Project H.A.M.M.E.R. was supposed to be a Wii title which catered for the needs of serious gamers, thanks to its gritty setting and focus on intense destructive action. Developed by Nintendo Software Technology - the North American studio responsible for titles like Wave Race: Blue Storm, Metroid Prime: Hunters and 1080° Avalanche - Project H.A.M.M.E.R. entered early development in 2003 and was officially announced at E3 2006, but would endure a painful development process before its eventual cancellation in 2009.
Our friends over at Unseen64 have been speaking to various sources close to Nintendo Software Technology and the resultant report - which includes gameplay footage and CGI renders created by external studio Silver Ant for the game's cut-scenes - doesn't paint a pretty picture of working practices at the studio.
Project H.A.M.M.E.R. - which was referred to internally at NST as Machinex - went through several revisions over the years and was actually close to being finished at one point, but the same conclusion appears to have been reached on several different occasions - the core Wii Remote-smashing gameplay simply wasn't fun enough. There was even a point when the game was totally rebooted as Wii Crush, a cute title which retained Project H.A.M.M.E.R.'s destructive overtones, but little else.
Perhaps more worrying are the accusations levelled at Nintendo's higher-ups in the report, which hints at cases of racism within the walls of NST. The project was overseen by senior Japanese staff based in NST's offices, and this created a cultural issue for the game, which was clearly aimed at a Western audience.
According to Unseen64's source, Western NST staff found their ideas repeatedly ignored, even being told that they wouldn't understand the reasoning because "they weren't Japanese". Around the time the title shifted focus and became Wii Crush, NST staffers began leaving the company in droves. The game's head designer was unceremoniously fired, and was blamed by NST's senior Japanese management for the failure of the project. They seemingly took no personal responsibility.
Departing staff would directly accuse the Japanese NST staffers of "nationalism", and this forced Nintendo of America to step in and take charge. An internal review took place - the actual content of which Unseen64 is unable to divulge - but it can say that moral survey scores came back as a record low. In 2009 the game was formally cancelled, marking the end of five and a half years of fruitless labour for NST.
The end result, Unseen64's sources state, is that NST has now been reduced to a minor role within Nintendo's development hierarchy. While the studio is still active - its most recent title was Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars and it assisted with the creation of Google-powered app Wii Street U - it is no longer trusted with AAA retail releases, and may never be again. The talent which created some of the studio's most impressive games has long since departed, many leaving due to their experience with Project H.A.M.M.E.R. and its painful development.
The full video report is below, and makes for essential viewing.
[source unseen64.com]
Comments 149
Sad, very sad, the whole affair... Humanity still needs to evolve quite a bit it would seem.
This is truly shocking and kind of concerning for Nintendo. If this is the way they treat their studios, then there's huge problems afoot.
However, I'm also aware that a lot of big publishers aren't much better cough EA cough.
I'm sure I should have just watched the video, but not really feeling like it right now. So, my question, was any of the senior Japanese staff fired after the internal review?
@Wouwter the fact the studio has not done any triple A games since, I would say probably not.
Nationalism: The cancer of humanity (Yes, I am aware of my avatar)
That's a shame. Hopefully there's better culture where pride is concerned in the company now.
Well. Here may be an actual real reason why Nintendo development ain't doing so hot... Seems that this is an exposed incident (which rarely translates into isolated incident, in fact, the opposite is true) that finally came to light many years after the fact... Is this what happened with third party devs/pubs? Let's look at some of the older articles on NL that state (almost too politely) that Nintendo has a very Japanese way of thinking/conducting business... Concerning to say the least. And on top of that suck salad, we still didn't get a game!
I've always wondered when the next sequel in the Wave Race & 1080 series of games would happen... Now I know why it's been so long since the last installments & why there's probably no sequels ever coming. I really loved all the games from both series', fingers crossed for NX I guess but I'm not getting my hopes up.
Major 'middlefinger' to Nintendo for this!!! Nintendo treats their own western studio like a shovelware dev. Disrespectful and racist
This sounds like a pretty sad and unfortunate situation. While NST might not have been responsible for any games that were particularly amazing, they did put out some solid titles, and Nintendo sure could use the extra studios right now.
Unseen64's Liam Robertson has also made some pretty interesting claims today about NX that makes it sound even more like NX is going to be some kind of android box type deal than a traditional console. He's certainly got enough stuff right to show he definitely has insider sources.
It's almost like they're scared of 'western' games being successful. The utter rubbish that has passed Nintendo's famous quality control in the last few years is unprecedented and it seems like every year a couple of really promising games get mothballed.
What a shame. M-09 (the protagonist) would be a pretty great smash bros fighter.
If only Nintendo had studios that had American higher-ups. Heck hire a Japanese American if they really are that concerned with that.
@MightyKrypto But the game literally look like shovelware. Seriously, even the devs thought it was a mess. Sure it wrong of Nintendo to be so picky (I think Nintendo quality control is nearly worst than Apple's), but it really looked like some shovelware you'll find on the Gamecube. The game looks repetitive as all hell after the first few hours or so. There was a reason why people thought it was generally bad. Nothing of importants was lost in this. Not like most of the games they made were really good. Decent at best.
I blame the top execs :
It's sad but true in many cases, Japanese, Korean and Chinese people can be very racist, ( obviously not all, and obviously to varying degrees, but still true) is sad. Our business has been directly affected by local Korean people in Dallas. Several will only contract Korean companies to do business with, this is wrong, but they don't see it as wrong.
Doesn't make them bad people, but I sure wish they would broaden their horizons.
@Resh nationalism is not a bad thing... Pride in our country, respecting the flag and ideas it's stands for. But nationalism does not mean disrespecting or discrimination other nations or cultures....
( however, that's how the word is used today) uggggg
I wonder how much real control and decision making capabilities nintendo USA has?
