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

[TJ Spyke]

The Sims was very much a casual game up until The Sims 3. The only fun I ever had was trapping a Sim in an enclosed area and forcing them to touch a bug zapper over and over, then pissing their pants.

[Ceric]

Their is definitely a type for any of the Sim games.

[noname2200]

I can't say I agree on either game. The Sims and Animal Crossing share the same hooks, or lack thereof. In both games you make your own goals, or not, as you wish. Pay off your mortgage and build up a better pad. Or not. Gather a bunch of fossils. Or not. Becoming a fishing king. Or not. I don't even agree that The Sims ever pushed you to succeed. If it did, my friends and I certainly failed to receive the message. And judging by the tales on the internet, plenty of other folks did too!

I also disagree about the Nintendogs game. Or at least I don't think you're understanding what I'm getting at. Nintendogs was far more fleshed out than Tamagochis, sure. But Tamagochi was pretty conclusive evidence that the idea was sound. Think of it as a proof-of-concept for Nintendogs. If any executive was presented with Nintendogs and responded "virtual pets? It'll never sell!" they should probably be fired.

[Luigi Dude]

If Cliffy is upset with endless Gears of War games would he think that Nintendo the NSMB Factory is going to be much different?

I'm pretty sure Nintendo wouldn't force him to join the NSMB team.  Monolith Soft hasn't been forced to make Mario games.  Sakurai came back to make Brawl, but he was then allowed to work on anything he wanted afterward which became Kid Icarus:Uprising instead of being forced to make another Smash Bros right away.  Retro after making three FPA Metroid Prime games was allowed to make a 2D Donkey Kong platformer and has already been confirmed to be making something different for the Wii U as well.  Do I also need to mention The Wonderful 101 from Hideki Kamiya which Nintendo is funding is a completely new IP as well and has nothing to do with Mario either.

I don't see how Nintendo releasing several Mario games has anything to do with all the non-Mario games they release.  Unless Cliffy B really wants to make a Mario game, Nintendo isn't going to make him.

My friend the Wiki says Sakurai's studio Project Sora is 72% owned by Nintendo and 28% by Sora Ltd (himself?) I would say he's still very much working for Nintendo. I think its a bit unusual he went and formed a new studio with Nintendo's support. Perhaps he wanted a bit more creative independence and/or a new work space to make his games.

In the case of Sakurai his main reason for leaving Nintendo was because he didn't get along well with the management of HAL after Iwata left.  This is why Iwata had to personally ask him to eventually come back and allows him to have his own studio instead of going back to HAL.

[Kytim89]

Cliffy B does not have to neccessarily make games for Nintendo. His presence within Nintendo's sphere could send a very credible message to the industry that Nintendo is serious about catering to the hardcore. The gameing media could not turn away from Cliffy B even if he worked for Nintendo. Hell, Nintendo could put him on payroll and create a new western studio just for him to take out his creative juices on the Wii U. Overall, he would be a great addition to Nintendo's team.

[TJ Spyke]

Remember the **** that Sony and Microsoft fanboys spouted when Bayonetta 2 was announced as Wii U exclusive? I would love to see over-reactions they make if Bleszinski became employed by Nintendo since he was the creative force behind the Gears of War series.

[Kytim89]

Remember the **** that Sony and Microsoft fanboys spouted when Bayonetta 2 was announced as Wii U exclusive? I would love to see over-reactions they make if Bleszinski became employed by Nintendo since he was the creative force behind the Gears of War series.

And Nintendo gave him blank checks and his development studio to make his own exclusive hardcore titles for the Wii U.

[ThePerm]

If Cliffy is upset with endless Gears of War games would he think that Nintendo the NSMB Factory is going to be much different?

I'm pretty sure Nintendo wouldn't force him to join the NSMB team.  Monolith Soft hasn't been forced to make Mario games.  Sakurai came back to make Brawl, but he was then allowed to work on anything he wanted afterward which became Kid Icarus:Uprising instead of being forced to make another Smash Bros right away.  Retro after making three FPA Metroid Prime games was allowed to make a 2D Donkey Kong platformer and has already been confirmed to be making something different for the Wii U as well.  Do I also need to mention The Wonderful 101 from Hideki Kamiya which Nintendo is funding is a completely new IP as well and has nothing to do with Mario either.

