Editorial: Nintendon't Care About Hardcore?

[noname2200]

One of the many things that surprised me about the article was the fact that the author was willing to concede that "disruption" has played a massive role in the success of the Wii and DS, even crediting Iwata for telling the world openly about Nintendo's strategy years ago.

And yet, the author takes zero trouble to listen to anything else Nintendo has said or done since. Nintendo is making no secret about making its next games "bridge" games, to try to morph the newcomers they're bringing in into people who care about games as much as we do.

Instead of analyzing the order Nintendo's been releasing its games (Nintendogs->Brain Training->New Mario Bros.->Mario Kart, etc.) it's assuming that Nintendo will only be releasing cheaper, casual games from here on out, because it's better for their bottom line to do so. (This ignores the fact that they've released far more traditional titles on the DS and Wii than expanded market ones, but let's not bring "facts" into this discussion).

But the flaw in that assumption is blatantly clear to anyone who's been paying attention: if Nintendo really intended to milk Brain Age et. al., why are they not pumping out sequel after sequel for those games? Why are they making Zelda, Mario, Pikmin et. al. when it only takes a dozen guys a few months to make Brain Age 3? Why haven't they released Nintendogs 2, or Nintendogs Wii? And do they honestly believe that developing Wii Fit was cheap and easy?

Why, too, does the author ignore how Nintendo's strategy is already paying off on the DS, with their traditional titles being some of their best-selling since the NES era? Why are traditional titles doing better on the Wii than they did on the Gamecube, if they're not appealing to the expanded audience in addition to the traditional base? And, contrary to the article's assertion, how many traditional players didn't LOVE Phantom Hourglass, New Super Mario Bros., Mario Kart, etc.? And yet the article makes a point of ignoring reality in order to prove its point...

There's more, but I should let the rest of you talk too. I would only add before I go that point number seven is HILARIOUS. I thought the problem with Nintendo was that it didn't release new stuff, just rehashes? And hasn't Pilotwings been MIA since the launch of the N64, over a decade ago? Wasn't it closer to 20 years that Kid Icarus had its last installment? How, then, is it "new" for Nintendo to be ignoring those franchises, or any of the others that haven't been released since the NES days?

Ayayay, what a mess...