noname2200 said:
While I'm with you on this one, I do think quite a few traditional gamers (mostly the snobcore) definitely "abandoned" Nintendo even before the Wii. "Nintendo is kiddy" and the like was the old charge that was levelled against Nintendo before it became a "casual sellout." And I do think the shift started with the N64, perhaps because its relative dearth of game compared to the PlayStation, and became exacerbated with the Gamecube. The problem I have with my own train of thought is that Sega was much worse than Nintendo in terms of publisher support during the Saturn and Dreamcast days, yet they seem to get a pass. In short, I'm not entirely sure why the snobcore abandoned Nintendo after the SNES, but I'm fairly certain that they did. |
Considering the sales of the Saturn and Dreamcast, I'm not sure it's fair to say they weren't abandoned on at least some level. But SEGA did what Microsoft is doing now, and that was bend over backwards to cater to the 15-25 male demo. The difference between the two is Microsoft could afford to lose billions to be the "cool" game company, SEGA couldn't. In the sense SEGA fans may even feel SEGA sacrificed themselves to please their fans, instead of just making bad business decisions.
Next, despite what a lot of people may say or claim, it seems like swords and guns are what a lot of people really want. I wrote this as a gag, but I largely feel there's truth to it. (Probably why is was such an awful gag.) The "core" gaming demographics is heavily young males, and major phallic imagery is a big selling point. Think about some of the biggest, or most anticipated titles on the HD consoles.
Killzone 2, Resistance 2, Gears of War 2, Fable 2, Devil May Cry 4, Call of Duty 4 and World at War, Bioshock, Grand Theft Auto IV, Metal Gear Solid 4, Halo 3, Fallout 3, Dead Space, Resident Evil 5, Mass Effect, Drake's Uncharted, Assassin's Creed.
All games whose gameplay have a big stake in fighting and/or killing using guns and/or swords. All things for boys wanting to play cowboys and Indians. Little Big Planet is a big exception, but it's sales are likely reflecting how much of the market is dominated by this desire for men to want to enjoy macho fantasies on some level. It's why shooters are so a big now, and graphics enhancements help heighten these fantasies. Notice how often a lot of people who diss the Wii claim Zelda and Metroid are amongst it's only good games?
Nintendo mostly won't invest anymore into making new games for that market. They feel it would cost them dearly to stay competitive in it for what they feel is a slowly shrinking market. So that's where a lot of this resentment probably comes from.
Lastly I want to say something about the section I bolded in your post. A big fad with PlayStation games at the time was the addition of FMV's to enhance the story aspects. These isolated videos marked the birth of what I call the "cinematic" gaming trend. Cinematic gaming, in my personal definition, is games that present themselves as more then a game. (Interactive movie or art) These videos usually looked nothing like the actual game, didn't affect the actual gameplay, and mostly served to bypass hardware limits of the time.
The original Metal Gear Solid accomplished the same kind of presentation without using to FMV's, putting the idea in people's minds that the actual game can look like a movie. For the people who grew up on those kinds of games, and embraced them, the HD consoles are the realization their dream games. CGI quality graphics as actual gameplay.
Nintendo's choice to stick to a system with similar power to the 6th generation is likely seen as complete refusal of service to that particular crowd.
