I would have taken the launch a lot more seriously if it had bundles like this. I still think the lack of better storage is ridiculous, despite everybodys cries of "you can just get your own HD"; I get how it works. it's just disingenuous to be selling it as this complete thing that is supposedly all about downloading games but you still have spend another $50 and plug in some random crap drive to install anything like they encourage you too. It's like they designed it when they still didn't believe in anything online and never updated it; That alone still annoys me and feels like a bait and switch. give me ONE good pack in game and a 60-100gb drive built in, and maybe even a wii mote and I'd be all over it; And that should be at about $300 us, I would probably get one now with that kind of deal but I've been kind of turned off by it altogether already with the horrible launch and lack of solid 1st party games even now still. Mario is just not enough anymore with such a mixed target market.
what's with the flame bait articles? how is this some bold statement? This is an idea as old as gaming. If you spend a lot of time picking through the hardware, of course you'll learn it's in's and out's and eventually make awesome efficient use of it and great games. This doesn't change the reality that game development is expensive and takes TIME and research already. Then you add all the secrecy and releasing without letting 3rd parties in on it until just before launch and what would you expect?
the NES, superNES, N64 had the benefit of a smaller, somewhat slower market for these games, but it's a different world now. You have other powerful consoles that make it easier to make great games that you can't afford not to include in your plans, and the sticky outlier (WiiU) that is slower, has a screen thing to deal with and a low install base; why would you dump all that time into it with little to gain? Even if this "dedication, efficiency makes a good game" idea is so true?
It's a cute, self righteous statement to make for them since they're the masters of efficiency and great compression but you need to take into account whats at stake for most developers before talking trash.
Believe it or not this would have worked pretty well at launch, too bad they didn't at least have this waiting in the wings in case the launch went horribly which... it did. Now?! It's great but I won't buy a WiiU for it.
@Peach64 very well said, thank you. It's clear this vocal minority is comprised largely Nintendo fans who are predominantly very young, idealistic and nostalgic. Few people are actually crying out in outrage over not having to deal with old physical discs anymore. Maybe I'm alone here, but I shed no tears over losing access to the movie boxes with cool production stills and write ups on the back that drove many of our decisions of what movies to rent back in the day, and I'm not worried about any big films disappearing forever or even smaller ones. If the interest is there they will be available. Emulation is not just the realm of hackers anymore.
GOING to GET expensive?! Gaming is a ridiculously expensive hobby already and has been for a long time. Digital releases, MIGHT relieve that eventually but right now theres still a lot of differentiation between 'digital only' releases and 'retail digital' releases so the retail stuff is arbitrarily super expensive still but it'll go down when that distinction fades. There is no better special guarantee with digital book stores over game stores that makes them safer. I understand the arguments here but ultimately we have to embrace a system that is just inevitable. Most consumers want good product and that's all, not a hunk to hold onto, game products are an experience not a block of plastic. There is the real possibilty of games disappearing when a console does because of this but not any more than an out of print book copy (especially digital), or an unarchived film (lots of cheesy but 'important' films already dissapearing just from the VHS era heap of B-movies). There is not a perfect clear answer to the possibilty of losing things to poor archiving but that is just the way of the world. We show our support for the things we love and try to make it work with the current system. No publisher/ creator 'owes' us any special system, they do what they can to archive while running a business. DL content and full experiences is not just 'the future' it's now. theres no cheaper easier way to deliver now, why would any smart company NOT do it? As it matures it will get better and there will be better and better ways to archive materials digitally than holding on to a bunch of broken old consoles and scratched up discs.
2017? wow, do they realize that's in 4 years? If it's that long they'll be the last ones doing it. Geez you guys, might as well call it plasticlife.com. Y'all sure love your consumer trophy trinkets. They'll make good shanties one day, just imagine the value of a home made from all the E.T. carts should someone dig them up.
what's interesting to me is that this game WOULD be worth full retail without our context of what it has done for mobile games and what it costs there. People here either hate it on principal (because it's on phones or something?) or love it and regard it as the standard for what great mobile games are now (simple, clean cartoon look, touch interface, good level design, cheap as hell). If it was somehow nowhere else but here first we would be crazy for it and it would make waves the way it has for mobile even at this price. Weirdly I'm also appalled at this price because our expectations have changed forever, even though the content actually does justify the price by, oh 1990's standards. Unfortunately Nintendo still thinks it can lead somehow with old fashioned pricing structures for us and it's 3rd party publishers. Mobiles are big enough that Nintendo has to start to re-think how this works if they want to stay relevant.. and sony and microsoft to some extent. though Nintendo tends to design and market their games as the simpler, stripped down, affordable of the consoles and that notion is pretty absurd to anyone with a phone now.
As rash as this guy is though.. is it that crazy to suggest that Apple hardware is fantastic and Nintendo game software is the best? I'm not getting who would lose if Nintendo put out some ios software? Could there be any better advertising for nintendo hardware than an ios game from Nintendo that rocks everyones world and then offers the superior version on a Nintendo console? no, there couldn't, but Nintendo is too proud and stubborn to concede.
Yeah this guy is pretty dopey, Nintendo is not in danger of "having no future" but it is playing an odd game right now at least with the WiiU. The thing I don't get with comments here is that no one wants to acknowledge the reason for the ipad success and as fanboys people here like to bad-talk apple just because... I don't know. The ipad is NOT a game machine and it doesn't have to be, who ever said it was? Adults buy it for email, web, movies, skype, drawing, writing, photos, etc, and THEN it plays some ok games too. How is this not generally an appealing device for an entire family; oh and the useful apps AND the lame games are free-4.99. whats not to get about it's appeal? Kids wouldn't choose it because it's better for games, they'd choose it because there's already one in the house and they can put 20 or so games and apps on it before breaking $6. This doesn't make it 'better' for games at all but it's a better device, that has replaced many peoples computers. If the games are as close as they are to good, real games on ios than what conclusion could anyone draw except that the next iteration will make it REAL competition for Nintendo unless Nintendo can lower prices and learn how to market to everyone. It's not rocket science, people. Ok, great here goes 10 Nintendo fans telling me how wrong I am and how horrible the ipad is for games.
that's a great example @AllCreation because the reason consoles did so well is because of their ease of use/ accessibility to get to the basics that people want faster and cheaper. Ironically that's what mobiles and tablets are now and it presents an interesting option for people who don't want to mess with expensive consoles and exclusive, expensive content but want a LITTLE bit of gaming. (not to mention other things that aren't about gaming)
What I'm saying is that DS and mobile games are absolutely the same market and for only recently for the first time. That "casual" gamer that Nintendo arguably created with the Wii is a huge part of their target and when those people don't want to spend crazy money for a quick diversion they likely already have a mobile device that does enough along with other important functions. I'm a staunch console/3DS gamer but the advance of these phones is fascinating to me and though it won't be my game machine of choice for some years I understand why it is for so many parents, working adults, and busy people. I can see how in a couple years it will surely be able to do what a 3DS can plus way more and I won't rule out retiring mine when that happens. I don't know how this always devolves into "3ds is way better for gaming"; of course it is, why else would I be here if I didn't think that. I'm just saying I think it's naive to pretend that the convenience, speed and power of a great mobile is not part of the consumer choice in electronics.
this is hardly someone "we've never heard of" Nintendo would still be making card games if not for this guy. Thats like saying a site about politics has no place for stories about Abe Lincoln.
