289: My Nintendo Shame

[Danpascooch]

Four buttons: four button system? That was PSOne, the early Nintendo consoles didn't have that system, they had two buttons, and the N64 still used two primary buttons.

I can be wrong but didn't the snes had 4 buttons a,b,y,x and as far as i remember that was WAY before the psone

I forgot about the SNES, I was just looking at the NES, whoops

 

[TheCakeisALie87]

I know how the author feels. My older brother gave me a copy of the new DK game for Hankukah thinking we would relive the days of yore (15+ years ago) when we played Donkey Kong country on a little broken tv in our game room. I haven't opened the box, because my Wii is still sitting at home, I don't even bring it with me anymore. I enjoy games like new super mario bros and galaxy, but they really don't reach the joy that Banjo Kazooie or golden-eye gave me. I think the biggest problem is the Wii will never have the cross platform titles. Something like AC or even Madden always looks pathetic on the Wii if it is even built in the first place. The game has to make excuses or whole new control schemes which makes no one want to buy it. I'll probably pick up the Wii again and buy some cheap games in a year or two, but for now I'll stick with my 360.

 

[Electrogecko]

I'm sorry, but I found this article to be pathetic. It's funny how you say Nintendo isn't doing anything new (which, by the way, is an asinine thing to say) and then complain about all the times you've missed playing Call of Duty and Halo (lmao). Even Red Dead Redemption (which is great don't get me wrong) is little more than a GTA set in the west that replaces cars with horses. Fallout? Fallout is an even glitchier Oblivion that uses Skinner's box methods combined with the mandatory "shoot ugly creatures in the head" mechanic...kinda like Borderlands. I have found most popular games on my 360 to be so incredibly behind the times and immature that I'm much more ashamed to play them than I am Kirby's Epic Yarn. Portal (and Arkham Asylum I guess) is the one breath of fresh air that I've seen on my Xbox- the only game I can name that has any amount of inventiveness or innovation in the MECHANICS OF THE GAME. I've said it before, and I'll say it again- Banjo-Tooie, after Portal, is in my opinion the best solitary experience you will get on a 360.

Move and Kinect have yet to be used in a way that isn't an even worse remake of Wii Sports, and the two consoles have only a few worthwhile exclusive titles, most of which involve cutting enemies with a blade on a chain or shooting them in the face. You want to ditch Nintendo and go get lost in the maelstrom that is the Xbox Live community- have your skill in every game in your library determined by how well you can center a screen on a target- feel free. I'll be using my free time to relax and pit myself against plush and fantastically colorful and creative environments that are designed to be a game instead of a realism contest.

 

[Danpascooch]

That article was annoying to read because you reminded me of those "fans"

Spoiler: you know, the picky ones.

Nintendo isn't to blame.

They made a console with inferior capabilities, almost nonexistant online play, and crappy third party support that leads to things like "Wii Carnival Games" instead of creative IP's

How the hell are they not to blame?

Nintendo doesn't care about that. They are a business. They focus on the crowd that wasn't so damn picky. And the result is...they are successful. Blame the fans. Plus...Nintendo focuses on local and most importantly...fun.

I know they don't care about "that" ("that" being online play, third party support, and creative IP's)

so explain to me, when you yourself just said they don't care, that they aren't to blame for these problems? There is no originality in the titles coming out for the Wii, and your interpretation of "fun" is subjective.

Fun last time I check was having a good time playing a game. With or without friends. With online being implemented in a lot of games, fun is not competition to be the best. Now-a-days, there is no originality in titles coming out for ANY system. And when it does. It flops because of the mainstream titles. This has been going on for a while.

You do know what originality means right? It means doing or trying themes, stories, or gameplay that have not been done before, it means fresh new IPs.

PS3 has things like Little Big Planet which have experimented with user generated content as the driving gameplay force, that's creative

360 has things like the Fallout series experimenting with completely open worlds, and Braid redefining storytelling.

There are new IP's coming out ALL THE TIME for these consoles, but with Nintendo it either features a character that has been around over a decade, or it is DOA. Seriously, think about new franchises that have risen for the PS3 and 360 since they launched, there are more new franchises than I can count.

