Nintendo Holds Pre-Teen Slumber Party for Dragon Quest IX

[jonnosferatu]

KINGSLIME PLUSHIE

GIMMEH!

(Toning down my DWM fanboyism makes me want to comment that this is just phenomenally weird. But then the fanboyism comes back up and tells me to ask them for plushies of various other monsters that are a bit more interesting...>.>)

 

[thahat]

no one seems to have gone like this yet but
-puts on shiney glove and a fake nose-
WHOOW! /michael jacksone theme

but no seriously.
nintinedo, inventive try XD

 

[thahat]

You fools! Do you know what you've done?!? THEY'RE COMING OUT OF THE SEA!

you, my dear sir. are a GENIOUS

 

[Veldt Falsetto]

So, DQ IX is meant for 12 year old girls? Maybe that's why it didn't have the same feel as DQ VIII did for me.

DQ X is coming out on the Wii, I wonder if it too will be meant for 12 year old girls? Scary!

Yeah, certainly explains a lot about the horrible decisions made with the game and its Tag mode for the NA audience. Little girls are always clinging together, so of course they'll all have it. While us older gamers will barely run across another person with the DS, much less DQ9, much less with DQ9 in it, and even less so having DQ9 in sleep mode with them.

Face it, one of the most hardcore and oldest JRPG's has sold out to casual gamers. I wonder why I haven't sold my Wii yet? Oh yeah...Netflix.

Atleast I have Chrono Trigger on the DS.

Don't be a weirdo, it hasn't sold out at all. The adverts might make it seem a bit silly and girly but the only thing DQIX has really done is get rid of story in favour of adventure (which may I add is exactly the same as it was when DQ/DW first was released and as well as FF) you can't say 'oooooh it's all casual now, me hates it' because it isn't it's just been old-schoolified, in some peoples minds that's actually more hardcore and it's still a great quality game, if they advertised it towards manly men all the body builders would pick it up. Nintendo knew that all the DQ fans were gonna buy it, everyone in Japan did, multiplayer in JRPGs is just another way to get more people involved in the franchise oh and did I mention it has almost always been there too, old FFs had multiplayer so why should the addition of it in a DQ game make it casual.

 

[junkmanuk]

first of all, this isn't creepy, it's marketing. stop thinking that anything having to do with young girls has to do with sex.

Bravo... I agree with you entirely, it's very sad that people's first thought of an event targeted at young girls is that it's sexually motivated.

there are better ways to do it then a slumber party for 12 year olds. Which is just wierd; because you will get almost NO good publicity from it. It will just make people go "Wtf, who the hell thought that would be a good idea?". I doubt little girls will buy this because of one sponsored slumber party. I doubt the little girls at the party will even play the game after the check Nintendo gives them clears. And it certainly doesnt make me want to play the either.

There is a difference between successful advertising, and trying to get attention by pulling a dumb stunt for attention. This is a dumb stunt. This does nothing to push the product, and, as you can see from the general population here... people just think its down right creepy.

No, sorry. If you think it's creepy then YOU'RE the weird one. As a parents of an 8 year old girl I see it as intelligent marketing, the girls would enjoy it, make new friends and probably get lots of freebies in the process. I'd presume a large company like Nintendo are aware of the requirements for background checks on the staff at the event, but other than that there is absolutely no reason to see this as any more than an alternative marketing avenue.

To be honest if ANY marketing campaign targeted 12 year old girls the same idiots would cry pedophilia (Actually it's Hebephilia - but that wouldn't provoke the same frenzied response).

 

[KiruTheMant]

Good promotion strategy,strange as fuck,still good.

 

[Gamegodtre]

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It had to be posted.

seriously damn this had to take a while and bravo just bravo

on a side note who hosted this slumber party?
and was that a king slime in the background and was it a bean bag chair now thats awesome if it is

 

[Denamic]

That's so fucked up!
I mean, Dragon Quest IX is hard.
Sure, not as hard as the other DQ games, but still, it's Dragon Quest.
Give them an easier game!

 

[Get_A_Grip_]

Creeps...

No other word for it... Creeps.

 

[JoJo]

Unusual marketing stunt, but then again I suppose that was the point...

To all the people who said this was creepy, no offense but if that's the first thing you think of when you see an article about 12 year old girls having a slumber party then you might have a bit of problem...

 

[Veldt Falsetto]

So, DQ IX is meant for 12 year old girls? Maybe that's why it didn't have the same feel as DQ VIII did for me.

DQ X is coming out on the Wii, I wonder if it too will be meant for 12 year old girls? Scary!