@AllCreation and @LDXD no one ever said mobile games "are the same" they are certainly not, Nintendo is far away the best with portables and maybe overall at games. They are NOT the best at understanding what their potential consumers want. The games are great and Nintendo has countless years left of life. The machines, like lots of other ones, are starting to be too single purpose for the market today. It's only that good games are even possible on mobiles that make them a big threat. There are some good games despite the horrible interface and upcoming OS's are addressing it. To someone who is a light tech consumer or has be coaxed into a puchase of a does-it-all phone one that plays a few time-passing games is more than enough. You have to get your head out of gaming land and think about all the things a phone does so much better than a Nintendo. If you have all this and are on the fence about getting a game machine with lots of proprietary junk there isn't even a choice to make. Every single person I know has a smartphone/tablet, because they don't care about gaming but they can do a little if they want and thats what they give to the young kids because it's enough for them. Lots of them also have DS's but they are parallel markets right now and generally an ipad does so much more. It's not 'over' for Nintendo but they aren't taking the competition seriously and it's dangerous. It is absolutely a real issue, the only thin holding it back mobiles is the interface and when that is more flexible than it will be direct competition with a bigger install base than any platform on earth.
sheesh, I guess it's articles like this that help keep the rabid fans rabid. I love my 3DS and I'll hold on to it for a long time but I agree with him completely and I fear for Nintendo; I also wish they would wise up and move to software only. It seems people are talking from inside a bubble here, he's talking about the larger market in general and 'relevance' not 'are they cool games or not'. The WiiU is clearly struggling and the handheld market has been so fractured that if Nintendo gets lazy with it mobile games are going to sneak up fast. He's doing what Nintendo has failed to and... Thinking about the future! Remember that unique thing that mobiles do? they make calls, and they check weather, and email, and browse properly, and every other imaginable 'app' function. The market is massive even WITHOUT games and the games are good enough for MOST people who have one, and becoming good enough for many casual/ adult gamers. If you have to make a choice about an expensive full featured device (beyond games) you will get a phone everytime if you're an adult; This is not something to be ignored. But then who ever thought about the real world here? We just want Pokemon!
I've had mine and carried it around since launch, and Nintendo zone has never worked inside a Best Buy or anywhere else, always an error code. A couple weeks ago for the first time it seemed to work in an Airport and I got all excited then discovered it... lets you download demos.. the same ones.. so I don't get what's special anyway.
learned a lot of lessons? So then... what happened to the lessons?
They turned into a console that strives for more downloadable purchases but offers no internal storage? That offers full retails games downloadable at forever exorbitant prices, no promotional points cards with console purchases? Slim marketing only for the paltry library of 1st party games? A continued disregard for online play and features in 1st party games? A profile linked to a console? an arrogant marketing scheme that amounts to internet videos aimed at existing 'core gamers' while still only promoting toys aimed at 'casuals' that have long since forgotten the platform if they ever heard of it in the first place. (see: WiifitU, Nintendoland, game/wario). a launch without social media integration beyond the internal kiddie-craigslist that is Miiverse as a bone people who want real online features without actually looking at how the real world communicates today.
great. So basically it means if there are any indie devs left out there that happened to be Nintendo fans as kids and are excited to add lots of work to get their already fine game shoehorned to work on a WiiU with it's little install base than they'll no longer have to sell over 6000 units to see a few dollars return.
Great, so if lessons were learned, do us a favor and take the next step. Fire the fossils at the top and grab... anyone off the street to tell you what's going on in the world so you can make this a viable platform.
ok cool, ignore major developers and any cooperation they might like from the company that makes the consoles that all these things run on. They're just a bunch of big jerks who want to make money and talk trash about Nintendo just because they're jealous that Nintendo is actually the coolest ever right? Jeziz people, grow up. None of these people care about the 'success' of WiiU, they make games because they love this stuff. Bethesda makes great games and weather the fanboys here like them or not (they don't tend to have cuddly pokemons and mushroom enemies) they're in it to move the industry forward and expand their user base. They're saying they'd like it that way because that's what sony and ms have done and it worked well! imagine that! who'd have thought people like to work with others who show them respect and cooperation and maybe even pay, because it benefits the console and the developer. networking, pow wowing, collaboration, call it what you will. Nintendo has 'gone it alone'... always, they could care less what anyone else wants because they're own software is great or was until they got in over their heads developing games they couldn't handle. The world has changed and Nintendo won't go with it. People use the internet, people play games on phones, many people OVER 25 have played games much of their life. It's time to get with the program or go down in flames. Nintendo is so old fashioned it would rather fail hard than dare to adapt to modern realities and it's sad to me. I should have guessed there is still an army of 14 year olds that would take a bullet for Nintendo before admitting that their out of touch and the games are getting stale, they'll keep it alive for a while but not forever, certainly not enough to make WiiU a 'success'.
how does this signal anyone being entitled? So a software developer is saying that they'd like a company making a new custom game machine (assuming they want developers to make software for it) to let them know about it and specifics of how to work with it and what it could/should do. i.e. respect, inclusion, a hand shake and a memo. Thats too much to ask for? a company making custom game-only computer hardware that DEPENDS on consumers to play games made for it. So they should just speculate, come groveling and begging to Nintendo "please please let us pour our own money into making quality games for your machine that we know nothing about and have no reason to believe anyone will buy" But there are other machines that have done those things because it just good business, so why bother with Nintendo if they insist on owning or looking down at everyone. There are others out there that understand how this market works, I'd stick with them to if it was my job; not entitlement.
nice article, makes it's points there isn't much more to say. The WiiU has so much competition there isn't much market left after it's all torn in 6 directions and if you miss the launch boat, 3rd parties, multi-plats, and even 1st party draw what is there to come back from? it's late. If there were going to grab this big niche market of 1st party IPs and grand Nintendo software, cool! do it! if you don't do it at launch with a bang and you're not courting 3rd parties then why would you launch at all? It just looks bad.
if not then do right by 3rd parties and launch a system with specs and features devs can use and people care about. Barring one of those strategies your console will fail... ok, fine. no one knows if it will do badly or not, it's too early to tell, right?... Whats that river in Egypt called again?
yes, it's almost sad that this is SO much better than the official one. Buy this one, Nintendo, this is how to make a 'viral' video. It still has to be shot well; this one is awesome.
