Author Topic: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?  (Read 59497 times)

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Offline Pittbboi

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RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #125 on: July 17, 2007, 11:49:20 AM »
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Proof: Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, Batallion Wars II, Smash Brother Brawl, all out this year. Oh yeah, there is also this little handheld, you may have heard of it, Nintendo DS, that has a similar "Blue ocean" strategy as the Wii.


And obviously you missed the part where I and several other people said we're not concerned with the games we're getting this year that WILL be great and that we knew would be great since last year's E3. We're concerned with what comes next, and why Nintendo insists on keep so quiet about that.  And for heaven's sake I wish people would stop trying to "prove" the Wii with the freaking DS.

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I'll give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt as you should to, being a Nintendo fan and all (Just assuming since you are posting on these forums).

I do give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt, if I didn't I wouldn't own a Wii period. But, and I say this for the umpteenth time, the purpose of this thread is THIS E3, and YES I was disappointed by it. Do I feel that Nintendo should have done a little more this E3? Yes, and if you take five minutes to browse the web I'm not the only one. Whole point of this thread.  

Offline Nick DiMola

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RE:Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #126 on: July 17, 2007, 11:57:47 AM »
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Originally posted by: Pittbboi
I do give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt, if I didn't I wouldn't own a Wii period. But, and I say this for the umpteenth time, the purpose of this thread is THIS E3, and YES I was disappointed by it. Do I feel that Nintendo should have done a little more this E3? Yes, and if you take five minutes to browse the web I'm not the only one. Whole point of this thread.


See the problem is you dragged this thread into new territories. We understand your position on E3, no one is refuting that, I was disappointed by E3 as well. Unfortunately your opinions on E3 really don't correspond directly to the points you brought up earlier in the thread. You made claims that, "Nintendo hasn't shown AT ALL that they're going to be prioritizing gamers after this year, but there's loads of evidence to suggest that the non-gamer market is only going to become even more of a priority." So much of this discussion is geared towards those remarks. Just to clear why we aren't discussing the point of this thread.
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Offline Ian Sane

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RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #127 on: July 17, 2007, 11:58:08 AM »
"Not to mention you must be blind Ian because the 3rd party support is vastly superior to what it was on GC, with developers shipping more resoucres towards Wii every day."

It isn't about how much but rather what it is.  I see more third party games but I see a lot of spinoffs and kids games and ports from last gen and some outright JUNK like most of what Ubisoft has made.  Show me the third party games that don't fall into those categories.  I don't see very many.  I see most third parties using the Wii as a dumping ground.  So I'd say it's still at least as bad as the Cube if not worse.  From the perspective of GOOD third party support the Wii isn't getting what it should from a sales perspective.

There's been talk about Zelda being altered to make it more appealing to non-gamers.  Why does this suggest more focus to non-gamers?  Because the opposite isn't happening.  When gamers complain about their non-games not having enough depth Nintendo doesn't address that.  The non-games are for non-gamers and Nintendo isn't making any effort to make those more appealing to gamers.  But the gamer games can get changed around for non-gamers.  They talk all the time about making the gamer games more non-gamer friendly  They want one group to like everything and don't care if the other group does.  How is that NOT favouritism?

Look at how Nintendo launched both the DS and the Wii with lineups that had they been targetted purely towards the old game audience would have been huge disasters.  How much do they care about gamers when their launch lineups are so non-gamer focused?  Take out Zelda the GAMECUBE game out of the Wii launch and you have Nintendo's weakest launch.  Gamers have been told to wait-and-see.  In other words the non-gamers are the first priority.  They're not equal priority they're FIRST.

And when Nintendo says "wait and see" why should I ever believe that when this company has blantantly lied to me so many times in the past?  They said "wait and see" about their Gamecube online plans that never existed and never did.  Nintendo has to show me NOW to get me to believe anything.  I don't trust a company that has shown in the past to lie to me and give only token efforts to that which they're not interested in (like mature games or third party support which Nintendo never made a real effort to fix because they didn't care).

Even from a business point of view the strength of non-game support is frightening.  Remember Nintendo is very profit-driven.  They've got this huge group of customers that they are pleased by games that take less effort to make.  Why shouldn't I be scared that will get all their attention?  In Japan that's what sells and it's also huge here.

I think good enough reason to be worried is that every time Nintendo opens their mouth it's "non-game this" and "non-game that" and that they designed both systems specifically to attract non-gamers.  Does anyone doubt that that's not their main focus now?  And when has Nintendo ever given a good effort to anything that isn't their main focus?