I don't see how Nintendo releasing several Mario games has anything to do with all the non-Mario games they release.  Unless Cliffy B really wants to make a Mario game, Nintendo isn't going to make him.

My friend the Wiki says Sakurai's studio Project Sora is 72% owned by Nintendo and 28% by Sora Ltd (himself?) I would say he's still very much working for Nintendo. I think its a bit unusual he went and formed a new studio with Nintendo's support. Perhaps he wanted a bit more creative independence and/or a new work space to make his games.

In the case of Sakurai his main reason for leaving Nintendo was because he didn't get along well with the management of HAL after Iwata left.  This is why Iwata had to personally ask him to eventually come back and allows him to have his own studio instead of going back to HAL.

Thats not what Ian meant. He was implying that going from Epic to Nintendo might not be that different for him. He would end up making the same game over and over again. After all, thats what Nintendo does.

[Ian Sane]

My "NSMB Factory" line is mostly just to point out that Nintendo likes their sequels and doesn't publicly come across these days as a company known for encouraging creativity.  Even if they let Retro choose to make DKR is still looks like Retro is "stuck" doing nothing but sequels since they have been around for ten years now and have yet to make ANYTHING original.  Meanwhile Sakurai goes from SSB to another pre-existing Nintendo IP.  Cliffy B might not note that Xenoblade was original.  He might just notice all the endless sequels and get immediately turned off, regardless of what sort of dev Nintendo truly is or isn't.  My assumption as a developer would be that Nintendo gives you a lot of flexibility to choose what you work on... provided it is SOME sort of sequel.  If Retro honestly wants to go from Metroid to Donkey Kong to Mario Kart tracks without doing their own thing they are WEIRD.  I can't imagine any creative talent choosing to go that route if they had the freedom to make something completely new.

Remember the **** that Sony and Microsoft fanboys spouted when Bayonetta 2 was announced as Wii U exclusive? I would love to see over-reactions they make if Bleszinski became employed by Nintendo since he was the creative force behind the Gears of War series.

Well one game you want on a system that you don't own creates some bitching.  But multiple games influence a purchase.  The big transition from Nintendo to Playstation wasn't just because of Final Fantasy VII.  It was because almost EVERYTHING that wasn't made by Nintendo switched sides.  They'll bitch until there are enough games that make them want to buy a Wii U.

[Spak-Spang]

But honestly, that is what MOST companies do.

And, Nintendo is known for making the same franchises, but except for NSMB usually the games are quite different, and allow for developers to create some original experiences within the framework on the original game.

And NSMB is a series that is supposed to feel retro and be focused on the desire people have to play classic Mario games.  Now they are also budget titles for Nintendo which means they are going to reuse some assets to help keep the price of the game down...but also this is something ALL developers do as well...and I don't see why only Nintendo gets abuse for doing it.

[NWR_insanolord]

The issue with getting him is that he strikes me as the kind of guy who will want to be able to work on the most advanced hardware, which the Wii U won't be. This is a guy who's going to be getting offers from half the publishers in the industry, pretty much all of which will be giving him creative control. He's got to really want to work for Nintendo to choose them over somebody else.

[Shaymin]

Maybe he wants to revive Jazz Jackrabbit.

But in all seriousness, he'll probably end up making social/phone games and kill that dead.

[tendoboy1984]

The issue with getting him is that he strikes me as the kind of guy who will want to be able to work on the most advanced hardware, which the Wii U won't be. This is a guy who's going to be getting offers from half the publishers in the industry, pretty much all of which will be giving him creative control. He's got to really want to work for Nintendo to choose them over somebody else.

The man's a self-confessed Nintendo fanboy. Working for Nintendo would be a dream job for him.

[tendoboy1984]

Nintendo launched an official shop in Russia with Wii U pre-orders:
http://mir.nintendo.ru/

This is huge, since they never had an official presence before. And with free shipping across entire country which is quite a bold statement to make considering state of post service there.

