Disclaimer: this post was written before I looked at any feedback from anywhere else. It is as raw as can be.
Nintendo Direct was a more ‘philosophy’ of ‘hardware features’ type of video.
While I was watching the video, I suddenly wanted to write down certain points that came to my mind so I could post them here after the video (before I forgot them). I looked around for something, anything, found a dusty old notepad and some pens lying nearby (which didn’t work half the time). I also realized I haven’t written anything down in years aside my signature (because in this age we type everything). My writing is worse than what a doctor would do.
Here are the ‘points’ I scribbled down.
1) Alone Together
When a Nintendo executive mentions a book, it is required for anyone to understand Nintendo’s thought process to read it. With the Wii, Blue Ocean Strategy and Innovator’s Dillemma were the books mentioned. Now, Iwata is mentioning Alone Together. Obviously, this book was passed around Nintendo’s offices. Every game journalist must read this book if they wish to write about Nintendo’s context correctly (the only reason why an executive would mention a book is for this reason).
I have not read this book. It is not a business book. It appears to be a pop psychology book about technology. Here is the website about it to find out more.
It appears the premise is that social media promises more control over relationships but actually creates less and less face-time. It is that social media, including video games, are appealing because it appeals to certain vulnerabilities to us where people end up preferring the digital world over the real world.
It sounds like quackery, the common crap I’ve heard ever since computers came out. But I have not read the book so I cannot say more.
But I will quote Shakespeare in that the ‘real world’ was actually our thoughts and dreams. “Such is the stuff that dreams are made on…” meaning this flesh, these faces, and all are not really what life is. The World of Imagination is necessary for love, for parents and children, for self-improvement, for courage, and so on. My impression, with knowing this little of the book, is that it is from a bimbo academic.
So why did Iwata mention it? Why mention this pop psychology book instead of a substantial business book? Either Nintendo thinks a substancial business book would give aid to their competitors or that Nintendo DOES think pop psychology is substantial. I hope it is the former. If it is the latter, we are in for some bad, bad times.
2) Controller Replaces TV Remote
This is actually really cool. I know many people buying expensive ‘all-in-1’ remotes with a touch screen. If Nintendo was smart, they should have the controller be able to be a remote for anything we want… from the stereo, movie player, THE LIGHTS. It’d be amazing to be able to remotely turn off the lights (or turn on the fan) with the controller. When I sit down, I don’t want to stand up again to turn on the lights. And I don’t like standing up in the dark.
One problem with standard TV remotes is that it is hard to see all the buttons. With a LCD screen, you can read it in the darkness and would be useful during movies when everything is dark.
Having the Wii Controller, modeled after a TV remote, actually replace the TV remote is a very good thing.
3) Wii U Pro Controller
This piqued my interest. Why is this being made? Shouldn’t the Wii U controller do all of this anyway? And don’t they want people to use the controller screen?
I suspect this is for multiplayer games without having the contraption of a Wii controller with a Classic Controller connected to it. Boy that got annoying.
4) Asymmetric Gameplay
When Iwata said this, I jotted it down. In order to understand that, we need to look at symmetric gameplay. Symmetric gameplay is described as a gameplay depending on what other strategies are being employed, not on who is doing them. There is no personality involved. Asymmetric is more based on the personality. What Nintendo is saying with ‘Asymmetric gameplay’ isn’t really about the ‘interaction of two screens’ but more of players’ personalities. I suspect that is the real goal.
I understand Blizzard tries to go for personality gameplay. For example, in Starcraft 2, a player can win through micro (controlling a few units very well) or through macro (controlling the entire base, everything on the map) very well. They know interesting games result in players’ personalities bubbling to the surface.
If this was not Iwata’s intent by saying asymmetric gameplay, then I think he is just misusing it to market the ‘interaction of two screens’.
5) Trailer was horrible
The trailer shown during the Iwata video was extremely bad. All I care about are the features. I do not need ‘characters’ or ‘jokes’ within the presentation. The marketing people should be fired. These ‘jokes’, such as the guy in the coffee shop hitting on the girl, are distracting at best and just annoying. Seriously, the people who wrote this ‘trailer’ should be fired. It felt insulting to watch and made me want to turn off the stream.
