Email: Your blog is on fire

Master Malstrom,

 

It started with your much anticipated breakdown of Iwata’s most recent Investers Q&A but on one of your most recent posts about what you want most in a Nintendo Console really resonated (obviously) I was almost reluctant to write you because I can only imagine how flooded in E-mails you must be. But I felt compelled any way : )

 

First let me say that I never took your tone on Nintendo to be overly negative at all, I felt it was constructive criticism, not in the same category as the Pachters and the like, but legitimate critique and insight for why Nintendo’s fortunes have become depleted.

 

If there is one thing I want out of the next Nintendo Console (besides a name change) it is more variety in the content. Each game needs to be a rich world I can explore. I am okay with one Mario Kart per gen or One Smash Bros per gen because they are literally filled to the brim with content and are two totally different games etc. But they gave us 2 Galaxy games, Wi Music (really?) a Wii Sports sequel with NO TENNIS and no internet whatsoever, a lame ass Zelda game which took half a decade to make, and your favorite game of all time Other: M. Even NSMB Wii while I thoroughly enjoyed it, was a half assed effort, imagine if they made an online battlemode for that game? I always felt Starfox could really be the next break out Nintendo game, simply because of battlemode. You see a recurring theme here? Battlemode. Competition. one aspect overlooked in many peoples memories of Mario Bros. 3 was the battlemode. It was really just Mario Bros, but still it added great value to the game. 

 

Internet was the weakest part of the Wii, Nintendo banked on 3D when the real dough was on internet.

They should have an itunes like service for their games that is unacceptable that when I bought my VC games my Wii died and though Nintendo replaced my system, my VC games were history.

 

Many of the things I’d want I’ve read your desires and those of your readers and I share many of the same sentiments. And Some I didn’t realize I wanted until I read them lol. I feel like a kid during X-mas when I still believed in Santa. The one thing you have illustrated is that we control the market, WE ARE the Market. Each console company, game dev works for us. Not only do the devs and companies forget that, but somehow we the gamers have too. They serve us. Which brings me to the last thing I want from a Nintendo console..Choice. I don’t understand why I have to play with a tablet controller if I don’t want too. And I damn sure ain’t playing Smash Bros with that crap.

 

Isn’t it a coincidence that when the analysts talking about subscriptions for Consoles and how great it would be, a few days later M$ is rumored to be offering a console subscription? This is exactly what is wrong with the gaming industry.

 

 Keep up the great work.

I have always wondered why Nintendo’s games lack the punch they once did decades ago. Since the question offends the developers, they dismiss it by saying ‘nostalgia’. But there is something different.

Nintendo is all about selling their hardware. In order to sell the hardware, software must be released at certain time points in order to keep momentum. As Iwata says, “This is a momentum based business.”

I suspect Nintendo’s game development is ruled by time limits instead of ‘What game do we want to make?’ It might be why all these Nintendo games feel like we’re playing something similar but with a new hardware feature tossed on top.

But what I find more perplexing is that Nintendo does delay their games… but only the games they choose. Have you ever heard of a 2d Mario game being delayed? Ever? But 3d Mario games get ‘additional development time’. Kid Icarus Upgrising got extra development time. Aonuma Zelda games always get extra development time… and no one cares about them. I suspect Sakamoto’s Other M got extra development time as well.

But did Wii Sports Resort get extra development time? Perhaps an online mode or tennis could have been included? If 2d Mario got extra development time, an online mode could be put in. But that is never the case. We never hear about these games being delayed for more development time. It’s like Nintendo doesn’t care about those games and only cares about certain games… the games that are attached to a big name developer.

I think 2d Mario is one of the most important games for the Wii U. Will it get delayed so it is done right? Of course not. It will be shipped ASAP. But 3d Mario? Oh man. That must be delayed. It must be given another live orchestra! It’s like there is something wrong with Nintendo developers’ hearts. They are passionate about the games no one wants to buy and are bored by the games people do want to buy.

This tells me that Nintendo developers are in another universe separate from most gamers out there. Do the Nintendo developers come across to you as gamers? They come across to me as a type of video game professor. They are very preachy but don’t actually play games like we do. They might have played games like we did decades ago when they were younger. Nintendo developers do not believe in the term: “A game well played is a good game.” This is hinted when people like Aonuma haven’t even finished the original Legend of Zelda. Wouldn’t it be appropriate to put a Zelda gamer in charge of Zelda development? But that is not the Nintendo way it seems. It is baffling and frustrating.

Of course, we might as well be talking to a wall. Nintendo developers believe they have all the answers and know everything. They think every problem is with the audience, never with their ways. Japanese gaming is not in decline because of its developers, oh no, it is the audience who is at fault! I get the impression of rampant arrogance and stubbornness from Nintendo’s creative side.

You mention ‘choice’. I suspect the reason why Nintendo doesn’t give us that choice is because the people at Nintendo cannot understand our predicament. They don’t play games like we do. To them, the game is development. It is how to ‘surprise’ the market. It is how do we get this to ship on time. That is the game they play.

I feel Nintendo and I are on different worlds. With the Wii, I felt like they were finally in my world and making a game console for me. Now, it seems like Nintendo is making something for themselves.

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