I'll believe that gamers aren't getting neglected when I see more than just sequels and I don't hear "we wanted to make this more accessible to non-gamers" being mentioned when discussing gamer games.  Or maybe if a major presentation from Nintendo happens where  non-gaming doesn't dominate the presentation.  I'd like to see Miyamoto, not Retro or HAL, work on a game for gamers without talking about non-gamers.

I really just want to trust Nintendo again.

Offline Mario

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RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #128 on: July 17, 2007, 12:04:07 PM »
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We're concerned with what comes next, and why Nintendo insists on keep so quiet about that.

They would be STUPID to hype any games too far in the distance with this massive load coming. Consumers money is to stay focused on these holiday games until their money is spent. COMMON SENSE!

Offline GoldenPhoenix

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RE:Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #129 on: July 17, 2007, 12:05:31 PM »
My proof:

So called Hardcore fan points over the years:

Complaint 1: NDS is the sucks, it is going to be a mini game system with tacked on touch controls
Result: False

Complaint 2: Nintendo named Revolution the Wii. OMG what a stupid name Nintendo is DOOMED. No one will take it seriously and it will be used with pee joke, teeheehee. Sales are going to suffer.
Result: False

Complaint 3: Nintendo never markets well and can't get noticed.
Result: False. Or is it?

Complaint 4: How DARE Nintendo focus on games like Wii sports and Wii Fitness and get mainstream publicity, they FAIL E3 just because of that. We want them now to go back to a distant 3rd in attention.
Result: Contradiction

Complaint 5: Nintendo has no chance to take this generation, the PS3 will win.
Result: False for the moment

Complaint 6: Nintendo is full of crap when they say there is a market for disgruntled or non-gamers. What idiots, not paying attention to the needs of us, oh so special, gamers while hardcore only like traditional games so in turn we aren't really hardcore because we are selective in what games we play.
Result: Look at the Wii sales numbers, enough said.

Complaint 7: Blue ocean is ruining traditional games, and NDS is using that strategy. Heck just look at all those mini game collections for almost 6 months after its launch, that MUST be an indication of things to come.
Result: False

Complaint 8: Nintendo is abandoning hardcore gamers.
Result: Three biggest franchises in Nintendo's history are getting launched within the year

Complaint 9: Yeah but but, we don't care about THOSE traditional games we only care about new IPs (which would make it a new series, so how could it be hardcore?), I mean there is no way now that SEQUELS can count as hardcore? Anyway where are all the games for 2008 what  I mean, Nintendo ALWAYS reveals alot of their big games years in advance.
Result: Most likely will have their foot stuck in their mouth again.

Complaint 10: The market will be flooded with "casual" games and it will collapse. Nintendo is DOOMED.
Result: Gee, I don't see the market collapsing yet under the humongous, stale weight of shooters and WWII games.

Complaint 11: Wii online is a failure.
Result: MOH will feature 32 player online

Overall Results: The whiney so called "hardcore" Nintendo gamers have been wrong at almost every turn, so it goes without saying that statistically they will be wrong again, yet go on making doomsday predictions never being satisfied.  
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Offline Pittbboi

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RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #130 on: July 17, 2007, 12:07:40 PM »
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See the problem is you dragged this thread into new territories. We understand your position on E3, no one is refuting that, I was disappointed by E3 as well. Unfortunately your opinions on E3 really don't correspond directly to the points you brought up earlier in the thread. You made claims that, "Nintendo hasn't shown AT ALL that they're going to be prioritizing gamers after this year, but there's loads of evidence to suggest that the non-gamer market is only going to become even more of a priority." So much of this discussion is geared towards those remarks. Just to clear why we aren't discussing the point of this thread.


Read my first post in this thread and then follow it up to now, you'll see WHY I made that comment. And anyway, I don't see how that comment ISN'T relevant to this thread. It is, after all, the REASON WHY I was disappointed by this E3, as well as me commiserating with Ian and responding to Mishiro's claim that the very idea that Nintendo won't prioritize gamers after the year is ridiculous. That's not taking this thread into "new territories". It's on topic discussion.  

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My proof:

So called Hardcore fan points over the years:

Complaint 1: NDS is the sucks, it is going to be a mini game system with tacked on touch controls
Result: False

Complaint 2: Nintendo named Revolution the Wii. OMG what a stupid name Nintendo is DOOMED. No one will take it seriously and it will be used with pee joke, teeheehee. Sales are going to suffer.
Result: False

Complaint 3: Nintendo never markets well and can't get noticed.
Result: False. Or is it?