But with Nintendo, it's the same old stuff, or it sucks, with unacceptably low exceptions.

 

[Aura Guardian]

I'm sorry, but I found this article to be pathetic. It's funny how you say Nintendo isn't doing anything new (which, by the way, is an asinine thing to say) and then complain about all the times you've missed playing Call of Duty and Halo (lmao). Even Red Dead Redemption (which is great don't get me wrong) is little more than a GTA set in the west that replaces cars with horses. Fallout? Fallout is an even glitchier Oblivion that uses Skinner's box methods combined with the mandatory "shoot ugly creatures in the head" mechanic...kinda like Borderlands. I have found most popular games on my 360 to be so incredibly behind the times and immature that I'm much more ashamed to play them than I am Kirby's Epic Yarn. Portal (and Arkham Asylum I guess) is the one breath of fresh air that I've seen on my Xbox- the only game I can name that has any amount of inventiveness or innovation in the MECHANICS OF THE GAME. I've said it before, and I'll say it again- Banjo-Tooie, after Portal, is in my opinion the best solitary experience you will get on a 360.

Move and Kinect have yet to be used in a way that isn't an even worse remake of Wii Sports, and the two consoles have only a few worthwhile exclusive titles, most of which involve cutting enemies with a blade on a chain or shooting them in the face. You want to ditch Nintendo and go get lost in the maelstrom that is the Xbox Live community- have your skill in every game in your library determined by how well you can center a screen on a target- feel free. I'll be using my free time to relax and pit myself against plush and fantastically colorful and creative environments that are designed to be a game instead of a realism contest.

Thank you

 

[Danpascooch]

That article was annoying to read because you reminded me of those "fans"

Spoiler: you know, the picky ones.

Nintendo isn't to blame.

They made a console with inferior capabilities, almost nonexistant online play, and crappy third party support that leads to things like "Wii Carnival Games" instead of creative IP's

How the hell are they not to blame?

Nintendo doesn't care about that. They are a business. They focus on the crowd that wasn't so damn picky. And the result is...they are successful. Blame the fans. Plus...Nintendo focuses on local and most importantly...fun.

I know they don't care about "that" ("that" being online play, third party support, and creative IP's)

so explain to me, when you yourself just said they don't care, that they aren't to blame for these problems? There is no originality in the titles coming out for the Wii, and your interpretation of "fun" is subjective.

Fun last time I check was having a good time playing a game. With or without friends. With online being implemented in a lot of games, fun is not competition to be the best. Now-a-days, there is no originality in titles coming out for ANY system. And when it does. It flops because of the mainstream titles. This has been going on for a while.

My favorite thing to do is to play a game with friends, but I'm in college now, I can't drive hours and hours to their dorms on a Wednesday afternoon, this is why consoles need online play whether or not you want to use it, it's something the Wii doesn't have.

 

[LeonLethality]

consoles need online play whether or not you want to use it, it's something the Wii doesn't have.

Because I use pixie magic to play Brawl with my friends from other countries.

 

[SilverUchiha]

Love the article. Very well written...

From where I'm sitting, Nintendo is like a sick person. A lot of symptoms of a dying company. The source of all these symptoms is the unwillingness to change and adapt to a growing gaming community. It wants to focus attention on younger audiences and keep re-releasing franchises that have been around since the dawn of time. I'm not against keeping the franchises around if they can make the games good. I'm not against attracting a new audience to keep the next generation in gaming. What I am against is the attitude Nintendo seems to have towards the gamers that have been around since the 80's and 90's. Some even longer than that. Almost like the company stopped caring about us, assuming we all jumped shipped when something as shiny and generic as Halo came out. Pretty depressing.

 

[Aura Guardian]

That article was annoying to read because you reminded me of those "fans"

Spoiler: you know, the picky ones.

Nintendo isn't to blame.

They made a console with inferior capabilities, almost nonexistant online play, and crappy third party support that leads to things like "Wii Carnival Games" instead of creative IP's

How the hell are they not to blame?

