I can’t believe this attitude still exists. Playing online games is amazingly fun and is a very important part of modern gaming. I play from Japan with my friends in america and I encounter very little lag the majority of the time. It’s easy as hell to mute or boot the offensive 10 year olds if you do happen to play with them, too. The fact is that Nintendo severely dropped the ball with online play on the Wii.
I personally own a Wii but have been disappointed by all but a few games. I play Mario Kart, I play Mario Galaxy, I play Smash bros, but very little else on the console interests me. Why would I get guitar hero/rock band on the wii when I get the vastly superior xbox 360 version that has literally hundreds more songs to choose from? Why would I get a graphically inferior version of the Prince of Persia Forgotten Sands when I get one with better controls for the same price?
I’m interested in a few of the Wii games coming out this year, particularly those mentioned, but the fact remains that for every Wii game that I want there are at least 3 Xbox 360 games that I want more (and that’s just cause I own an xbox 360, were I a PS3 owner it’d be the same story).
Nintendo lost most of it’s “core” fanbase, those of us who supported them from teh Nintendo all the way through the Gamecube, when they gave us 2 years with nothing to play but a gamecube zelda game
On the IP thing: just because a series of games shares the same characters doesn’t make them similar. Mario really contains 4-5 different series (Super Mario [platformers], Paper Mario [Party-based RPGs], Mario & Luigi [JRPGs], Mario <Sport> [Sports games], and Mario Party [Board game games]). There are similar diversifications with the Pokemon brand (Pokemon Ranch, Pokemon Trozei, Pokemon Channel, etc.), and the Metroid Games (Prime, Hunters, Pinball). Zelda…well, okay, yeah, those are pretty much all retreads.
Also, to PopeJewish: Cubsfan was being very sarcastic.
I know that the much touted “casual” market is a huge part of Nintendo’s strategy this generation, and I agree that it is volatile and shouldn’t be taken for granted the next time around. But another key part of the market is people like me, the loyal Nintendo gamer, and we’re much more reliable.
I’m someone who grew up with Mario and Zelda, so nostalgia is indeed a key part of the appeal. I’m not exactly old, I’m only 25, so I know my way around a controller. I’m not confused or offended by the latest technology. I’m not exactly young (in video game terms) either. I do have an adult life now (which means expendable income) that doesn’t revolve around pwnng newbs online on Halo, and I don’t have the hours the sink into all the latest machismo offerings the kids are into these days.
As far as I’m concerned these latest super hits with grizzled space marine protagonists can never have the long term appeal and intangible magic as the great Nintendo classics from the day when you didn’t have to be edgy or “mature” to be cool. So I will continue the buy the consoles and games that offer both the quality and whimsy that I’m looking for. HD and online play don’t interest me much, at least until I don’t have to pay a premium price for them.
I really don’t think my demographic should be overlooked, and I think we we will be a key part on Nintendo’s business success for as long as they chose the be in the market. That’s my two cents, feel free to continue your tired casual vs hardcore debates.
I’m 29 and grew up with Nintendo too. Nintendo has a fanbase still. But I believe, (unlike the GameCube day), gamers our age are getting frustrated with the long droughts of games. When the Wii’s dead, it will have an ample library of +A games you can list off, starting with Galaxy. If Nintendo had spread out the release of the games I mentioned in my OP, (starting last summer), instead of killing my wallet all at once, I would be a much happier “fanboy”. Now that the casual players are ‘in the game’, and not as loyal to a particular brand, Nintendo has an uphill battle next time around.
Online is just an example of things Nintendo’s stubborn about that drives customers and developers away. Long Nintendo fans see Third Party efforts totally different than they did with GameCube too. At least Madden, (a game I’m not interested in personally), looked relatively comparable on each of the three systems last generation.
Didn’t make the “Edit” but this is what I think about as a Nintendo Fan. I wanted to buy stock in Nintendo when I read about Wii, and then saw it at E3 for the first time. People ignored the Sony booth and ran to se what the Wii was all about. If I had stock in Nintendo, I would be wondering what to do with it in the coming years.
This makes no sense to me. Yeah, if you’re playing World of Warcraft, or competitive counterstrike or something, sure, but if you just want to get together and shoot some stuff/each other in ye-average FPS? Why on earth would you need to join some sort of clan?
No, I understand this. I’m trying to point out, however, that “online multiplayer” does not have to equal “immersing myself in the sewer of morons that is the general pool of Modern Warfare 2 players. Even if I want to play Modern Warfare 2.” We’ve got friends lists for a reason, and it’s not so we can text each other with a 360 controller.