Complaint 4: How DARE Nintendo focus on games like Wii sports and Wii Fitness and get mainstream publicity, they FAIL E3 just because of that. We want them now to go back to a distant 3rd in attention.
Result: Contradiction

Complaint 5: Nintendo has no chance to take this generation, the PS3 will win.
Result: False for the moment

Complaint 6: Nintendo is full of crap when they say there is a market for disgruntled or non-gamers. What idiots, not paying attention to the needs of us, oh so special, gamers while hardcore only like traditional games so in turn we aren't really hardcore because we are selective in what games we play.
Result: Look at the Wii sales numbers, enough said.

Complaint 7: Blue ocean is ruining traditional games, and NDS is using that strategy. Heck just look at all those mini game collections for almost 6 months after its launch, that MUST be an indication of things to come.
Result: False

Complaint 8: Nintendo is abandoning hardcore gamers.
Result: Three biggest franchises in Nintendo's history are getting launched within the year

Complaint 9: Yeah but but, we don't care about THOSE traditional games we only care about new IPs (which would make it a new series, so how could it be hardcore?), I mean there is no way now that SEQUELS can count as hardcore? Anyway where are all the games for 2008 what I mean, Nintendo ALWAYS reveals alot of their big games years in advance.
Result: Most likely will have their foot stuck in their mouth again.

Complaint 10: The market will be flooded with "casual" games and it will collapse. Nintendo is DOOMED.
Result: Gee, I don't see the market collapsing yet under the humongous, stale weight of shooters and WWII games.

Overall Results: The whiney so called "hardcore" Nintendo gamers have been wrong at almost every turn, so it goes without saying that statistically they will be wrong again, yet go on making doomsday predictions never being satisfied.



Golden, none of that really had a point and you know it. Half of it was redundant and all of it was slanted. You couldn't even give definitive results on several of those "complaints" you listed, so I really don't see what you tried to accomplish with that. Hell, if I wanted, I could come up with a list of the things "whiney" gamers have been right about--you know, things like the overall uselessness of channels, Nintendo's crappy online, lack of hard-drive support, very few games making innovative use of the wii-remote, etc. But all it would do is lead to an off-topic flame war and be just as much of a red herring as that post of your s was. Let's keep this on topic. And for heaven's sake, on topic doesn't include the DS. We're talking about the WII here

Offline GoldenPhoenix

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RE:Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #131 on: July 17, 2007, 12:13:09 PM »
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Originally posted by: Ian Sane
It isn't about how much but rather what it is.  I see more third party games but I see a lot of spinoffs and kids games and ports from last gen and some outright JUNK like most of what Ubisoft has made.  Show me the third party games that don't fall into those categories.  I don't see very many.  I see most third parties using the Wii as a dumping ground.  So I'd say it's still at least as bad as the Cube if not worse.  From the perspective of GOOD third party support the Wii isn't getting what it should from a sales perspective.


Um, so 3rd party, is terrible, yet it isn't good from a sale perspective? What the heck are you talking about? I do like how you eliminate a game like Zack and Wiki with your "kid" game thing, even though from what I heard it is a super hardcore game and is a point and click adventure which is about as hardcore as you get. See what I mean about your ridiculous backpedaling on what counts as "good"? We also have two light gun games, a new game from Ubisoft from the developers of ExciteBike 64, Wiiplay, Godzilla, and I am sure there are other exclusives coming out. In regards to the "ports" EA released a brilliant port of Godfather, and Scarface is supposed to be stellar as well with Wii controls. I know it would be easier for you to ignore ports, but the Wii has provided a fresh feel to "ports" so in turn they aren't your average port, and in turn is vastly superior to GCs ports.
 
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Offline Nick DiMola

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RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #132 on: July 17, 2007, 12:16:48 PM »
I will just have to agree to disagree with you Pittbboi because I have no intentions of arguing further. As far as I'm concerned, Nintendo has always done right by me. If it were not for them I would not have the interest in gaming that I have today. Even through the "massive failures" of the N64 and Gamecube I was totally satisfied, and I don't expect the Wii to be a problem for me either. Call me a blind follower, or an idiot or someone who can't admit Nintendo is wrong and they are screwing me, in any case, I will continue to enjoy what Nintendo offers whether it is directly tailored towards me or not. I believe life is about expanding your horizons and trying new things. If Nintendo forgets about my likes I'll try something new and try and like it the same. If Nintendo ever forgets about any of your likes, you can make whatever decision you deem necessary.
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Offline GoldenPhoenix