There's no good analogy for this situation because there is no other product; thing even, better suited for adapting to a non-physical form. video games are by their nature interactive digital experiences that have absolutely no dependence on their delivery format to make them experientially what they are. What game has you hold it and pretend it's the gun? do you run with a cartridge strapped to your head to make it fun? The need for a physical piece of anything to deliver a digital experience is purely practical and now that it's gone it's pure blind, consumerist, entitlement that has anyone still attached to a scrap of plastic and silicon to validate their experience of spending money. I'm not saying that the new delivery system is perfect or even good, but it's so juvinille (and yes, first world/ western world) to whine about not having a piece of STUFF to define your worth, your purchase, your experience. Buy the game and play it, it's the same darn thing it was, and it has been the 21st century for a while now.
oh and as someone else said ( @MagicEmperor ) if you're actually a real fan of this series you will buy it in any form or it will be less than digital soon enough.
uh, ok it's a long ad by Nintendo and it's not horribly cheesy and misguided as to it's audience.... But it's not very good, not very funny and still doesn't sell us anything. A step in the right direction I guess. The shooting is not very good either, (even assuming you want it to look rough and 'indie'). Advertising is one of the places where Nintendo has pretty much failed repeatedly (except some of the Wii Ads which like everything else Wii was a wonderful anomaly)
Ha! pretty funny, though. I wonder what they thought would happen. They couldn't haven't NOT known that this would happen, maybe they just hoped Nintendo would be impressed or something. It's weird though. If they wanted to tell that story that bad it wouldn't be hard to change the names and tweek the designs, it's not really all THAT original in ther first place, it's a person in a space suit shooting infectious aliens, ooh never been done before! why would someone insist on it being based on a Nintendo game? Cause that always works out great for movies.
This was a 9 for me. I liked the challenge, I remember it being a crazy beast and I don't think I ever finished it. I just remember looking for the parts, maybe near the end. So hard, but so cool. What would games today be without Rare? nothing.
what does this graph mean to me? it says that with WiiU and old Wii sales about even now thats still a cash trickle, which gives them about 2 years to make a choice how to save the new system or let it go. The 3DS will always help too, but the WiiU clearly doesn't have the appeal that Wii did and they need to come to terms with that and do something drastically different. The game market is so big now and so fractured that no one can just sit on a name anymore, they need to make moves.
not a surprise here. They just did a poor job of stating their cause that's why people are calling them out. It's still kickstarter and it's still a game. Do you know what "Kickstart" means people? It's not designed to fund entire finished projects, and not game making at full time salaried wages. Have they never done any research about how it works? Make a budget, set an amount to get it under way (kickstart it, yeh?) and set a series of financial goals and timelines, present to investors along the way until someone picks it up which they would once they see builds of how 'great' it is. If it doesn't work, ditch it. No one on the internet owes you the money so treat it like the charity it is and work it into you financial plan that way to GET STARTED. Look up 'accountant' in the phonebook and pick someone.
If you have an art project or especially an 'artistic' but commercial endeavor you need to be realistic with your goals, they're not saving babies or bring clean water to poor villages. It's borderline unethical to raise this kind of money to make an adventure game over and over. If the interest isn't there but you MUST make this game then find real investors and get some loans. I've given to plenty of crowdfunding campaigns that I believe in and where people have to overcome undue adversity for a good cause but this (and some other ones) is just not that. I'm not going to shed any tears for Precursor games, they went about it wrong. Crowdfunding isn't there to keep you employed full time.
I'll buy the 3ds version for sure, loved the Wii version but also didn't play it through since my Wii isn't hooked up and I'm not sold on a WiiU yet. He's got the same thoughts as pretty much every consumer about WiiU, it's too bad Nintendo won't hire a "obvious problems to fix" team. marketing, name, bad support in Wii mode, price. Anyway, yeah, interesting I never thought about the horrible load times on the E-shop since I give the 3DS all my love now, I just have come to accept Nintendo online anything being substandard like it's just the way they have to do it. It would be nice if you could just browse like.. a browser. So much good stuff from nintendo, such poor management. Can't wait til some of those guys at the top start leaving or restructuring.
If you pay enough attention to online gaming sites you may have heard of some WiiU exclusives that are brand new like Pikmin 3 and Wonderful 101, and and... well that's pretty much it. But it's only been about a year, that's perfectly normal for the first year. or if you're under 10 there are plenty of Disney games, I mean Mario games.
We can hate on the Vita but it's in the same boat as the WiiU. The "value" of it (or existence all together) isn't immediately apparent to anyone but the most seasoned geek, the library isn't there and the marketing is bad, if there is any. Because it's not OUR baby, who cares. The 3DS is owning handhelds and if you have a choose why would you get a Vita over 3DS? The same will be true of PS4 and WiiU; why bother with WiiU when the price will be comparable and it will actually do stuff?
rescue rangers was classic and a perfect fit for a modern console with multiplayer options. When they do rescue rangers I'll go get a WiiU just for that.
if you've decided to buy a WiiU you will get the bigger one if you understand the difference; obvious to most people. if you've decided the WiiU is too expensive for a few games, no storage, and barely useful gampad you won't buy a WiiU. It doesn't mean it's a good deal for the black one, it's just not a good deal at all yet. drop the price AND release some games and people will reconsider.
Good luck to them, those are big boots to fill.
We know how nintendo hates to pay for advertising and this is as free as it gets. win-win. (and it's an online film, if it's good someone will make a better long version, if it's cheesy it'll disappear - Metriod canon intact) I can't see how this hurts anyone.
this what I wanted WiiU for after playing it at a pre-launch event. Probably the same demo they're using now. I wanted it then and it's out just coming out NOW? No thanks. I'll wait for the bargain bin prices in a year or so. Oh so one long commercial every week that only fans know about is good marketing? wouldn't want to actually have big ad campaigns like on tv, busses, magazines, trains. that would be too easy.
this ducktales game is more exciting to me than almost any other wii U game to date, but alas I won't buy one yet just for that and it's still a little pricy. Hope it comes to 3DS it doesn't really need HD, not even the original show was in HD.
Nintendo fans love Nintendo games and you turn first to those for unrivaled playability and level design, but the HD generation has introduced so much innovation and opened up the indie market so much thanks to download games (that are cheap) that it's hard to be a fanboy anymore, I gave up my loyalty near the Wii's end.
Nintendo makes their own best games but there is just too much going on to try and stick with Nintendo and once you've got the good Nintendo games prices are so high that you probably have nothing left for 3rd party games so why bother taking a chance. That's my mentality unfortunately and I can't be alone. (not that their not worth paying for but they don't change it up with enough smaller games at lower prices). Even as a lifelong Nintendo fan it's hard to justify an expensive Nintendo console/games now when the 1st party games are slow in coming and far between, theres just too much other good, consistent content out there now. I am a fan of great video games and Nintendo hasn't offered a value proposition for this massive exploded market so I'll have to wait until they can truly bring it or stick to software. And to address someone above the triple A games on other machines are absolutely no longer interactive movies, there is amazing stuff, I skipped it for so long as a N fan and now it's hard to look back since WiiU hasn't delivered anything interesting or new. Why is it such a surprise that it's not doing well? drop a real modern detailed HD game like a new Metroid or Zelda and I'll jump back on in a heartbeat. Mario is all but dead, I'm not 13 anymore.