Nintendo doesn't care about that. They are a business. They focus on the crowd that wasn't so damn picky. And the result is...they are successful. Blame the fans. Plus...Nintendo focuses on local and most importantly...fun.

I know they don't care about "that" ("that" being online play, third party support, and creative IP's)

so explain to me, when you yourself just said they don't care, that they aren't to blame for these problems? There is no originality in the titles coming out for the Wii, and your interpretation of "fun" is subjective.

Fun last time I check was having a good time playing a game. With or without friends. With online being implemented in a lot of games, fun is not competition to be the best. Now-a-days, there is no originality in titles coming out for ANY system. And when it does. It flops because of the mainstream titles. This has been going on for a while.

You do know what originality means right? It means doing or trying themes, stories, or gameplay that have not been done before, it means fresh new IPs.

PS3 has things like Little Big Planet which have experimented with user generated content as the driving gameplay force, that's creative

360 has things like the Fallout series experimenting with completely open worlds, and Braid redefining storytelling.

There are new IP's coming out ALL THE TIME for these consoles, but with Nintendo it either features a character that has been around over a decade, or it is DOA. Seriously, think about new franchises that have risen for the PS3 and 360 since they launched, there are more new franchises than I can count.

But with Nintendo, it's the same old stuff, or it sucks, with unacceptably low exceptions.

PS3 has LBP but there has been other games that have user created content.
Fallout isn't a new IP just to let you know.
Nintendo made have a lot of IP give or take about 20, but they can make games. Not just publish

 

[Danpascooch]

consoles need online play whether or not you want to use it, it's something the Wii doesn't have.

Because I use pixie magic to play Brawl with my friends from other countries.

And how many titles does Nintendo have this online play available for?

 

[Danpascooch]

That article was annoying to read because you reminded me of those "fans"

Spoiler: you know, the picky ones.

Nintendo isn't to blame.

They made a console with inferior capabilities, almost nonexistant online play, and crappy third party support that leads to things like "Wii Carnival Games" instead of creative IP's

How the hell are they not to blame?

Nintendo doesn't care about that. They are a business. They focus on the crowd that wasn't so damn picky. And the result is...they are successful. Blame the fans. Plus...Nintendo focuses on local and most importantly...fun.

I know they don't care about "that" ("that" being online play, third party support, and creative IP's)

so explain to me, when you yourself just said they don't care, that they aren't to blame for these problems? There is no originality in the titles coming out for the Wii, and your interpretation of "fun" is subjective.

Fun last time I check was having a good time playing a game. With or without friends. With online being implemented in a lot of games, fun is not competition to be the best. Now-a-days, there is no originality in titles coming out for ANY system. And when it does. It flops because of the mainstream titles. This has been going on for a while.

You do know what originality means right? It means doing or trying themes, stories, or gameplay that have not been done before, it means fresh new IPs.

PS3 has things like Little Big Planet which have experimented with user generated content as the driving gameplay force, that's creative

360 has things like the Fallout series experimenting with completely open worlds, and Braid redefining storytelling.

There are new IP's coming out ALL THE TIME for these consoles, but with Nintendo it either features a character that has been around over a decade, or it is DOA. Seriously, think about new franchises that have risen for the PS3 and 360 since they launched, there are more new franchises than I can count.

But with Nintendo, it's the same old stuff, or it sucks, with unacceptably low exceptions.

PS3 has LBP but there has been other games that have user created content.
Fallout isn't a new IP just to let you know.
Nintendo made have a lot of IP give or take about 20, but they can make games. Not just publish

Fallout is new for consoles, it used to be PC only.

Tell me about these new IP's Nintendo has made for the Wii.

And I mean things with actual stories and/or structure, Wii Sports and the like don't count.

 

[LeonLethality]

Love the article. Very well written...

From where I'm sitting, Nintendo is like a sick person. A lot of symptoms of a dying company. The source of all these symptoms is the unwillingness to change and adapt to a growing gaming community. It wants to focus attention on younger audiences and keep re-releasing franchises that have been around since the dawn of time. I'm not against keeping the franchises around if they can make the games good. I'm not against attracting a new audience to keep the next generation in gaming. What I am against is the attitude Nintendo seems to have towards the gamers that have been around since the 80's and 90's. Some even longer than that. Almost like the company stopped caring about us, assuming we all jumped shipped when something as shiny and generic as Halo came out. Pretty depressing.