So Nintendo effed up and won't take responsibility?
Well, it seems to me that the game hasn't acheieve a FUN gameplay experience, it looks like a 4/10 game
Happy 4th of July! I never knew this game existed, but it shows how incompetent Nintendo of Japan can be.
It's probably a safe bet to say that Nintendo from now on are going to suffocate on their own damn pride.
They're at a point where they should be evolving and improving their internal studios, which includes giving NoA and NoE the time and resources to set up AAA teams for them selves.
NoJ are given way too much control with what software the company are producing. They can keep Mario and Zelda, but letting NoA and NoE develop games from past I.P's, even allowing for new ones would see Nintendo remain as one of the top developers.
This is why people take a negative view of Nintendo at times, simply because they'e not doing what's best for the company, rather than what's best for their internal beliefs.
People are pointing fingers at Nintendo when they should be pointing fingers and the actual racists here. Why are we yelling about a company when the PEOPLE who run the company are discriminating. I hope everyone involved in this was fired or was harshly scolded by these actions. Times have changed at least.
@Bliquid Retro is doing fine. Don't be a sensationalist.
@Danrenfroe2016 I mean I guess nationalism in small doses isn't all that bad but still. Some of humanity's worst's moments were brought along by nationalism. Imma just leave it at that since I don't want to get into a argument about this.
This report is exactly why things need to change at Nintendo. Higher up Japanese management needs to be fired and replaced accordingly in order for Nintendo to truly modernize. I honestly can't believe things can really be this bad within Nintendo, but I guess it does happen.
Nintendo of Japan is in serious need of diversity training.
That's really a shame that this happened. To be fair, we only heard one side of the story, and there's always the other side of the story so we can take a fair view of the whole situation. Regardless, it should never happened in the first place and I hope Nintendo has taken further measure to prevent this in future.
@Chaoz And the fact that it wasn't looking promising (which was also due to the 'help' from Nintendo) is an excuse for the disrespectful and downright racist comments/attitude from Nintendo?
This is a shame. I've really hoped for a new Wave Racer but it sounds like that's probably not going to happen. Considering the positive relationship Nintendo has with Retro (which they essentially turned around after buying) and Next Level (which has chosen to remain second party), it's surprisingly that they'd mismanage NST to this extent. Hopefully these specific supervisors were punished for mismanaging NST and replaced with people like Tanabe.
Half man , Half machine makes me think robot cop.
@MightyKrypto How and what way was Nintendo being remotely racist? And I pretty sure they didn't listen to Nintendo help.
I have always been interested in this game from the first time that I saw it, except for the continuous waggle fest of the controls.
If they would up the graphics fidelity and rework the controls to work with normal button commands, this could still be a fun Final Fight/Streets of Rage type of a game and I would buy it.
@Chaoz Western NST staff found their ideas repeatedly ignored, even being told that they wouldn't understand the reasoning because "they weren't Japanese"
That doesn't strike you as racist at all?
Racism cuts both ways but Westerners are more generally more globally minded whereas Nintendo's Japanese execs seem less willing to take risks but I think it's a little short-sighted to blame only a handful of management staff when they clearly learned this way of thinking somewhere else. Development culture in America and Europe are leaning more towards innovation while Eastern publishers tend to play it safe and limit creative freedom in favor of a sure-thing derived from past experiences.
@Chaoz Did you watch the video?
Howcome NOA never develop their own games? I'm sure they have the resources. I understand they handle the localization of the games. Is that all they do and occasional poor marketing?
Well this explains why we never got a new 1080 yet. It looked like it could have been interesting. But from the gameplay shown, I can see their concerns.
I would love to see this story from NoJ's perspective.
@dizzy_boy It would be amazing if we got new development teams from NoA and NoE. If it were to come about, they would be able to bring new perspectives on game design.
They really have to get their sh*t together .....
Nintendo has to have more western studios under their belt, Japanese nationalism or not, they need to be more diverse and I'm not only saying this because of this article .... They make good games, yes. But they have not enough studios making games for 3 platforms (HH, HC and Mobile) and they need to make games literally for everyone. Whit this I don't mean rated E games, but games that appeal to kids, other games that appeal to older gamers and other games that appeal to the "mature" or "sports" crowd ..... They can't ignore these crowds, because they are gigantic at the moment ...
@MightyKrypto Japan and American culture is very different. We have different ideas and morals. Of course they wouldn't understand and would ignore there ideas. It not that they're racist, they really just won't understand there ideas because the west and east have very different ways of thinking. Not that I actually like that idea. I really wish Nintendo would actually give western devs a chance sometimes, but it understandable. If anything NOJ needs to work on being able to communicate with people around the world. Give NOA more freedom, treat your western audience better, fire Reggie, listen to people outside of Japan, ect.
@Resh I agree, I just mean "nationalism " in the best sence of the term, not like Nazi nationalism lol.
@Josaku yes! I would like to appoint you CEO of Nintendo... Why Nintendo current leadership can't see this just baffles my mind, its like Nintendo specifically does not want to try to compete with Sony or Microsoft?
Nintendo Co., LTD plays the role of overbearing dad. NOA and NOE are like, "Awww, come on dad!". "NO!!!!!, absolutely not!!! When you're under roof - you do as I say!!!" "Fine!! I'm running away and never talking to you again!!" "HEY!!!! Get back here, NOW!!!!
Every story has 2 sides to it. Can't just take their word for what happened. Seems pretty bleak from what they said though.
@Chaoz 'Japan and American culture is very different. We have different ideas and morals.'
But when you call someone out for not understanding your way of thinking, because he has a different ethnicity than yours, than that's racism, Pure and simple!!!
Have we heard both sides?
Not going to cast any stones before that.