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RE:Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #133 on: July 17, 2007, 12:17:22 PM »
Of course you want to avoid DS, because that impales any argument you may have against Wii's strategy. Whether you want to admit it or not, Nintendo's blue ocean strategy is also on NDS, so it is a real case study in terms of what to expect. In regards to the "whiners" being right, all I need to do is direct you to Wii sales, enough said. Like I told you before Pittbboi, if you want to be fully satisfied why don't you get a PS3 it is right up your alley when it comes to your complaints.
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Offline Pittbboi

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RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #134 on: July 17, 2007, 12:26:55 PM »
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Of course you want to avoid DS, because that impales any argument you may have against Wii's strategy. Whether you want to admit it or not, Nintendo's blue ocean strategy is also on NDS, so it is a real case study in terms of what to expect.


The DS doesn't impale ANY argument I have against the Wii's strategy. First of all the Wii's "strategy" really isn't the discussion here. Secondly, the DS has several factors working for it that the Wii never will--you know, such as being an inexpensive PORTABLE gaming machine that's an impulse buy for parents wanting something to shut their kids up on the road, as well as being the successor to the MASSIVELY popular Gameboy series of handhelds, and touting unrivaled 3rd party support. Nintendo's strategy with the two platforms may be similar. But you'll NEVER be able to completely argue one by using the other for the simple fact that one is a portable and the other is a home console...not even counting Nintendo's history with both platforms.

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Like I told you before Pittbboi, if you want to be fully satisfied why don't you get a PS3 it is right up your alley when it comes to your complaints.

Because the PS3 f-ing blows. Simple as that. If anything I'd get a 360 . And that still wouldn't stop me from wanting my Wii to be the best that it could be, or expressing my concern.

Offline GoldenPhoenix

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RE:Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #135 on: July 17, 2007, 12:30:06 PM »
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Originally posted by: Pittbboi
Quote

Of course you want to avoid DS, because that impales any argument you may have against Wii's strategy. Whether you want to admit it or not, Nintendo's blue ocean strategy is also on NDS, so it is a real case study in terms of what to expect.


The DS doesn't impale ANY argument I have against the Wii's strategy. First of all the Wii's "strategy" really isn't the discussion here. Secondly, the DS has several factors working for it that the Wii never will--you know, such as being an inexpensive PORTABLE gaming machine that's an impulse buy for parents wanting something to shut their kids up on the road, as well as being the successor to the MASSIVELY popular Gameboy series of handhelds, and touting unrivaled 3rd party support. Nintendo's strategy with the two platforms may be similar. But you'll NEVER be able to completely argue one by using the other for the simple fact that one is a portable and the other is a home console...not even counting Nintendo's history with both platforms.

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Like I told you before Pittbboi, if you want to be fully satisfied why don't you get a PS3 it is right up your alley when it comes to your complaints.

Because the PS3 f-ing blows. Simple as that. If anything I'd get a 360 . And that still wouldn't stop me from wanting my Wii to be the best that it could be, or expressing my concern.


Why did you have to bring up Xbox 360? I can't disagree with you!  
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Offline Ian Sane

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RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #136 on: July 17, 2007, 12:31:38 PM »
"Yeah but but, we don't care about THOSE traditional games we only care about new IPs (which would make it a new series, so how could it be hardcore?), I mean there is no way now that SEQUELS can count as hardcore?"

No one is saying they hate sequels, just the nothing but sequels will get boring and for some probably already is.

"Gee, I don't see the market collapsing yet under the humongous, stale weight of shooters and WWII games."

Again the assumption that hardcore gamers like the same sh!t again and again.  I hate repetitive stale crap.  Both Nintendo and their diehard supporters think that a hardcore gamer just likes stale sequels.  We don't.  That's why I'm so disappointed in what Nintendo is now offering.  They did that "who are you?" BS with the Cube and for a few years went crazy with dull stale sequels.  Finally they decide to take some risks again and make new stuff and it's all targetted at a new audience.  The whole thing is so insane.  Nintendo notices that no one takes risks anymore and the same old stuff isn't selling with gamers.  So what do they do?  Continue down the same path while making new stuff for a new audience.  Why don't they try to win over the gamers that are getting bored with sequels?  Why are they giving us the very thing that they themselves complained was getting stale?  Can innovation only be done in shallow non-games?

