Topic: Retro Studios Had a Hard Time Deciding Between Making a New Donkey Kong or Metroid Title

[ThePerm]

In another thread Ian and I were having an argument about the output Nintendo was putting out, I do agree that they need to put out more than what they are doing.

Iwata has said "give the wii u some time"

what I don't understand is how you could have been so unprepared for the generation. All we're asking that they do is have some games that look as good as ps3/xbox 360 games from 4 years ago. Changing the resolution doesn't change the fact that they look like Gamecube games. Sure they are higher resolution, but that just means they are running on multiple SD tvs. They still look like gamecube games. I'm talking ploygons, lighting, and shaders.  Granted they look servicable, but by servicable i mean bland.

now the excuse is being thrown around "we haven't been working on systems this powerful, we're behind the learning curve"

3 problems with that. 1. You could have been making games on hardware the equivelent to this 6 years ago, you didn't have to release it, you just could have had working prototypes, i bet if you go to a Gamecub generation post from myself this would be something I said. 2.You can hire people who can.  3 You can outsource engines workiers.

Now it seems to be the case that they are doing that with Smash Bros. The question is why did they decide that making a 3ds port with 4 players was better than making a sequel to Galaxy. At this time Nintendo should be trying to prove they are capable of making a competantly competative game.

I think Nintendo should start showing speculative gameplay footage again. At some point the pros of showing possible in-development games are going to outwiegh the cons of showing games that will never be released. At this point its better to show off....at least SOMETHING more substantial(even if it is all just faux hype). That could keep the stock price up and then they can spend more money and actually release those games.

[Adrock]

Now it seems to be the case that they are doing that with Smash Bros. The question is why did they decide that making a 3ds port with 4 players was better than making a sequel to Galaxy. At this time Nintendo should be trying to prove they are capable of making a competantly competative game.

If I remember correctly, Iwata planned on asking Sakurai to lead development on a Smash Bros. for 3DS or Wii U and Sakurai wanted to do both. And Nintendo isn't even developing either Smash Bros. game. Namco Bandai has some of their best people working on the games and if they're busy with Smash Bros., they aren't making games for competing hardware. Sounds like a pretty good deal for Nintendo.

[Ian Sane]

now the excuse is being thrown around "we haven't been working on systems this powerful, we're behind the learning curve"

See to me this excuse isn't acceptable because it was Nintendo's OWN CHOICE to be behind the curve.  That's like saying to your coach "well I'm out-of-shape because I've been sitting on my ass watching TV and eating potato chips."  No one forced Nintendo to be six years behind the rest of the industry or even asked for it.  It's the same with their online stuff.  "Uh we dragged out feet and didn't get to this until years after everyone else" is not an acceptable excuse with that either.  How do you sell this to anyone?  This customer doesn't give a **** what reason you have.  They just see that these guys have X and you don't.

It's especially annoying because when Nintendo decided to stay behind I DIDN'T LIKE IT.  So they're telling me to be patient with them regarding decisions they made years ago that I didn't agree with THEN?!  What is happening right now is exactly WHY I didn't agree with their decision in the first place.

[NWR_insanolord]

Nintendo can't go back in time and change those decisions, though. Sure, they put themselves in this position, but there isn't really anything they can do to magically fix things right now.

[Ian Sane]

Nintendo can't go back in time and change those decisions, though. Sure, they put themselves in this position, but there isn't really anything they can do to magically fix things right now.

So they're six years behind forever now?  Why should ANYONE give them slack on this when there are competing products that have no such issue?  This is a business and the general public isn't going to just give them a free pass for trying to sell in 2013 what everyone else was selling in 2006.  They have to do something to catch up.  I know they can't time travel but this in 2013 and you have to offer a 2013 product and if you can't, well, you're fucked.  Perm suggests hiring new people who know this stuff or outsourcing the graphics engines and that is what they effectively will have to do.  If they don't do that then the only chance I see of them catching up is if everything stays where it is for a while and Nintendo can catch up at a normal pace while the rest of the industry effectively stands still.  But then the Wii U is pretty much last gen hardware so THAT isn't going to happen either.  At best they'll catch up to is where the PS360 is now.

Right now they don't appear to even try to catch up.  They're just going at the same slow pace like this doesn't matter and they wonder why a glorified PS360 released a mere year before those systems are obsolete with games that look like they're from 2006 is not selling worth a damn.  I can tolerate a Nintendo that is trying to get their act together and isn't doing such a hot job at it but not a Nintendo that doesn't seem to care or even notice the problem.

Iwata has been saying "give us patience" since the day he was put in charge and nothing has improved.  The guy is either a liar or incompetent and either way should be out on his ass ASAP.

[MagicCow64]

My response to this line of argument is that Nintendo knew well what it was doing at every step with hardware strength. They didn't want to pay for crazy HD budgets, and they still don't. I think they have the right idea, given how fragile the industry's looking, but they've obviously taken it too far.

I like the idea of hiring out for a Mushroom Engine that can leapfrog them to a higher level than what we're seeing with 3D World. But even if they have a more robust game building environment, they'd still have to shell out for textures and whatnot. Are they feeling threatened enough to make this kind of move? I doubt it. I suspect they're waiting to see what happens with XBone and PS4. If those don't do much better than the WiiU, Nintendo will probably feel pretty good about itself. If either is a smash hit, then they might have to start rolling the dice.

The thing is, from our level, and the games media level, Nintendo looks like its in critical condition and needs to fix up its **** RIGHT NOW. But from a corporate/shareholder perspective, I don't think they're feeling nearly that kind of pressure yet. Give it a year.