That's sad. A new 1080 or Wave Race would have been great. All this happened until 2009-six years ago. This clearly sounds like a title in development hell which surely soured the relationship between NST and the japanese supervisors. But some are clearly jumping to conclusions or use this article to attack Nintendo as a whole (again). There surely were enough reports from different devs who claimed that the work with big N was pleasant and productive. As I said this happened quite a while ago and surely isn't representative for every collaboration with Nintendo.
@BLPs I feel with you. The last days weren't too pleasant to read comments on this site. Luckily I have no booze in reach. : ) Don't let them get you down.
Wow a complete disconnect between the Japanese arm and American arm. This happened to SEGA too. It's the reason we had a 32-X and a Saturn.
Sad but not surprising.
I mean look at how difficult it is simply to apply for a job at Nintendo...
I'd actually love to apply for a job there, in any capacity, but I wouldn't even get past filling in the forms—and I used to work for Rare as an Artist/Animator, which is also my degree; worked for Rockstar as a Level Designer; have made seven of my own Apps for Android and iOS, where I designed, created the art and did most of the programming; came up with the idea for what is basically the Wiimote before it was ever even mentioned by Nintendo; came up with the idea of putting tilt control into handhelds while I was at Rare, before Nintendo added it to GBC; and have a crap load of great ideas for games/software, as well as hardware, firmware and services, imo.
Nintendo, and indeed the whole system, is now its own worst enemy in many ways.
It's all red tap and bureaucracy these days.
This, sadly, isn't the first time I've heard of Japanese game developers looking down on and badly treating non-japanese simply because they were not japanese. Is this a thing in Japan?
I simply don't understand some people here. When you despise Nintendo so much why don't you move on. I confess I really don't like Sony as a console manufacturer but I surely won't sign up to Sony fan sites just to spam the comment sections about that.
It's clear this explains a few things in terms of the direction of titles on Nintendo products. It is a Japanese console, but the concern should be is Nintendo blindly catering to Japan's trends.
The 3DS, as mobile products are extremely popular in Japan, is getting the most diverse content, and focus. It is really pulling most of the Nintendo's support, while Wii U is more of a second thought. If Wii U were thought of first, games like IronFall, Project Steam, and even Street Fighter would have made their appearance on the 3DS, and Wii U.
Nintendo would have better offer creating the Wii U Gamepad as a 3DS-type. It would service the needs of the portable market. It would serve as a portable, and home platform, with strong, varied content, and not just be directed at Japan's audience. Fatal Frame, for example, should have immediately come over to the US. Instead, it's out in Japan, and October it will come over here.
NOA has good ideas, and hopefully does not have to be pushed aside for ideals based on the source market. America has competition and Nintendo has to be part of it, on all levels, and platforms, in a decent way.
I think it's a clash of ideals more than it is nationlism. Bayonetta on it's own is suitable for the Japanese market. Americans might need Bayonetta, Devil May Cry, and similar titles, and different varieties in order to be appeased. The fact that the only fighting title on Nintendo is Tekken Tag and Smash Brother is quality, but at the same time lacking is a concern.
@Nintenjoe64 Dark Moon and DKCR? What about those games?
While it is sad for those that tried to make this game happen, I've seen worse......Duke Nukem Forever anyone?
Milking a bad game to death and then calling the race card every time your bosses treat you like crap... classy.
I can't help but think of those rumor problems between senior staff at Retro and Nintendo.
Nintendo needs to shape up.
@BLPs You are really passionate about game development so it's sad that you seem to have some really ignorant people in your course. Just stay strong and don't let them get to you. Someday this will only be a distant memory.
So people are basing the racism on the fact the Japanese execs wouldn't explain their decisions because the western devs weren't Japanese??
Sounds less like flat out racism and more like a piss poor excuse for not having to explain their actions... Hiding behind cultural differences.
Now I haven't watched the vid so I may be missing something else but from the article above I would say racism is a stretch
Wow, a lot of the "Nintendo should die" people are out in force in the comments. It's not a uniquely Japanese thing but we hear about it a lot because most games companies of note are Japanese or American.
For all it's other flaws Capcom has been good at listening to American fans (i.e. working in Bison's imfamous Tuesday line) while other ones almost completely disregard them, despite them being the biggest buyers. Look at what happened to Sega. The stupid internal rivalry between american and janaese branches killed the Saturn and the Japanese side pulled the plug on the American branch's Sonic development because they dare to use the NiGHTs engine.
Not to mention jettisoning all of the American Sonic Canon bar Robotnik being made into Eggman's real name.
No doubt situations have improved over the years, but it's sad to hear about the breakdown between culture and race during this title's development. Think I've heard/seen a mention of this game on the rare occasion back in 2008 but nothing since and even then I didn't know what people were talking about. I was still a kid back in '06 but I still had my eye on E3 and yet never even saw a glimpse of this game. Looked like it had potential. Too bad.
Managers... don't get me started
I had been wanting to apply over at Nintendo for a long time, but in the count of their Glass Door reviews, I refrained. A lot of what is being discussed in this article and video has been documented there. I'd invite you all to check it out. It's interesting, and it does clear up a few things about how the Washington office is perceived.
See, that's why NoA and NoE need to have more freedom on what they can do. North Americans understand North Americans, Europeans understand Europeans. Nintendo just keeps consistently disappointing me.
This is really sad to hear. It's definitely a problem that Nintendo always had had too. Dan Adelman complained about this before too after he left. Nintendo needs a serious restructering. As it is now they're very very archaic and only shooting themselves in the foot. Nintendo's only making themselves more and more irrelevant every single day and I don't see things changing any time soon as long as these suits that don't even understand gaming culture today are still in charge.
@Retro_on_theG Seems like every game company today is run by people who don't understand the concept of "games".
@BLPs That's really sad. One would think people studying game design would be more open minded.
