Nintendo is doing great, no doubt about it, and I am pleased about that. But I can't help but think this success is coming at a cost. What made Nintendo great from the NES years onward wasn't that it was the market leader, but that the games were of stellar quality and that made owning Nintendo systems worthwhile even if third party support was ****. And during the NES and SNES years Nintendo coupled 3rd party support with excellent 1st party offerings.
But is this still true with the Wii? Though the Wii is the undisputed market leader, the only new franchises Nintendo had introduced is non-games like Wii Fit and Wii Music and Wii Resort. We do enjoy rehashes of core classic NIntendo games like Zelda and Mario, but where is the new hardcore stuff? Nintendo has apparently realized softcore games are cheap to develop and sell extremely well, so that's pretty much all they focus on now. Longstanding Nintendo fans are "rewarded" with rehashes of recycled franchises, but all the new stuff goes to wooing grandmas. What gives?
Remember when the Gamecube only did games and nothing else? Many people complained about that, but I thought it was the right way to go. When you try to shove a lot of capabilities into one device you lose focus and you end up excelling at nothing. This is the problem with the PS3 and 360. While they do play games, they also want to do movies and everything else at the same time. Well, Nintendo used to be above that, but look at the DSi and you see they are caving in somewhat to the same sort of behavior that led Sony to develop the PSP. The PSP is a jack of all trades, but a master of nothing. If you want a gaming device, you get a DS. If you want a multimedia device, you're better off getting an iphone or ipod. The PSP can do all those things, but it can't do them terribly well.
But the main issue is the games. Nintendo is a wealthy company now (actually they have been for many years), so why do they just horde their wealth? They should be using their wealth to build and acquire new studios and start pumping out new franchises, especially ones geared towards their hardcore fans. The 20th incarnation of Mario or Zelda can only satisfy old guard fans for so long, eventually we want something new and fresh, but where is it? I'm not a non-gamer really at all. I can play them for 15 minutes or so and then I'm done. I need more 40+ hour epics.
I think Nintendo's problem came when they became successful again. They were succesful in the 80s and 90s too, but there was something different then that I can't really put my finger on. Maybe its because many of the people who made Nintendo great back then have left the company, or have become older and had their interests change which unfortunately seems to be the case with Miyamoto. Yes, Nintendo is a huge success once again, but it seems they've sold their soul to get there. Has success made Nintendo no different than any other huge company? Are they now really no different than Sony or MS?
Topic: Is Nintendo losing touch with its roots? (Read 28495 times)
