Just found the following article on Gamepro. Nintendo emphasis on Casual/Crap games. Hardcore Nintendo games will be retired until 2009. That is a huge slap in the face to true gamers.
http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=205658
Nintendo to retire hardcore games until next year
Hardcore Wii owners hoping for more first-party games this holiday can think again.
"You have seen the extent of Nintendo's 2008 holiday lineup," said marketing chief Cammie Dunaway, in an interview with Wired published Monday.
Not this year, Link.
Dunaway was referring to the four remaining first-party titles coming to Wii later this year, all of which are widely considered family-friendly: Mario Super Sluggers (Aug 25), Wario Land: Shake It! (Sep 22), Animal Crossing: City Folk (Holiday), and Wii Music (Holiday).
So while the recently released second half lineup may have been billed as "incomplete," it seems only third-party companies will be adding new games to the list before year's end.
The good news for long-time Nintendo fans is that new Zelda, Mario, and Pikmin titles are in the works, says Nintendo. Unfortunately, said games won't be coming until at least next year, company president Reggie Fils-Aime told Game Trailers last week.
"Not this year," affirmed Fils-Aime. "We never said we were bringing anything [core-related] out this year, other than I said core gamers would be happy with (an E3 surprise), and they got Animal Crossing."
The company may have never confirmed dates, but just last month, a different Nintendo official raised expectations further by promising several more games in an interview with GamePro. "We will be announcing several new titles that core gamers will be interested in around the time of E3," said Marc Franklin, director of public relations at Nintendo. Many gamers felt that never happened, however.
In any case, it's clear the Nintendo faithful will need to revisit recent first-party favorites like Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart, or count on the growing number of compelling third-party games to get their hardcore fix this holiday.