Because when a company is making far more money than its competitors it is clearly dying. You're aware that Nintendo is appealing to all audiences right? I've been with Nintendo since the SNES days and they are STILL appealing to me, I don't need gritty games or new IPs when the current IPs are colourful and fun! Nintendo may not be making any groundbreaking stories with their new games but in terms of gameplay they are constantly improving, and last I checked gameplay is what matters in a game. Nintendo still cares about all audiences, hence why they make games for all audiences.

 

[Aura Guardian]

That article was annoying to read because you reminded me of those "fans"

Spoiler: you know, the picky ones.

Nintendo isn't to blame.

They made a console with inferior capabilities, almost nonexistant online play, and crappy third party support that leads to things like "Wii Carnival Games" instead of creative IP's

How the hell are they not to blame?

Nintendo doesn't care about that. They are a business. They focus on the crowd that wasn't so damn picky. And the result is...they are successful. Blame the fans. Plus...Nintendo focuses on local and most importantly...fun.

I know they don't care about "that" ("that" being online play, third party support, and creative IP's)

so explain to me, when you yourself just said they don't care, that they aren't to blame for these problems? There is no originality in the titles coming out for the Wii, and your interpretation of "fun" is subjective.

Fun last time I check was having a good time playing a game. With or without friends. With online being implemented in a lot of games, fun is not competition to be the best. Now-a-days, there is no originality in titles coming out for ANY system. And when it does. It flops because of the mainstream titles. This has been going on for a while.

You do know what originality means right? It means doing or trying themes, stories, or gameplay that have not been done before, it means fresh new IPs.

PS3 has things like Little Big Planet which have experimented with user generated content as the driving gameplay force, that's creative

360 has things like the Fallout series experimenting with completely open worlds, and Braid redefining storytelling.

There are new IP's coming out ALL THE TIME for these consoles, but with Nintendo it either features a character that has been around over a decade, or it is DOA. Seriously, think about new franchises that have risen for the PS3 and 360 since they launched, there are more new franchises than I can count.

But with Nintendo, it's the same old stuff, or it sucks, with unacceptably low exceptions.

PS3 has LBP but there has been other games that have user created content.
Fallout isn't a new IP just to let you know.
Nintendo made have a lot of IP give or take about 20, but they can make games. Not just publish

Fallout is new for consoles, it used to be PC only.

Tell me about these new IP's Nintendo has made for the Wii.

And I mean things with actual stories and/or structure, Wii Sports and the like don't count.

Someone never played Fire Emblem,Battalion Wars, Muramasa and Sin and Punishment.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

Dpad: Mattel's Intellivision
Analog Stick: Atari 5200
Handheld Gaming: Mattel again
Platformer: Space Panic is sometimes considered the first platformer, but Nintendo did make the first one that satisfies all modern definitions, so sure.
3rd person adventure: Three dimensional third person adventure game is so specific I am having trouble finding out who invented it. There were certainly other 3rd person games before, so it's not exactly a big deal.
Motion Gaming: I don't know who tried it first, but the eyetoy came before the wii, so it wasn't the wii

I think you might be getting "invented" mixed up with "popularized" but even if you mean popularized, many of these are still wrong.

Fine, what I mean by invention is neither actual "invention" nor "popularization" really. What I mean is more like "Pioneered". Like how 50 years from now, no-one but tech nostalgic's will remember Myspace for being the first hit social network site, they'll remember Facebook; OR how Netscape will not be remembered, but Internet explorer will.etc. Nintendo may not have invented those technologies but they sparked the fire; one that is still burning to this day.

Example from my very post? Nintendo experimented with 3D gaming using the abysmal Virtual Boy that will fade into the Annals of history, but Sony will be remembered for their use of 3D in their PS3 games. Sony didn't by any means "invent" 3D gaming. They "pioneered" it. Get what i mean?

