| mike_intellivision said: Some thoughts after reading the articles and the postings ... 1. What do we is Sean Malstrom's credentials? We know little about him, other than his writings. Was he really sage by predicting the Wii's success ... or did he just go against the grain and get lucky? We have -- myself included -- treated his work as if he were a prophet. But what do we really know about him. And if he were that good/well-respected, would he not be running a company or at least be an analyst rather than a WordPress blogger? In other words, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but why is his so special 2. Only on the Wii could games that sell 3M or 6M (Wii Music and SMG2) be thought of as failures. Now he makes a point that the 2D Marios sell better than the 3D ones. But if you released more, would it not decrease their special quality/uniqueness/value? 3. It is hard to be "arcade" games when they have all but ceased to exist (2D fighters and ski-ball not withstanding). 4. How many M-rated games has Nintendo released? It is less than a handful. 5. Nintendo has lost money -- but so have a lot of Japanese companies this year. The earthquake event and the world economy (including the yen's value) have meant red ink for a lot of firms. Sony, Panasonic, Honda, Toyota. Google up a prominent Japanese company and chances are they have lost money -- a lot of money -- this year. 6. I close with this because I know my remarks will be ignored. This is because everyone already has their mind made up. Malstrom thinks he knows all -- and knows what Nintendo should be doing. Those who defend him see things his way. Those who refute him are equally made up in their minds. Personally, there have been some missteps by Nintendo. And there will be some in the future. But there are also will be successes. I play games for fun -- and Nintendo is fun, just as games on Sony and Microsoft platforms can be fun. Remember, many people predict Nintendo's doom because of their own personal tastes/desires, not because of reality. And many people predict their success for the same reason. Mike from Morgantown |
1. Why else do you think this relatively unkown guy is so popular? Content, content, conent. It's all about what he writes, and what he writes is usually highly insightful and resonates with a lot of people, particularly those lapsed/oldschool gamers that the industry and gaming media seems to ignore these days. Do you really think anyone would give him a second look if this guy had dumb things to say? It's not just the fact that he predicted the Wii's success or is going against the grain (although that certainly adds to his appeal when 99% of the mainstream gaming media seems to spout of the exact same talking points). It's the fact that what he writes makes a scary amount of sense to a lot of people, myself included.
2. They are not failures in and of themselves, but when you compare them to the major hits on Wii, they were certainly dissapointments, and you can bet Nintendo feels this way as well. Mario Galaxy recieved all the marketing, all the hype, all the production quality, and is the mainline Mario game for Nintendo. Yet a 2D Mario game, based on 20 year old gameplay, has outsold it 3 to 1. That to me doesn't bode too well for Mario Galaxy.
3. That's precisely the problem. WHY have these type of games ceased to exist? There is clearly a huge market for them, as most of the Wii's hit games show. Yet the industry at large continues to ignore them.
4. Not sure what this has to do with anything...
5. I'm not sure I get the dislike this one blogger seems to get on this site, especially for someone who minds his own business and doesn't even make a profit. To me anyway, he's right on the money for most of his ramblings, and seems to get the market Nintendo is going for more than Nintendo themselves these days.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of these people proclaiming Nintendo's doom. I just feel they have lost touch with their roots, and the markets that made the NES/Wii/DS so successful in the first place. And if they continue to go this route, sales will continue to decline.
