Dead on it IMO. Wii U is done. Even Nintendo says so by it's complete lackluster showing at E3. While these all seem great, Mario Maker, Star Fox, and Yoshi Wooly World, I don't see any reason to believe that the Wii U will turn around. It will die a pretty painful death and Nintendo should learn from it. The Wii sold, but was dead last in software sales. My Wii was dust in a few months and I played 360 almost exclusively last generation. I've shifted to Wii U/PS4 this generation, but my PS4 is just more what a modern console should be. DVD and Blu Ray, a freakin app to manage my downloads and view the status of my console. The Wii U's eShop doesn't even have a freakin shopping cart. I have literally buy each game as completely separate transaction. Aside from I think Smash DLC, which is in its own, weird, game version of the eShop. Nintendo is fragmented and lost in the world of the Internet. They are a 1990's company who didn't see past their own noses when the Wii outsold everything. They were blinded by the glory and thought resting on their laurels would work on the Wii U. They should have seen the software sales as a strong indicator that although Wii's are in almost any home in America, that the console was completely irrelevant thanks largely to the forced motion controls and (basically) graphics on par with the Gamecube. Although the Gamecube was not a good seller, I still think Nintendo was relevant back then. The Wii and Wii U, with their stupid gimmicks have put Nintendo between their own rock and a hard place.
I'm perfectly fine with non-story driven games like Splatoon, Mario Kart, and Smash Bros having a core game, then just DLC after DLC to keep the content, courses, guns, levels, and characters fresh. Getting courses on Mario Kart was far more exciting than waiting until an entire console cycle to get more Mario Kart courses. Same for Smash. I'd be happy if this was the last Smash they ever made as long as the roster and stages kept growing. The mechanics of the game are perfect. Why release anything else? There may be a time for it eventually, but it's far easier on the development team to add to the existing game, than it is to reinvent the wheel every year or two.
Now, that said, story driven games, like **cough** Metroid are increasingly fewer and farther between. With the announcement of Federation Force it was like a slap in the face! I would love to see non-story games keeping the consoles on (I play Smash or Mario Kart almost every night. One or the other and sometimes both). Having those games keeps the console fresh with tons of options for players of all skill types. I EVEN play Mario Party with friends (especially girls) who haven't touched a set of sticks in decades and they have a good time.
Nintendo has done a pretty poor job on a few titles. Star Fox looks boring and bland, Zelda is nowhere to be found, although I did appreciate WWHD, but that was a remake. And Metroid and F-Zero are just in some dusty filing cabinet in a Nintendo mop closet. It's a shame. Also, losing the Rare-style second party games was a huge blow to the balls. Nintendo needs a strong second party.
My shower thought:
Ok you ready for this? Nintendo 2-3 year plan: Hire an outside analyst to determine the appropriate and fair value of the Banjo-Kazooie and Conker Characters as well as Pipsy, Timbur, and all other Diddy Kong Racing characters. Make a fair purchase of these characters from Microsoft (because they sure aren't using them **correctly**) with maybe the future option of allowing them to create a handful of spinoff games using these characters (1 per 5 years). Now Donkey Kong Country, 2, 3, and 64 were all GIANT icons in Nintendo’s History which were ALL made by Rare. Contact Playtonic and offer them the chance to work on the newest Donkey Kong Country Game which will bring back King K. Rool, the Kremlins, and the 3 ally animals (Feel free to use Cranky, Lanky, Crazy, Dixie, Tiny, and Candy Kong as well). This frees up Retro Studios’ time, efforts, resources, and focus to make a new (and proper, mind you) Metroid game. One that possibly focuses on the rebirth of Kraid instead of Ridley or Dark Samus (We’ve got Dark Pit. Move on). Also get Playtonic to make a new Banjo-Kazooie Returns game with a new villain, and finally Diddy Kong Racing 2. Nintendo would be swimming in new material with the ability to add new levels and characters and hell, costume DLC in the future, and they’d have so many fans shipping their panties to Kyoto HQ it would make Gene Simmon’s head spin. Thoughts?
Mario Maker looks like it could be years of fun, but we all knew about it. Basically it was a "recap" + some gimmicky Zelda title unrelated to the timeline it seems, all after a delayed Zelda Wii U.
This year Nintendo's shit was not together. Of course, their CEO was dying at the time, so I can cut them some slack.
