Email: A simple question of Nintendo

Did they see how well motion controlled games sold?! And if they thought to look at the Industry, they were also adding those so-called “kazual” motion controls to their consoles! 

But no… That doesn’t fit with their long-term plan… which at this moment seems to be to lose as many customers as they can while keeping investors on board.
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Motion control breaks glasses-free 3d output. You can’t have the players moving around.I see the Wii U as trying to transition away from motion controls forever. I also see the Wii U as trying to re-define the Wii brand to not be about motion controls.

Imagine Iwata on the stage talking about all the game consoles Nintendo has released.

“First, there was the NES.

“Then, there was the SNES.

“Soon, was the Virtual Boy.”

“And then, the N64.

“After that, there was the Gamecube.

“And now, we have the Wii U.”

You raise your hand. “Uhh, Mr. Iwata, I think you left out a console. Wasn’t there this console called ‘Wii’?”

“You mean the Wii U.”

“No. I mean the Wii.”

“Everything that was the Wii is now in the Wii U. The Wii U is the definitive Wii experience.”

See how this is shaping up? In the Iwata Asks interviews, you hear the Nintendo developers gush over the Virtual Boy and how proud they are of the N64 and Gamecube. But you never hear them express their love and pride for Wii Sports or for the Wii in general.

Don’t get me wrong, they love the Wii’s sales. But there are customers on the other side of those sales. They thought the 3DS would sell gangbusters… it didn’t (Nintendo is now saying that 3DS is for ‘more experienced customers’ while the ‘masses’ are for the cheaper DS Lite. Sony tried to say that the PS3 wasn’t in trouble because the PS2 was handling the ‘mass’ consumer. No one is believing Nintendo.) I think Nintendo is absolutely scared that the Wii audience will not come over to the Wii U. Having a longterm Wii advocate, like myself, become anti-Wii U would even be more discomforting.

The reason why the Wii was so popular, and why the Game Industry despised it, was because it was a rejection of the trajectory of gaming. Everyone who likes the old trajectory of gaming, including Nintendo, are really, really hoping this wasn’t the case. They are counting that a few games will bring customers like myself over, that we won’t care about the direction of gaming the console intends to take.

Have you noticed that we can get Nintendo to put in superficial additions to their games but not change the direction the series is going? For example, Nintendo will add a tanooki suit to 3d Mario. Of course, it doesn’t fly, and 2d Mario gets nothing that used to be in 2d Mario. No, all that ‘good stuff’ goes to 3d Mario despite it not selling as much. We’re making it crystal clear to Nintendo that the market wants the Mario series to go a different direction, not the path the 3d Mario games have been.

Nintendo will put in superficial elements in Zelda, but will not change the direction of the series. Yes, you can shoot beams from your sword in Skyward Sword like you could in the first few Zelda games. But that doesn’t matter if the direction remains the exact same. Even the Ocarina of Time fans are sensing Zelda feels stale and needs a change in trajectory. (The change I advocate is already tested and tried in earlier Zelda games. But I’d love ANY change away from the current snooze-fest of Puzzelda.)

With Metroid, the market viciously responded to Sakamoto’s ‘direction’ for Metroid. Note how Sakamoto is willing to put in superficial elements like, “Ooohhh, there is Phatoon, that should please the old fans,” but will not make the direction of Metroid match that of… Super Metroid. People ask, “Why did Metroid Prime come out so good?” The answer is because the developers were fans of Metroid. They actually greatly revered Super Metroid. Sakamoto does not. When he talks about Super Metroid, he says bizarre stuff that doesn’t exist like ‘maternal instincts’.

“Are you telling the developers what to do?” No, we are telling them a certain direction we want them to go. With Zelda, we do not want more Spirit Tracks. Hell, we didn’t want more Wind Waker either, but Nintendo doesn’t care.

There is only one way to surprise the customer: make quality entertainment. Whenever I see a quality video game, anywhere, I am very, very surprised. When Nintendo says they are being ‘surprising’ by putting in motion controls in Puzzelda or the inevitable ‘camera controls’ in Puzzelda for Wii U, I say, “You are making the oldest mediocrity in the newest ways.”

I get the sense of dismay from many emailers about this. But what you are witnessing is very common in entertainment. For example, one of the most successful entertainment franchises made is Star Trek. But around Voyager/Enterprise, it was clear the show runners did not like the show (the fourth season of Enterprise turned out much better was because the show runner, Manny, was brought on. I was told from reliable sources inside production that the reason why Manny’s direction was working much better was because he was a fan of Star Trek. I have never forgotten the lesson I learned then. It was a shock to me to learn that people are in charge of shows that they personally hate.)

Readers, you are gamers. You are fans of Nintendo games. However, you must throw all that out the window. Nintendo developers are not fans of Nintendo games. That sounds like a paradox, but it is true. The producer for the Zelda series is Aonuma who admits he hated Zelda games. Miyamoto is the producer for Mario games, yet he says he really doesn’t like 2d Mario. Sakamoto is in charge of Metroid, yet he really doesn’t like the Metroid gameplay.  None of this should make sense. These entertainment people are a sick bunch which is why Hollywood is such a cesspool.

I don’t work in entertainment at this type of level. I cannot explain why people are assigned to series who despise them. I thought Nintendo was not like these other entertainment companies. I was wrong. People who do work in entertainment are very… child-like. It is why whenever they open their mouth on any subject that is not singing and dancing, everyone laughs at them. It seems that things are motivated more by a sense of groupie and cult worship inside the company than anything else. “Who cares if Aonuma hates Zelda? Let’s put him in charge because he made wooden dolls in college. That, alone, reminds me of Miyamoto!” “Metroid is a great game. Sakamoto was involved with it, therefore, let us turn Sakamoto into a ‘Game God’ and have him do whatever he wants.”

I think everyone should start asking Nintendo developers about their gaming habits. Their 3d obsession tells me one thing: they do not enjoy gaming as it is currently constituted. You never hear a Nintendo developer talk about his game playing experiences (as you do any other developer, including other Japanese ones). At most, you get a Nintendo developer to play a Nintendo game in development and tell you about his or her ‘eureka’ moment. It is like Nintendo developers are in the job of game development to be developers, not to be gamers. And, if true, it would be a serious cancer eating away at the inside of the company.