Anyway, yes, some of the other points are relevant here - the new motion controllers on the other platforms have the potential to shake things up at the end of this year - will there be an “upward migration” of casual gamers from the Wii to the 360 or PS3? Nintendo has a big ol’ headstart in this space, so it’s unclear if any significant number of people will be drawn by Natal/Arc and the existing features/games on the 360/PS3. I expect there will be a modest shift, but mostly I think Sony and Microsoft are spinning their wheels here - Nintendo owns the motion controlled casual gamer market at this point, and I don’t think Ye Olde Casual Gamer With a Wii is going to be interested in dropping $350+ for a new console just so he can buy a few more games. This isn’t a “console war” in the traditional sense, because the people Sony and Microsoft are trying to steal from Nintendo were never part of the console wars in the past. They bought the Wii not because it was a “game console” but because it is/was a “cool toy.” They probably don’t need another one. That’s just my opinion though - only the wildest of speculators know for sure.
As for the “hardcore Nintendo fans” who are feeling disenfranchised/neglected by the Wii/its games/its release schedule, well, I have bad news for you. Nintendo doesn’t need you anymore. They’re selling this stuff to a whole new market, which, as you mentioned, may not be as reliable/devoted as you are, but there are a WHOLE LOT MORE of them. You don’t seriously think they sold 9 million copies of Mario Kart Wii by relying on the hardcore Nintendo fanbase, do you?
I’m really looking forward to the next Zelda game.
Not just because it’s another Zelda game but because it’s the second game for this console. I’m kind of tired playing through the same Zelda story with the same basic layout and places with upgraded tweaks with each new generation console.
I’m hoping since this is the second Zelda title for the Wiii they go off in some other direction like they did with Majora’s Mask. Great Zelda controls, game play, and dungeons but a different world and a different story.
The biggest question that Nintendo has to answer is if this new casual market will be willing to buy a new Wii 2.0 console when they develop it. Grandma and her friends down at the retirement community probably won’t bother.
Rayman’s Raving Rabbid Hookers: Blow Party 2, Electric Boogaloo?
Edit to add: I’m primarily a PC gamer, with a long-term PlayStation history (owned 1 and 2, now have 3), but I have a Wii too. Never played Nintendo’s core series other than old-school Donkey Kong in the arcade, and have no Mario/Zelda. I also now own a DS but again, nothing from the core series that are out there. The only Nintendo “classic” series game I have is Rayman’s Raving Rabbids.
As for getting the grandmas to buy a Wii 2.0, they don’t need them. Any Wii 2.0 will obviously be backwards compatible with the Wii (because Nintendo believes in BC as a cause, not a bullet point on the box) so Wii Sports will still feature heavily in any promotion for Wii 2.0.
Awww. I love you too, Snuggle Bunny.
I was thinking in the shower what Nintendo would have to do to get me back. I think it pretty much begins and starts with online multiplayer problems. I’d like in-game chat, for starters. Online, viewable stats would be nice, as would a game that uses these new capabilities and expands upon them.
I’ve been a Nintendo loyalist for what, twenty years now? I’m well used to the fact that Nintendo will only give me a handful of games to enjoy each generation. Fortunately, their console doesn’t come at a bleeding edge tech price, so I guess I’ll just keep buying them as long as they stay that way.
It’s too bad though. No matter what they do, the devs shun them for Microsoft and Sony. Then they’ll develop stuff for those that are quite like Nintendo. So why didn’t they just develop for Nintendo? Beats me, but I don’t see it changing. It’s a bit like Mac vs. PC and no matter what Macs & PCs are good at each generation, very few people will switch anything other than their excuses for sticking with their preferred gadget.
There is some brand loyalty involved, for sure. For developers, there’s also ease-of-use. I don’t know how hard it is to program for Nintendo, but I’ve heard many accounts that it’s much easier programming for Microsoft than Sony. Fortunately, I do believe we have the people on this messageboard that could give us a better answer.
Is this true? Is the Wii backwards compatible with the GameCube simply because it had to be (I don’t know the ins and outs, but I’ve heard that the engine in the Wii is not much, if at all, more powerful than the GC)? Even so, it’s the first console Nintendo’s put out that’s BC. Again - I don’t know the details beyond that.
I’m happy with my Wii. It doesn’t get nearly as much play time as the PS3 (or 360 when I had it), but the games I do play I enjoy the hell out of. I just wish their premium releases were a little more consistently released, and they’d tighten up on the shovelware*.
*Yeah, I don’t have to buy it, but it seems that great Wii games don’t go on discount as quickly as PS3/360 games do to appeal to that “Johnny’s got $20 for a new game” parent walking the aisles of Best Buy. It works for Nintendo, just not my wallet.
