With Wii Sports, the reaction a gamer has to it is, “Wow! This is so cool! I have to show someone.” And that is how it starts. The game was COOL. It played very well. There was no links to facebook or twitter with it. As word of mouth got around, I’m sure people googled the Wii and might have found Youtube videos of it. But why would someone make youtube videos of it in the first place? It is because they thought it was cool.
I haven’t played Nintendo Land, but my impression is that Nintendo Land is not ‘cool’. Remotely, I have no interest in Nintendo Land because the theme of ‘Nintendo Land’ is not cool. I can’t see a grown man ever purchasing the game in public.
Mario was always cool. He was cool in SMB 1, 2, 3 and World. Aside from the 3d, Mario 64 gave Mario a voice which didn’t make him seem like an Italian plumber. It was really Super Mario Sunshine that made Mario not cool.
Above: Adults ran from this game. Even the Gamecube was not cool.
Zelda used to be cool too. Then came Majora’s Mask and Wind Waker.
Metroid used to be cool as well. Then came Metroid: Other M.
I think Nintendo was on the right path with Super Mario Galaxy as that game was very, very cool. I even bought it! (And I quickly sold it.) Unfortunately, the 3d element made the game unpalatable to me. I really wish they took Galaxy’s coolness and put it in 2d Mario. It burns me up that everything cool of Mario content-wise goes to 3d Mario and 2d Mario keeps getting the leftovers. Giant World was missing from NSMB games but mysteriously included in Galaxy 2. Tanooki was sorely missing from NSMB games but became the star in 3d Land.
Nintendo knows what to do. It feels like, from my perspective, they are fighting their fans. What is Metroid: Other M but the feeling that Nintendo is making games against the audience. “But what about the apprehension to Metroid Prime?” Yeah, let’s talk about that. People were scared to death of Metroid Prime because they saw were seeing 3d destroying every classic game series including Mario. They didn’t want Metroid to die as well.
It’s long been established that console companies should do whatever to get the consumer over the hump of buying the hardware. Once the hardware is bought, more games are purchased. Sega had to be fought with bundling Sonic with the Genesis, but it was a brilliant move. Today, everyone understands this.
Wii also cost $250 in an economically good environment. Wii U costs $350 in an economic depression. Nintendo needs to really get the price down or sweeten the pot more.
You know what really bugs me? Nintendo has countless games available but refuses to utilize them. These are the arcade/NES/SNES/N64/GC games as well as the handheld ones. I remember the red Wii coming with a free version of Donkey Kong. Nintendo has ways to sweeten the consumer swallowing the hardware. They just don’t want to do it. Curiously, Nintendo thinks it will ‘cheapen the value’ of the games where everyone has the games on computer emulators anyway. It’s not reasonable to expect 30 year old games to hold their value.
I’ve never believed in the ‘viral marketing nature’ of the DS or Wii. To me, the consoles succeeded because they offered games that had the satisfaction of games we saw in the 8-bit or 16-bit eras as well as a large game library. Early on, the DS had games like Meteos, Advanced Wars, and Castlevania: DS. What does 3DS have? Monster Hunter which the West doesn’t like? And the buttons and configurations are all getting strange. I don’t feel comfortable with the 3DS hardware.
With the Wii U, I feel the value of the Game Pad does not warrant the high price of the system.
While I’m not hostile to the Wii U hardware like the 3DS, I’ve always felt the Wii U was just a mess (as evident by their disappointing E3 unveiling). The Game Pad should be the 3DS. Apple doesn’t bundle iPod Touches with Apple TV in order to integrate the two. So why are we having to buy these Game Pads with the consoles?
Why does Integrated Hardware and Software translate to ‘buying everything in one big box’? We buy games separately, why not hardware? We used to buy different controllers separately and use the ones that fit our hand comforts or play style. Nintendo’s ‘integrated hardware and software’ ideology prevents me from using other controllers.
This is not the job I want my game console to do.