Prices are comparable to European which is also a major plus since local retailers usually inflate game consoles' prices twice or even three times of it's price.

The market isn't very big though, but hey. Sony thinks it's worth a try and is very active in retail there.

Too bad i don't even live in Russia ;p

Oh and apparently there will also be a special russian edition of ND today after regular european.

Nintendo never does their own preorders or sell consoles directly. Maybe they'll expand this to the rest of the world too?

[stevey]

I would love it but it's never happening. They don't have or want pay for the infrastructure needed to pull it off decently and timely manor.

Though they should emulate it by partnering with a big name online retailer, *cough*amazon*cough*, and make it worth their while by letting them ship a few day earlier and buy back any cancelled/unsold orders....

[Tamazoid]

Nintendo launched an official shop in Russia with Wii U pre-orders:
http://mir.nintendo.ru/

This is huge, since they never had an official presence before. And with free shipping across entire country which is quite a bold statement to make considering state of post service there.

Prices are comparable to European which is also a major plus since local retailers usually inflate game consoles' prices twice or even three times of it's price.

The market isn't very big though, but hey. Sony thinks it's worth a try and is very active in retail there.

Too bad i don't even live in Russia ;p

Oh and apparently there will also be a special russian edition of ND today after regular european.

Nintendo never does their own preorders or sell consoles directly. Maybe they'll expand this to the rest of the world too?

It's probably more to do with the retail situation in Russia. NoE are probably looking for some untapped markets to expand into and this is probably the easiest way to do so. I wouldn't be surprised is they slowly do this in other countries where piracy is strong like India. In most of the other countries where Nintendo has a strong influence in they can leave the distribution to the retailers which has it's own benefits..

[azeke]

Nintendo never does their own preorders or sell consoles directly. Maybe they'll expand this to the rest of the world too?

Russia is kinda of a special case i think...

But Iwata did mention they intend to expand into Asia, so maybe they will do that in China too.

By the way, a few hours after Nintendo Direct (where Shibata specifically addressed russian audience) shop closed registration because they're were out of pre-orders. And a bit later it crashed because it couldn't cope with traffic.

Kinda of surprising that there is enough demand for this. Here Nintendo is extremely niche.

[MegaByte]

I'm not sure how much direct management NOE has in Russia... they still list an external distributor under contacts for Russia.

[azeke]

I'm not sure how much direct management NOE has in Russia... they still list an external distributor under contacts for Russia.

There is an official representative for Russia and CIS. And they were present at IgroMir biggest russian videogame expo, help a presentation and brought 3ds and wii u units.

External distributor is probably shop they partner with to do this online shop (it usually sells women's clothing from what i can tell).

It was funny how that mir.nintendo site was redirecting to kupivip after it crashed.

[MegaByte]

I suppose they do have a top-tier website (listed on the country selector), unlike say, Norway or Greece.

[Oblivion]

I know this is wrong place to be saying this, but I actually know you azeke, from a different forum. ASN?

[azeke]

If anyone cares there is a few videos from the official conference Nintendo held at russian expo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM2n1DxtPww
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXL69gqBS1U
I didn't know that both Shibata and Nintendo's George Clooney (Laurant Fischer) were there.

[Tamazoid]

Thanks for the info Azeke. It's interesting that there is demand for Nintendo consoles in markets that they have historically ignored. Perhaps they are finally going to give a serious effort in expanding to growing markets such as India and China.

[Ceric]

Though we do have to take in account with the example of India and China that its only recently that the electricity situation in those countries are starting to settle down.

[tendoboy1984]

Thanks for the info Azeke. It's interesting that there is demand for Nintendo consoles in markets that they have historically ignored. Perhaps they are finally going to give a serious effort in expanding to growing markets such as India and China.

From what I've heard, videogame systems are banned in China. Why would the Chinese government ban something that is manufactured in their country?

Maybe it would be easier for the Japanese to manufacture their own products. All the worker unrest in China isn't helping things.