 

[ThePurpleStuff]

Even Red Dead Redemption (which is great don't get me wrong) is little more than a GTA set in the west that replaces cars with horses.

Maybe, but John Marston IS the first ever character that rockstar created where I actually gave a shit about him and the game itself. He had a personality, he was a family man, sure he killed innocent people but its not like he did it for shits and giggles like in the GTA games. You did it, not him. Plus, how often did we get western games compared to all the other boring FPS or 3rd party crap? It was a breath of fresh air from rockstar and I thank them for it, but it is my opinion of course.

OT: Nintendo's newest first party titles I stopped playing after Mario Galaxy and Twilight Princess, it's nothing new, I'm tired of it, haven't bought a game from them since, I'm sticking with Littlebigplanet 2 for a while.

 

[Tharticus]

As a former Nintendo fanboy, I praised Nintendo for any decisions. Even to this day. I'm still reluctant to bring up Nintendo into discussions and how did this happen. Yes, it's quite a history that Nintendo developed. The last 4 generations Nintendo focus more it's core players unfortunately, the core players either were dedicated to Nintendo or have moved on. When Nintendo made the Wii, people thought "This console will fail". And as soon as Wii is successful after 2 years, the other consoles jumped the bandwagon on motion gaming. As of this time and age, all game manufacturers tend to focus more on the casual market because more people who hasn't played games means more income to their company.

But sometimes the fans are right. Nintendo Wii 3rd party software is beyond bloated every game requires that "Nintendo Seal of Approval". The use of nostalgia of it's classics is the only free ride that Nintendo uses for their characters. Nintendo's E3 2010 was a prime example of reeling back lost players. Metroid Other M? This game has suffered a massive backlash from it's fans, resulted in a broken base and possibly hurt the franchise or its further development.

This might be considered that "Casual Gaming is ruining the game market" comment unfortunately, for the core players who played back in 1990's, this is how it is. You simply cannot please everyone.

 

[LeonLethality]

Fallout is new for consoles, it used to be PC only.

Tell me about these new IP's Nintendo has made for the Wii.

And I mean things with actual stories and/or structure, Wii Sports and the like don't count.

Why do they not count? A game does not need an original story to be a game. What makes Wii sports any less of a game than the other games out there? It's just different than them.

consoles need online play whether or not you want to use it, it's something the Wii doesn't have.

Because I use pixie magic to play Brawl with my friends from other countries.

And how many titles does Nintendo have this online play available for?

The ones that matter. I admit a few games like New Super Mario Brothers Wii and Kirby's Epic Yarn could have benefited a tad from online play, that's a small amount.

Games like Mario Kart Wii, Brawl, The Conduit, Monster Hunter Tri and Tatsunoko Versus Capcom, Pokemon Battle Revolution, Goldeneye 007, andRayman Raving Rabbids have online play.

And that's only a small list of the many online supported games.

 

[SilverUchiha]

Love the article. Very well written...

From where I'm sitting, Nintendo is like a sick person. A lot of symptoms of a dying company. The source of all these symptoms is the unwillingness to change and adapt to a growing gaming community. It wants to focus attention on younger audiences and keep re-releasing franchises that have been around since the dawn of time. I'm not against keeping the franchises around if they can make the games good. I'm not against attracting a new audience to keep the next generation in gaming. What I am against is the attitude Nintendo seems to have towards the gamers that have been around since the 80's and 90's. Some even longer than that. Almost like the company stopped caring about us, assuming we all jumped shipped when something as shiny and generic as Halo came out. Pretty depressing.

Because when a company is making far more money than its competitors it is clearly dying. You're aware that since Nintendo is appealing to all audiences right? I've been with Nintendo since the SNES days and they are STILL appealing to me, I don't need gritty games or new IPs when the current IPs are colourful and fun! Nintendo may not be making any groundbreaking stories with their new games but in terms of gameplay they are constantly improving, and last I checked gameplay is what matters in a game. Nintendo still cares about all audiences, hence why they make games for all audiences.

