Topic: Wii U - e3 is over... now what?

[Fatty The Hutt]

Reggie doesn't have any background in the gaming industry, so how is he qualified to run Nintendo's American branch? He's just a PR person

But Reggie's experience is in the pizza industry. That's a natural fit cuz, as we all know, pizza and vidya games go together like...well, like pizza and vidya games.

[Ian Sane]

Yamauchi reminds me of former Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis.  In his prime the guy was a football genius and his team was consistently one of the best in the league and won three Super Bowls.  However the last ten years or so of his life, the team was a laughing stock and were hopelessly behind the times.  Oh and he was a jerk like Yamauchi was.  Both guys just stuck around too long and failed to adapt to changes in their field.

Yamauchi's real big flop was the N64.  The NES and SNES were totally what the market wanted.  But there was a shift in the gaming industry that Yamauchi didn't adapt to.  He got the polygons thing dead-on but not the switch to CDs.  And the switch to CDs wasn't just load times, it was control.  Nintendo used to control all media for their systems but CDs are not owned by Nintendo so that level of control wasn't there.  It makes sense why Yamauchi would be resistant towards switching to a format Nintendo themselves didn't own and control, particularly when that was not how things worked with the NES and SNES and they had been very successful.  Yamauchi had a successful formula that eventually stopped working because the industry changed.

[ThePerm]

i dont blame the n64 for anything, i dont care what the general public thought about the n64 at the time of n64. I loved it and I thought it was a blast. Heres the thing, i hear of all sorts of people wanting an n64 now, and i don't hear a damn person saying they want an old playstation. CDs did not impress me then, what they offered were load times, and mostly poor FMVs. I remmeber there was a time till about late 1998-1999ish where psx games looked like ****. The first games to look decent in my eyes were MGS and Spyro

[Ian Sane]

I never really thought CDs were all that great (aside from the fact the games were cheaper), I just wanted the third party support to remain strong.  I never gave a **** about games like Crash Bandicoot.  When I think of the SNES I think mostly of games by Nintendo, Square, Konami and Capcom.  The games of those four companies define the NES and SNES for me.  By sticking with cartridges, Nintendo split that group up and if I wanted those third party games I had to get a Playstation.  The quick load times of cartridges was not worth losing the key third parties of the NES/SNES era.

Plus while most PS1 games looked like crap, N64 games didn't (at least for their time) and there is no reason a CD based N64 would have had crappy PS1 graphics.

[Evan_B]

Soooo... what you're saying is, Nintendo's lack of support by Konami, Square, and Capcom is partly why you don't buy a lot of stuff for Nintendo consoles (more specifically, the Wii), because they pushed away their support by having an underpowered console and the other usual reasons...

See, now that Nintendo has something that is in the same league with their competitors, that should be less of a problem... At least, I think so. The rumor is that we're not going to be seeing any graphics revolutions for a while.

[Ian Sane]

Nah, the Konami, Square and Capcom thing was specifically the N64 and today those companies are pretty damn different than they were back then.  I actually bought a lot of stuff for the N64 and Gamecube.

[Sarail]

It always makes me wonder what state the video game industry would be in HAD Ninty gone with CDs instead of carts for the N64.

I guarantee we would have had Final Fantasy VII on the N64, Sony's Playstation would have failed, the majority of third parties would have made games for Nintendo's system, and I bet... I bet Sega would still be in business as a console maker. I don't think Microsoft would have ever come to be... MAYBE as a partner with Sega... but not a full-fledged individual console maker.

Would be a much different industry, though. That's for sure. If only, man. If only.

[NWR_insanolord]

I doubt the PlayStation would have had any meaningful third party exclusives, and their first party stuff was awful back in those days. It might have been close, but Nintendo most likely would have won. Like you said, it would be an incredibly different industry from what we have today.

[BranDonk Kong]

I hate to make this comparison, but he's very much like the Steve Jobs of video games.

Please explain. Jobs would tear people down, probably to the point of tears. Your ideas were **** until you could not only explain to him why they weren't but why they were the best way to do things. That's an interesting way to get results. Maybe he didn't have to be such a dick about it but he got results from his employees by forcing them to prove to him and more importantly, themselves that something was worth pursuing. I don't get the same impression from Satoru Iwata. Not that his management style is bad but it's not really Jobs-like. Maybe he's closer to Tim Cook. Apparently, the atmosphere is looser at Apple post-Jobs because employees are not afraid of being verbally ass-reamed. At Nintendo, people probably weren't afraid of being in the same elevator with the company president post-Yamauchi.

