Nintendo's biggest problem is that all of it's so called "fans" seem to think it's a matter of life and death tp sell 100 million consoles and seem to thirst for the experience of gleefully, maliciously watching a hated antagonist fail.
I don't think that's how Nintendo themselves measure success. You gotta ask yourself, "What would Miyamoto do?"
The man who made Mario, I believe, could care less whether he sells 20 million consoles or 40 million, he could care less over whether the games he's put his heart and soul into are described as homosexual or whether he's protrayed as an out-of-touch eccentric who isn't relevant to today's age.
It's the fanboys who seem to feel the need to prove themselves by demolishing an imaginary opponent. In the meantime, all Miyamoto is hoping to do is create new games that are fun, innovative, and rediscover the magic that we all associate with his best games.
We all say we love Nintendo. We all say we really want them to succeed. But do we want them to succeed according to our standards or their own? How do we measure our love? Our success? Do we love Nintendo enough to let them risk failure?
Are we parents forcing their child to become a TV pop idol, or the next Olympic skater, or the star football quarterback? Are we people who can define our satisfaction in celebrities by how often they pop up in the tabloids, or whether their divorce was messy or clean? Are we people who only measure art by how much it can sell for, who only measure a college basketball team by how many star players it can bribe to sign up, who will only stay friends with someone as long as they've got money and radiate success?
I don't think Miyamoto is any of those people. I don't think he even cares about the same things, the market, the mindshare, the perception, the money.
And I don't think I want to be any of those people too. As a Nintendo fanboy, I'm willing to let Nintendo succeed or fail on their own terms, because I believe in them enough to accept that it's not beating a game that counts, it's how much fun you had while playing.
Actually, that's it. I judge my Nintendo by the fun they can create. And they've never once failed me on that point.
~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com