"Hey sequels are boring gamers.  Let's target non-gamers and continue to give gamers sequels."  Huh?  I don't see why "all games should be made for everyone" is the appropriate response to "games are getting stale".  Shouldn't they be innovating overall in both non-games AND games?  Hell how are non-gamers and gaming getting stale even related at ALL?  This is something I've questioned since day one.  Yeah Nintendo is making big money but is this the solution to the problem or are they just making money from a new market while the old market still has the problem?  If the non-gamers lost interest tomorrow would the gamers care?  I don't think so because from a gamer perspective I don't see a response to the problem.  Nintendo found a problem and are now avoiding it by targeting a different group.  It's like if the NHL's response to people losing interest in hockey was to become a handball league.

Offline Ian Sane

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RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #137 on: July 17, 2007, 12:35:55 PM »
"Like I told you before Pittbboi, if you want to be fully satisfied why don't you get a PS3 it is right up your alley when it comes to your complaints."

It's most inconvenient that the generation Nintendo decides to neglect hardcore gamers is when the competition is sh!tty as hell.  Last gen would have been much better timing.

Offline Mario

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RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #138 on: July 17, 2007, 12:55:33 PM »
I completely agree with Ian, ignoring all the great fresh sequels like Mario Galaxy, and dismissing the new ideas like Wii Sports as unplayable, Wii really has no great fresh sequels or new ideas, and once this little fad ends Nintendo really wont have much support to stop them from crumbling down.

Offline Deguello

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RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #139 on: July 17, 2007, 12:57:24 PM »
Ian's off his rocker, as usual.
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Offline Kairon

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RE:Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #140 on: July 17, 2007, 01:09:06 PM »
I'll have to agree with Mr. Jack. Nintendo's pretty much always done right by me.

Maybe I've drunk too much kool-aid over the years, or maybe it's just some eery coincidence, but in my gaming tastes, my gaming philosophy, and my gaming desires, I've always been Nintendo first, gamer second.

Ian, I don't trust Nintendo because they're catering to some predefined needs that I've outlined. I trust Nintendo because they're a company that I feel contribute to my internal dialogue of what games are and where they can go. I trust Nintendo not because they cater to my needs, but instead because I can respect the fact that they care enough about what they're doing to do it the way they believe to be best.

When have I felt Nintendo betrayed me? Anytime they betrayed that honest integrity, which, of course, companies are apt to do.

1. LIES! (120% Zelda? FEH!!)

2. DAMNED LIES! (Iwata boasting of SSBB at launch when they KNEW the game wasn't even in development)

3. AND STATISTICS!!!

... actually, scratch that last one. I like their statistics. Wii market expansion FTW! Show me more juicy juicy bar graphs!
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Offline GoldenPhoenix

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RE:Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #141 on: July 17, 2007, 01:25:54 PM »
Kairon is the first hardcore/casual/non/buy anything gamer!
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RE:Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #142 on: July 17, 2007, 01:36:24 PM »
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Again the assumption that hardcore gamers like the same sh!t again and again. I hate repetitive stale crap. Both Nintendo and their diehard supporters think that a hardcore gamer just likes stale sequels.


Quote

I don't think so because from a gamer perspective I don't see a response to the problem. Nintendo found a problem and are now avoiding it by targeting a different group. It's like if the NHL's response to people losing interest in hockey was to become a handball league.


Part of the issue is that the terms 'hardcore' gaming and 'hardcore' gamers have become so bastardized that they really aren't good for the industry anymore. What's a stereotypically hardcore game? Something set during WWII? Science-fiction based FPSes? Real-time strategy games? Guess which consoles became inextricably associated with those types of games? First the XBox, and now PS3 is desperately following suit. Most 'hardcore gamers' don't think of games like Zelda necessarily as hardcore (although in the best situations they have a whole lot of respect for those games). They think of teenage boys, professional gamers, people playing games like Resistance, Halo 2...maybe if you look at PCs you get Counterstrike and HL2. What games are played for money on a professional level? XBox-type games! What games were played at WCG last year? Counterstrike, Need for Speed, Starcraft, Quake 4. These are all games that almost all people would associate more closely with the XBox than with the GameCube or the Wii. Now you have 'hardcore' gamers and self-proclaimed/wannabe 'hardcore' gamers who have bought into the general mindset that those games represent. And there are lots of true/faux 'hardcore' gamers- just look at the sales numbers of the games I mentioned before.