Meanwhile Retro and Next Level have had great experiences with Nintendo, and have never, that I've heard, accused Nintendo of any kind of racism/nationalism. The situation with Project HAMMER is/was unfortunate, but I think this is a case of each side blaming the other when both sides deserve some blame.
@Retro_on_theGo
Some of those suits know more about game development than most developers.
The rule-oriented, hierarchical nature of Japanese society is one of its most dangerous elements and one which is very hard to understand by anyone looking in from outside. Its is sad that Nintendo is still clutching to the "no-one can disagree or speak out, we're doing it this way and we will not explain our decisions" culture. That's surely not good and needs to change to get 3rd parties back on board. Tide might be changing though as the massively high suicide rate in Japan (linked to the inability to speak out, complain or question) is finally getting some attention, along with mental health. Things seem to be changing slowly, just like the abuse revelations in the UK are slowly bringing about understanding and change and a feeling that it can't be ignored any more.
@TrueWiiMaster I agree, but the problem with Nintendo's structure is that if just one person shoots down an idea, it's done. They have to go back to the drawing board and present it all over again. It makes it frustrating to get ideas through and the few there who don't understand today's trends can mess it up for others.
One thing that Nintendo really needs is a global eye. Japan produces amazing games, but they need to realize that Nintendo means a lot to the world, not just their island. By tearing down the old world view and adapting, they will thrive in our global markets. Being overprotective leads to lack of use, leads to public forgetfulness. Give the world markets what they want and you win the day.
Just as I have always guessed. NoJ retains too much power over the company and develop for their tiny market first and foremost. They have an innate fear of anything western, and won't adopt any of their ideas unless they're dragged kicking and screaming.
~Sigh~ the future doesn't look so good for Nintendo. Not if they don't seriously change how they do business.
Yeah. Guess thats reality. Theres always a dark side to everyone and everything we love. My heart goes out to those hard and talented workers. I hope they found work and made other amazing games by now.
I remember being very excited about this title after hearing about it in 2006. It's such a shame that Nintendo doesn't trust their game developers and just need to let go of their tight reigns. Not everything has to be so cutesy. I afraid the same is going to be said for Project Giant Robot. It's crazy because they were surprised how well Splatoon has done, and they may be surprised how well these others projects would do if they release some control and just let a variety of games be made. Nintendo needs to stop relying solely on their hallmark games alone, there is ways to expand what Nintendo is in a positive light! Let go of some control, I know it's scary, but it will be ok and it is for the best interest of the company and the gamers!
Same sort of stuff was happening over at SEGA of America, minus the racism. All industries have incidents like this, so it's unsurprising to hear about it, but I really wish that NST got back on track to making bigger games! I loved MP Hunters, and those sports games looked awesome!
Also, while I usually agree with Japanese development more than I do American development, I'm on the Americans' side of this argument Environments?? Are you kidding me??
@Wolfman_Jack We don't despise Nintendo. Most if not all of us here either love Nintendo or used to love Nintendo. The criticisms we have toward this company are there because we love it, and we want to see it get better. Unfortunately, it keeps shooting itself in the foot and we're left worried that if this keeps going the way it is, Nintendo will transform into something nobody will like.
Sad to see this happen, but this could really happen in any company if you get some crappy managers who want to say "I'm the sole reason you guys made it anywhere" for every project their staff works on. Something similar happened to me in one of my jobs, but everybody involved was American and the excuse was "because I said so" instead of "I'm Japanese".
Either way, I think some form of bias and elitism was involved in both my case and theirs. The "vehicle" was different for using it, if you will.
Wow. That just sucks.
Nintendo seems a little more open to different developers approaches nowadays, thankfully, what with Hyrule Warriors and Bayonetta and the young core team behind Splatoon.
Seems so odd that there was resistance to changing the core mechanic because it wasn't fun. I mean... that's Nintendo's thing! Start with a fun core mechanic and build out from it!
@Operative Which makes me curious about Xenoblade's development. That game is very much inspired by WRPGs and has many WRPG elements. Wonder if Nintendo's higher-ups had some internal conflict over that game. Who knows, Xenoblade could have been canceled.
It's a pity that Project H.A.M.M.E.R. got cancelled. But it's even more of a pity what become of NST. If the studio still was what it had been during the GCN era, the chances to get a new – and amazing – Wave Race, 1080°, or perhaps even F-Zero (as the requirements for the latter are not significantly different from those for a Wave Race or so, and what is more, NST also developed Ridge Racer 64 as an example for a more pure racing game) would be a lot higher.
I guess studios come and go, though I don't know how much Nintendo is to blame or even to praise for that. During each era, there were new studios they worked together with, while previous ones disappeared from the limelight. It may be easiest to evaluate the process when looking at those from a while ago, e.g. from the late N64 and early GCN-era: NST (although, of course, this is a sort of special case, as it belongs to Nintendo more or less directly), Leftfield, Silicon Knights, and, if you like, Rareware. They all were of importance at a certain time, until in the one way or the other they stopped working with Nintendo in the same way as before. In each of these cases, those studios went downhill rapidly. So the question is: Did Nintendo "do this" to these studios (something certain people claim as regards the Retro Studios in recent years) and they are the victims of a sort of exploitation, or were it the studios who made the mistakes, practically forcing Nintendo to pull the plug and look elsewhere. The truth may be that each case is different (e.g. internal problems inside Silicon Knights, the deliberate wish to be independent again in the case of Leftfield, perhaps Nintendo being to blame for the downfall of NST, and a complex process as regards Rareware).
Kuju/Headstrong...
Nd Cube...
Cing...
Next Level Games...
Monster Games...
Monolith...
..., what will (or has) become of them? One may even mention Factor 5, considering the role the played even in the development of the GCN hardware.
NST never should have been handed franchises like Wave Race and 1080. As a result of their incredibly uninspired iterations of those series, I won't miss them.
