“Lack of passion doesn’t make emails like this.”
Maybe. I have been playing Nintendo for about 17-18 years, and I’m still passionate about 2D Mario. But how else would you typify the general reaction to Wii U? E3’s reaction was not the same as 2006. There is also not the anger of 2009-2011. You can say I’m still passionate enough to read your blog and write you, but my reaction is not the same as 2006 or 2009. And you also took a few days to even get much email about E3, when that hasn’t happened in the past. Those few days were a long sigh of resignation.
Lack of passion doesn’t run blogs like yours either. Your writing has certainly fit in the cycle of excitement leading up to the launch of Wii and over the first few years of Wii, turning to anger after Wii Music, and now you come off as kind of ho-hu, resigned to the offerings you know you are going to get, but no longer expecting any kind of revolution.
In 2006, many people wanted Nintendo to succeed. They didn’t really like the path Sony and Microsoft were on especially with the $599 price tag. In 2012, there are many Wii consumers who wish to punish Nintendo over how Nintendo handled the Wii from 2008 onward.
My impression is that I am sensing more emotion (emo-gamers?) than anything else. Emotional responses to E3s have never really told us anything about how a game console will sell.
While people keep pointing to E3 2006, what about E3 2004 with the DS? The DS was mocked and not received well. It launched decently enough (sold decently at launch) but it was Nintendo’s efforts that turned the DS into the monster it became.
The 3DS had an extremely good reception at E3 (as it is said Iwata raised the price based on this positive buzz). And the result of the 3DS was disaster. Nintendo doesn’t want to be in a position where it sells hardware at a loss, and it had to in order to move the 3DS.
Nintendo’s stewardship of the Wii U is going to make or break the console. The E3 conference won’t matter. The launch line-up, in the long run, won’t matter. E3 2013 will be far more indicative about the Wii U than anything else.
While the reader may think this sounds defensive, I’m trying to be objective in this matter which I believe many people are not. During the Wii ride of last generation, many of the Wii advocates were not really advocates. They were bitter Nintendo fanboys, unfairly criticized for liking the Gamecube, and feasted on schadenfreude to give Sony and Microsoft the shaft with Wii outselling everything. This same schadenfreude exists now with these players except now they wish to punish Nintendo.
None of this is sn objective overview of the market, and it very well may be people’s emotions trying to paint the events.
Even though people lived through these old consoles, we all know you didn’t observe them in a way like you do today. The SNES was extremely hyped, and the game console nose dived from there. Part of it was due to Sega’s marketing. But much of it was also due to Nintendo’s errors. Nintendo changed their stewardship strategy and was able to salvage the SNES.
I am amazed at how the future opinions and present opinions are so different. Games like Super Metroid, considered the OMG classic of today, were not big sellers when they released (much to Nintendo’s disappointment. Why else did we not see a Metroid game for so long?). Super Mario World, also considered the OMG classic of today, had trouble facing Sonic the Hedgehog. Yoshi’s Island, some people’s favorite, really disappointed. Games like Donkey Kong Country, not as considered as a ‘strong classic’ to many on the Gaming Message Forum, did more for the SNES than Super Metroid, Link to the Past, and Yoshi’s Island combined. While SNES is remembered for its adventure games, it was games like Street Fighter 2 that really helped move the SNES. The SNES was getting killed by the sports games on the Genesis. And today, no one even remembers or cares about these Genesis sports games!
I look at the buying of game consoles and game console games in a different way than many people. Our hardcore friends are content to ride emotional hype trains where they keep buying games they do not play or barely play and then sell them at Gamestop for credit to ride the next Hype Train. When I buy a video game, I expect to be playing it for the next twenty years. After all, I am still playing 8-bit, 16-bit, etc. games, so why not?
2d Mario is so appealing to me because it is the most ageless video game ever created. No game comes close. None! I will still be playing 2d Mario decades from now.
What about some of these other games? Pikmin 3? Meh. It’s a Gamecube game. I guess it is good if you like Pikmin. The Nintendo Land could be interesting if the substance is there and not like a Wii Play. And it could age much better than the Wii Play type of games. The third party Wii U games I don’t expect to age well at all except maybe ones like P-100 or whatever it is called.
The emotional outlook on a game console is extremely fluid and will radically change. Concerning the Wii U, the fact that people aren’t riding Hype Trains on it is probably healthier for the console. There has never been a console that was extremely hyped that sold well with no lingering disappointment (except maybe the PS2 but that was because of its endless game library).
Game consoles tend to be remembered more fondly when they don’t have hype trains at the beginning. There was no hype for the NES, and it is considered God Quality. Sega Genesis didn’t have hype. The DS certainly didn’t have any hype.
While people try to keep connecting E3 2006 to the Wii sales success, remember that Wii customers didn’t even see E3 2006 and had no idea the Wii existed until they played it somewhere.
Nintendo still has much work for the Wii U. We need online multiplayer games, not online ‘message forum’ games. Are we going to use headsets with voice chat? How is it going to work? And what about the E-Shop? The Wii missed out on PSN and Xbox Live Arcade games due to its hardware. I’m curious how this could remain an issue with these little shop games now. Will we be able to buy Pac-Man Championship edition?
Ultimately, I don’t see the feedback from many gamers as useful at the moment. They rode the Hype Train into E3 and come out riding an Anti-Hype train. “I feel resigned, Malstrom. I feel sad.” I say: “Get off the damn train.”