Yeah, certainly explains a lot about the horrible decisions made with the game and its Tag mode for the NA audience. Little girls are always clinging together, so of course they'll all have it. While us older gamers will barely run across another person with the DS, much less DQ9, much less with DQ9 in it, and even less so having DQ9 in sleep mode with them.

Face it, one of the most hardcore and oldest JRPG's has sold out to casual gamers. I wonder why I haven't sold my Wii yet? Oh yeah...Netflix.

Atleast I have Chrono Trigger on the DS.

Don't be a weirdo, it hasn't sold out at all. The adverts might make it seem a bit silly and girly but the only thing DQIX has really done is get rid of story in favour of adventure (which may I add is exactly the same as it was when DQ/DW first was released and as well as FF) you can't say 'oooooh it's all casual now, me hates it' because it isn't it's just been old-schoolified, in some peoples minds that's actually more hardcore and it's still a great quality game, if they advertised it towards manly men all the body builders would pick it up. Nintendo knew that all the DQ fans were gonna buy it, everyone in Japan did, multiplayer in JRPGs is just another way to get more people involved in the franchise oh and did I mention it has almost always been there too, old FFs had multiplayer so why should the addition of it in a DQ game make it casual.

Only a weirdo would call someone else a weirdo. Old FF's may have had MP but no one ever used it, that's why they dropped it.

I'll admit I'm a weirdo, but you just called me a weirdo, so you must be one too

and yeah but that's because the multiplayer in older FF s was bad and boring, DQIX has had a lot of work put in to making a good and fun multiplayer mode, how that makes it casual and a sellout I don't know?

 

[Veldt Falsetto]

So, DQ IX is meant for 12 year old girls? Maybe that's why it didn't have the same feel as DQ VIII did for me.

DQ X is coming out on the Wii, I wonder if it too will be meant for 12 year old girls? Scary!

Yeah, certainly explains a lot about the horrible decisions made with the game and its Tag mode for the NA audience. Little girls are always clinging together, so of course they'll all have it. While us older gamers will barely run across another person with the DS, much less DQ9, much less with DQ9 in it, and even less so having DQ9 in sleep mode with them.

Face it, one of the most hardcore and oldest JRPG's has sold out to casual gamers. I wonder why I haven't sold my Wii yet? Oh yeah...Netflix.

Atleast I have Chrono Trigger on the DS.

Don't be a weirdo, it hasn't sold out at all. The adverts might make it seem a bit silly and girly but the only thing DQIX has really done is get rid of story in favour of adventure (which may I add is exactly the same as it was when DQ/DW first was released and as well as FF) you can't say 'oooooh it's all casual now, me hates it' because it isn't it's just been old-schoolified, in some peoples minds that's actually more hardcore and it's still a great quality game, if they advertised it towards manly men all the body builders would pick it up. Nintendo knew that all the DQ fans were gonna buy it, everyone in Japan did, multiplayer in JRPGs is just another way to get more people involved in the franchise oh and did I mention it has almost always been there too, old FFs had multiplayer so why should the addition of it in a DQ game make it casual.

Only a weirdo would call someone else a weirdo. Old FF's may have had MP but no one ever used it, that's why they dropped it.

I'll admit I'm a weirdo, but you just called me a weirdo, so you must be one too

and yeah but that's because the multiplayer in older FF s was bad and boring, DQIX has had a lot of work put in to making a good and fun multiplayer mode, how that makes it casual and a sellout I don't know?

LOL, I was hoping you would get the weirdo joke.

Look multiplayer for a JRPG is pointless, it has always been. JRPG's are single player experiences and for that reason they can tell a story with unique characters. DQ IX trades that in for generic characters that have no backstory at all. It's not the end of the world but it's also not the direction a JRPG fan would want to go.

Also, consider this as it was mentioned earlier in this thread. Grown men are less likely to find other grown men who own a DS and are also playing DQ IX so this feature is just not useful to us. The trade off then is just not worth it.

In comparison, the only Final Fantasy game that I would expect to appeal to 12 year old girls would be X-2 and we all know how that turned out.

I agree it isn't a great idea but I still don't see how it affects the game that much. There are plenty of JRPGs out there with a blank slate main character, there are plenty of games out there with a blank slate main character with no backstory at all, most WRPGs follow that route, a lot of FPS follow that route, I agree that I prefer a proper character but I don't think that having a blank canvas as the main party affects the audience of that game that much.

While it's true I know no people who own both a DS and DQIX, I also know no people my own age that enjoy the majority of deep games...they only have xboxes and call of duty.