Disgusting.
I actually really liked Wave Race: Blue Storm.
As someone has already pointed out, Nintendo sure could use another active studio right now...
@MightyKrypto Can you tell me who said they wouldn't understand because they aren't Japanese? What was the context? Is that an actual quote or just a filtered approximation? Is it the claim of an employee with an axe to grind because they were turning in sub par work? I think it's ridiculous to level the charge of racism without knowing ANY pertinent facts. It certainly should perk one's ears up, but based on this level of evidence I think it's ridiculous to go further. So many people here are taking an unnamed source as 100% fact. It's easy to manipulate people when you do that. Maybe people don't understand how heavy of a charge racism is? Or they don't care? Me, I want to know a little more before I start throwing around that word.
It seemed they were very passionate with making this game. But by the look of the gameplay it really did not look fun waggling the Wii remote like an idiot is not fun. And everything else like the main character,graphics and enemies looked bland. And the racist thing i'm not going to say anything about that cause i don't want to have an argument with any of you. Cause some of you here have no idea what you're talking about. Congrats remembers scrub lords know both sides of the story before you cast your opinion.
After that and this year's E3, I've lost a LOT of respect for NIntendo I hope they humble themselves and realise that we are the key to their success.
"The game's head designer was unceremoniously fired, and was blamed by NST's senior Japanese management for the failure of the project. They seemingly took no personal responsibility"
Yup, sounds like Nintendo Japan! Even after the Wii u debacle, they lay the blame on the consumer: They didn't understand the device! The consumer also doesn't understand that Federation force is MUCH better then a proper Metroid. Of course Nintendo themselfes do nothing wrong! That bodes very well for NX!
@MussakkuLaden Well, Cing unfortunately went bankrupt. To my knowledge, not many of their games sold very well, which is a shame as I really enjoyed Another Code. From what I hear, they actually had plans to do a crossover with both their Another Code and Hotel Dusk series (to whom both IPs belong to Nintendo).
As for Monolith, their a first party Nintendo studio now.
"was blamed by NST's senior Japanese management for the failure of the project. They seemingly took no personal responsibility"
Nintendo (a.k.a Miyamoto's play house) in a nutshell: "if we succeed, we are genious. If we fail, it's because marketing/they didn't get it/they are not japanese".
The big problem with stories like this is that you only hear one side. This is clearly from the developer side of things, which obviously makes them seem victimized. However, things are rarely so clear cut and dry. I'd like to see this issue from Nintendo of Japan as well. I'm sure it could still be very very bad, but there has to be some details on their side that we clearly are not seeing here.
Sad to hear. One of my biggest criticisms of Nintendo is their lack of Western studios and trusting their studios to do theirs own thing with new IPs. Which is not to say I don't like what they're doing with their existing IPs and Japanese studios, I do, but it's no coincidence they're not doing so hot in Europe and the US compared to their competitors with Western studios regularity allowed full creative freedom on new IPs.
You employ these people because they know what they're doing and they're damn good at doing it, so let them.
Here's hoping Iwata and co can shake up the internal structure of Nintendo. I think they're aware that even though there is value in their current methods, changes need to happen for them to stay relevant.
"...it can say that moral survey scores came back as a record low."
Should be "morale".
Sounds just like Nintendo. Unlike Sony, they ignore the West virtually completely and assume Japanese tastes first and foremost. Rather than balancing them
While that is sad, I would like to remind everyone that NST made the awful sequels to 1080 and Wave Race 64.
Not really a studio I'll ever miss.
The Japanese have a long history of nationalism, this isn't shocking or newsworthy by any stretch of the imagination.
@Pigeon
You sure about the "subtle hints" or are you just filling in the blanks?
There's nothing wrong with nationalism. I have pride in both America being the country for opportunity (I don't care what rebuttals you have) and the country of my ancestors. One with a similar culture to Japan. What's wrong is when people radicalize their pride.
While this is somewhat applicable to this story, we need the other side, not just that of the embittered westerners. Saying "this is so typical of Japanese people" in a way is racially profiling yourself.
Btw, maybe one reason the game failed to finish is because they tried sticking a gimmicky Wii remote controller to a "serious" game. I love the Wii remote but sometimes motion controls don't work.
@Mr_Zurkon
We Americans also have a long history of nationalism. Just look at why we treat native Americans so badly
If you really wanted to say "that's so typical of you Japanese," they should have committed Seppuku when they got fired, or start hanging around a Shinto shrine.
This really sounds like a divorce story. Of course one side makes the other sound terrible, they want pity. If those guys really wanted to, I'm certain they could have broken off and made a third party studio. (Cue "it's not that easy" comments). They had the credentials, probably could get Nintendo's blessing (not everyone is "radicallly racist nationalists" as were the NST people), and obviously had the heart.
I know, I know, there's people waiting to examine and pounce on every word I type. Probably gonna be people talking down to me and saying what I'm typing is also condescending. Stop being condescending to me and I'll stop writing this.
@GreenInferno No, believe me, that sounds correct. They don't have morale or morals.
"There's no reason to say this wasn't an isolated incident, therefore it must be true!"
-Some people in the comments
You don't need to be Japanese to misunderstand that waggle controls are a gimmick. Can't tell who they're more racist to: the white people, or themselves?
@Vincent294
Boooo!! That was a lame pun
Jk wasn't that bad
@Vincent294
You don't need to be Japanese to know every story has two sides. Can't tell who they're being racist to, their bosses or themselves
@Mona-Reggie That word doesn't mean what you think it means.
@Mr_Zurkon
Hey look man, westerners have a long history of dangerous nationalism as well. Serbian nationalists caused WWI.
Nationalism: extreme pride in one's own country and collective cultural aspects such as language. (Websters)
Usually when radicalized it ends up with racism against other people.