Comments 3
Re: Pachter: Nintendo Has Lost Its "Mojo"
Dead on it IMO. Wii U is done. Even Nintendo says so by it's complete lackluster showing at E3. While these all seem great, Mario Maker, Star Fox, and Yoshi Wooly World, I don't see any reason to believe that the Wii U will turn around. It will die a pretty painful death and Nintendo should learn from it. The Wii sold, but was dead last in software sales. My Wii was dust in a few months and I played 360 almost exclusively last generation. I've shifted to Wii U/PS4 this generation, but my PS4 is just more what a modern console should be. DVD and Blu Ray, a freakin app to manage my downloads and view the status of my console. The Wii U's eShop doesn't even have a freakin shopping cart. I have literally buy each game as completely separate transaction. Aside from I think Smash DLC, which is in its own, weird, game version of the eShop. Nintendo is fragmented and lost in the world of the Internet. They are a 1990's company who didn't see past their own noses when the Wii outsold everything. They were blinded by the glory and thought resting on their laurels would work on the Wii U. They should have seen the software sales as a strong indicator that although Wii's are in almost any home in America, that the console was completely irrelevant thanks largely to the forced motion controls and (basically) graphics on par with the Gamecube. Although the Gamecube was not a good seller, I still think Nintendo was relevant back then. The Wii and Wii U, with their stupid gimmicks have put Nintendo between their own rock and a hard place.
The NX better deliver, but we all know it won't.
Re: Nintendo Not Looking To Churn Out Yearly Sequels To Its Core Franchises, Feels DLC Keeps Games Feeling Fresh
I'm perfectly fine with non-story driven games like Splatoon, Mario Kart, and Smash Bros having a core game, then just DLC after DLC to keep the content, courses, guns, levels, and characters fresh. Getting courses on Mario Kart was far more exciting than waiting until an entire console cycle to get more Mario Kart courses. Same for Smash. I'd be happy if this was the last Smash they ever made as long as the roster and stages kept growing. The mechanics of the game are perfect. Why release anything else? There may be a time for it eventually, but it's far easier on the development team to add to the existing game, than it is to reinvent the wheel every year or two.
Now, that said, story driven games, like **cough** Metroid are increasingly fewer and farther between. With the announcement of Federation Force it was like a slap in the face! I would love to see non-story games keeping the consoles on (I play Smash or Mario Kart almost every night. One or the other and sometimes both). Having those games keeps the console fresh with tons of options for players of all skill types. I EVEN play Mario Party with friends (especially girls) who haven't touched a set of sticks in decades and they have a good time.
Nintendo has done a pretty poor job on a few titles. Star Fox looks boring and bland, Zelda is nowhere to be found, although I did appreciate WWHD, but that was a remake. And Metroid and F-Zero are just in some dusty filing cabinet in a Nintendo mop closet. It's a shame. Also, losing the Rare-style second party games was a huge blow to the balls. Nintendo needs a strong second party.
My shower thought:
Ok you ready for this? Nintendo 2-3 year plan: Hire an outside analyst to determine the appropriate and fair value of the Banjo-Kazooie and Conker Characters as well as Pipsy, Timbur, and all other Diddy Kong Racing characters. Make a fair purchase of these characters from Microsoft (because they sure aren't using them **correctly**) with maybe the future option of allowing them to create a handful of spinoff games using these characters (1 per 5 years). Now Donkey Kong Country, 2, 3, and 64 were all GIANT icons in Nintendo’s History which were ALL made by Rare. Contact Playtonic and offer them the chance to work on the newest Donkey Kong Country Game which will bring back King K. Rool, the Kremlins, and the 3 ally animals (Feel free to use Cranky, Lanky, Crazy, Dixie, Tiny, and Candy Kong as well). This frees up Retro Studios’ time, efforts, resources, and focus to make a new (and proper, mind you) Metroid game. One that possibly focuses on the rebirth of Kraid instead of Ridley or Dark Samus (We’ve got Dark Pit. Move on). Also get Playtonic to make a new Banjo-Kazooie Returns game with a new villain, and finally Diddy Kong Racing 2. Nintendo would be swimming in new material with the ability to add new levels and characters and hell, costume DLC in the future, and they’d have so many fans shipping their panties to Kyoto HQ it would make Gene Simmon’s head spin. Thoughts?
Re: Poll: What Did You Think of Nintendo's E3 Digital Event?
SFZ was already revealed. "Metroid" was a troll title. So much that people are calling for it to just not be made at all:
https://www.change.org/p/nintendo-petition-for-cancelation-of-metroid-prime-federation-force
Mario Maker looks like it could be years of fun, but we all knew about it. Basically it was a "recap" + some gimmicky Zelda title unrelated to the timeline it seems, all after a delayed Zelda Wii U.
This year Nintendo's shit was not together. Of course, their CEO was dying at the time, so I can cut them some slack.