Now, where is all the innovation going towards when it comes to the 'hardcore game'? Better technology. Better graphics. Look at the XBox and PS3's focus on hardware, as well as Microsoft's ballyhooed new DirectX10. Why did Sony and Microsoft spend hundreds of dollars per machine on the latest hardware? Not for 'innovative experiences' or things like better AI or better environments, but because they wanted more polygons. Look at all the 'hardcore' games released recently or in the pipeline: Halo 3, Killzone 2, Gears of War, UT3...do any of those games really innovate even within their genres? Is Halo 3 bringing anything really new to the FPS genre that wasn't present in Halo 2? Do any of these games really do anything revolutionary besides produce new graphics? To a 'hardcore gamer', it's these sort of things that comprise innovation.

Yes, Nintendo does sequels. They also do gamer's innovation, on a good day. But their sort of innovation isn't the 'innovation' that hardcore gamers take kindly to.

What about Smash Bros? Is that a 'gamer's game'? It's certainly not a non-game. Although it might be slightly more intuitive than a conventional fighting game, it's definitely not something Grandma's going to pick up one day and immediately become engrossed. And yet, when it first came out, a lot of people were not willing to consider it a 'real' fighting game. They called it things like a 'fighting platformer' or other nonsense, but because there weren't 10-button combos and the only way to die was equivalent to a 'ring out' it wasn't a real fighting game. But both games in the Smash Bros series take as much skill to play well (they have as much depth) as any 'respectable' fighter. Still, Smash Bros versus...say, Halo 2 in terms of generally perceived 'hardcoreness'?

Nintendo's dilemma is as such. The 'hardcore' gaming market is already 'lost' to them. Competing on the basis of primarily hardware performance is a Faustian proposition, as MS and Sony have shown. When they do release games that innovate within their genres, people might accept them as good on their own merits, but not 'hardcore' enough to be compared directly to the true 'hardcore' pantheon. Yeah, there's a distinct Mario-Zelda-Metroid-Smash-et al 'Nintendo hardcore', but it's not exactly growing any bigger. Nintendo's not going to attract all those self-proclaimed 'hardcore' and 'hardcore' wannabes by working with them on their own terms. Where else are they going to get new customers?  
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Offline Kairon

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RE:Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #143 on: July 17, 2007, 01:50:36 PM »
Great post UERD! It really elucidated some of the conflicts at play here.

Quote

Originally posted by: GoldenPhoenix
Kairon is the first hardcore/casual/non/buy anything gamer!


Ah, but not the last!

...hmm... I've just thought of an all-encompassing label that neatly ridicules and encapsulates this! You can call me... an ALL-Gamer! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!
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Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;
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Offline UERD

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RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #144 on: July 17, 2007, 01:59:57 PM »
Oh, and before I get flamed by all the real gamers here, I just wanted to make a couple more comments.

* I am 100% in favor of Nintendo making 'real' games for the Wii and innovating. I just think it's kind of disingenuous to say that Nintendo is coldheartedly and wantonly abandoning its loyal 'hardcore' market like a mean, heartless man drop-kicking an adorable puppy out the door into a raging blizzard.

In the long term, they cannot survive by appeasing only the non-gamer market, and they know that. They can't abandon their roots. But they really couldn't have laid the foundation for the long term without looking for 'new customers' in the short term beyond the traditional gamer.

* Nintendo is not suddenly abandoning traditional game development in order to pursue non-gaming projects. Almost all of the E3 or 'non-game' announcements we've seen recently have been the fruition of plans that have openly existed since before the Wii was released- like Wii Fitness, or the sequel to Brain Age, or the Zapper, or whatever. We still haven't heard anything about Wii Music yet. Now, if it took this long to crystallize plans that have probably existed since the first versions of the Wii hardware were created (as proof-of-concept projects demonstrating the viability of the Wii concept, they would have taken first priority), it will probably be a while before their plans for 'true, innovative games' (which probably got second priority) are fully revealed.

* While it's definitely true that some 3rd parties are intentionally shafting the Wii (erhm....SQUARE ENIX...erhm), it bears note that these companies have not had that much time to retool their development teams to work on serious games for the console. I know people are cynical, but I think EA is giving it a decent shot. I mean, they're bringing their biggest franchises with controls that took at least a bit of thought, and they haven't been known for giant, immersive, cinematic epics so we can forgive them for not having those sort of games on Wii.    
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Offline BigJim

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RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #145 on: July 17, 2007, 02:04:42 PM »
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As it stands to say Nintendo is really just pushing away it's core gamer audience and we will be left out in the cold is an OPINION. Where AS OF NOW Nintendo has done nothing to validate this argument. The FACTS which GP, myself and others list are the current line up of games that we know are coming and are meant for gamers. No one knows what 2008 will hold for Wii outside of Wii Fit and Mario Kart but between Shigeru Miyamoto stating that he still enjoys making gamer games (not non-games) and Nintendo's philosophy that games don't have to be divided between non-games and gamer games (see: they can be games enjoyed by ALL such as LoZ:PH) it is safe to assume Nintendo isn't forgetting it's roots.