I.e Manifest destiny era America. We thought our Anglo-white English speaking country was so special we screwed all the Natives from their land by claiming their culture is superior.
@Mona-Reggie Sure, of course you think the US is a racist country. Give me a break. Want to see "dangerous nationalism"? Take a look at the axis powers of WWII: Japan, Italy and Germany.
There is nothing wrong with nationalism. But like everything else it can be taken to deadly extremities. Every time an attack on America happens they all get nationalistic and want to destroy something. But that's OK, that's considered good nationalism, I guess.
Is westerner a race? Oh, they were referring to non-Japanese.
Sounds like something G.W. Bush would say... or Trump.
@Mr_Zurkon
Not that I'm accusing you of it, but all these comments I see are trying to relate extreme nationalism as predominately a Japanese thing. I've met with many Americans who have acted similarly to me because I'm Asian. They'd say to me that "you wouldn't understand why Americans focus so much on football instead of academics. That's my explanation of why the football team eats up a third of the school budget."
Radical nationalism is not just a Japanese problem, but a global one. it's a matter of cultural strife.
That said they really could at the very least hire some Asian Americans. they make a good middle ground as to why both sides say different things.
@Mr_Zurkon
Seriously, a blame Bush statement? That joke died in 2009. (Although the trump one is true).
@Hotfusion
I'm saying all countries have racists, but the comments are trying to place it as only an Asian thing. I don't think the U.S. Is racist. It's the country that gave my family a chance.
@Mona-Reggie nope, certainly not exclusive to one country for sure. Eastern & western sense of taste is different though, just look at games that are never localized for the west because they are "very Japanese".
@Mona-Reggie What are you talking about with "blaming bush"?
Look I'm trying to stay a moderate here, pointing out the need for restraint in casting stones at Nintendo. Reading this story, We cannot say that all Japanese people automatically consider themselves superior. We cannot say that they were entirely blameless either. All we can say is that this was an unfortunate story, and a pity that something caused a competent studio to go under.
@Mona-Reggie
The very foundations, the very existence of the USA was based on extreme racism. Wiping out races of people by the tens of millions and enslaving others. It is so easy to forget that they are still blacks that can remember what it was like not being able to vote and not go to certain places.
Yes, it is definitely not as bad as it was then but the general consensus is that since Obama it has gotten worse than the beginning of this century.
Trying to pretend racism doesn't exist is delusional. The laws may have changed in America but the hearts of many people hasn't.
I spent some time living in Texas ( I am from the UK) and was amazed at how behind close doors the deep racism that resides there. I speak from as a white person being " enlightened" by other white people.
@Mr_Zurkon
Whoops sorry, switched names around
@Hotfusion
I've spent time in Texas too, and I can say that a lot of them have changed genuinely. Those "good ol boys" care more about can you have fun with them and pull your own weight rather than if you're dark and squinty eyed. Those guys grew up in segregated times, but mellowed out extremely by now.
Me being Asian I like to think I have a unique look at racism in America today. You've never heard of Asians fighting for civil rights so what gives? Some "enlightened" countries are quite discriminatory. Back during the fall of south Vietnam, Australia only allowed refugees that were young pretty single women.
Pervy little jerks.
@Mr_Zurkon
There certainly is some economic reason to lack of localization. Games that are really western such as GTA V do poorly in Japan because they're "too American". Never mind the fact that I hate the series. but on the flip side "too Japanese" will only appeal to a small audience. Look at SMTxFE, I'm Asian growing up with synthesizers and even I hate the J-Pop aesthetic. I find it too fan servicey and "senpai notice me" so as somebody stated "it's probably weeaboo bait, and I don't care about it."
@Mona-Reggie I'm going off numbers here. Either a few managers are wrong, or everybody else is. I'm more inclined to side with the larger group. If you go back far enough, both some on the German side and some on the Japanese side of my family are racist. I've seen or at least heard of both.
It's just really disappointing to hear so many people in here accusing any branch of Nintendo for this. The executives in charge of NST were at fault, yes, and NOA eventually took care of them. Yes, NOA probably could have handled the situation sooner (and better?), and it is very sad that great game designers were spurned from making games at all in the name of tyrannical creative control, but this is hardly if at all reflective on the values or ethics of the company, much less of the fruits of its labors. Hopefully NST is well reformed by now and hopefully Nintendo might enact more protective measures for its employees.
This all seems to be case of over-leniency in the company's policies, but it's quite difficult to judge with certainty that this problem is due to anything else. Thanks to NST's restructuring, perhaps we will see more internal studios of Nintendo pop up in Western countries, filled with management that's a lot more open-minded to its employees' voices.
@Gauchorino Yeah. Based off the rest of the company, it sounds like an isolated incident. It could sure reflect on all of Nintendo pretty badly.
Augustus is to conservatives to what a communist is to liberals. They think they're helping lost socialists find their way when they really couldn't be any further from the truth. He's deluded himself the same way. Denial is a strong drug taken by the weak-minded to feel confident in their views.
It's a lesson that some at Nintendo took far too long to learn. I think it's not a problem anymore, but too much damage was done.
It's not been a solely Nintendo problem, most Japanese game companies that have worked with Western companies have had similar issues.
It's a lesson that some at Nintendo took far too long to learn. I think it's not a problem anymore, but too much damage was done.
It's not been a solely Nintendo problem, most Japanese game companies that have worked with Western companies have had similar issues.
@FLUX_CAPACITOR @Retro_on_theGo Yeah, how dare you share your honest opinion with the rest of us, that's not what a comment section is for! Delete that crap at once!
Some people... lol
Woah that's schocking!
@Senario
Well maybe I was being a bit harsh in that wording. But I still think it hurts my eyes.
That "We're Japanese and you're not so we know better" attitude is probably something that is embedded in Nintendo's corporate culture. That's part of what has dragged Nintendo back to a distant fifth in the gaming industry.
