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Has the Wyrm Really Turned?
By Corvus | July 13, 2007
…and is Nintendo really the Wyrm in question?
There’s a hue and cry across the internet in response to Nintendo’s E3 press conference. Without listening too terribly hard, you can hear the screams of , “Nintendo has betrayed us,” and whines of, “but Nintendo owes us!” Wii Fit is seen as the ultimate betrayal. It most concretely represents Nintendo’s increased focus on the under-served market of non-core gamers… like our moms and grandmoms.
But, but, but! We sold it for them! We told everyone about the Wii! We trumpeted the revolution! They owe us for that!
First off–Nintendo doesn’t owe us anything. Did we enjoy playing games on the N64? Have we been ‘loyal’ Nintendo fans? Did Golden Eye float our boats? Pikmin tickle our fancy? Metroid get our juices flowing? Then they’ve already paid us off in full. All any company owes us is a product which works as they said it would. I’d like to believe that they also owe us a product which doesn’t set out to intentionally harm us, but the food, tobacco, and pharmacological industries have disabused me of that notion.
Secondly, sure we trumpeted the Wii. I know I did. I was working retail pre-release and I often felt like John the Baptist or Timothy Leary, dropping eye-opening hits to the unenlightened masses. and man, it was an easy sell. I’ve also talked to people about the joys of X-COM: UFO Defense, Ultima 7: The Black Gate, A Mind Forever Voyaging and Nethack… but you know what? They didn’t buy that, hook line and sinker. Sure, we provided some early word of mouth about the Wii. But it doesn’t matter. If we hadn’t, it would still be flying off store shelves. It would still be an expected rarity in this, it’s second holiday season.
Regardless, any extra expectations, or wildly exaggerated sense of entitlement we feel is our issue. It’s our problem, not Nintendo’s.
And is it really so bad? Let’s look at the reality of the situation:
- “Hardcore” Games Nintendo is actively courting third-party developers to serve the “core” gamer market. Even though Rock Star received an AO rating for Manhunt 2 and therefore removed the possibility of a Wii release (and PS3 release, let’s not forget), Nintendo is out there, talking to developers, trying to make sure the “core” gamers get their itches scratched. We’ve got JRPGs coming, action games and 3D platformers. Let’s not all freak out because a few of us also would like to do some yoga without having to go to the gym.
- Online Play Nintendo is building their very first online strategy here, with an eye of protecting their true core market–kids. They appear to be building it so that both the Wii and DS are served by it. They are moving slowly. But they are moving. Microsoft took two generations to get it right. Let’s cut Nintendo some slack in that department, eh?
- Gimicky Hardware The Wii-mote and nunchuck combo is not some dumbed down control system. It is not a “two button system” as some have proclaimed it. Nor is it as horribly imprecise as many early games make it seem. If nothing else, Godfather: Black Hand Edition has proven, in fact, that proper use of the motion sensitivity and aiming capabilities can turn a lackluster GTA clone into something really fun to play. As for the targeting issues many people seem to be having–turn off the lights. Close the curtains. Even the splash of light off a projected screen seems to cause problems. Fully trouble shoot your environment before claiming a deficiency in the controller. Now, is it a problem that the Wiimote is so light sensitive? It certainly could be, I grant you. Perhaps another approach would have worked better. But if
- Poor Graphics Nintendo is doing what a large portion of their core audience has been asking them to do. They’re doing what a growing number of developers wanted them to do. They’re changing the rules. They’ve taken the focus off graphics and put it on gameplay. If you don’t like that, fine. There are two other systems you can buy. One costs a lot of money (even with the projected price drop) and the other is suffering, by some counts, a 1 in 3 failure rate.
Now, just for a moment, let’s pretend that Nintendo does owe us. We can think of this on a karma level, if nothing else. What is it they owe us? We, who have been staunch Nintendo fans? We, who have never purchased any other console… right? You’ve been completely faithful, right? You didn’t rush out and buy an XBOX or it’s successor the Wanx 360? You didn’t buy a Playstation? Or a PS2? You’re not saving your dimes for a PS3, are you? Let’s go a step further–you never even played a web game on your PC? Never rented a DVD, or paid for cable? Of course you have. It would be unreasonable to suggest that we remain 100% true to an entertainment company and its console.