Nintendo hasn't come out and showcased 60 non-game titles and then just showed Mario Kart. Right now 2008 is tied for 2 in the US, we have Wii Fit and Mario Kart. So as it stands it's split 50-50. One gamer game and one non-game.

So factually speaking, there is NO HARD EVIDENCE that Nintendo is moving away from its core market. Is it expanding? Yes. Is it taking care of it's more seasoned gamers as well at the moment? Yes. So to say EVERYTHING here is based on opinion I would say that is false.


What you are doing is offering evidence to support your OPINION. Do not confuse evidence, fact, and opinion because there is also counter-evidence and counter opinion that has already been brought up.

I will spell it out again. Nintendo is not big enough to satisfy all audiences. That is evidenced by those vocally unsatisfied in just about every Nintendo forum, and by others here that even made note that Nintendo couldn't satisfy ONE audience as far back as the N64 days. What there is no evidence of is proof that they NOW have the ample resources to do it all. Their history shows otherwise.

I've not said anything about abandonment, pushing away, being left out in the cold. I'm not going to go over everybody else's posts to see if they did or not, though.

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Nintendo is ADDING to their audience. They are BUILDING upon what they have. They are EXPANDING their market. Their audience has a wider range now yes but they didn't shift away from one to the other.


Their market expansion IS changing their audience. Their demographic is changing. Therefore their audience is changing. They're not doing one without the other.

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I don't feel threatened by counter opinion, I just can't stand it when people make claims without ANY factual evidence to back it up. As it stands Nintendo is catering to both markets and with games like LoZ:PH bridging the gap between both and making games that are enjoyed by gamers and non-gamers alike while still having the game consider a game and not non-game. (God I hate all these freaking labels).


Yes, Nintendo is catering to both. But it is a perfectly valid opinion to say that they may not be catering to one or the other, or BOTH, well enough. You don't have to like or agree with those possible opinions, and coming up with evidence to support your own opinion won't make it fact. For as long as people are allowed to have opinions, then either audience (or both) are allowed to have an unsatisfied opinion, whether that meshes with yours or not. Nobody was elected to be the righteous arbiter of collective thought.

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So as it stands, Nintendo "The sky is falling all of our old ways our doomed" scenario is OPINION and "Nintendo so far is showing us a good mix of games catering to both audiences" is FACT.


"a good mix of both" IS an opinion, my friend. See previous response.

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2008 is a blank slate and just because Nintendo didn't show much for 2008 at E3 it doesn't mean they don't the games that will make us all happy in 08 in the pipeline.


It is absolutely a blank slate, but history (and even the present drought) is not in Nintendo's favor, and history is all anybody has to go on... aside from theory, hopes, and wishes. Many are (at least I am) done with promises and hope, as Nintendo broke promises and dragged people along in the past. So the proof is in the pudding, and for as long as Nintendo touts non-games and gives hardcore games passing mentions, they'll simply add fuel to the fire themselves too.

Now as for Galaxy, MP3, BWii, and Brawl that keeps getting brought up by people here, they are missing the point here again.

All of these games were supposedly going to be spread out over the course of the year. Even in the best case scenario, 4 or 5 games across 12 months would mean the Wii basically gets seasonal use. But since we don't live in a world where every hardcore game is made for every hardcore gamer, including that they were bumped and concentrated into 3 months out of the year making the other 9 months fairly stark, it is little consolation or proof that they are satisfactorily supplying an audience with what they want.

The existance of those specific titles is not the point. Quality and volume is the point. Until they and 3rd parties show up with high caliber products in regular quality and quantity, NOT ports, NOT last-gen wares, NOT licensed crap, and NOT poorly made sequels, then the hardcore lineup is going to be considered spotty by some.

Someone mentioned this was a problem as far back as N64, which is a pretty astute observation and they have a good point. If Nintendo has solved a 15 year problem, I'd love to see it. But I will indeed need to see it first to believe it.      
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Offline Infernal Monkey

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RE:Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #146 on: July 17, 2007, 02:07:12 PM »
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Originally posted by: Ian Sane
There's been talk about Zelda being altered to make it more appealing to non-gamers.  Why does this suggest more focus to non-gamers?  Because the opposite isn't happening.  When gamers complain about their non-games not having enough depth Nintendo doesn't address that.  The non-games are for non-gamers and Nintendo isn't making any effort to make those more appealing to gamers.  But the gamer games can get changed around for non-gamers.  They talk all the time about making the gamer games more non-gamer friendly  They want one group to like everything and don't care if the other group does.  How is that NOT favouritism?