Nintendo is a Kyoto company, so it's unsurprising that they can be exceedingly hostile to outsiders' ideas. That's also clear from how notoriously bad they are at working with third parties and the degree of control they want over their IP.
It's that pride and arrogance that will kill their home console business.
I really liked NST. They developed the "up-ressing" N64 emulator for Wii's launch while it took Nintendo 2 years to game to develop the Wii U emulator that didn't "up-res" to HD, support true widescreen or surround sound. Maybe a strong NST would have been up to that challenge.
There is a reason it was called Project Hammer.
there is a Japanese saying - " The nail that sticks out get hammered down ".
Obviously there were too many American nails that stuck out of the woodwork. Unfortunately, all the Japanese management made was a packing crate.
@FLUX_CAPACITOR Oh, they're all true bullet points.
The problem is there are a million better artists, a million better programmers, a million more qualified designers (on paper); and that's kinda all these companies look at any more—the paper. They'll give some guy who has 7 years experience as some Lead Game Designer the job over me because he's done the job for 7 years, without really ever trying to find out what I'm capable of if I were put in such a position, with such resources. That's not entirely their fault though, because there's millions of people out there who make similar claims and we can't all be right, and Nintendo can't afford to just trial us all.
Also; another one of my problems, as I see it, is that I'm kind of a jack of many trades and master of none, except the one(s) you can't really quantify just by looking at what it says on a bit of paper, like Game Design or coming up with solutions to the likes of its hardware designs. I'm can do art but there's many better artists. I can do animation but I haven't done it for years, so they could get a student with more practical experience with current systems than me. I can program but there's far better programmers out there. So; unless you are like a clear example of the top of your field, in some really tangible way, then you basically have no chance of even getting noticed.
I mean I'm sure there's many people out there who could apply for the design jobs and would be considered a far better candidate than me, simply based on what stats appear on some sheet, but imo I doubt very many of them know what makes better game design than me but that's hard for Nintendo to see unless it gives me the job and an opportunity to design and create a game with the same kind of resources some other people have, and its not going to give me a job unless there are examples of big AAA games I've designed and directed that it can use as a reference, but it's had to actually make anything yourself that really shows off such skills if you have no money or resources to realise any ideas fully.
It's a vicious cycle and it's hard to break through and get in the door unless you are like literally the top 1% in the industry, in a very obvious and immediately tangible and measurable way, or are just very lucky.
So the problem is really all the red tape bureaucracy, as I see it.
Another problem is I'm just terrible at bullsh*tting and I imagine a lot of people get these jobs by totally bullsh*tting and then just figuring out the rest once they get the job.
@Wolfman_Jack
Please don't start with the 'love it or leave it' crap.
Many of us at NL have loved nintendo from the early days of gaming. That doesn't make us blind to problems they have had in the past and are having now. I find it incredible when posters do contortions to justify any and all of Nintendo's decisions.
They are a corporation. They make some smart decisions and they make some gobsmackingly stupid ones. They are in no way above criticism.
@FLUX_CAPACITOR Hi, my username is Retro! I see you don't know how a comment section works. That's ok, everyone starts somewhere. You see, this new fancy technology is a way of sharing opinions. If you can't grasp that concept there's a power button you can hit on your monitor to turn it off and step away from the internet. It's hard for beginners, but keep practicing, you'll get better at it and your priorities will set themselves straight!
@FLUX_CAPACITOR Now THAT is a well written post! Bravo sir! I have no interest in debating you either. I see what you mean, and I'll take that that into consideration.
This doesn't surprise me, this happens in a lot of places. The older generation are trying to hang onto their leadership positions in society but the world has moved on. Our generation knows where we want to go but constantly hit road blocks trying to get there. I'm tired of rules imposed on me by previous generations. Nintendo are still awesome but they need a real leader who knows and understand great talent. Japan can do what they like but not evolving or being worried about your pride just means stepping down a rung on the list of superpowers. I feel the same way about my own country.
@FLUX_CAPACITOR The fanboy is strong in this one. Legitimate Criticism != Trolling.
@Kirk Didn't motion controls exist way before the Wii though? I thought they had been experimented with in the power glove amongst other things?
For someone who worked at Rare, you don't half enjoy blowing your own trumpet Though if you do have lots of great ideas, get out there and make em happen!
@HappyMaskedGuy Yeah; motion controls existed in various forms before Wii but not anything that was even remotely like the Wiimote specifically, for the most part. My design was basically the Wiimote, before the Wiimote was ever even announced. Like I say though; I'd also thought about putting basic tilt control in Nintendo handhelds like the origin Game Boy Color before that, but even that was influenced by an older Microsoft Sidewinder Freestyle Pro controller that had basic tilt control built into it. Like you said; there was also the Power Glove too.
Very few ideas are completely original and self contained but it's really about the specific way they are implemented and used, which can be the difference between something kinda garbage and something potentially very special. Power Glove was kinda garbage—Wiimote was pretty special. My tilt control in the GBC would have been very much like it is in 3DS now—my motion controller was basically a Wiimote; so pretty special as far as I'm concerned.
Well I'm not boasting about working at Rare; I'm just giving context to my point. I do however blow my own trumpet regarding my opinions and ideas, but that's just me.
It's harder to 'make em happen' than you think. Money and resources are always the biggest hurdles.
