Well, everyone has their own point of view. Unlike the OP, i have had the complete opposite reaction to Nintendo.
I completely stopped gaming for many years. I got really sick of having to fine tune my character for 3 hours before being able to start a game, how graphics trumped game play and how every good game seemed identical after a while or a slight update of a previously released game.
I love that Nintendo tries to find depth in a game without having to resort to violence and bloodshed. I love how other companies are now also trying to find out how to make games fun, rather than a tedious exercise of button pushing, and how most fail to do so. But every now and then one gets it right.
I love it that when Nintendo creates a hardcore game, it looks like a Pixar movie and can be enjoyed by both kids and parents. Of the top 50 games of all time, only a handful are violent and yet most offer quite some depth, a combination most publishers don't seem to get.
I also love it that all those traditional gaming fanboys, who for years have been influencing the direction of gaming, are all of a sudden being ignored. For years, they have pushed through their own agendas through message boards etc, whereby gaming has become a really niche market. Nowadays, message boards haven't changed, traditional gamers still rant online, but now some of the biggest selling games in the world are barely discussed online. Games that gamers aren't demanding, and sometimes even rejecting are selling like crazy.
For the first time, traditional gamers are having to face the fact that for years, the entire population has been forced to play the games these gamers wanted. For once, now publishers are trying to listen to the demands of the mass population, not just a small group. Also games now have to be fun, a small detail that had diminished in importance over the last few years.
I attribute Nintendo for all that.
Question to the OP, how did you stay a Nintendo Fanboy during the GC days? As far as i can tell, the Wii has an improved remake of just about every good GC game. If the DS and the Wii are making you go against Nintendo, I don't understand how you ever could have been a fan of Nintendo to start with. As far as i can tell, all Nintendo is doing is reenforcing the basic principles that made them a huge player in the gaming industry to start with.
Member of the Pikmin Fan Club
