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Originally posted by: Ian Sane Would they with their $600 console? I think Sony is going to slip from number one this gen but I don't think it's because Nintendo is totally schooling them with the Wii. I think Sony's just screwing themselves over so bad that that third parties will have to leave because the console just won't sell well enough. Nintendo is going to pick up the slack by being the de facto number two in Japan. Now to be fair it is easier to point this out in hindsight though there have been some chinks in Sony's armour for a while. They aren't treating third parties as well anymore, dictating what games can or can't be released in North America. Someone like Nintendo who needs better third party support could win companies over with a more flexible policy (which is pretty much how they attracted SNK to the Wii).
Sony had a year lead and GTA launched just as their competition was finally entering the market. Sony won before the battle started because they became the de facto system to bring games to. Nintendo was competing for 2nd place with a competitor with limitless resources, willing to lose billions of dollars to stay in the market.
No amount of "not screwing up" would have earned them anything but 3rd in that race, not with the GC anyway.
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Regarding this traditional game stuff "traditional" is just a term commonly used to differentiate between a non-game. It has nothing to do with nostalgia titles offering the same stuff that has been played forever. That is what Nintendo considers to be a "traditional game" but that isn't what I want. I want new titles and sequels with new ideas created for people who play games as opposed to simplistic games made for people who don't play games. Rehash city is not what I want. Now I like New Super Mario Bros and I'm interested in Yoshi's Island 2 but that's because those are (or will be) great games. But they aren't very fresh and nothing but games like that would get real stale real quick. New Super Mario Bros is great but it's a nostalgia game. It's full of references to old games and formulic Mario stuff that Nintendo knew fans would like. But it doesn't break much new ground like the past Mario games did.
Problem is, the difference between "rehash" and "great game" is subjective to the point where one could call it both ways at the flip of a coin.
Castlevania is a prime example of this. The game adds numerous features which previous games did not possess. Many would hail it as groundbreaking progress in the genre while others could, also justified, declare it a rehash. Mario Kart DS featured online play and the highest number of tracks ever featured in a MK game. Great game or rehash? It's COMPLETELY subjective.
Knowing that, Ian, you will
never be happy with anything Nintendo produces unless you're willing to relinquish your quest for this legendary game which will somehow stay true to its roots while at the same time building on the original formula.
It is not Nintendo's failures which are making you unhappy. It's
your inability to enjoy their games for what they are instead of trying to tell Nintendo what they should be.
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The idea of traditional games being uncreative is placed in your heads entirely because Nintendo says they are and is making all of their "gamer games" in that style.
Conspiracy theorize much?
First of all, Nintendo didn't buy all those copies of Brain Age and Nintendogs, the consumers did. Are we to blame Nintendo for the fact that non-games sell?
Second, I see no drought of gamer games on the DS. I'd agree and be inclined to be upset with Nintendo over the non-games if it meant a severe shortage of gamer games, but it hasn't so far and with titles like LoZ:PH, FFIII, Castlevania: PoR, etc. on the horizon, I'm not exactly worried.
The Wii, to my knowledge, has ONE non-game it'll launch with and it's the same game packed in with the console. Everything else is pure gamer, from LoZ to Red Steel to THDJ. Maybe Elebits, but even that has bosses and the like which would probably steer it away from being a non-game.
All in all, I can't see your fears as being anything but ungrounded. How can you be afraid that Nintendo will forget its gamer roots when the Wii will launch almost nothing but gamer games?
In case you haven't noticed, there aren't that many non-games for the DS: Nintendogs, Brain Age/Training, Cooking Mama...and? Maybe I'm forgetting some here, but the ratio of games for gamers compared to non-gamers is still drastically weights in favor of GAMER games.
I think Nintendo acknowledges that they don't need many non-gamer games to sell the system. Nintendo clearly didn't intend to sell 10 games to 100,000 non-gamers but 1 game to 1,000,000 non gamers. Non-gamers won't buy a game once a month/week like the hardcore will.