That was one of the most content packed directs filled with one of the largest variety of Nintendo published games. The fact that many people are acting like nothing was shown, has just once again shown how badly the internet has rotted the minds of many gamers.
Over 10 years ago we would have been lucky to even see half the number of games in a single direct, and most Switch era Directs didn't have this many games. Yeah at this point I need to stop even lurking message boards because there's nothing worth reading. It's nice to see a few reasonable people try to talk sense, but they sadly get drowned out by the never ending wave of cynical assholes who'll never be satisfied, or just blatant trolls that have nothing better to do with their lives.
I'm not sure I'd attribute it to just internet brain rot. I think it's more likely a symptom of like tribalism and/or entitlement. And what I mean by tribalism is sort of like sports. You could ask a person if they are a sports fan and they may say yes but that doesn't mean they like all sports. They may like baseball and hockey but hate basketball and be disinterested in tennis or golf, for example. Likewise, people watching the Direct may say they are a gamer or even a Nintendo fan but that doesn't mean they then like every game that's made or care about every Nintendo game that the company develops. Even the sports fan who likes baseball and hockey may then only really care about a handful of teams which they root for or consider themselves a fan of. If a game is played with other teams they don't care about then they very well may not bother to watch that game because they just don't feel much interest in the outcome. Even though there could be 10 to 12 baseball games being played during the day they may likely only be interested in watching or seeing the outcome of 1 or 2 of those games and sort of write off the rest of those offerings.
Most gamers commenting probably have a couple genres or series they gravitate towards more and are bigger fans of than other genres and series out there. Thus, for them, when they are watching a Direct, they are looking for those specific games that line up with their specific taste. Let's take the scenario of a gamer that's heavily into something like Call of Duty, Destiny 2 and Overwatch. They've spent hours and hours on those games. Watching this Direct and seeing a trailer for Tamodachi Life is probably not something they are going to care about or an announcement that lines up with their gaming interest. It's going to be a tough sell to try and open up their mind into giving that game a chance or make it seem worth their time. That's where the entitlement part comes into. What was shown that interests me specifically.
And I'm guilty of that mindset too. There were times when a game or news item was being shown in the Direct that I was immediately writing off because I just did not have interest in it for whatever reason. So, then you just feel a sense of waiting for the announcement to be done with so that it moves onto the next thing in the hopes that will give the dopamine hit you are looking for. After a few times of having that waiting feeling, it begins to seem like there is more of stuff you don't care about than stuff you do and then you get comments of people saying there nothing shown. (But seriously, if you want to see a Direct with hardly anything shown, revisit the 2020 Directs. Bakugan, anyone?)
And to me, it feels like two things can be true. When watching the Direct, I acknowledged what Luigi Dude is saying here regarding the amount of games in the Direct and even the amount of third party content being shown. With this Direct and the one in April revealing the Switch 2, it's kind of wild to see this much software being announced and brought to a Nintendo console. Back when the Switch was first launching, some people were throwing out predictions it could be Nintendo's last console because how were they ever going to win third parties back to their hardware after so many had seemed to abandon their hardware. There was some merit to that question. To go from that point to where we are now with the Switch and with what things are like for Switch 2 is quite incredible.
Watching this Direct combined with the April one, I had this impression of just seeing Nintendo being to really dominate the videogame landscape or at least the non-PC side of it. The Resident Evil news at the end brought back GameCube era comparisons when Nintendo got the same type of third party releases as Sony and Microsoft. We've hashed out before how in the past 30 years, the GameCube has been looked back on a bit more fondly because of the some of the third party support it got compared to the other Nintendo home consoles during this time. Now, at this present moment in time, I feel that third party support on GameCube has been blown away with how much third party offerings have appeared on Switch and Switch 2 is already looking like it could surpass what Switch 1 was able to accomplish with what it has been able to show already.
With that said, here comes the but. But..... for myself, Resident Evil games have never interested me. Much like how I am disinterested and probably prejudiced against the vast majority of horror films made and released, that series and type of game has mostly no appeal to me. I've never even tried Resident Evil 4 after all these years despite it often being considered the best GameCube game by some critics and fans. So, on the one hand, the announcement kind of felt like the end of this long-time sort of separation by third parties of skipping Nintendo consoles with their current and new offerings to the benefit of Sony and Microsoft and yet, on the other hand, it also didn't mean much to me and sort of felt like nothing. I did think how there were a couple people I know who play RE may be anticipating the game but then it was kind of forgotten until talking about it now and seeing this post.
Overall, there weren't many game announcements that highly excited me. I'll make another post in regards to my personal highlights. In comparing the two Directs of April and September, Donkey Kong Bonanza and Mario Kart World remain at the top of my Switch 2 wishlist for when I get that console. The question of whether to get Prime 4 now for Switch or save it for Switch 2 also looms. Meanwhile, Sakurai has gotten me more hyped up for a Kirby Air Riders game than I expected to be. I'm looking forward to spending another
fireside chat Direct to hear him expound on the game. Been really thinking of taking my GC copy of Kirby Air Ride and giving it another go to really dig into what it contains after last trying to do so at least some 15 years ago. With Silksong now out also, that was another hyped game that was kept from this second Direct. Based on those first reveals compared to the first reveals we got in this Direct, I can see why this Direct may have a more mixed reaction although I also don't mind feeling like it may be easier to keep waiting a bit longer before plunking down some money and jumping into the Switch 2 ecosystem so I'm not going to complain about it that much either.
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