Nintendo haven't sold out, some people have just moved on

[Phendrana]

Soleron said:

I'm more concerned about the loss of quality. The fact that the audience wants simple games doesn't mean they want rubbish games - even Nintendo falls into the "shovelware trap".

Super Mario Bros. was a simple game, yes, but it had fantastic level design, catchy music, a well thought out "mythos"* and most importantly a sense of progression and development - the game got harder through the levels until you felt you'd achieved something by beating it.

All of this "casuals don't want goals, they want 'free roaming'/'everyone's a winner' mechanics" like Animal Crossing or Wii Music is rubbish too. Games need to be accessible but rewarding.

Let me give you some examples of this - these games are accessible and rewarding, and sold well amongst core fans and casual players:

Pokémon Red/Blue

New Super Mario Bros.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Mario Kart Wii

*That doesn't mean story or dialogue. It means the characters fit with the levels fit with the enemies, so that the result was "predictable" within the framework of the game, i.e. it was easy to see that lava was dangerous and coins were valuable. Nothing was out of place.

 

Well, I happen to find both of those games rewarding in a different sense. Making something that sounds good or having a nice jam session in Wii Music is rewarding. Paying off your house, finding rare fish/bugs/furniture or filling up the museum (amongst many other things) in Animal Crossing is rewarding.

They still have goals, they're just goals you create rather than goals you're told to do. A game doesn't have to directly say "YOU ARE A WINNER" or "GO DO THIS TO WIN" to be rewarding. At least for me, anyways.