noname2200 said:
Alright, I'll put the kidding aside for a second and try to be as clear as I can when I'm goofing off at work (this isn't meant condescendingly, it's just an explanation for why some of my post may seem rushed and incomplete). The complaints you're hearing are, in essence, a tweaked version of the classic saying "don't throw good money after bad." You said it yourself: the market doesn't seem to value the 3D effect, and certainly not to the degree that Nintendo was expecting it to. Given that, why is the lesson Iwata has learned "we need to educate the public to value 3D more!"? In other words, why are they choosing to double down instead of listen to what the market is saying, and adjust accordingly? Instead of giving us more of the games that have sold over 20 million copies, i.e. the games that we have told Nintendo with our money that we want to play, Nintendo's decided that it will "create new experiences which have been neither enjoyed nor requested by consumers, and let them say, “This is the very thing I have been wanting to play” once they have actually tried it". It's like Toyota announcing that it's throwing out all its learned about carmaking during its history, and creating tricycles which you propel by singing into a tube and steer by blinking certain patterns into a scanner; you haven't previously enjoyed nor requested this, but I promise that you'll love it once you try it! Personally, I find it sad that the only DS mega-hit to see a sequel so far, Nintendogs Cats, is essentially a clone of the original, but that Nintendo hoped and dreamed that slapping the new 3D effect and Spotpass connection would somehow make people overlook the fact that there's not a whole lot that's new in the game. As if Spotpass and 3D alone were enough to make us care! When the eShop launches, we're going to get a free copy of Excitebike, to show us why we should pay a premium for classic games that simply have the 3D effect slapped on to them: what's the over/under on how that's going to end? You raise some objections to returning to the proven formula in lieu of putting all their eggs into the 3D basket. Yes, it's true the 3DS has already released. Yes, they've already sunk who-knows-how-many millions into developing the 3D. But this doesn't mean they have to follow the sunk cost fallacy. Third-parties did so this generation with HD, and by and large it's screwed them over. And it's not like this would be the first time Nintendo's overlooked a "key" system feature. We know from the DS and the Wii that Nintendo itself is perfectly fine with ignoring a system's "key feature" when it suits them; Mario Kart DS didn't use touch controls, New Super Mario Bros. DS didn't use touch OR 3D, and Wii games like NSMBWii, DKCR, MKWii, and SSBB either used the Wiimote's features in a perfunctory manner, or possibly not at all. So. What do we want Iwata to say? We want him to say "Here are the games you've proven to us, over the course of 25 years, that you want to play." We want him to say "We became obsessed with something you don't really value too much, and we're going to correct that. We do NOT want him to say "you don't know what you want, we do, and we shall teach you!" We want him to say the things he said when the Wii launched. He was a wise man then. He didn't want to try and ram something down our throats. |
Thanks for the post, this is definitely the most articulate write up of this sentiment I have seen so far, and I can now see why people are tying it into Iwata's statements here.
Personally I still disagree with this train of thought though. When looking at the DS's mega sellers (10 million ), it is comprised of Nintendogs, Animal Crossing, Mario Kart (all 3 are announced and probable before the end of the fiscal year for 3DS), 2D Mario (confirmed by Miyamoto), Pokemon (guaranteed), and Brain Age (again a sequel has already been talked about). So I just don't get the complaining, those franchises are all coming to 3DS, several of them are coming soon. If any of them are simply clones like Nintendogs cats, then I could see that being a problem, but I don't see any reason to assume that they will be yet.
I think a big part of the reason that these franchises turned into huge hits on DS and Wii despite many of them being around for a long time, is the marketing and communication that Nintendo successfully used on those platforms. That is why I take Iwata's comments here as very positive, because I think a large part of the 3DS's slow start is because of a failure to clearly communicate why people should be interested.
I also feel like the condemnation of the "you don't know what you want, we do, and we shall teach you!" logic is a bit off-base considering that is exactly what they did with the Wii. I think there were a lot of people who didn't know they wanted motion controls, or games like Wii Sports and Wii Fit, until Nintendo effectively communicated the appeal of those types of experiences. I don't think 3D will ever have the same level of appeal, but I think Nintendo should be trying to figure out a better way to communicate the appeal then they are doing now.
