No , it is financed by Nintendo that is true it's not made by Nintendo or any first or second party. It's a third party exclusive. I don't even think they own the rights to Bayonetta as a whole, but I believe they own the rights to publishing Bayonetta 2.

I'm not really convinced this is all that different from any previous Nintendo gen though.

Nintendo had Perfect Dark, GoldenEye, and Conker's Bad Fur Day on the N64 and financed things like Starcraft 64, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, etc. too for the older crowd.

GameCube had Eternal Darkness, NBA Courtside, 1080, Geist (ugh), Metroid Prime, Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes, aimed at older players and they grabbed Resident Evil exclusivity that gen.

Wii had Metroid Prime 3, Xenoblade, Fatal Frame IV, The Last Story, Dynamic Slash (Zengeki), Sin & Punishment 2, for the older crowd, unfortunately NOA bailed on supporting some of these projects in favor of just riding the Wii Sports/Fit fads and telling us to be happy with Animal Crossing Wii and Wii Music.

So Wii U has Bayonetta 2, Xenoblade X, and Devil's Third as kind of the "hardcore" games. Hopefully we get Fatal Frame V too.

But I'm not sure if this represents a legitimate movement towards a new direction or if its Nintendo's token 4-5 games per gen aimed at an older crowd that they've kinda maintained since the second half of the SNES days.

Yea exactly. I mean it's 2 games over THREE years (by the time Devil's Third comes out). I don't think Xenoblade really counts, it's more of a game for teens (even Bayonetta is something targeted towards teenage boys and Devil's Third to a degree).

Stereotype much?  I owned a ps3 almost all it's life and only got COD4. Never played a FIFA game yet there was lots to play. Oh the horror. On the flipside, why does the Nintendo even need variety when there's Mario and Zelda. Isn't that all ninty gamers need?

Starcraft 64 has a metascore of 80. If it was playable on N64 it should be OK on Wii U.

Starcraft could be a good game for the korean/chineese market.

Never played Starcraft 64, only played it on PC. Can't imagine playing Starcraft with an N64 controller of all things lol. Must've been brutal.

I won't necessarily call the crowd that want something different from the ninty traditional "older". One may even argue that a good proportion of the ninty crowd is the oldest of the bunch since they have a significantly nostalgia-driven business. I'd a better definition is folks who'd rather play something that doesn't have all the colors in the rainbow with accompanying disproportionately drawn characters.

Now to be fair to nintendo, not all their series are like that. Fire Emblem being a notable exception but that is not the game that gets people buying ninty consoles. It's more like  a niche title for the fringe unfortunately.

It could go to help change the overall perception that nintendo has of simply being family friendly, however by itself is obviously no where near enough as it's way more niche than even bayo.  I'd be on board though, of course I already have a wii u but you know what I mean.

Nintendo has an unshakable stigma that it's just a kiddie or family friendly gaming company and nothing more. We know this is not the case but when have facts really mattered to the low information crowd? I'm not blaming the customer, I mean I think this is a self-inflicted wound that to me started when Nintendo censored the blood in Mortal Kombat for the Super Nintendo. I remember even thinking that it was stupid at the time. Anyway, at the end of the day I just want to play good games, blood/cussing/nudity/adult themes or not. I am a gamer and I play games that are fun, not games that are perceived as cool. It's called not giving a fig.

Thanks for reading my rant.

To be honest they have that stigma and it's well earned. 95% of the software they publish does fall into the relam of a "family friendly" and even more than that usually is cartoony in nature. Nintendo wants to be the Walt Disney of gaming, it's not a coincidental thing.