What are you complaining about Ian, you're the biggest non-gamer on this forum. Well actually, a 'non-gamer' still plays video games. So I guess you're a non-non-gamer. You've been at this for years, don't you get tired of whinging about something you have no interest in?

Offline LuigiHann

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RE:Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #147 on: July 17, 2007, 02:11:57 PM »
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Because the opposite isn't happening. When gamers complain about their non-games not having enough depth Nintendo doesn't address that. The non-games are for non-gamers and Nintendo isn't making any effort to make those more appealing to gamers.


I don't feel that's the case. Third parties aren't really trying to make their non-games appeal to gamers as much, but things like Brain Age and WarioWare: Smooth Moves are filled with the same little touches and replayability that has made Nintendo great. Nintendo is trying to blur the line between gamers and non-gamers, and I do believe that they want it going both ways.  

Offline UERD

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RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #148 on: July 17, 2007, 03:11:08 PM »
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Their market expansion IS changing their audience. Their demographic is changing. Therefore their audience is changing. They're not doing one without the other.


Their audience makeup is changing because they're not capable of luring the XBox crowd away with little more than an innovative controller and Nintendo first parties. To improve Wii sales over their abysmal last-gen performance, they have to look beyond their core Nintendo hardcore audience. They can either go for the 'other gamers' or the 'nongamers'. Guess which one they chose.

This isn't a matter of 'there are 100 million people in the US wanting to play Nintendo games the same way they've been played since N64, but who haven't gotten around to buying a Nintendo unit yet'. This is a matter of 'the core audience of people willing to play games the old way is not going to be growing much more in the future, and Nintendo can't really expand its market base within that core audience'.

I think people have the impression that the fun casual games and the wide audience is a nice, but ultimately non-essential accessory to a console whose 'core assets' should be its conventional games. I wish it could be that way, but it really can't. If Wii had been an XBox 360/PS3-esque machine with oodles of power, what would have changed? The Cube was plenty powerful during its era, and it still sold pretty badly. What would have changed Nintendo's fortunes this time around? Even more power? Even better core games? It's not like GameCube lacked 'good games' and that's why people didn't buy it. Sony and Microsoft did a really good job implicitly branding Nintendo as 'age-challenged-people-friendly' (sorry, banned word), and it would have been a waste of time to fight that label. Would a console filled with Manhunt 2-esque games be the end-all of hardcore gaming? Probably not.

Sega lagged the market and eventually fell out of the console business altogether. Nintendo lagged the market and is roaring back after more than a decade of being the underdog. How many times has that happened in the history of business?

I know the casual games are bleh, and that there's a dearth of information, but they are at the very least a necessary evil, building the install base that Nintendo needs if it wants to do anything grand with the console market at all in the future.
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"Can you shoot out customizable fireballs? Then why should your Mii be able to?"
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Offline Mashiro

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RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?
« Reply #149 on: July 17, 2007, 03:43:17 PM »
@ BIgJim yeah it's my opinion that only two games were showcased for E3 from Nintendo that will be on in 2008. Certainly not a fact or anything. Certainly not.

Nintendo CLERLY doesn't have games coming out for both the non-gamer and gamer, clearly not.

You guys are right! Man I am so foolish I see the light now!

Nintendo is doing a horrible job. They need new IPs! But new IPs that don't have anything to do with including a new audience of gamers. Cause as we all know only we can enjoy games and they BETTER be made like the games of the past. Oh and their better be no sequels. No sir! Why would I want sequels to games? Especially when they may end up being some of the greatest games ever made! That'd be stupid. Nintendo sucks cause it makes sequels. What idiots!

Oh and of course Nintendo is abandoning us and the world is ending. God how could I not see this before!

BigJim you have no freaking clue what the hell factual statements are vs sheer opinion based statements. In 2008 even if Nintendo was to have say 15 "non-games" and 15 "gamer games" (of equal quality) and I said "Well they catered to both audiences evenly" would you say that is fact? Or would you say "Well that's your OPINION see even though it is technically even I mean it's still just an opinion".

Edit: And thats that for me on this discussion. I could say 2+2=4 and get "but thats your opinion" fling back in my face. Just isn't worth the time to type out anymore to people who don't understand the difference between factually based statements and sheer speculative opinion.