“But did it show you how everything worked?”
Yes, but it could have been done in 30 seconds. Didn’t need any of this story crap.
Throughout that trailer, I was expecting the nerd to place his ‘comic book statue’ onto the Wii U controller so the statue could help him beat the zombie. I kept waiting for him to do it. And then once the statue was in the game, the nerd could start talking to the statue for real with the statue talking back. Perhaps I had a Molyneaux nightmare then or something.
6) Mii Wara Wara a shameless marketing ploy
Mii Wara Wara with showing Miis clustering among games “that you may not even own” is hideous crap the marketers at Nintendo put in. Take that stuff out! Get that crap out of there!
This social marketing garbage needs to stop. Why don’t you guys listen? I know you are reading now. Let me tell you that the BIGGEST negative to the Wii U is all this social marketing garbage.
The first game console that ditches the social marketing is going to be a HUGE WINNER. I will buy any game console just to get away from this crap.
7) Reading text easier on the controller
This is actually a big deal. One of the reasons why I prefer playing video games on the PC is because the text is easier to read. Easier to read text means games can have richer and deeper worlds where NPCs say interesting things. Perhaps some adventure games will be more fun.
8) Mii-verse is DS pictochat on steroids
I wrote that line because all I thought of with Mii-Verse was DS pictochat with being on different devices and over the Internet.
I thought pictochat was stupid then, and I think it is stupid today. No one is going to use their game controller to communicate outside the novelty of ‘Let me try out all my Wii U features’. People have already created established communication lines via their texting on smartphones or something else. The game controller will be used for doing something with the game. Mii-verse is a big fail.
In fact, I abhor the Miis now. Miis used to be cool because they allowed games to get to their fundamentals. If I play a tennis game, I don’t need a fully graphically made tennis player. Just a stick figure will do. And that was what Miis did.
Miis are extremely lame now. I suspect one of the main reasons is that Miis have been hijacked by the social marketers. Miis aren’t a tool for better games, Miis have become a tool for the crappy marketers.
Mii-Verse has another important function: it is another license for Nintendo to make money. If a third party wishes to use Mario or Zelda in their games, they have to pay Nintendo money to do so (or become a second party company). Miis also was a licensing opportunity for Nintendo that other game companies paid Nintendo in order to use the Miis. This is the reason why so many game companies made their own Mii knockoffs so they wouldn’t have to pay Nintendo additional money.
The Mii-verse is just another licensing ploy by Nintendo. Extremely disappointed by it.
There better be a way to turn off Mii-verse and all the other social marketing crap. It might kill the console. It is that bad.
9) Overanalyzed gobble-speak
I wrote this when Iwata was talking about the Wii ‘concepts’ and how Wii U was ‘solving them’ and all. It is just junk talk. Back in 2006, there was not of this nonsense.
The Wii concept was nothing more than to break down the barrier between gamer and non-gamer. This meant making the controller accessible.
The Wii concept wasn’t responding to a gaming concept. It was responding to gaming in the most general sense. What Iwata was saying was having the Wii U respond to the Wii and it sounded like overanalyzing and going on in circles. We get it. But it sounds like Iwata was just puffing air at that point. We all know that the Wii U did not arise from a philosophical quest over how to make a game console. The Wii did, for sure. But the Wii U is nothing more than combining a Wii with a DS.
Wii + DS = Wii U
This will be sensed by the market as an iteration. There will be no Wii craziness of being sold out for three years. This is Super Wii.
Not that Super Wii is a bad thing (the SNES wasn’t a bad thing). But Iwata going and saying they don’t know how people will interpret it is just silly. The codename for the Wii was Revolution. The Wii was very ambitious.
The Wii U does not sound ambitious. In fact, there seems to be too many features in the Wii U.
I want simple. I like simple. Quality products are simple products. The NES and Gameboy were ‘simple’ products which is why they had such a huge impact. So were the DS and Wii. Ever since, Nintendo keeps adding more and more crap. Most of this crap is conditional and rarely used. It is stuff like cameras, social media, etc. Too much junk. Too much bloat!
There ends my raw reflections (without reading any feedback from anyone else to color them). Now, I’ll check my email…
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