Nintendo Praises Independents, Devalues "Garage Developers"
- Thread starter Tom Goldman
- Start date
Hobbyists on PC give things away for free that are way more fun than a lot of the shovelware that Nintendo allowed to be published on the Wii. They should view these people as competition since they drive up expectations of quality and value.
And what's the difference? even if you have a big office and a million workers? you're still in a room with a computer. that's like saying someone's not a musician if all they have is a guitar, regardless of talent.
Nintendo, get with the times. the seal of quality isn't relevant anymore. and that's YOUR fault. Not garage hobbyists?
and I don't work in a garage, I have a laptop.
Nintendo, get with the times. the seal of quality isn't relevant anymore. and that's YOUR fault. Not garage hobbyists?
and I don't work in a garage, I have a laptop.
I gonna point out the no true Scotsman argument here and then go on to say that due to nobody defining what makes developers "garbage" developers their arguments hold no weight since they are not grounded in definable or solid facts. It's a bunch of nebulous statements about a nebulous group.
I think the market and viewpoints of games ingeneral isshifting slightly, inadvertedly allthough with such breakthroughs such as the Internet and such, Developers can keep in contact and produce games at a more reapid rate indirectly. (such as websites looking for translators, or simply sending data instead of manually shipping carts*1)
Though with the emerging of the internet, it does have its own inheirantly good sides and bad sides too, seriously the internet has given birth to alot of titles that started off as a labor of love and became dedicated games in their own right, just look at Minecraft, Runescape and Cave Story, the latter of which was singlehandedly made by a Japanese man for over four years, it's popularity sparked when he even shown a gesture of good faith of allowing people to translate it so people outside of Japan could witness the game too.
Fast forwards a few years and it's been picked up by a developer to produce for the Wii and DSiWare services...with somewhat debatable changes that either didn't add much value, or just simply annoying, like swapping the main character with another main character with only a few lines of different dialogue, compared to the boss rush, id have to say that the Boss Rush was the better adition. Also the original creator didn't have much involvement, but the good thing is that it's being remade for the 3DS by Nippon Ichi and he'll have a more prominant involvment this time.....though i wonder why they're avoiding Japan...do they think he's sold out his original product or somthing?
Back to the internet, the Apple iStore accepts productions basically ANYONE and can practically set theirown prices as they see fit, coupled with the financial crisis, it makes games alot more widespread...though like diamonds, theyre so rare in the rougth.
I think what they mean with garage and indy producers is 2 different lines of thought, a Garage producer is a single person in a faceless mass with a small chance of succeeding either with low production values or a severely limited idea that would look smart if executed properly.
Whereas Indy producers would devote months building up their games, perhaps composing their own jingles and sounds, physics and such, then finding a prospective company who will stand behind it and help act as a funnel to provide it to the customers.
1* - How did developers make games, debug them and translated them before the internet came? specialised devices? cracking open a Japanese game then copying it a hundred fold after tinkering with it? pretty curious.
Nintendo pretty much has full reign on their WiiWare/DSiWare services since they have to go through PEGI/ESRB first, then accepted by nintendo after checking file sizes, whereas Steam, the PSN network and the XBL Market places has less restrictive methods on the games they sell...it probally doesn't help Nintendo that their downloaded games are non-transferable except for a few incompatibally inclusive games that isnt allowed to be sent to a 3DS.
Though with the emerging of the internet, it does have its own inheirantly good sides and bad sides too, seriously the internet has given birth to alot of titles that started off as a labor of love and became dedicated games in their own right, just look at Minecraft, Runescape and Cave Story, the latter of which was singlehandedly made by a Japanese man for over four years, it's popularity sparked when he even shown a gesture of good faith of allowing people to translate it so people outside of Japan could witness the game too.
Fast forwards a few years and it's been picked up by a developer to produce for the Wii and DSiWare services...with somewhat debatable changes that either didn't add much value, or just simply annoying, like swapping the main character with another main character with only a few lines of different dialogue, compared to the boss rush, id have to say that the Boss Rush was the better adition. Also the original creator didn't have much involvement, but the good thing is that it's being remade for the 3DS by Nippon Ichi and he'll have a more prominant involvment this time.....though i wonder why they're avoiding Japan...do they think he's sold out his original product or somthing?
Back to the internet, the Apple iStore accepts productions basically ANYONE and can practically set theirown prices as they see fit, coupled with the financial crisis, it makes games alot more widespread...though like diamonds, theyre so rare in the rougth.
I think what they mean with garage and indy producers is 2 different lines of thought, a Garage producer is a single person in a faceless mass with a small chance of succeeding either with low production values or a severely limited idea that would look smart if executed properly.
