Bobbuffalo said:
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You responded as if I'm one of the haters. Which is pretty funny. I guess now I can add another label to what I've been accused of online: Nintendo fanboy, Microsoft fanboy, Sony fanboy, Sony hater, and Nintendo hater. It just gets better!
In all honesty, though, Nintendo could really be doing more when it comes to actually working with 3rd parties. Look at Sony. Remember the massive ads that they did which showcased a wide variety of 1st/2nd/3rd party games playing on the PS3? Nintendo needs to do something like that, and put the ads where the hardcore will see them. That's one thing. Another thing they could've done was actually give out Wii dev kits when developers wanted them. Instead, the vast, vast bulk of 3rd party devs were stuck using GameCube dev kits right up to the launch of the Wii. That's sad. And it means that higher-quality, Wii-optimized titles went unmade and unstarted well into the lifecycle of the Wii. At the very soonest, now is when those games, started after the launch, after Wii dev kits were finally received, would start coming out. Forcing companies to use friend codes and limiting storage space on the Wii also hurt their potential 3rd party support.
And in the eyes of many third party companies, the Wii is still considered "underpowered." It's basically a highly effecient original Xbox without a harddrive. What Nintendo should've done, was make a game like The Conduit that really pushed the system and made it shine. No, check that, they should've made several games like that. Not just Super Mario Galaxy. Zelda, Fire Emblem, Donkey Kong Barrel Whatever, Battalion Wars II, even Metroid Prime 3 were little more than GameCube games merely plunked onto the Wii. MP3 barely used the Wii's available power--mostly just on particle effects and bloom lighting. They should've worked to dispel the myth that the Wii was underpowered--they should've shown the world what it can do--and then inspire companies to do better. Instead, everyone looks at it like it's as powerful as the PS2 and that's it. Graphically, it's four times that at least. Hell, you know who would've shown that? Factor5. But Nintendo took so long getting dev kits to companies, Factor5 developed a crappy PS3 game instead. If they'd have had the Wii and Wiimote, they would have made a Wii game--maybe Lair for the Wii. Maybe it would have actually been playable--but one thing is certain, few would look at the Wii as underpowered because we all know Factor5 would've put that GPU through it paces, and it would've wow'd the crap out of people.
They need to do more than just lift restrictions on game content and letting anyone sign on to publish crap (like Conspiracy and UFO). They need to mentor these companies to greatness. They need to show them the ins and outs of the hardware.
Animal Crossing being aimed at "people who never played before" is a colorful way of saying that it's an unevolved repeat of the last Animal Crossing. Now, correct me if I'm wrong (and I'm not, on this), but isn't the Wii supposed to inspire new creativity, new games, new horizons? Isn't the whole point supposed to be that it's fresh and new? If that was your goal as a company, wouldn't it seem stupid to contradict that by putting out half-assed rehashes? How does this inspire 3rd party companies? Wouldn't it make more sense to make Animal Crossing a highly polished, deeper-than-ever, completely new experience? Then, not only would you inspire 3rd party devs to the same ends, but you'd show both gamers and Blue Ocean n00bs what kind of grandeur, shall we say, that one game can invoke. They could've set the standard with Animal Crossing, both for 3rd party devs and in the minds of BOnoobs. No, it's better they set the bar low, right? That way the n00bs will have much lower expectations of what Wii games could be, and that makes things much easier on 3rd party yahoos not interested in crafting AAA quality products.
Wii Music is selling? Who's surprised? Nobody. Blue Ocean n00bs know one thing and one thing well: If it's a game with "Wii" in the title, it's going to be chock full of n00by fun and goodness. Some of the worst Nintendo fanboys will buy it just because it's from Nintendo. From what I've read, Wii Music is every bit as shallow and crappy as the poison the media may be dishing towards it. And why should we feel it deserves any better if it requires no skill and offers no challenge? Hey, maybe they should make a pointless Guitar Hero that requires no skill and offers no challenge.
The thing is, Nintendo shouldn't expect 3rd party companies to carry all the weight. Nintendo should always be prepared to be the leader when necessary. They aren't doing that with Animal Crossing or Wii Music. They're inspiring mediocrity.
I never said Nintendo betrayed the hardcore, so it's odd that you would inject that into your response. But Nintendo made a lot of mistakes, and they're stupid ones that any other generation--they knew better than to make them. Nintendo led the way showing the power and abilities of the SNES, GameCube, and N64. With the Wii, they've been awfully lazy.
