Like this:

Given that Alexa works with percentages, I wouldn’t be so quick to say they lost that much readership but it is certainly possible. The first thought I had was to check out gonintendo.com and I was shocked to see that it has seen a similar drop. Most gaming blogs I know are in the same boat, except for joystiq and destructoid which seem to hold out pretty well. Then it hit me. Three years after I bought my Gamecube, that’s when I started losing interest. Also I believe Reggie said something about console interest or console sales after three years but I couldn’t find the quote.

Less people interested in games, less people looking for information on those websites. I remember I pretty much stopped reading IGN before the Wii was announced. Then with the whole backlash that came with the Wii, I stumbled on GoNintendo which became a better source of news. With what has been happening lately with IGN, I am seriously losing interest and find myself having more fun discussing about the news with fellow gamers than reading fanboy editorial rants from “journalists”.

While people will be quick to point that console sales are still somewhat strong, disinterest within a generation can only come from people who have been gaming already so in this case, software numbers will be more telling. I consider Halo ODST sales to be disappointing. It doesn’t matter if people think it’s more of an expansion, it’s still a Halo shooter and should have sold more. Uncharted 2 didn’t do all that good. Arkham Asylum, a well made but very average game is spoken of very highly. Modern Warfare 2 selling extremely well only proves the point. When people start losing interest, they’ll start gravitating around the biggest releases only. I bet that 2 years ago, Brutal Legend would have seen a lot more interest.
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I think it’s too bad the Wii has to fight against the bad after taste of Wii Music and Animal Crossing, Wii Motion+ could have had a much bigger impact. Nintendo really needed something like SMB 5 to get back on track. With the Vitality Sensor on the way next year, Nintendo will again have a new proposition for us (though we still don’t know how good it will be). It’s too bad 3rd parties were too stupid to fill in the gap.
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Sony and Microsoft do have Natal and the Wand, but seriously, those are more like Sega add-ons, and we all know what that means. Sony at least has some heavy hitters coming out with FFXIII, Gran Turismo 5 and God of War 3, but Microsoft only has games like Mass Effect 2 and Splinter Cell, which won’t get anyone new on board.
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So basically Microsoft is only getting sequels of games that have already been on 360 and Sony is finally getting the big games from previous generations (which took way too long, look at how GT on PSP turned out…).

I think it’s sad how so many developers care so little about gaming to refuse to work with motion controls on the Wii. But then I guess it’s too intimidating and they’re not talented enough. At least the guys at High Voltage have the ambition. Last gen the lack of third party games hurt the Gamecube really bad, but now, with Nintendo going back to what makes gaming so fun and making costumers left and right, 3rd parties are only left fighting against the disruption. Doing that can only create more disinterest in core gamers.
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This generation was expected by many to last 10 years because the PS3 and 360 had so much technology. With massive sales of the Wii, and people being generally reluctant to buy new hardware, it seemed Nintendo’s approach with new interface and upgradable controls was the best way to go for long term. But now I think that generational disinterest is rearing its ugly head again. HD games aren’t offering anything new and Nintendo isn’t capitalizing on Motion+. People might soon learn that disinterest is what pushes for a new generation, but what is the next generation going to be when we already know more pretty graphics don’t do the trick anymore?
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I think this makes for an exciting new variable to add in the formula of what is going to happen next year. Fighting disinterest in people that haven’t played a game in years is one thing, keeping them interested is another.
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I put in bold your point about Modern Warfare 2. Some people are going, “It’s the new GTA 3!” Nope. GTA 3 rocketed the PS2 hardware sales. But Modern Warfare 2 isn’t exactly rocketing hardware sales. Even though Modern Warfare 2 is selling big numbers, other games are not. In other words, Modern Warfare 2 is not making gaming more interesting. It is not creating interest among gamers about games.
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But I think you are correct that disinterest is growing all around. And I agree that after E3 2008, Nintendo fumbled badly with Wii Music and Animal Crossing Wii. Sales of the Wii were still strong enough to go through the holiday but they soon fizzled afterward. I blame it all on the User Generated Content philosophy Nintendo thought to inflict on its poor customers.
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Wii wasn’t just selling because of Wii Sports. Wii was also selling due to potential. People couldn’t wait to see what other games the Wii’s special features (especially motion control) can do. 2007 had Gamecube left-overs (such as Super Paper Mario) and many sequels to Gamecube games (Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, Super Mario Strikers Charged, Super Smash Brothers Brawl). Everyone was expecting awesome motion control games in 2008. Games where you were a knight and had to use the Wii-mote as a sword against evil dragons. Games where you used the Wii-mote pointer to play awesome strategy and FPS games. Games that were new franchises whose gameplay was only possible with the Wii-mote. Instead, we got Wii Music (a game of no content) and Animal Crossing Wii (a game of recycled content with more User Generated Content features). Wii mania just died.
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There was no NES mania so much as there was Mario Mania decades ago. Mario Mania was weakened somewhat by Super Mario World and competitors like Sonic coming around. But what finished off Mario Mania completely was Yoshi’s Island. That game had a huge backlash to it. The backlash was similar to Wind Waker. People hated the art style. And the game didn’t act like a Mario game. Too many radical changes (such as collecting things to truly finish the stage). So Nintendo has unintentionally killed off their entertainment phenomenons before.
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I suspect Nintendo went the direction they did with the User Generated Content was because they believed that they thought motion controls expanded the audience enough in one way (and there was going to be competition soon for motion controls they knew) so while they put out Motion Plus they could expand in different ways (which is what User Generated Content was supposed to do).
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Nintendo’s big weakness as a company is its total disregard for content. It lasers in on gameplay and inventing new gameplay, but content is rarely if ever focused on. People are correct in the complaint that Nintendo keeps injecting new gameplay into old content. None of it is surprising anymore. Only a company that has such low regard for content could decide to steer the ship toward the User Generated Content mirage.
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Wii owners want to do more with motion controls than just play sports games. They want motion controls married with all types of gaming. People didn’t buy a Wii for it to be a Super Gamecube. This is why games like Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid: Other M aren’t going to light any fires.Also, putting out those games is kinda a slap that Nintendo doesn’t want to use Wii’s features for its big games. Only until Zelda Wii was announced to have motion controls (or rather trial ballooned) did it seem motion controls were being combined to some sort of content.
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Imagine if Nintendo only made Brain Age and Nintendogs and made no more games using the touch screen. Ridiculous, right? But this is what happened with the Wii.