Whereas Indy producers would devote months building up their games, perhaps composing their own jingles and sounds, physics and such, then finding a prospective company who will stand behind it and help act as a funnel to provide it to the customers.
1* - How did developers make games, debug them and translated them before the internet came? specialised devices? cracking open a Japanese game then copying it a hundred fold after tinkering with it? pretty curious.
Nintendo pretty much has full reign on their WiiWare/DSiWare services since they have to go through PEGI/ESRB first, then accepted by nintendo after checking file sizes, whereas Steam, the PSN network and the XBL Market places has less restrictive methods on the games they sell...it probally doesn't help Nintendo that their downloaded games are non-transferable except for a few incompatibally inclusive games that isnt allowed to be sent to a 3DS.
Where to do they draw the line? If it's just stuff like the majority of iPhone apps then I agree completely.
If they're disregarding great stuff like minecraft though they need to wakeup, they may of not moved forward (much) with their games but that doesn't mean everybody else wants to re-release the same games until the end of time.
The small developer is the only kind of developer willing to take a risk and do something exiciting these days, while the bloated "AAA" companies just pump out generic garbage for the most part.
If they're disregarding great stuff like minecraft though they need to wakeup, they may of not moved forward (much) with their games but that doesn't mean everybody else wants to re-release the same games until the end of time.
The small developer is the only kind of developer willing to take a risk and do something exiciting these days, while the bloated "AAA" companies just pump out generic garbage for the most part.
Nintendo's making no sense.If you become a programmer, you ether get a job in a big studio, or you get a "serious" programming job, and do games as a hobby.
The best example is Minecraft. Notch just wondered whether he could live by making games, so he made minecraft. Also some of the most inspired games are "just" hobbies.
The best example is Minecraft. Notch just wondered whether he could live by making games, so he made minecraft. Also some of the most inspired games are "just" hobbies.
I find it an utter hipocracy that the companies that shun the hobbyist developer were likely to have been formed by the very same people.
Hobbyists have always been the lifeblood of the industry.
Its only more notable now since the nature of the industry has changed.
Via the internet and social networking, Hobbyists have more widespread and direct access to customers.
Big companies like Nintendo are scared of the Hobbyists because:
1. Hobbyists generally tend to be more flexible and adaptable.
2. Hobbyists have better distribution options. They don't need to pitch, they don't need to spend time looking for companies to sponsor them. If their good enough, then they can earn enough money to sustain their own growth.
3. There are many more tools out that make Video Game Development much easier to get into. Heck if I wasn't so lazy and easily distracted, can get a PC game out to people for about $20-50 (Game Maker + free music and graphic tools + set up a webpage with a easy payment method like paypal). It would probably be much more unique and personal than anything a committee could come up with! XD
Maybe Video Games should be cheaper overall. Gaming isn't some niche hobby anymore, its a large industry akin to other entertainment medias like film and music, and its growing fast!
Hobbyists have always been the lifeblood of the industry.
Its only more notable now since the nature of the industry has changed.
Via the internet and social networking, Hobbyists have more widespread and direct access to customers.
Big companies like Nintendo are scared of the Hobbyists because:
1. Hobbyists generally tend to be more flexible and adaptable.
2. Hobbyists have better distribution options. They don't need to pitch, they don't need to spend time looking for companies to sponsor them. If their good enough, then they can earn enough money to sustain their own growth.
3. There are many more tools out that make Video Game Development much easier to get into. Heck if I wasn't so lazy and easily distracted, can get a PC game out to people for about $20-50 (Game Maker + free music and graphic tools + set up a webpage with a easy payment method like paypal). It would probably be much more unique and personal than anything a committee could come up with! XD
Maybe Video Games should be cheaper overall. Gaming isn't some niche hobby anymore, its a large industry akin to other entertainment medias like film and music, and its growing fast!
Nintendo's attitude smacks of the old-school Japanese superiority complex. They can't seem to muster a good reason for hating on garage developers, so they shovel some bullshit about near-zero value deterioration or whatever. They just don't want to come clean and admit that they sincerely believe the unwashed garage devs are unworthy of success.
Reminds me of that lead dev from The Last Guardian trying to skate around the fact that he doesn't use female leads because he thinks little girls are too weak to navigate his gameworlds.
Reminds me of that lead dev from The Last Guardian trying to skate around the fact that he doesn't use female leads because he thinks little girls are too weak to navigate his gameworlds.
lol I like Nintendo but this is exactly what I thought when I read this forum title.Sir Broccoli said: