No matter what you think, IGN is right.

[tuoyo]

Gnizmo said:

tuoyo said:

Sorry you are wrong.  I am the biggest Nintendo fan there is but as big a fan as I am I have been really pissed off the way some on this site have defended and excuse every move Nintendo has made.  It is not about them not caring about certain features it is about them just accepting anything Nintendo does.  Mario Kart is probably the best online experience this gen (at least certainly on the Wii) which is a big part of its ridiculously high sales but the way I have heard lack of online and other features so excused I am sure if Mario Kart did not have online people would be shouting about how it is and has always been a game for local multiplayer and it doesn't need online.

If I were wrong you wouldn't see NSMBWii shattering sales records, nor would the Wii be doing the same for the month of December. This is not hypothetical. This is a real market that quite clearly exists.

You MK example is weak though. I love the series. I have invested hundreds of hours into it. I have never taken MKWii online. I never will take MKWii online. If its online capability was magically eliminated tomorrow there would be no effect on my opinion of it. The game I play will be absolutely identical. Your values are not universal. When you get that then you can see why Nintendo is not being lazy, or doing the bare minimum. They are catering to their largest audience. Tough times for you if that doesn't if you aren't completely content with what they are offering. I am. You are welcome to be unhappy that they aren't pandering directly to you with every game, but the bottom line says the investment isn't a necessity if it doesn't fir a game well.

Well you are wrong to assume that 1. shattering records means maximum effort has been put into something or that 2. adding something could not make something a better game or cause it to have increased sales. 

1.  NSMBWii is an amazing game but a little more effort (to give other options besides two toads would have been much appreciated).  It would have required little additional effort but Nintendo took the view that adding more characters was too much of an effort and the game would sell well no matter what.  That is lazy anyway you look at it.  That is what IGN is complaining about.  I agree with them.  And if anyone other than Nintendo had done this (on PS3 or 360 - they would never put in the effort to make anything close to the quality of NSMBWii on Wii) then many who are defending Nintendo would be talking about lack of effort from third parties.

2.  Adding one feature in a game to satisfy a certain number of customers does not mean that the other bigger group of customers are not satisfied.  By that I mean let's assume most owners of MK Wii don't care about online (I think this is very wrong anyway and you are in the minority).  By taking these into account and making a quality local multiplayer game that does not mean they can't also put in the effort to make a quality online element for the smaller group that do care about online.  It is lazyness to be only able to meet the needs of one group.  If the developer is putting maximum effort then both elements of the game should be strong.  That is where the lazyness view comes in.  You feel as long as they satisfy your needs then they haven't been lazy.  I feel that the game should be absolutely complete in everyway for it not to be lazyness.  Complete depends on the nature of the game of course.  Metroid Prime is a single player exploration game so it is complete without multiplayer.  Wii Sports Resort is a multiplayer game and so for me it is not complete without online.  If it had online it may be that I would have never ever played it online.  But many would.  And so by not catering for that group that is lazyness.  That lazyness to me has come about from too much success and the decision that the increased sales online would bring does not justify the extra effort.  That is like me saying at work that I am not going to get an end of year bonus for putting maximum effort into a piece of work so I am just going to do the bare minimum required.  That is lazyness without a doubt.