Sounds like many have read the Walter Isaacson biography on Steve Jobs too.  I agree that Iwata-san doesn't come off like Steve Jobs.

If he were like Steve Jobs, we wouldn't have to worry about our press conferences being a disappointment.  Watching that Apple Keynote at WWDC yesterday was like watching megaton announcement after megaton announcement roll out in pure Jobs-esque awesomeness.  If Iwata were like Steve Jobs, he'd talk **** about the competition and go out and not just one-up them, but make sure they regret trying to copy him.  Steve Jobs drove up and stormed the Google offices when they decided to build their mobile OS (Android), and now they're about to out-Google Google with an even better version of maps for iOS6.  If Iwata were more like Steve Jobs, we wouldn't have to worry about cutting edge graphics while implementing fancy words like blue ocean strategy.  Our wallets would take a major nosedive though, like the fact that I'm considering forking out $2500 to $3000 for the new MacBook Pro, but completely worth it and completely satisfying. 

There's no way you can be serious about anything you just said. Apple didn't provide anything that could ever be considered "Megaton." Look how they are screwing their customers - the iOS6 "what you can't use" list is pathetic. A jailbroken iPhone 3GS can use Siri just fine, a jailbroken iPhone 4 can do Facetime over 3G (or even Edge, and has been able to for almost 2 years), and could handle the new Maps just fine...yet Apple won't let you use these "new" features. The iPhone 4 people bought a year ago can't do turn by turn, but a $60 piece of **** from Metro can do it with Google Maps on Android.

[Caterkiller]

An interview over at IGN say's Retro is not working on Zelda. Of course they aren't as it's too soon for that, considering they had a trailer ready to show at E3.

Also I only have BlackNMild as back up since he was actually present, but from what I gather they aren't working on Metroid either. Plus they never said anything about doing a title everyone wanted them to. So there is a real chance it is something brand new.

Come on Star Fox! Or something entirely new!

[ThePerm]

It always makes me wonder what state the video game industry would be in HAD Ninty gone with CDs instead of carts for the N64.

I guarantee we would have had Final Fantasy VII on the N64, Sony's Playstation would have failed, the majority of third parties would have made games for Nintendo's system, and I bet... I bet Sega would still be in business as a console maker. I don't think Microsoft would have ever come to be... MAYBE as a partner with Sega... but not a full-fledged individual console maker.

Would be a much different industry, though. That's for sure. If only, man. If only.

i want to download games from that alternate reality

[Chozo Ghost]

I hope its something completely new. I'm crossing my fingers its a new franchise in the FPS genre, which I feel Retro could do a fantastic job of making and this is the one genre which Nintendo needs to have some exclusive franchise in. The FPS genre is the most popular genre in the western markets, so to continue ignoring it would be a mistake. Sony has Killzone and Resistance, Microsoft has Halo and Gears of War... but so far Nintendo has nothing to counter that. Retro COULD solve that problem.

[Tamazoid]

Gears of War isn't a FPS. Retro are probably working on a FPS or some new IP of some sort. Anyway would you really trust Retro with a multiplayer FPS, didn't the multiplayer in Echoes suck?

[nickmitch]

His point is still valid. I've heard that the Echoes multiplayer was fun, if you could people. The point is that Nintendo needs a game that appeals to the "bro gamer" crowd. That kind of exclusive will attract PS360 gamers. Honestly, I think something like Gears (I prefer 3rd person because I get motion sick, but that's just me, also I really like Gears) with a Nintendo twist would be excellent. It'd be a great chance for Nintendo to showcase their online system too.

Whether or not Retro is the studio for the job is the real question. Retro has been great at everything they've done so far, but we really don't what their actual forte is. I say the studio should just keep doing whatever they want since that's been working out great for everyone. Maybe Nintendo could open or buyout another Western developer for that undertaking. It worked for MS, and it should work out even better for Nintendo.

[Chozo Ghost]

Nintendo said back at E3 2011 that the point of the system was to appeal to both Casual and Core gamers. The Wii was for casuals only, but the "U" is supposed to refer to the core gamers who felt left out. But you can't win back core gamers if you ignore the FPS genre which is the most popular genre in the western markets. In Japan it isn't popular and over there it wouldn't sell, but in North America and Europe its a big deal and you absolutely have to have it.

Gears of War isn't a FPS.

Okay, you're right. I didn't know that because I don't have an Xbox and so I've never played it. Its a third person shooter.... but on that note, Nintendo doesn't really have any third person shooters either.

