| JTurner82 said: Then why bother even making Super Mario Galaxy 2. If Galaxy "failed" (which it did not in any way), then why make a sequel when it will bomb in Japan too? |
Malstrom's answer (and I suspect this one is correct as well) is that we're getting Galaxy 2 because Miyamoto wants Galaxy 2. Miyamoto himself has said that he's been pressured by the sales guys for years to make a new 2D Mario, but because he wants to make 3D ones 3D ones are what we've gotten. His repeated attempts to make the 3D games have the appeal of the 2D games, which he's admitted to trying to do,is further proof of this.
Now, don't mistake me, as someone who liked 3D Mario as much as 2D Mario (perhaps a bit more, if only because of their scarcity) I'm thrilled to see that Galaxy 2 is coming along. But it seems to me that if Galaxy really did what it was intended to do, New Super Mario Bros. Wii would never have started development. The latter's very existence is a result of Galaxy's failure (in doing its job of moving hardware, not in terms of selling poorly in absolute terms/ being crappy, as neither of those are true).
| ZenfoldorVGI said: Nintendo's userbase has changed. No longer is Mario, an admittedly core franchise, as appealing to the broader casual fanbase of the Wii. That is also partly to blame for Galaxy's poor sales, as is the alienation of core gamers, and the lack of any sort of bundle so far. I hope NSMBWii flops(It won't). It doesn't deserve the sales of a 2d Mario game, because it is very nearly a port of a great Nintendo DS game, and a very lazy attempt at it as well, judging from the graphics. The core fans, they bought Galaxy. Find someone here who didn't. They will buy Galaxy 2, and they will probably buy NSMB:Wii because that is the only bone Nintendo has seen fit to throw at us this year. That said, relative time frames, and many, many other factors contributed to Galaxy's "poor" Halo 3esque sales. Most notably core userbase, which likely isn't any bigger than the Gamecubes. All that said, I believe 1 of 2 things. either A. Nintendo enjoys making good games. They are proud of them. Thus, they keep making the 3d core titles, despite lazy ports and 2d remakes being where the short term profit is. B. They realize that games like Galaxy and even Kart, appease their core fanbase, and casualizing every franchise isn't a great idea. Next thing you know, we'll have a casualized Zelda, and I'll damn Nintendo's black soul to hell and never speak of them again. |
I disagree. New Super Mario Bros. alone is a perfect example that even in this day and age, Mario's as much of a hit with the mainstream as he ever was: 16.5 million copies later, it's not uncommon for it to move a hundred thousand units each month in each territory. If it fails to reach 20 million before all is said and done, I'll eat my hat. That's the power that Mario had in his heyday; longtime gamer, new gamer, drifting gamer or even non-gamer, everyone loves Mario. The problem is that Galaxy has failed to tap into that love; Malstrom puts it down to 2D vs. 3D, with the former being near-omnipotent and the latter being 'just a'ight.' I personally think it goes a bit deeper than that, but since Nintendo has demonstrably not yet shown that it can make the magic of the former apply to the latter 2D is what we're gonna get (for now).
I also think you're doing NSMBWii a big disservice; it seems to have done much to convince even the skeptics at E3 (and we both know there were many skeptics). It may look like the DS games, but then who plays Mario for graphics? We come to him for the fun factor, and everything (yes, everything) I've read says that NSMBWii is a fantastically fun game.
When it was first shown off, I'll admit to being underwhelmed, but after hearing nothing but good news from every nook and cranny of the internet, I'm actually looking more forward to this one than I am to Galaxy 2. Obviously neither of us have played it, but I urge you to do yourself a favor and give it a shot before dismissing it; unless there's some wide conspiracy at work amongst the enthusiast press to hype up a Nintendo title (which is as likely as O.J. admitting he did it), NSMBWii may well be one of the most fun games of this year. Shoot, this site sent nine folks to the conference, ask any of them what they thought.
| Cheebee said: The Wii is a failure. |
That's not what he said though. He's saying that the Wii is underperforming in Japan, a statement which I agree with. It came out of the gates storming for the position of Best-Selling-Console-Ever: it's currently limping along in that country.
Take a look at this chart:
Pay particularly close attention to the slopes of the three chosen consoles. The Wii's sales in the past several months are alarmingly close to flat-lining: indeed, it's taken six months to sell a miserly 400k units (six months which include Golden Week and Christmas, the two times of the year when consoles sell best!). It's considered to be a terrible month in the U.S. when the console fails to move that many units. More importantly, notice that the PS2 never looked that anemic during its first three years, and that the only times the original Playstation did was in its opening year, when the N64 was not yet released (but would crush it in every way, we were assured).
It ain't a failure, but if in your third year you're taking six months to sell what used to take less than one, you're not doing well at all. The Wii, once the top-dog, has ceded the top position (launch-aligned) to the PS2 by a wide and growing margin, and it's on track to be beaten by the original Playstation if things don't improve soon. If I were Nintendo, I'd also think a catastrophe was in the making, and I'd be scrambling to respond. We have their immediate response: come November, we'll see if it worked.
| ZenfoldorVGI said: One thing about Malstrom, he seems to be very spiteful towards all of Nintendo's critics, even to the point where he views all fans of core gaming as his enemies(he even dislikes the terms "core" and "casual"). He relishes in Nintendo's success as a company, and would love to see the utter downfall of even the notion of the core gamer. He seems to think the industry and the games it produces were much better when Nintendo ruled the world, and that the industry will one day return to its roots, without the new, petty, meanspirited, and vocal core gamer ruining it for everyone. |
I don't think you have the measure of the man at all. For starters, he is in many ways a Nintendo critic himself (if it zigs when he wants it to zag, he'll call 'em out for it. Shoot, the post we're talking about says Nintendo's being "vain" (and stupid) for making Galaxy 2! In fact, while I can't confirm this, I strongly suspect that he never owned an N64 or Gamecube himself: he may even have passed on the GBA. He's fascinated by Nintendo, yes, but considering they've only had one (ONE!!!) quarter in the past twenty-five years when they did not turn a profit, and even then only because of exchange rate fluctuations...honestly, the surprise isn't his fascination, it's that business schools throughout this country don't take a long look at how Nintendo is run.
But you're right that he despises the "hardcore." I won't deny it. In fact, I stand right there with him on that. The elitism, gall, and sheer stupidity of most of that group makes me grate my teeth, and I suspect it has the same effect on him. Mind you, it tends to taint many of his blog posts in particular, so you're right to keep an eye out for biases it leads him (and me) to.
