem more like bonuses. "I'll buy them if I have the console, but I won't buy the console for them".

When Metroid Prime 4 comes out, it's going to be even bigger differences between the quality of games on the Switch compared to the WiiU.

Agriculture

electrolite77

@Cobalt

“How you can say at the same time : "People never cared about the Wii U but what they're looking for is more about those games just above" ?
It's a nonsense by essence...”

Seriously?

The Wii U didn’t sell because of the undesirable hardware, stupid name, slow drip of software, awful marketing, rapidly disappearing third party support, high price vs the competition etc.etc. It’s apples and oranges.

Switch has solved most of those problems. Plus compare Switch on its second Christmas, with all those games I mentioned, to Wii U in its second or even third Christmas. Wii U only had a HD Zelda port as it’s BOTW equivalent. No big Pokemon game. No Kirby. It’s 3D Mario, while a fine game, looked like a souped up 3DS game (because it was). No Splatoon. Wii U has no equivalent of portable Fortnite or FIFA or Minecraft.

If Wii U and Switch were the same systems with the same software selection it would be a relevant comparison. But they’re not, not by a million miles.

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Octane

@electrolite77 But the Switch doesn't have Star Fox Zero, how do you explain that?

Octane

electrolite77

@Octane

I’m not sure anybody can explain Starfox Zero 😉Maybe they’re holding that back for next year when they want to do 100 million.

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skywake

Cobalt wrote:

So the Wii U has.....

I think you're looking at the Wii U with rose tinted glasses. I mean sure, the console ticks a lot of of the boxes from the future looking back. But you need to remember what it looked like in 2013 & 2014 when it mattered. Someone looking at the Switch library now with the intent of buying one sees BotW, Odyssey, Mario Kart, Splatoon, Xenoblade, Skyrim, Doom with Smash Bros on the horizon. If you were looking at the Wii U's library in early 2014 you would've seen Wind Waker HD, Super Mario 3D World, Pikmin 3 with Mario Kart & Smash coming out soon. Nowhere near as compelling.

I was a huge defender of the Wii U at the time but lets not kid ourselves. Unless you were reading all of the news, watching all of the gameplay and had a bit of trust in Nintendo's direction? It was a really tough sell. Especially early on. I got the Wii U on the idea of HD Mario/Zelda/Metroid with Pikmin 3 and Wind Waker HD to keep me going while I waited. Most people are not that willing to take that big a gamble with their money. Most people want content now and a bit of assurance that they're not going to be left behind.

[Edited by skywake]

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An opinion is only respectable if it can be defended. Respect people, not opinions

JasmineDragon

skywake wrote:

Cobalt wrote:

So the Wii U has.....

I think you're looking at the Wii U with rose tinted glasses. I mean sure, the console ticks a lot of of the boxes from the future looking back. But you need to remember what it looked like in 2013 & 2014 when it mattered. Someone looking at the Switch library now with the intent of buying one sees BotW, Odyssey, Mario Kart, Splatoon, Xenoblade, Skyrim, Doom with Smash Bros on the horizon. If you were looking at the Wii U's library in early 2014 you would've seen Wind Waker HD, Super Mario 3D World, Pikmin 3 with Mario Kart & Smash coming out soon. Nowhere near as compelling.

I was a huge defender of the Wii U at the time but lets not kid ourselves. Unless you were reading all of the news, watching all of the gameplay and had a bit of trust in Nintendo's direction? It was a really tough sell. Especially early on. I got the Wii U on the idea of HD Mario/Zelda/Metroid with Pikmin 3 and Wind Waker HD to keep me going while I waited. Most people are not that willing to take that big a gamble with their money. Most people want content now and a bit of assurance that they're not going to be left behind.

Quoting your whole post because that's exactly why I never got the Wii U. Eventually the Wii U got almost every one of Nintendo's heavy hitters and a few big third parties. But by that time we were at least halfway through a console generation and the word was out that third parties were mostly ignoring the Wii U, and by the time I talked myself into being interested in it the "NX" rumors had started, and I decided to wait and see what that produced.

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