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HappySqurriel on 22 April 2011
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noname2200 said:
spdk1 said:

thats my entire point, he whines to whine, and hes always at odds with himself, he wants to make himself "at odds" with the flow.  so when everyone was crying foul about nintendo losing the hardcore audience he stepped in to talk about their new startegy, then when they started to put out some true "hardcore games" as per the blue ocean startegy, he bitched about them being too hardcore.  I'm a bit outspoken about my dislike for this guy, as I feel that he is a character made up to piss people off.

Obviously I can't definitively refute the idea that the entire persona is made to troll, but let's look at it this way. Over the past six years or so he's been right about issues more often than not. Over that same timespan he's usually been against the grain, as you point out. So either he's a prick who's got a better grasp on the situation than the majority of people, or he's a fake character who's decision to go at odds with the flow has fortuitously resulted in a six-year winning streak. Either way, it seems that he's worth listening to, no? More disturbingly, if you're right, doesn't that just mean that "the flow" is completely wrong?


Personally, I'm much more inclined to believe he is a contrarian; and his success is a combination of luck, coincidence, and a little insight. Many people in many areas end up getting on a multi-year "winning streak" based on following certain ideals and then see a significant "losing streak" because they did not realize that their ideals were incorrect or simply a proxy for another more important concept.

In a general sense the most obvious example of this in recent history is the housing bubble, as people made a lot of money over many years only to lose it because they didn't realise how distorted the market became; but it can also be seen in the videogame industry as many individuals and companies bet on the success of the PS3 and PSP because they met all the ideals they associated with the success of the Playstation and PS2.

In the case of Malstrom i believe his values are a proxy for a more important consideration of creating a distinct product that is desireable. While Nintendo has achieved amazing success with 2D platformers that is primarily because few 2D platformers are made by anyone else anymore and people still desire the gameplay; and it would be equally as foolish for Nintendo to produce more 2D platformers in an evironment where all third party publishers are releasing 2D platformers as it would be for Nintendo to focus on "Mature" games in the current environment (where every third party publisher is focusing on them).