Hey I wanted to want a WiiU, like every other fanboy but I'm not going to hand over my money for what is just not a value proposition. I got an xbox and I'm playing most of the same good games and way more other things that I missed. This isn't a horrible idea. after holiday if it's still dead let it die and tweek it like a big upgrade, actually include storage, at least play dvds, and dump all the old Wii shop games on the store. Good chance to give the processor a small upgrade and then make it compatible with the WiiU games. That screen is neat but not what anyone wanted. The waggle is what people wanted and with the nunchuk it's still fantastic. I would buy a truly 'next gen' Nintendo system but the WiiU just is not that. or how about put it all into that game pad and use a wireless disc drive for games that you can't fit onto an internal 200gb ssd (like the doomed sony disc drive of snes vintage)then call the whole thing portable with the option to stream from the pad to a tv. (like a 3DS hd). Sure the brand loyalists would be pissed but they'd also buy the next machine anyway, and Nintendo needs to cut their losses eventually. I say call it a lesson learned and focus on 3DS until you can come up with a truly portable game system that can also play on a tv in HD, if they don't do it someone else will.
development costs have got to recede a little before micro transaction will go away, and if the console games are any indication there will only be more to come on consoles. It's a scary prospect but the dev costs keep going up and we want more free games; not the best situation.
Thanks a million for this article, it's a wonderful read and makes perfectly comprehensive points from both sides. I agree mostly and also think that this will change a little over time. The games mentioned are indeed pretty dumbed down especially with that tiny screen in mind but I think there will soon be a more solid place for gaming on those devices. I think the industry is slowly merging mobile and home devices and I can't even imagine how apple would NOT soon release a device that will quickly allow you to send your mobile interface to a screen and sync it all including a better input device for more settled in gaming. It seems like it'd be in instant coup if there was an apple TV thing that could grab your mobile signal and also allow sync with a controller and/or keyboard. then it would allow apps to be deeper and more varied and act as the ultimate mobile computer. there must be something like it on the way, but who knows. Nintendo has done a good job with the WiiU in that regard and is blazing a rough trail but not really good enough to compete where it should right now. Such a big shift happening right now, it'll be neat to see who's standing tallest a year from now and I can see a mobile device being right up there much as I lament the crappy shallow games.
Those crappy little games are kind of another genre, though. I think more of the deeper games will come when the interface options open up more and they will. Right now theres money to be made and it's pushing the tech forward fast which is good for the industry in general.
I wouldn't blame the game for low audio, the 3DS in general has pretty bad peepers. My only complaint about it ever (oh and the low res cameras are annoying), otherwise best handheld ever by far.
the video game market in 2005-2006 was a fraction of what it is now, the comparison is ridiculous. The start of that generation (and ironically the Wii) is what started much of the larger game crowd, as well as the iphone/ipad. what was a big launch then is a blip by todays standards. At this point the market is getting saturated to take advantage of the massive market that is currently bigger money than film (in the US), but someone is going to fall off. Looks like It's going to be the Ouya and maybe WiiU.
yeah, nice idea but that would be more games that people love and that just doesn't make sense. Instead just keep making mario games every year or so and that'll surely get the next gen crowd throwing money at you. Put 5 or 6 people on a mario or zelda game for 3 years or so at a time and don't worry about advertising or putting out any of the like thousand classic games in your library. that should spell success. If the Nintendo Life staff were making business choices for Nintendo, my guess is they wouldn't be in the pickle they're in now. These are nice ideas though and a fun read.
3ds is a fantastic machine and deserves every bit of praise and success that it gets. The WiiU is not, and based on todays game market it's just not a competitive console. I actually wish the resources for that could just go to the 3DS and forget about WiiU. I was excited for Pikmin3 when WiiU came out but not really anymore. It's just not worth getting a $300 brick to play it when there are better options coming soon. Windwaker, I love and already played. Mario 3D and even smash bros I've played before and the new ones don't look much different. It's time for something new and only 3DS has given us that plus the old favorites re-hashed (since they love to do that so much). Theres a reason Mickey mouse isn't starring in new disney movies, because we've moved on.
@ryno I don't, to be clear. I'm actually really only speaking from a "I'd like it if the WiiU did well over all" perspective, because I actually love Nintendo, but I think they have some management problems. I believe they could be doing fantastic right now if they made some better choices. generally speaking, though, I'm happy to pay good money for a good game because I have some money and I love gaming. Not everyone does, though, and there is a lot of good competition that Nintendo is ignoring that IS starting to hurt them.
@Kirk just said it above. Doesn't matter what $10 buys or how easy it is to get, it's too much for an old game with almost no production cost. This is a pure profit grab, which is always Nintendos strategy (understandably) but it amounts to overall weakening the appeal for consumers at such high prices. Skimp on hardware/ development costs, keep prices at or above current market standards. It's smart long term if you can keep afloat that long but not very consumer friendly. Thats the real reason for the 'family friendly" stuff from them now, it's easy/ cheap to make. If you've grown up now, like I have, it's tough to see that Nintendo only values it's children customers with parents who make good money, and naive wealthy adults who need a retro fix now and then. I was one of those, but there are too many other options to keep throwing my money at them when they seem to be living in Willy Wonkas Chocolate Factory.
Comments 1,473
Re: Wii U Family Hardware Bundles Revealed in Japan
I would have taken the launch a lot more seriously if it had bundles like this. I still think the lack of better storage is ridiculous, despite everybodys cries of "you can just get your own HD"; I get how it works. it's just disingenuous to be selling it as this complete thing that is supposedly all about downloading games but you still have spend another $50 and plug in some random crap drive to install anything like they encourage you too. It's like they designed it when they still didn't believe in anything online and never updated it; That alone still annoys me and feels like a bait and switch. give me ONE good pack in game and a 60-100gb drive built in, and maybe even a wii mote and I'd be all over it; And that should be at about $300 us, I would probably get one now with that kind of deal but I've been kind of turned off by it altogether already with the horrible launch and lack of solid 1st party games even now still. Mario is just not enough anymore with such a mixed target market.
Re: Japan Getting Two New 3DS Colours, Pure White and Clear Black
the weird doctored promo images don't show it to look any different than the regular black one. So yeah, meh.
Re: Shin'en: If Developers Can't Make Great Looking Games On Wii U, It's Their Own Fault
what's with the flame bait articles? how is this some bold statement? This is an idea as old as gaming. If you spend a lot of time picking through the hardware, of course you'll learn it's in's and out's and eventually make awesome efficient use of it and great games.
This doesn't change the reality that game development is expensive and takes TIME and research already. Then you add all the secrecy and releasing without letting 3rd parties in on it until just before launch and what would you expect?
the NES, superNES, N64 had the benefit of a smaller, somewhat slower market for these games, but it's a different world now. You have other powerful consoles that make it easier to make great games that you can't afford not to include in your plans, and the sticky outlier (WiiU) that is slower, has a screen thing to deal with and a low install base; why would you dump all that time into it with little to gain? Even if this "dedication, efficiency makes a good game" idea is so true?
It's a cute, self righteous statement to make for them since they're the masters of efficiency and great compression but you need to take into account whats at stake for most developers before talking trash.
Re: Feature: Hiroshi Yamauchi - The Man Who Made Nintendo
R.I.P. to him, the end of an era in lots of ways. I wish Nintendo could have him back now, they need someone who knows business over there.
Re: Wii Sports Club Takes The Competition Online With HD Visuals And Wii MotionPlus Support
Believe it or not this would have worked pretty well at launch, too bad they didn't at least have this waiting in the wings in case the launch went horribly which... it did. Now?! It's great but I won't buy a WiiU for it.