Also, I expect a lot of JRPGs especially to appeal to people of all ages and genders...why? Because they have deep stories and involving characters with simplistic enough gameplay for everyone to enjoy it but with enough secrets that the hardcore can really get involved. Having said that, Dragon Quest IX is less likely to appeal to 12 year old girls than a lot of games if you see it from my point because it has less story and less involving characters and it really is just a grind-fest, regardless of you being able to dress up like a bunny rabbit and fight cute slimey creatures, I really can't see a 12 year old girl getting into it.

 

[Veldt Falsetto]

So, DQ IX is meant for 12 year old girls? Maybe that's why it didn't have the same feel as DQ VIII did for me.

DQ X is coming out on the Wii, I wonder if it too will be meant for 12 year old girls? Scary!

Yeah, certainly explains a lot about the horrible decisions made with the game and its Tag mode for the NA audience. Little girls are always clinging together, so of course they'll all have it. While us older gamers will barely run across another person with the DS, much less DQ9, much less with DQ9 in it, and even less so having DQ9 in sleep mode with them.

Face it, one of the most hardcore and oldest JRPG's has sold out to casual gamers. I wonder why I haven't sold my Wii yet? Oh yeah...Netflix.

Atleast I have Chrono Trigger on the DS.

Don't be a weirdo, it hasn't sold out at all. The adverts might make it seem a bit silly and girly but the only thing DQIX has really done is get rid of story in favour of adventure (which may I add is exactly the same as it was when DQ/DW first was released and as well as FF) you can't say 'oooooh it's all casual now, me hates it' because it isn't it's just been old-schoolified, in some peoples minds that's actually more hardcore and it's still a great quality game, if they advertised it towards manly men all the body builders would pick it up. Nintendo knew that all the DQ fans were gonna buy it, everyone in Japan did, multiplayer in JRPGs is just another way to get more people involved in the franchise oh and did I mention it has almost always been there too, old FFs had multiplayer so why should the addition of it in a DQ game make it casual.

Only a weirdo would call someone else a weirdo. Old FF's may have had MP but no one ever used it, that's why they dropped it.

I'll admit I'm a weirdo, but you just called me a weirdo, so you must be one too

and yeah but that's because the multiplayer in older FF s was bad and boring, DQIX has had a lot of work put in to making a good and fun multiplayer mode, how that makes it casual and a sellout I don't know?

LOL, I was hoping you would get the weirdo joke.

Look multiplayer for a JRPG is pointless, it has always been. JRPG's are single player experiences and for that reason they can tell a story with unique characters. DQ IX trades that in for generic characters that have no backstory at all. It's not the end of the world but it's also not the direction a JRPG fan would want to go.

Also, consider this as it was mentioned earlier in this thread. Grown men are less likely to find other grown men who own a DS and are also playing DQ IX so this feature is just not useful to us. The trade off then is just not worth it.

In comparison, the only Final Fantasy game that I would expect to appeal to 12 year old girls would be X-2 and we all know how that turned out.

I agree it isn't a great idea but I still don't see how it affects the game that much. There are plenty of JRPGs out there with a blank slate main character, there are plenty of games out there with a blank slate main character with no backstory at all, most WRPGs follow that route, a lot of FPS follow that route, I agree that I prefer a proper character but I don't think that having a blank canvas as the main party affects the audience of that game that much.

While it's true I know no people who own both a DS and DQIX, I also know no people my own age that enjoy the majority of deep games...they only have xboxes and call of duty.

Also, I expect a lot of JRPGs especially to appeal to people of all ages and genders...why? Because they have deep stories and involving characters with simplistic enough gameplay for everyone to enjoy it but with enough secrets that the hardcore can really get involved. Having said that, Dragon Quest IX is less likely to appeal to 12 year old girls than a lot of games if you see it from my point because it has less story and less involving characters and it really is just a grind-fest, regardless of you being able to dress up like a bunny rabbit and fight cute slimey creatures, I really can't see a 12 year old girl getting into it.

It isn't just the main character that is a blank slate, it's the whole party and it was done that way to accommodate multiplayer and also (apparently) to let people play "Dress up" with their characters (I think that's more a little girl thing than a boy thing).

So I think making the game more accessible did require some bad changes. I fear that the next game coming out on the Wii will keep these changes. Ya know, they were going to make the combat real time too but Japanese gamers protested. Just shows you where their priorities are and it isn't with the traditional JRPG fan.

I dunno, I think Level 5 has been doing an awesome job with VIII and IX and on the issue of the wii version...I dunno, I think they did IX the way it is because of the DS and how easy it is to do something like that on the DS. I'm sure the Wii version will be traditional, I hope its not like DQ Swords.

 

[LittleMikey]

Why is it that when I invite 6 12 year old girls around to my house the police detain me, yet when Nintendo does it nobody bats an eyelid.