Topic: Nintendo and Konami Announce DDR with Mario

[Caillan]

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I think MS is better example since they have had to rely on first and second party titles more and being a brand new console maker they really had to create new franchises to define the Xbox.

Microsoft isn't a particuarly good example either. As you said, they use advertising to push any game that comes their way, regardless of quality. This has little in common with creating original franchises. When Windows was newly released, it wasn't very popular either, but MS bribed the media until people thought it was. It didn't make consumers buy the OS but it made them aware of it, and developers supported it because exposure to the brand was everywhere.

Mario himself has become unmarketable to anyone but fanboys, and it's alienating other gamers. If Nintendo keep on whoring out Mario like this their userbase will only shrink because of it, even if their short-term profits increase.  

[KDR_11k]

Forgot Grand Theft Auto on that list.

Ian: Some would argue that Halo was based on the Marathon franchise. Most of them would say Halo was to Marathon as FFVII was to Final Fantasy... But yeah, I get your idea.

All I have to say is: The Mario Party is a bunch of mushroom-munching jerks who will be the first on the wall when the revolution comes. Sorry, had to do it .

[couchmonkey]

Yeah, I was being melodramatic back on Friday, but I'm making a serious point: a year ago, I'd consider buying anything and everything with Mario in it.  Now I still want real Mario games, but my interest in the spin-offs is pretty much gone.

I'm sure Nintendo's goal was to make Dance Dance Revolution and NBA Street something special to Nintendo fanboys like us.   But between Mario Party 7, NBA Street v3, Mario Baseball and Mario: DDR, what game are you going to buy?  Instead of making these games special, I feel Nintendo has made Mario less special.

Casual gamers and Sony/MS fans won't care about any of these announcements in the least.  Nintendo is not impressing any potential new GameCube owners.

Nintendo fanboys will pick up some of these games, but very few of us will buy all of them, and some of us are starting to lose interest in Mario in general.

I do think this could be a fun game, and I am glad to see Nintendo cooperating with third party developers; I'm also afraid the sales results will be less impressive than the third parties hope, and if Nintendo continues down the path of selling Mario to everyone that wants him, I don't think history will view it as a smart decision.  

[KDR_11k]

Point of the deal is: "So, I can get NBAStreet3 for the PS2 or for the Gamecube and have Mario and folks as free characters... Hm, same price...". The more people buy the GC version instead of the other versions the better it looks for Nintendo and if N would be willing to whore out their icons to other devs as well these devs would see profit in GC development.

[Bloodworth]

My take on all of this is that it's cool having the Mario characters selectable in a bunch of different games (like NBA Street), but having them as the focus of this constant string of games (Mario Tennis, Mario Party, Paper Mario, etc.) is tiring no matter how good the games are themselves. Even if it's just an artistic setting, Nintendo is relying far too much on what they did in the past and are in desperate need of new franchises if they're ever going to stand out with a public that just sees Mario and thinks "been there, done that".  

[Shift Key]

I hope they throw in the theme from the Super Mario Bros TV show just so I can "Do the Mario" and look like a total fool!

[Hostile Creation]

Oh damn, if they do that I might have to buy it.

[SgtShiversBen]

I think the hardest one would have to be the boss song from Super Mario 2.  That would be INTENSE like a cow eating a wolf.  That, or the Isle Del Fino song.  Just hearing that come out on SMDS is great.