Re: Capcom Expects A Significant Decline in Packaged Games Come 2017
@Peach64 very well said, thank you. It's clear this vocal minority is comprised largely Nintendo fans who are predominantly very young, idealistic and nostalgic. Few people are actually crying out in outrage over not having to deal with old physical discs anymore.
Maybe I'm alone here, but I shed no tears over losing access to the movie boxes with cool production stills and write ups on the back that drove many of our decisions of what movies to rent back in the day, and I'm not worried about any big films disappearing forever or even smaller ones. If the interest is there they will be available. Emulation is not just the realm of hackers anymore.
Re: Capcom Expects A Significant Decline in Packaged Games Come 2017
GOING to GET expensive?! Gaming is a ridiculously expensive hobby already and has been for a long time. Digital releases, MIGHT relieve that eventually but right now theres still a lot of differentiation between 'digital only' releases and 'retail digital' releases so the retail stuff is arbitrarily super expensive still but it'll go down when that distinction fades.
There is no better special guarantee with digital book stores over game stores that makes them safer. I understand the arguments here but ultimately we have to embrace a system that is just inevitable. Most consumers want good product and that's all, not a hunk to hold onto, game products are an experience not a block of plastic.
There is the real possibilty of games disappearing when a console does because of this but not any more than an out of print book copy (especially digital), or an unarchived film (lots of cheesy but 'important' films already dissapearing just from the VHS era heap of B-movies). There is not a perfect clear answer to the possibilty of losing things to poor archiving but that is just the way of the world. We show our support for the things we love and try to make it work with the current system. No publisher/ creator 'owes' us any special system, they do what they can to archive while running a business. DL content and full experiences is not just 'the future' it's now. theres no cheaper easier way to deliver now, why would any smart company NOT do it? As it matures it will get better and there will be better and better ways to archive materials digitally than holding on to a bunch of broken old consoles and scratched up discs.
Re: Capcom Expects A Significant Decline in Packaged Games Come 2017
2017? wow, do they realize that's in 4 years? If it's that long they'll be the last ones doing it. Geez you guys, might as well call it plasticlife.com. Y'all sure love your consumer trophy trinkets. They'll make good shanties one day, just imagine the value of a home made from all the E.T. carts should someone dig them up.
Re: Talking Point: With Calls for Nintendo to Follow the Crowd, It Faces a Dilemma
really great piece here, thanks!
Re: Review: Angry Birds Trilogy (Wii U)
what's interesting to me is that this game WOULD be worth full retail without our context of what it has done for mobile games and what it costs there. People here either hate it on principal (because it's on phones or something?) or love it and regard it as the standard for what great mobile games are now (simple, clean cartoon look, touch interface, good level design, cheap as hell).
If it was somehow nowhere else but here first we would be crazy for it and it would make waves the way it has for mobile even at this price.
Weirdly I'm also appalled at this price because our expectations have changed forever, even though the content actually does justify the price by, oh 1990's standards. Unfortunately Nintendo still thinks it can lead somehow with old fashioned pricing structures for us and it's 3rd party publishers.
Mobiles are big enough that Nintendo has to start to re-think how this works if they want to stay relevant.. and sony and microsoft to some extent. though Nintendo tends to design and market their games as the simpler, stripped down, affordable of the consoles and that notion is pretty absurd to anyone with a phone now.
Re: Without iOS Support Nintendo "Doesn’t Reach Today’s Kids" Says Apple Advocate John Gruber
As rash as this guy is though.. is it that crazy to suggest that Apple hardware is fantastic and Nintendo game software is the best? I'm not getting who would lose if Nintendo put out some ios software? Could there be any better advertising for nintendo hardware than an ios game from Nintendo that rocks everyones world and then offers the superior version on a Nintendo console? no, there couldn't, but Nintendo is too proud and stubborn to concede.
Re: Without iOS Support Nintendo "Doesn’t Reach Today’s Kids" Says Apple Advocate John Gruber
Yeah this guy is pretty dopey, Nintendo is not in danger of "having no future" but it is playing an odd game right now at least with the WiiU.
The thing I don't get with comments here is that no one wants to acknowledge the reason for the ipad success and as fanboys people here like to bad-talk apple just because... I don't know.
The ipad is NOT a game machine and it doesn't have to be, who ever said it was? Adults buy it for email, web, movies, skype, drawing, writing, photos, etc, and THEN it plays some ok games too. How is this not generally an appealing device for an entire family; oh and the useful apps AND the lame games are free-4.99. whats not to get about it's appeal? Kids wouldn't choose it because it's better for games, they'd choose it because there's already one in the house and they can put 20 or so games and apps on it before breaking $6.
This doesn't make it 'better' for games at all but it's a better device, that has replaced many peoples computers. If the games are as close as they are to good, real games on ios than what conclusion could anyone draw except that the next iteration will make it REAL competition for Nintendo unless Nintendo can lower prices and learn how to market to everyone.
It's not rocket science, people. Ok, great here goes 10 Nintendo fans telling me how wrong I am and how horrible the ipad is for games.
Re: Atari Founder Nolan Bushnell Claims Nintendo "Could Be On The Path To Irrelevance"
that's a great example @AllCreation because the reason consoles did so well is because of their ease of use/ accessibility to get to the basics that people want faster and cheaper. Ironically that's what mobiles and tablets are now and it presents an interesting option for people who don't want to mess with expensive consoles and exclusive, expensive content but want a LITTLE bit of gaming. (not to mention other things that aren't about gaming)
What I'm saying is that DS and mobile games are absolutely the same market and for only recently for the first time. That "casual" gamer that Nintendo arguably created with the Wii is a huge part of their target and when those people don't want to spend crazy money for a quick diversion they likely already have a mobile device that does enough along with other important functions.
I'm a staunch console/3DS gamer but the advance of these phones is fascinating to me and though it won't be my game machine of choice for some years I understand why it is for so many parents, working adults, and busy people. I can see how in a couple years it will surely be able to do what a 3DS can plus way more and I won't rule out retiring mine when that happens.
I don't know how this always devolves into "3ds is way better for gaming"; of course it is, why else would I be here if I didn't think that. I'm just saying I think it's naive to pretend that the convenience, speed and power of a great mobile is not part of the consumer choice in electronics.
Re: Atari Founder Nolan Bushnell Claims Nintendo "Could Be On The Path To Irrelevance"
this is hardly someone "we've never heard of" Nintendo would still be making card games if not for this guy. Thats like saying a site about politics has no place for stories about Abe Lincoln.
@AllCreation and @LDXD no one ever said mobile games "are the same" they are certainly not, Nintendo is far away the best with portables and maybe overall at games. They are NOT the best at understanding what their potential consumers want. The games are great and Nintendo has countless years left of life. The machines, like lots of other ones, are starting to be too single purpose for the market today.
It's only that good games are even possible on mobiles that make them a big threat. There are some good games despite the horrible interface and upcoming OS's are addressing it. To someone who is a light tech consumer or has be coaxed into a puchase of a does-it-all phone one that plays a few time-passing games is more than enough. You have to get your head out of gaming land and think about all the things a phone does so much better than a Nintendo. If you have all this and are on the fence about getting a game machine with lots of proprietary junk there isn't even a choice to make. Every single person I know has a smartphone/tablet, because they don't care about gaming but they can do a little if they want and thats what they give to the young kids because it's enough for them.
