Email: What a joke. The Wii and DS exposed Nintendo and the game industry for the misguided talentless hacks that they are

I’m not sure if you’ll have time to read this but I’ll send it anyways.  When I first started reading your site a few years ago and really began to understand what you were getting at in regards to what Nintendo was apparently (at the time) doing with the Wii I was so excited at the possibilities of the kind of games we could have with the Wii.  And then after 2008 or 2009 came and we waited.  And waited.  And waited.

And waited.  I have to admit I cracked a wry smirk during Sony’s conference when Kaz mentioned how they were on the cutting edge of User-Generated Content gaming, when thanks to your research we all know how much of a colossal disaster UGC is for gaming (even for Nintendo).  But I digress.  But it’s like when the Wii came out the possibilities were endless.  First person hack n slash games, adventure games, third person action games where you shoot stuff,  they could have done very well on the Wii if properly made to suit the market.  But nobody stepped up to the plate, not even Nintendo.

And then NSMB Wii came out.  The game proved 2D platformers that stuck to their fundamentals could still sell well even today.  And the game industry had to notice this.  You’d think that upon realizing that they could make quality platformers and old-school action games for a fraction of the cost, resources and time of HD gaming on the Wii and make a killing on sales compared to those same HD games.  But nowhere did we see Konami announce a real Castlevania game.  Instead they made that God of War rip-off for the PS3 and 360.  And when they finally made another platformer–and a cooperative multiplayer one for that matter–it was initially exclusive to the Xbox 360…and even then it was only a downloadable game through Xbox Live.  It felt like a slap to the face for me as someone who bought all of the DS Castlevania games (all of which were solid and fun games and if you haven’t played it I’d highly recommend Portrait of Ruin).

I’ve actually played the original Mega Man Legends on the Playstation and always thought that it would be a perfect fit on the Wii with pointer controls to aim while using the joystick to move around.  But instead it gets announced for the 3DS and even now it’s in the air if the game will ever be released.  I remember you saying that Kid Icarus would be a perfect match on the Wii for the same reasons.  But it gets released for the 3DS and even now I’ve heard someone refer to it as being a Nintendo clone of Kingdom Hearts (the Square-Enix Action RPG with Disney and Final Fantasy characters).  Being on the Wii could have allowed Kid Icarus to shine because of the new gameplay and the controls.  Now it’s just seems to be another generic action game to most people.

But back to Capcom.  Upon seeing NSMB Wii sell like crazy you’d have expected them to pull out all the stops and make a new 2D Mega Man.  But instead we got Mega Man 2.5 and Mega Man 2.75, which is what I call Mega Man 9 and 10 because they don’t feel like sequels as much as retreads of Mega Man 2.  I think the worst for me was when I played a game called Sky Crawlers:  Innocent Aces for the Wii.  This game was produced by the same company that made the Ace Combat games, games that were very damn good because they had controls that disappeared in your hands and clung hard to tight arcade-like action (fighting ace squadrons on Ace Combat Zero had me sweating bullets like I have never done since the original Star Fox).  Yet this game did everything wrong.  It had seven control schemes between the Wiimote and Nunchuck, classic controller, and Gamecube controller.  And they were all screwed up in some way that broke the controls and made the game nigh unplayable.  Yet at the same time the developers put in some kind of mechanic that basically let the computer fly the game for you so you could get in behind an enemy and shoot them down.  But then near the end of the game you couldn’t rely on that in the last few fights so the game became almost impossible.

Playing this game infuriated me so much because they spent buttons on the controller for this mechanic to fly the play for you because they thought us Wii gamers were morons and couldn’t handle the complex arcade-like controls of their other flying games.  I felt insulted.  I spent 40 dollars on this game and I seriously reconsidered buying another videogame (new or otherwise) after playing through it.  Final Fantasy Crystal Bearers was worse.  It was supposed to be an action game but had no action in it.  Battles literally happened at random and the enemies would vanish after a few minutes without no penalty or consequence to the player.  And the controls weren’t very good either.

I’ve been burned so much lately because the game industry, as you said, treats gamers like me as second-class citizens.  And now Nintendo has done the same thing.  I tried playing Twilight Princess recently and I couldn’t get past the first village in the game before quitting because of boredom and frustration.  The hand-holding has gotten ridiculous.  And if Skyward Sword is going to be even worse, then I’ll stick to playing Ys, thanks very much.  I even tried to give Mario Galaxy a chance but had to quit after twenty minutes because my eyes were about to pull a Linda Blair.

It’s irritating because before NSMB DS and Wii came out Nintendo could plead ignorance about not making the games we wanted to play.  At first it seemed like the game industry and Nintendo had something I’ll call a Theory of Gaming.  They thought that the gaming was a certain way and would go a certain direction that they would help to facilitate.  However after every misstep, disaster, and failure, it should have been obvious that their theory was wrong and that a new theory would have to be constructed.  But now it’s clear that the game industry really just doesn’t care.  Nintendo does care.  They don’t care that they’re abandoning gaming, only that they get to have their fun.  David Bohm once commented that theory was like a road map that you used to guide you through a city.  The more coherent the theory the more likely that the map would guide you to your destination.  And of course the less coherent the theory, the more likely that you would become lost or confused.  He even applied this to the broader spectrum of human experience and commented that a person’s worldview was like a theory and likewise their worldview would either bring them to greater success or cause them to feel lost or confused.

But there is no theorizing at Nintendo.  With this much decline between their forays into UGC and 3D output, a sane and logical person would be looking to come up with a more coherent theory that would bring them to greater success rather than decline.  Nintendo just doesn’t give a shit.  And ya know what.  I don’t give a shit about Nintendo, either.  I imagine that because Yamauchi has the controlling share of Nintendo, that there’s no way that investors can force Nintendo to change direction that would ultimately be beneficial to gamers?

I’ve remembered something that Doctor Who has said in the new series, whenever something very pivotal in history is about to occur and in order for the outcome to be positive the people involved have to rise up above and beyond who they are or what they want for the greater good.  “You have to be brilliant.  You have to be amazing.”  Nintendo had such a moment with the Wii, but they let it pass them by, and the disappointment I feel for what could have been is unfathomable.  It really shows just how weak-willed and feeble-minded the people running Nintendo really are.

You’ve summed up the thoughts of many people out there. Bravo!