Where did the gritty games comment come from? I mentioned that Halo is shiny and generic (the second word not being too appealing). Most of those kinds of games suck anyway.

Maybe I should point out Nintendo is my only system (unless we include PC). But within the past year, from what I've been reading and seeing, Nintendo has made a lot of rather dumb mistakes in a lot of different areas (re-releases, public relations, etc). And how is gameplay constantly improving beyond babysteps? I love Nintendo still, but they've been disappointing me for a while now and the past year has just been depressing. It might be financially successful, but, to me, it's dying in the sense it isn't making the quality games it once produced only a mere console generation ago.

 

[D Moness]

Because when a company is making far more money than its competitors it is clearly dying. You're aware that since Nintendo is appealing to all audiences right? I've been with Nintendo since the SNES days and they are STILL appealing to me, I don't need gritty games or new IPs when the current IPs are colourful and fun! Nintendo may not be making any groundbreaking stories with their new games but in terms of gameplay they are constantly improving, and last I checked gameplay is what matters in a game. Nintendo still cares about all audiences, hence why they make games for all audiences.

Agrees with this. I will even go so far as saying that there are good 3rd party games out there(also a lot of shovelware but so did the ps2 and they get less bitched about that). The problem is because it doesn't use the basic brown/grey colorpallet the "hardcore" fans do not want it. Why do you want the "hardcore" fanbase anyway whatever you do they will never be happy.

edit , the only time there was a real chance of nintendo going down was the n64 era(it made much more stupid mistakes at that time)

 

[LeonLethality]

Love the article. Very well written...

From where I'm sitting, Nintendo is like a sick person. A lot of symptoms of a dying company. The source of all these symptoms is the unwillingness to change and adapt to a growing gaming community. It wants to focus attention on younger audiences and keep re-releasing franchises that have been around since the dawn of time. I'm not against keeping the franchises around if they can make the games good. I'm not against attracting a new audience to keep the next generation in gaming. What I am against is the attitude Nintendo seems to have towards the gamers that have been around since the 80's and 90's. Some even longer than that. Almost like the company stopped caring about us, assuming we all jumped shipped when something as shiny and generic as Halo came out. Pretty depressing.

Because when a company is making far more money than its competitors it is clearly dying. You're aware that since Nintendo is appealing to all audiences right? I've been with Nintendo since the SNES days and they are STILL appealing to me, I don't need gritty games or new IPs when the current IPs are colourful and fun! Nintendo may not be making any groundbreaking stories with their new games but in terms of gameplay they are constantly improving, and last I checked gameplay is what matters in a game. Nintendo still cares about all audiences, hence why they make games for all audiences.

Where did the gritty games comment come from? I mentioned that Halo is shiny and generic (the second word not being too appealing). Most of those kinds of games suck anyway.

Maybe I should point out Nintendo is my only system (unless we include PC). But within the past year, from what I've been reading and seeing, Nintendo has made a lot of rather dumb mistakes in a lot of different areas (re-releases, public relations, etc). And how is gameplay constantly improving beyond babysteps? I love Nintendo still, but they've been disappointing me for a while now and the past year has just been depressing. It might be financially successful, but, to me, it's dying in the sense it isn't making the quality games it once produced only a mere console generation ago.

Apologies, most people tend to figure gritty is the only way to have a game be mature. Guess I slipped my tongue there out of fanboy rage or something.

And I don't deny Nintendo has made some bad mistakes, I criticize them a lot too. But I don't see how a re release is a bad thing, most people beg other companies for re released (try counting how many people want a Final fantasy 7 re release) And when you look at the radical gameplay differences between say, Super Mario 64 and Galaxy, they have the core thing there, good platforming and that's hard to change, so they refine it and add some things to enhance it with each new game. Same goes for Zelda games, they have a formula down so all they need to do is improve it, and they do. And I suppose quality varying from player to player but last year they released many top quality games (to me) Super Mario Galaxy 2, Donkey Kong Country Returns, and Kirby's Epic Yarn, Pokemon HG/SS and the list goes on. I think they are constantly improving especially when you play these new games and compare them to the older ones.