Lots of them also have DS's but they are parallel markets right now and generally an ipad does so much more. It's not 'over' for Nintendo but they aren't taking the competition seriously and it's dangerous. It is absolutely a real issue, the only thin holding it back mobiles is the interface and when that is more flexible than it will be direct competition with a bigger install base than any platform on earth.
Re: Atari Founder Nolan Bushnell Claims Nintendo "Could Be On The Path To Irrelevance"
sheesh, I guess it's articles like this that help keep the rabid fans rabid.
I love my 3DS and I'll hold on to it for a long time but I agree with him completely and I fear for Nintendo; I also wish they would wise up and move to software only.
It seems people are talking from inside a bubble here, he's talking about the larger market in general and 'relevance' not 'are they cool games or not'. The WiiU is clearly struggling and the handheld market has been so fractured that if Nintendo gets lazy with it mobile games are going to sneak up fast. He's doing what Nintendo has failed to and... Thinking about the future!
Remember that unique thing that mobiles do? they make calls, and they check weather, and email, and browse properly, and every other imaginable 'app' function. The market is massive even WITHOUT games and the games are good enough for MOST people who have one, and becoming good enough for many casual/ adult gamers. If you have to make a choice about an expensive full featured device (beyond games) you will get a phone everytime if you're an adult; This is not something to be ignored. But then who ever thought about the real world here? We just want Pokemon!
Re: StreetPass Relay Issues Reported in North America
I've had mine and carried it around since launch, and Nintendo zone has never worked inside a Best Buy or anywhere else, always an error code. A couple weeks ago for the first time it seemed to work in an Airport and I got all excited then discovered it... lets you download demos.. the same ones.. so I don't get what's special anyway.
Re: Nintendo: We Need To Do A Better Job Of Attracting Indies To The eShop
learned a lot of lessons? So then... what happened to the lessons?
They turned into a console that strives for more downloadable purchases but offers no internal storage? That offers full retails games downloadable at forever exorbitant prices, no promotional points cards with console purchases? Slim marketing only for the paltry library of 1st party games? A continued disregard for online play and features in 1st party games? A profile linked to a console? an arrogant marketing scheme that amounts to internet videos aimed at existing 'core gamers' while still only promoting toys aimed at 'casuals' that have long since forgotten the platform if they ever heard of it in the first place. (see: WiifitU, Nintendoland, game/wario). a launch without social media integration beyond the internal kiddie-craigslist that is Miiverse as a bone people who want real online features without actually looking at how the real world communicates today.
great. So basically it means if there are any indie devs left out there that happened to be Nintendo fans as kids and are excited to add lots of work to get their already fine game shoehorned to work on a WiiU with it's little install base than they'll no longer have to sell over 6000 units to see a few dollars return.
Great, so if lessons were learned, do us a favor and take the next step. Fire the fossils at the top and grab... anyone off the street to tell you what's going on in the world so you can make this a viable platform.
Re: Talking Point: The Wii U May Be Playing Catch-Up With Some Developers, But Money Always Talks
ok cool, ignore major developers and any cooperation they might like from the company that makes the consoles that all these things run on. They're just a bunch of big jerks who want to make money and talk trash about Nintendo just because they're jealous that Nintendo is actually the coolest ever right? Jeziz people, grow up. None of these people care about the 'success' of WiiU, they make games because they love this stuff. Bethesda makes great games and weather the fanboys here like them or not (they don't tend to have cuddly pokemons and mushroom enemies) they're in it to move the industry forward and expand their user base. They're saying they'd like it that way because that's what sony and ms have done and it worked well! imagine that! who'd have thought people like to work with others who show them respect and cooperation and maybe even pay, because it benefits the console and the developer. networking, pow wowing, collaboration, call it what you will. Nintendo has 'gone it alone'... always, they could care less what anyone else wants because they're own software is great or was until they got in over their heads developing games they couldn't handle. The world has changed and Nintendo won't go with it. People use the internet, people play games on phones, many people OVER 25 have played games much of their life. It's time to get with the program or go down in flames. Nintendo is so old fashioned it would rather fail hard than dare to adapt to modern realities and it's sad to me. I should have guessed there is still an army of 14 year olds that would take a bullet for Nintendo before admitting that their out of touch and the games are getting stale, they'll keep it alive for a while but not forever, certainly not enough to make WiiU a 'success'.
Re: Talking Point: The Wii U May Be Playing Catch-Up With Some Developers, But Money Always Talks
how does this signal anyone being entitled? So a software developer is saying that they'd like a company making a new custom game machine (assuming they want developers to make software for it) to let them know about it and specifics of how to work with it and what it could/should do. i.e. respect, inclusion, a hand shake and a memo. Thats too much to ask for? a company making custom game-only computer hardware that DEPENDS on consumers to play games made for it. So they should just speculate, come groveling and begging to Nintendo "please please let us pour our own money into making quality games for your machine that we know nothing about and have no reason to believe anyone will buy" But there are other machines that have done those things because it just good business, so why bother with Nintendo if they insist on owning or looking down at everyone. There are others out there that understand how this market works, I'd stick with them to if it was my job; not entitlement.
Re: Talking Point: The Wii U May Be Playing Catch-Up With Some Developers, But Money Always Talks
nice article, makes it's points there isn't much more to say. The WiiU has so much competition there isn't much market left after it's all torn in 6 directions and if you miss the launch boat, 3rd parties, multi-plats, and even 1st party draw what is there to come back from? it's late. If there were going to grab this big niche market of 1st party IPs and grand Nintendo software, cool! do it! if you don't do it at launch with a bang and you're not courting 3rd parties then why would you launch at all? It just looks bad.
if not then do right by 3rd parties and launch a system with specs and features devs can use and people care about. Barring one of those strategies your console will fail... ok, fine. no one knows if it will do badly or not, it's too early to tell, right?... Whats that river in Egypt called again?
Re: Weirdness: Mario Bros. Parkour Action Is All The Rage
yes, it's almost sad that this is SO much better than the official one. Buy this one, Nintendo, this is how to make a 'viral' video. It still has to be shot well; this one is awesome.
Re: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies Will Not Be Getting A Boxed Copy in The West
There's no good analogy for this situation because there is no other product; thing even, better suited for adapting to a non-physical form. video games are by their nature interactive digital experiences that have absolutely no dependence on their delivery format to make them experientially what they are. What game has you hold it and pretend it's the gun? do you run with a cartridge strapped to your head to make it fun? The need for a physical piece of anything to deliver a digital experience is purely practical and now that it's gone it's pure blind, consumerist, entitlement that has anyone still attached to a scrap of plastic and silicon to validate their experience of spending money. I'm not saying that the new delivery system is perfect or even good, but it's so juvinille (and yes, first world/ western world) to whine about not having a piece of STUFF to define your worth, your purchase, your experience. Buy the game and play it, it's the same darn thing it was, and it has been the 21st century for a while now.