Likewise, why would Nintendo remain true to us? In fact, we probably don’t even deserve as much consideration as they’re already paying us. If they had remained “true” they very well might be bankrupt right now. The only reason Microsoft and Sony are still in the console game is that they have other corporate divisions to prop them up when they flag, financially speaking. Besides being the first to ship, no small part of the Wanx 360’s success is due to the Live Arcade, which provides more casual game opportunities for those moments when we don’t have time for a full fledged “core” gaming experience.
Let me state this unequivocally–if Nintendo had remained “true” to “us”, it might well have doomed the industry. Look at the disaster that is the PS3 right now. Look at Sony’s high-handed, sexist and racist marketing strategies. Sure, the PS3 is a “long term” console from a hardware standpoint and the entire approach of Sony has been the direct result of following the “core” gamer route. But is that really what we want? Is it even a sustainable approach for the long term? I doubt it.
When companies don’t grow and find new markets, they inevitably find that their old markets have grow up, dried up, or disappeared. Nintendo was the first major player to realize that growth and sustainability for the industry as a whole needed to come from the “outside” markets. Popcap, Three Rings, Pogo, Big fish and others had already figured this out, but Microsoft and Sony weren’t paying attention. Now with Nintendo doing so well, MS and Sony (but mostly MS from what I can tell) are noticing as well. Be glad, the fresh influx of cash will help all of us in the long run.
So, Nintendo has changed the rules and that’s weird, I get that. They’re turning a profit on their hardware. They’re speaking another language. They’re like the nerd at Christmas, super geeked over some dorky science kit while the rest of the kids get more of the same old sports equipment and cap guns, wondering why the holidays don’t hold the same luster they used to. But let’s not turn out backs so quickly on the dorky kids who are polite to the adults and would rather perform science experiments than play touch football. After all, the discoveries they make and the money they get from the adults allows them to invent new materials that make our games more fun.
That being said, bring on Metroid and Super Mario. Also bring on Wii Fit and Wii Music. Bring on the classic library and the WiiWare games. If the wyrm is going to turn then I, for one, plan on standing atop it like Maudib, head thrown back, enjoying the ride.
Tagged:Industry. |
July 13th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
I haven’t been keeping up with the next-gen wars, but it seems I occasionally find comments arguing that the Wii is too casual or that it seems that the games being released are too often party games. I haven’t been a Nintendo fanboy in a long time, but let me get my hat…
I don’t think you can get too casual. If it takes me a 400 page manual and lots of obscure commands to startup a game, it can be improved and streamlined. Casual just means easy to pick up and play, and it does not necessarily refer to match-3 games. You can have casual games that are hardcore.
As for the games being released, this list seems to indicate that we’ll see plenty of guns, explosions, and blood. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wii_games And we’ll also see new games, different games, and innovative games…some of which will not just be party games.
July 13th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
I’m really glad I don’t read the same websites you apparently do, since they seem to be composed of obnoxious hardcore gamers who obviously haven’t paid attention to Nintendo for about, oh, twenty-five years. I’ve gotten more play out of Wii Sports than Zelda because I can jump right in, play for fifteen minutes, and then turn it off without worrying about my progress.
I do think Nintendo has gone too slow with their online functionality. Mostly it’s their lack of discussing much of an actual strategy that bothers me. Even Sony has come out with a general plan (took long enough, and is laughable at the moment, but if they pull it off it’ll be impressive). Wii Sports should have online leagues and grand championships at this point.
I think you should be fair to the 360, though, and realize that part of the success is a decent number of well-directed hardcore titles supplemented by robust and simple online play. Even though the games may be hardcore, the ease of linking up with like-minded gamers trumps the PC easily - you might call it hardcore play facilitated by casual interfaces.
But you are absolutely on point about the Live Arcade appeal.
And, really, Nintendo hasn’t changed any rules. They’ve always been ahead of the curve (Rob the robot, the Power Pad, Power Glove, Virtua Boy). They’ve just finally released their big ideas to a public that is ready to fully accept them (well, and improved their technology).
And what’s with the Facebook group? You and me were the only people to open our mouths. Can we, like, give people demerits for not participating?
August 15th, 2007 at 8:20 am
[...] fact Nintendo was creating some of the most enduring and brilliant gaming experiences of the time. Nintendo owes these people nothing, and it’s incredible to me that they can have such an incredibly inflated sense of [...]