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UncleScrooge on 02 April 2011
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RolStoppable said:
Play4Fun said:

Then I guess one could argue with Wii it was, 'slap motion controls on everything and be done with it.'

Nintendo is following the same philosophy but carrying it further.

.The system is moderately powerful, not high-end.

.It has its 'hook' (3D) just like Wii.

. It is a bit expensive, but that doesn't mean they went against their philosophy. Didn't they say a few years back that they wish they had priced the Wii at $300 because it would have sold just as well? Well they are learning from that 'mistake'.

All those core gamers that want 3DS will buy one, then later on it will get a price drop and start selling even more to people who didn't want it at the $250 price.

It will still be cheaper than NGP because NGP will, I have no doubt, come out at a higher price than $250 and Nintendo can afford to drop the price by the time it releases.

The only thing that changed with their strategy is that they are trying to attract third parties more and have more  features than before.

.All those DS games that made it a force to reckon with will come.

Adding motion controls or pointer functionality requires changes to games in order to make them really good, so it requires actual work. For example, a game like Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition was of course still good, despite the approach of "add motion controls and be done with it", but the difficulty level of the game was too low with the new controls at work. Similarly, the developers of Sin & Punishment 2 originally based the difficulty of the game on it being played with a classic controller, but when they played the game using the Wii controller, they noticed that the game was way too easy. So they made the necessary changes and that's why the game turned out to be as great as it is.

On the other hand, 3D doesn't require any changes to the game's design, because it's just an additional visual effect. It's really easy to add 3D to games, unlike motion controls.

Nintendo's philosophy with the DS and Wii was to bring gaming to the masses. Either by removing unnecessary obstacles like overly complex controls or more importantly, by making games that nobody else did care to make anymore. With the 3DS, handheld gaming is made more complicated as pretty much all games will use 3D and thus be built around 3D gameplay. The games that made the DS and Wii highly popular weren't complex 3D titles, but quite the opposite.

With the 3DS there doesn't seem to be much interest at all to make such games. Instead most of Nintendo's output will be games that are similar to the ones they made in the N64 and GC era, including some of those games being ported. The games of those times are what made Nintendo less popular over the years, but for some reason they put a strong emphasis on them instead of continuing with what they started with the DS and Wii (although it has to be said that Nintendo already lost track a couple of years ago which is one of the reasons why the Wii is nosediving in sales).

I'm really interested to see the Gamecube spirit games in action. I have seen none so far. They remaked the best selling Zelda so that doesn't count. Pilotwings, Starfox and Kid Icarus are shoot 'em ups, which profit from being 3D (normal 3D, not stereoscopic 3D - just like racing games). Paper Mario is a 2.5D game. Nintendogs, Mario Kart and Animal Crossing don't need an explanation. 2D Mario has been confirmed. We'll definitely see new versions of Pokemon, Wario Ware, Advance Wars and some 2D platformers.

So to me the answer to the OP is "no." I'm a happy gamer so far

Edit: To be fair, I understand your concern. I'd give it some time, though. We'll see at e3 which direction Nintendo is going to take but so far I haven't seen many Gamecube spirit games announced.