Re: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies Will Not Be Getting A Boxed Copy in The West
oh and as someone else said ( @MagicEmperor ) if you're actually a real fan of this series you will buy it in any form or it will be less than digital soon enough.
Re: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies Will Not Be Getting A Boxed Copy in The West
Please stop the personal attacks Ren. There is another way to give your opinion out. Lz
Re: Weirdness: Nintendo Releases "Finding Luigi" Parkour Mockumentary
uh, ok it's a long ad by Nintendo and it's not horribly cheesy and misguided as to it's audience.... But it's not very good, not very funny and still doesn't sell us anything. A step in the right direction I guess. The shooting is not very good either, (even assuming you want it to look rough and 'indie'). Advertising is one of the places where Nintendo has pretty much failed repeatedly (except some of the Wii Ads which like everything else Wii was a wonderful anomaly)
Re: Metroid Fan Film Fundraising Campaign Demolished After Claim From Nintendo
Ha! pretty funny, though. I wonder what they thought would happen. They couldn't haven't NOT known that this would happen, maybe they just hoped Nintendo would be impressed or something.
It's weird though. If they wanted to tell that story that bad it wouldn't be hard to change the names and tweek the designs, it's not really all THAT original in ther first place, it's a person in a space suit shooting infectious aliens, ooh never been done before!
why would someone insist on it being based on a Nintendo game? Cause that always works out great for movies.
Re: Review: Jet Force Gemini (Nintendo 64)
This was a 9 for me. I liked the challenge, I remember it being a crazy beast and I don't think I ever finished it. I just remember looking for the parts, maybe near the end. So hard, but so cool. What would games today be without Rare? nothing.
Re: Sales Data Demonstrates a Slow Wii to Wii U Transition Compared to Past Generations
what does this graph mean to me? it says that with WiiU and old Wii sales about even now thats still a cash trickle, which gives them about 2 years to make a choice how to save the new system or let it go. The 3DS will always help too, but the WiiU clearly doesn't have the appeal that Wii did and they need to come to terms with that and do something drastically different. The game market is so big now and so fractured that no one can just sit on a name anymore, they need to make moves.
Re: Shadow of the Eternals Fails To Meet Funding Goal
not a surprise here. They just did a poor job of stating their cause that's why people are calling them out. It's still kickstarter and it's still a game. Do you know what "Kickstart" means people? It's not designed to fund entire finished projects, and not game making at full time salaried wages. Have they never done any research about how it works? Make a budget, set an amount to get it under way (kickstart it, yeh?) and set a series of financial goals and timelines, present to investors along the way until someone picks it up which they would once they see builds of how 'great' it is. If it doesn't work, ditch it. No one on the internet owes you the money so treat it like the charity it is and work it into you financial plan that way to GET STARTED. Look up 'accountant' in the phonebook and pick someone.
If you have an art project or especially an 'artistic' but commercial endeavor you need to be realistic with your goals, they're not saving babies or bring clean water to poor villages. It's borderline unethical to raise this kind of money to make an adventure game over and over. If the interest isn't there but you MUST make this game then find real investors and get some loans. I've given to plenty of crowdfunding campaigns that I believe in and where people have to overcome undue adversity for a good cause but this (and some other ones) is just not that. I'm not going to shed any tears for Precursor games, they went about it wrong. Crowdfunding isn't there to keep you employed full time.
Re: Developer Interview: Brian Provinciano on Retro City Rampage for 3DS, WiiWare Misunderstandings and Wii U
I'll buy the 3ds version for sure, loved the Wii version but also didn't play it through since my Wii isn't hooked up and I'm not sold on a WiiU yet.
He's got the same thoughts as pretty much every consumer about WiiU, it's too bad Nintendo won't hire a "obvious problems to fix" team. marketing, name, bad support in Wii mode, price. Anyway,
yeah, interesting I never thought about the horrible load times on the E-shop since I give the 3DS all my love now, I just have come to accept Nintendo online anything being substandard like it's just the way they have to do it. It would be nice if you could just browse like.. a browser. So much good stuff from nintendo, such poor management. Can't wait til some of those guys at the top start leaving or restructuring.
Re: Talking Point: Gamescom Announcements Raise the Stakes for the Wii U and 3DS
If you pay enough attention to online gaming sites you may have heard of some WiiU exclusives that are brand new like Pikmin 3 and Wonderful 101, and and... well that's pretty much it. But it's only been about a year, that's perfectly normal for the first year. or if you're under 10 there are plenty of Disney games, I mean Mario games.
Re: Talking Point: Gamescom Announcements Raise the Stakes for the Wii U and 3DS
We can hate on the Vita but it's in the same boat as the WiiU. The "value" of it (or existence all together) isn't immediately apparent to anyone but the most seasoned geek, the library isn't there and the marketing is bad, if there is any. Because it's not OUR baby, who cares. The 3DS is owning handhelds and if you have a choose why would you get a Vita over 3DS? The same will be true of PS4 and WiiU; why bother with WiiU when the price will be comparable and it will actually do stuff?
Re: Capcom Reiterates Stance On Further Disney Remastering
rescue rangers was classic and a perfect fit for a modern console with multiplayer options. When they do rescue rangers I'll go get a WiiU just for that.
Re: Satoru Iwata Cites Poor Basic Wii U Sales To Rule Out Price Cut Benefits
if you've decided to buy a WiiU you will get the bigger one if you understand the difference; obvious to most people.
if you've decided the WiiU is too expensive for a few games, no storage, and barely useful gampad you won't buy a WiiU.
It doesn't mean it's a good deal for the black one, it's just not a good deal at all yet.
drop the price AND release some games and people will reconsider.
Re: Metroid Fan Film Seeks Crowdfunding For Completion
Good luck to them, those are big boots to fill.
We know how nintendo hates to pay for advertising and this is as free as it gets. win-win. (and it's an online film, if it's good someone will make a better long version, if it's cheesy it'll disappear - Metriod canon intact) I can't see how this hurts anyone.
Re: Talking Point: The Wonderful 101 Direct and Demo Set the Standard for Wii U Marketing
this what I wanted WiiU for after playing it at a pre-launch event. Probably the same demo they're using now. I wanted it then and it's out just coming out NOW? No thanks. I'll wait for the bargain bin prices in a year or so.
Oh so one long commercial every week that only fans know about is good marketing? wouldn't want to actually have big ad campaigns like on tv, busses, magazines, trains. that would be too easy.
Re: Nintendo Download: 8th August (North America)
this ducktales game is more exciting to me than almost any other wii U game to date, but alas I won't buy one yet just for that and it's still a little pricy. Hope it comes to 3DS it doesn't really need HD, not even the original show was in HD.
Re: Talking Point: Wii U and Third-Party Inconsistencies Pose Questions for Console Owners
Nintendo fans love Nintendo games and you turn first to those for unrivaled playability and level design, but the HD generation has introduced so much innovation and opened up the indie market so much thanks to download games (that are cheap) that it's hard to be a fanboy anymore, I gave up my loyalty near the Wii's end.
