Well I was going to say the same thing about American games. There's a billion fps retread games out there. Same with rts. There's the same version of Madden every year with new features that very few people use.
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I think the same problem will happen here in America. Americans will get tired of playing their franchises over and over especially for $50 a pop. I mean how many Tony Hawk games have their been? There were 3 GTAs this past generation. A couple Halos. And I just played too many pc fps shooters to find Halo all that exciting.
So really that's why I'm interested in the 'Cube. I haven't played too much Nintendo games.
Anyway the good point the article raises is the different markets have different tastes. I don't think Nintendo aims any of its games at the American Market. Maybe maybe Metroid Prime. But that's it.
I think Nintendo should take a shot at making a few titles aimed at the stereotypical 15-25 yr old male videogame market. Geist was sort of that game. But they didn't back it with production values. Or Nintendo should do like EA does and buy out companies that come up with the next big ftitle.
Ah well I guess every company has its own style of making games.
ONe thing American titles have that Japanese titles seem to lack is options and features. Now American titles maybe have too many features that hardly anyone uses, but your biggest fans appreciate them and even casual fans like the idea of using them even if they don't.
If you look at Nintendo titles they really lack in the options. They go completely the other direction. There's some exceptions. SSMB is a sort of exception. Maybe that's why it sold so well here.
MarioKart
D really lacks with the options. I love the game. IT's fun. But couldn't they throw in a lot more options into the game? OPtions to tweak your cars. Build your own tracks. More battle tracks. Tweaks to your cars. Handicap difficulties. .....American games want that crap in there. I'm not saying I do, but it seems like an American thing.
Another thing is Americans don't care if a game is as polished as much as the Japanese (or the Japanese developes) care. One reason I love Nintendo games is they usually are super smooth. But most Americans don't care much about this. IT's the graphics man. And for the 13-25 year old videogame market it's shock value. You want what you're not supposed to have. It's the same with music and movies.
Also Americans don't like cute. IN Japan middle aged men do cartoons or anime or manga whatever they call it. Not in America. Look at the games that sell IN America. It's sports titles and star wars and GTA/Halo stuff. One reason the PS stole Nintendo's business is because they put the darker stuff out there.
Americans also don't tend to like weird. None of the games that sell here are weird generally speaking. Macho stuff sells.
Anyway I'm talking about the core 15-25 male videogame market.
Nintendo has shown recently they can be successful selling to other parts of the market with a few of their DS titles. And games like Sims and Myst show games not aimed at that stereotypical videogamer demographic can sell extremely well.
I think Nintendo realizes the Japs are in a slump, but they don't think America will be any different. They think we'll get tired of our games too. And hence the reason for the controller and for some new types of games. Here's wishing them luck.
Topic: Interesting article (Read 5172 times)