@FLUX_CAPACITOR It's a funny story that the only reason I applied for the job at the Rare at that time, the time I actually got it, was because my friend had got a job there shortly after we graduated uni and I was kinda p*ssed off because I knew fine well this was something I cared far more about than he ever would. He was far more into traditional art than video games, which were my absolute number one passion above all else. I thought to myself "F**k sake! If anyone deserves to work at Rare then it's you, and if they don't realise that then it's their loss because nobody would be more passionate about it than you! Get off you're f'n *rse and apply!"; so I applied and got the job. The really funny thing was that during my interview the guy asked me if I realised that I'd written to them 11 times previously, asking about various things like how I should go about applying for a job and stuff. I knew I had wanted to work there since I was a kid, and that I'd even applied for a job a few years back at the age of 17 and almost got an interview but just missed out because the letter telling me about the interview arrived a day after the interview was scheduled, but even I didn't realise I'd contacted them that many times I think it helped
PS. When I applied for the job at Rare as a 17 year old I actually sent them a design idea for a new Mario platform game that was basically exactly like Super Mario RPG in terms of viewpoint but would be done in full 3D, as I envisioned it, which was long before any proper 3D Mario game ever existed. I think I even sent that application before Super Mario RPG even came out. Ahead of the curve as usual! lol
@Kirk Yeah power glove was garbage. The original wii more wasn't much better lol. Nah I respect that, I don't actually begrudge people pride in their achievements, quite right to flaunt it if you've got it- I just like to poke fun at folk, sorry
If you are confident in your ideas, I'm sure others would greatly enjoy them- keep your confidence and keep trying to get them realised. I know, easier said than done, but persistence and energy pay off
I really hope you get there and wish you all the best. Let me know about your future products and Ill support them with a purchase.
What was it like working for Rare? I always got the impression they would be really down to earth, like working in a mate's UNI dorm or something lol
@HappyMaskedGuy Well the actual building in Twycross was really nice and they had a canteen on the premises where you could go for lunch, which was cool. I shared an office with only one other guy and the team and our offices were along one long corridor basically, with one or two people in each office; so it wasn't very integrated or social. The offices were open on the side of the corridor though so they felt kind nice and airy. The whole place was generally a really lovely design, with feng shui water gardens around the grounds, and felt a bit like a posh designers studio in a field in the middle of nowhere. I didn't really mingle with many people at the company though, because the teams were all segregated and there wasn't much of a setup for socialising and stuff, other than at the various office parties, which were pretty amazing. It wasn't too bad working there but I was a bit too opinionated and loud I guess because I wasn't even there for a year before they let me go. I also wasn't that great an artist to be honest, and they never actually bothered to ask me to animate a single thing properly, even though my actual degree was in animation. So my experience there was short lived and to be honest, I kinda regret that. I tell you what though—it was far better working at Rare than Rockstar North, in my experience.
@FLUX_CAPACITOR I gave up on talking to you like an adult when you pretended that the dysfunctionality of NST wasn't an issue [see: your response to Retro's post]. Sorry if I was too humble so as to not make you feel more intelligent than I am. Did this seriously not strike you as the least bit problematic? I know most things at Nintendo aren't this bad, but the fact that it got this bad is yet another sign things need to change. Next thing I know I'm gonna see you pretend that PlayStation Now pricing or Don Mattrick's Xbox One statements aren't issues. Racial infighting sounds proportionate, doesn't it? If this is just how much the head honchos up at the big N will let slide until it's too late, it's no wonder they let all their other relationships go to s*** until all they had left was the indies. Heck, I'm surprised they didn't let that go either.
This is not an example of racism. There is a long history of Japanese being... I wouldn't say ethnocentric, but rather, Japan-centric. It's only been the last century that they weren't an almost entirely self-insulated society (besides occasional interactions with the Dutch, warfare with China and Korea, and the Sino-Russo War). That's not something that fades away over the course of one century. That doesn't make it okay, there's just still a lot of Japanese who consider gaijins, non-Japanese, to be significantly different. That is changing, and this behavior will probably fade away during this century.
It is a very particular kind of nationalism... The type which dictates that it is best to act in the best interests of your own first, and others second or not at all. In other words, if they're not of your nation, they're not important. Most nations today still practice this to some degree, let's be honest here. (Including the USA, let's not pretend we don't do this too, when it comes down to it.)
Nationalism can be creative, but it is more often a hostile force to outsiders of one's in group. If we want to change this in the future, then it may be time to recognize that sometimes, Dissent is the greatest form of patriotism... Including dissent towards the status quo of nationalistic thought.
Also, the workers can't represent themselves or seek organized labor assistance, because that doesn't exist in this industry. You're more or less beholden to the company and the upper echelons, it's their way or the highway. As long as that remains the case, decisions like this will go undisputed.
Nintendo's extreme disconnect with development of games non traditional to Nintendo consoles seems entirely unsurprising. Seeing as how it was at one point changed to a family friendly game, and this was a title designed for the Wii, there probably was disagreements between the Japanese staff overseeing the project and the developers on who the target audience of the game should be.
@PlywoodStick don't get me wrong... I'm all for unions. In this case, I'm not sure they would have helped much. Mainly because the individuals that were accused would have been there a much longer period of time (just like the accusers have a union, so would the accused), mainly because unions work on the idea of giving an individual a chance to change their behavior, and unfortunately this takes trial periods (you can't really see behavioral changes in a few weeks), and you just can't give them one chance to change (no, this does not apply to sexual harassment, totally different discussion. Eek!) so they could have continued this behavior for up to an additional two years... And that's just talking about one individual, remember, we're trying to weed out a population of bad seeds
It is a grim expose and it's sad to hear about people quitting their job en masse. However as someone previously said there are two sides to every story and if the higher ups in Japan didn't think the game was fun enough they may have been right. It's logical that they wouldn't want to claim an inferior product as something they had made for fear of it diluting their brand's value. The wii had enough shovelware games in it's library, the last thing it needed was a shovelware game made by Nintendo.
@JesWood13 Well you got what you wanted. Iwata became dead a few days later.
@MussakkuLaden Kinda wild that despite everything, NST was in fact the developer to revive F-Zero
@PikaPhantom Ha, indeed! Nice follow-up to my eight-year-old comment.
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