Nintendo makes their own best games but there is just too much going on to try and stick with Nintendo and once you've got the good Nintendo games prices are so high that you probably have nothing left for 3rd party games so why bother taking a chance. That's my mentality unfortunately and I can't be alone. (not that their not worth paying for but they don't change it up with enough smaller games at lower prices). Even as a lifelong Nintendo fan it's hard to justify an expensive Nintendo console/games now when the 1st party games are slow in coming and far between, theres just too much other good, consistent content out there now. I am a fan of great video games and Nintendo hasn't offered a value proposition for this massive exploded market so I'll have to wait until they can truly bring it or stick to software. And to address someone above the triple A games on other machines are absolutely no longer interactive movies, there is amazing stuff, I skipped it for so long as a N fan and now it's hard to look back since WiiU hasn't delivered anything interesting or new. Why is it such a surprise that it's not doing well? drop a real modern detailed HD game like a new Metroid or Zelda and I'll jump back on in a heartbeat. Mario is all but dead, I'm not 13 anymore.
Re: IGN Editor: If Wii U Doesn't Pick Up, Nintendo Should Look To New Hardware
Hey I wanted to want a WiiU, like every other fanboy but I'm not going to hand over my money for what is just not a value proposition. I got an xbox and I'm playing most of the same good games and way more other things that I missed.
This isn't a horrible idea. after holiday if it's still dead let it die and tweek it like a big upgrade, actually include storage, at least play dvds, and dump all the old Wii shop games on the store. Good chance to give the processor a small upgrade and then make it compatible with the WiiU games. That screen is neat but not what anyone wanted. The waggle is what people wanted and with the nunchuk it's still fantastic. I would buy a truly 'next gen' Nintendo system but the WiiU just is not that. or how about put it all into that game pad and use a wireless disc drive for games that you can't fit onto an internal 200gb ssd (like the doomed sony disc drive of snes vintage)then call the whole thing portable with the option to stream from the pad to a tv. (like a 3DS hd).
Sure the brand loyalists would be pissed but they'd also buy the next machine anyway, and Nintendo needs to cut their losses eventually. I say call it a lesson learned and focus on 3DS until you can come up with a truly portable game system that can also play on a tv in HD, if they don't do it someone else will.
Re: Soapbox: Mobile And Tablet Gaming Is Creating A Generation Of Talentless Players
development costs have got to recede a little before micro transaction will go away, and if the console games are any indication there will only be more to come on consoles. It's a scary prospect but the dev costs keep going up and we want more free games; not the best situation.
Re: Soapbox: Mobile And Tablet Gaming Is Creating A Generation Of Talentless Players
Thanks a million for this article, it's a wonderful read and makes perfectly comprehensive points from both sides.
I agree mostly and also think that this will change a little over time. The games mentioned are indeed pretty dumbed down especially with that tiny screen in mind but I think there will soon be a more solid place for gaming on those devices.
I think the industry is slowly merging mobile and home devices and I can't even imagine how apple would NOT soon release a device that will quickly allow you to send your mobile interface to a screen and sync it all including a better input device for more settled in gaming. It seems like it'd be in instant coup if there was an apple TV thing that could grab your mobile signal and also allow sync with a controller and/or keyboard. then it would allow apps to be deeper and more varied and act as the ultimate mobile computer. there must be something like it on the way, but who knows.
Nintendo has done a good job with the WiiU in that regard and is blazing a rough trail but not really good enough to compete where it should right now. Such a big shift happening right now, it'll be neat to see who's standing tallest a year from now and I can see a mobile device being right up there much as I lament the crappy shallow games.
Those crappy little games are kind of another genre, though. I think more of the deeper games will come when the interface options open up more and they will. Right now theres money to be made and it's pushing the tech forward fast which is good for the industry in general.
Re: Review: The Smurfs 2 (Wii U)
When HD means High Defecation. Not what the WiiU needs right now.
Re: Nintendo Blames 2011 Tohoku Earthquake For Sluggish Wii U Performance
so, uh, what stops them from hiring more people? There are a lot of great developers out there. hire more of them, and step it up.
Re: First Impressions: Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate
I wouldn't blame the game for low audio, the 3DS in general has pretty bad peepers. My only complaint about it ever (oh and the low res cameras are annoying), otherwise best handheld ever by far.
Re: Wii U Finally Hits One Million Sales in Japan
the video game market in 2005-2006 was a fraction of what it is now, the comparison is ridiculous. The start of that generation (and ironically the Wii) is what started much of the larger game crowd, as well as the iphone/ipad. what was a big launch then is a blip by todays standards. At this point the market is getting saturated to take advantage of the massive market that is currently bigger money than film (in the US), but someone is going to fall off. Looks like It's going to be the Ouya and maybe WiiU.
Re: Talking Point: F-Zero GX HD Could Boost the Franchise onto Wii U
yeah, nice idea but that would be more games that people love and that just doesn't make sense. Instead just keep making mario games every year or so and that'll surely get the next gen crowd throwing money at you. Put 5 or 6 people on a mario or zelda game for 3 years or so at a time and don't worry about advertising or putting out any of the like thousand classic games in your library. that should spell success. If the Nintendo Life staff were making business choices for Nintendo, my guess is they wouldn't be in the pickle they're in now. These are nice ideas though and a fun read.
Re: Mario & Luigi Has a Dreamy Japanese Chart Debut, Wii U Hardware Sales Drop by a Third
3ds is a fantastic machine and deserves every bit of praise and success that it gets.
The WiiU is not, and based on todays game market it's just not a competitive console. I actually wish the resources for that could just go to the 3DS and forget about WiiU. I was excited for Pikmin3 when WiiU came out but not really anymore. It's just not worth getting a $300 brick to play it when there are better options coming soon. Windwaker, I love and already played. Mario 3D and even smash bros I've played before and the new ones don't look much different. It's time for something new and only 3DS has given us that plus the old favorites re-hashed (since they love to do that so much).
Theres a reason Mickey mouse isn't starring in new disney movies, because we've moved on.
Re: Nintendo Comments On EarthBound's Inflated Pricing
@ryno I don't, to be clear. I'm actually really only speaking from a "I'd like it if the WiiU did well over all" perspective, because I actually love Nintendo, but I think they have some management problems. I believe they could be doing fantastic right now if they made some better choices. generally speaking, though, I'm happy to pay good money for a good game because I have some money and I love gaming. Not everyone does, though, and there is a lot of good competition that Nintendo is ignoring that IS starting to hurt them.
Re: Video: Total War Mod Allows You To Conquer The Land Of Hyrule
wow, amazing!
Re: Nintendo Comments On EarthBound's Inflated Pricing
@Kirk just said it above. Doesn't matter what $10 buys or how easy it is to get, it's too much for an old game with almost no production cost. This is a pure profit grab, which is always Nintendos strategy (understandably) but it amounts to overall weakening the appeal for consumers at such high prices. Skimp on hardware/ development costs, keep prices at or above current market standards. It's smart long term if you can keep afloat that long but not very consumer friendly. Thats the real reason for the 'family friendly" stuff from them now, it's easy/ cheap to make. If you've grown up now, like I have, it's tough to see that Nintendo only values it's children customers with parents who make good money, and naive wealthy adults who need a retro fix now and then. I was one of those, but there are too many other options to keep throwing my money at them when they seem to be living in Willy Wonkas Chocolate Factory.