[Adrock]

I guarantee we would have had Final Fantasy VII on the N64, Sony's Playstation would have failed, the majority of third parties would have made games for Nintendo's system, and I bet... I bet Sega would still be in business as a console maker. I don't think Microsoft would have ever come to be... MAYBE as a partner with Sega... but not a full-fledged individual console maker.

You can guarantee that? Going with CDs wouldn't change the fact that 3rd parties were tired of Nintendo's bullshit policies or that Yamauchi ordered N64 to be difficult to program for. Sony was a large company that offered a viable alternative. For many of the stupid things Yamauchi mandated, Sony kind of just did the opposite. I have no doubt that the landscape of here industry would have changed but I don't think going with CDs would have ensured Nintendo's dominance. Also, I think Sega still falls in this side-ways world. They were still poorly managed.

[Chozo Ghost]

You can guarantee that?

Many 3rd parties didn't like Nintendo's bullying and left for that reason, but Squaresoft wasn't one of those. Nintendo and Square got along well... remember the Super Mario RPG they teamed up to make together? Both companies had a good relationship. So the reason Square packed their bags and left was only because they wanted to do with CDs so they could pack FMV into their games. FMV wasn't an option on the cartridge based N64.

[Adrock]

You quoted the first sentence of my post. Did you even read the rest of it? It wasn't specifically about Square and Final Fantasy VII. I don't need a history lesson. FFVII contributed significantly to Playstation's success. I just don't think Racht can guarantee all the things he suggested.

On a side note: the relationship between Nintendo and Square may not have been as rosy as you're making it out to be. From what I've read, there were tensions leading up to Square's decision to develop for Playstation. I'm going to look into it because I find it interesting.

[Chozo Ghost]

You quoted the first sentence of my post. Did you even read the rest of it?

I know exactly what that feels like. Someone did the same thing to me just yesterday.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=38156.msg739753#msg739753

[Oblivion]

 

[Adrock]

You quoted the first sentence of my post. Did you even read the rest of it?

I know exactly what that feels like. Someone did the same thing to me just yesterday.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=38156.msg739753#msg739753

Nice try. The irony is that you clearly missed this:

As for the rest of your post, not surprisingly, I disagree with you.

I acknowledged that I read your entire post because I read your entire post. Seriously now...

[Sarail]

I guarantee we would have had Final Fantasy VII on the N64, Sony's Playstation would have failed, the majority of third parties would have made games for Nintendo's system, and I bet... I bet Sega would still be in business as a console maker. I don't think Microsoft would have ever come to be... MAYBE as a partner with Sega... but not a full-fledged individual console maker.

You can guarantee that? Going with CDs wouldn't change the fact that 3rd parties were tired of Nintendo's bullshit policies or that Yamauchi ordered N64 to be difficult to program for. Sony was a large company that offered a viable alternative. For many of the stupid things Yamauchi mandated, Sony kind of just did the opposite. I have no doubt that the landscape of here industry would have changed but I don't think going with CDs would have ensured Nintendo's dominance. Also, I think Sega still falls in this side-ways world. They were still poorly managed.

You have GOT to quit taking everything so literal. Man. Figures of speech, man. Figures of speech. o_O

Also, I disagree with your assumption of Sega. I think they would have been just fine. The main reason they fell apart was because of trying to fend of Sony. The PS2 destroyed any hope left in Sega. Dreamcast was doomed because of it.

[Chozo Ghost]

You quoted the first sentence of my post. Did you even read the rest of it?

I know exactly what that feels like. Someone did the same thing to me just yesterday.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=38156.msg739753#msg739753

Nice try. The irony is that you clearly missed this:

As for the rest of your post, not surprisingly, I disagree with you.

I acknowledged that I read your entire post because I read your entire post. Seriously now...

No, I didn't miss that "as for the rest of your post, I disagree" which was a cheap way of dismissing what was a really lengthy post where I thought I made some really good points.

Its no biggie though... I just thought it was funny because then you call me out on doing it today which I thought was hypocritical.

[ThePerm]

I think Sega would have stayed around had Nintendo gone with CDs. Sony wouldn't have gotten the exclusives and gone the way of the 3do. SEGA would still make boneheaded mistakes, but their market dominance wouldn't have been as threatened. Saturn actually had Tomb Raider and Resident Evil on it, Resident Evil Sales would probably be higher on Saturn then on Playstation and that would be that. Also Shenmue was originally designed for Saturn, so it would have came out there and been a hit.

[BranDonk Kong]

If Nintendo went with the original PlayStation deal, then of course SEGA would have at least survived the 2001 era of consoles, since Nintendo would have been their only competition.