The best game consoles are ones that are modular. They adapt themselves to the jobs the player needs. If I want to have a multiplayer party at my house, the console is transformed to take care of that. If I want to play a single player game in the dark drinking soda, the game console can do that too. If I want to hook up an arcade stick to the console to get an arcade experience with some arcade games, the game console obliges.
The Wii was modular in many ways (but not totally). You could play just using motion controls. You could play using the pointer. You could play with the nunchucka. You could play with the Gamecube controller or the Classic Controller. You had options.
Integrated hardware and software does not mean ‘doing one job’. The Wii U performs the job of sharing the TV. But if you don’t need that job to be done, the Wii U collapses in value. What other jobs can the Wii U do? Not much. This integrated hardware and software ideology really sucks.
And sequels that aren’t sequels really, really sucks. When we buy Metroid, we want Metroid. We don’t want Sakamoto’s extra curricular activity. When we buy Starfox, we want Starfox. We don’t want on-the-shelf game ideas from twenty years ago (i.e. Starfox Command).
And for the love of God, WE DON’T WANT ANIME. During Japan’s gaming zenith, their games were internationally designed. Disney style is good. Anime style is bad. People who love Disney are accepted in public society. People who love anime are shunned and have rocks thrown at them in public society. (There is this poorly done sci-fi show I’m watching/suffering through called Andromeda. They thought their audience wanted anime style so they put a wig on the android. Boy, that wig came off as fast due to the intense negative reactions. It’s not that people don’t like anime, they have NEVER liked it.)
But most important of all, we want digital games bounded to accounts, not hardware. If Nintendo had an account system which could be used in future hardware, I would have bought a Wii U already.
Would anyone buy the next iPhone or iPod if they had to rebuy all their media again? Of course not. There is no reason why we have to keep buying Super Mario Brothers a million times. Let us own the game already! All this money keeps flowing to old games and doesn’t get to new ones. It’s in Nintendo’s interest to do this since they won’t have to remake old games again. Instead of making a new 3d Mario, they could offer Mario 64, Sunshine, Galaxy 1 and 2, and 3d Land instead of wasting all this time and money on 3d Mario which sells to a niche audience. Nintendo could try making a new type of game.
Nintendo asks, “What do you want?” Here is what I want:
1) User accounts that goes beyond hardware generations like Apple.
2) User accounts that goes beyond hardware generations like Apple.
3) User accounts that goes beyond hardware generations like Apple. (Yes, this must be mentioned three times. Iwata said, “We cannot accomodate you,” and I reply, “Then you might as well just pack up and exit the market because no one is going to buy anything digital until you provide user accounts.)
4) No anime.
5) A console that is modular. I want the console to do different jobs. Often, different jobs requires different controllers.
6) Satisfying hungers that prior Nintendo consoles satisfied. The reason why people keep asking for another 2d Metroid is because current Metroids aren’t doing the job Metroid used to do. The reason why people ask for a Link to the Past style Zelda is because we have a desire for a Nintendo action-RPG which Zelda satisfied. Aonuma’s Zelda is an adventure game with puzzles. We want 2d platformers because 2d platformers satisfies a certain craving. I think people are asking for a F-Zero because there is no racing game on the Nintendo console. Mario Kart used to be a good arcade racer but has de-evolved into a party game. Mario Kart DS, trying to ‘beat’ Super Mario Kart, is a good example of how to do it.
7) More NES, less Gamecube. More SNES, less N64. More Wii innovation games, less Wii party games.
8) Ditch the social marketing. I never, ever want to see Facebook, Twitter, or other people’s crap on my game console. At the very least, allow us to turn it all off.
9) I want to customize the console’s OS (because I want my console to do different jobs). I don’t want Miis pouring all over me. I want my console to actually treat me like a grown up.
10) Less DLC. More expansion packs. Expansion packs are modifications of the game engine. Even when people buy DLC, they regret it because it is just more levels. Expansion packs is where it is at.
Do any readers have a list they would like to share to Nintendo of what they want done?
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