Nintendo is way behind where they should be. More motion controlled games should have been coming out in 2008 or at least returns of fan favorite franchises like Starfox and Kid Icarus that we haven’t seen on the Wii before. Instead, we got the Wii doing things no one bought it for like User Generated Content. Instead of announcing some motion plus games to complement Wii Sports Resort in 2009, we got more Super Gamecube games but of franchises that already were out on the Wii from Galaxy 2 and Other M. And we got more User Generated Content games. The only shining light was Mario 5. (It is a good thing Mario 5 was announced first in the conference or I would have gone nuclear if I saw Galaxy was getting a sequel prior to Mario5′s announcement).

It was as if E3 2008 was misread by Nintendo in that hardcore gamers didn’t have any games they saw (so they made Galaxy 2 and Other M). No, the problem of E3 2008 was the lack of games with content. Wii Music had no content. Animal Crossing Wii felt recycled content from the DS and Gamecube versions.Galaxy 2 and Other M are not new content propositions. There are already starfinder Mario and Metroid experiences on the Wii. But there is no Starfox experience. No Zelda experience (if Twilight Princess is a more Gamecube game).

Nintendo is facing a very big dilemma. If they do not put out motion controlled games, if they do not fulfill the potential of the Wii, consumers will no longer trust the company’s new innovations. Why buy a Nintendo “innovation” if Nintendo doesn’t intend on following through with it? It would like the PS3 and Xbox 360 putting out games that aren’t in HD. Consumers bought those systems for HD games and so they get them. People expect motion control type games for the Wii. They aren’t getting them. So Wii owners cannot suggest to friends to buy the console.

I’m worried that with Natal and Wand, Nintendo will drop motion controls like a hot potato and do something else on the Wii for fear of competing in the ‘red ocean’. But this situation doesn’t qualify as ‘red ocean’. Nintendo isn’t competing on their competitors’ terms. They are competing on their customers’ terms.

NCL doesn’t appear interested in more motion control games. NOA appears more interested. So long as Nintendo stays away from User Generated Content as it has been nothing but radioactive for the software, doesn’t release a new Wii in 2010 (that would be very destructive), and puts out more motion plus games, their momentum will continue.

I’m a gamer lost in the clouds of disinterest. I’ve noticed what I buy, especially day one, tend to end up becoming entertainment phenomenons in games. (I bought the first Civilization day one for example. I remember buying Wing Commander, the first one, day one.) There are two Wii games I bought day one in 2009, and they were Wii Sports Resort and Mario 5.

Aside from Starcraft 2 (is that game even going to come out in 2010? The beta isn’t even out!), the only game I see now I will get day one is Monster Hunter Tri. I have never played a Monster Hunter before. The more I learn about it, the more I like. PSP versions didn’t interest me due to their handheld nature. I also enjoyed the vast WoW type of game and kind of want that MMORPG experience without the MMO.

Monster Hunter players are very interesting gamers. They will  buy Monster Hunter and nothing else. They then play their Monster Hunter for hundreds and hundreds of hours. I am curious to see how the hell a console game can be played that long. How much content is there in that type of game?

Monster Hunter Tri is an interesting marketing challenge for Reggie. Americans aren’t going to go big over RPG games on handhelds. We prefer our big games on consoles. I know if I’m interested in Monster Hunter Tri, then I know a pool of a market does exist for this game. Monster Hunter being on a home console could give it a big advantage in sales in the West that its handheld version couldn’t have. But how do you market it effectively to people who want that type of deep experience? We’ll see if NOA does anything interesting with Monster Hunter Tri.

Above: If modern Zelda had that type of action, I wouldn’t be falling asleep when playing modern Zelda.

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