KungKras said:
Nintendo pushing western development is what gave us Banjo Kazooie, Donkey Kong Countrey, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Metroid Prime, etc. |
Yes, but the industry was incredibly different back then. Companies spent less money developing the games and things tended to be more about the experience rather than retina burning graphics. It was a lower risk situation overall. With the way development costs have skyrocketed and gamers have become more complaicent and fickle, going for large budget western titles isn't that viable of a plan. Kingdoms of Amalur went for a western RPG route, had a large budget and there seemed to be fairly decent hype for it.....but the game bombed, causing the development studio to shut down.
Whatever Retro is working on now will most certainly be "western" (and it is rumored to be stunning), but that doesn't mean Nintendo is going to have their studios pump out games to compete along side CoD, Uncharted, Halo, inFamous etc. That isn't where their strength lies and it's the same reason we don't see Sony make "Nintendo-style" games that much anymore. When they do, they don't advertise them hardly at all and the games don't sell as well as they'd hope. The risk is too high considering the ridiculous amount of competition there is for those types of games now.
Instead of blaming Iwata though, we have to look at NoA. Before there was Reggie, there was Howard Lincoln. The man was a tough s.o.b. who really pushed with western developers to get them on Nintendo's platforms...and he was only the Chairman of NoA. Same author as the OP: http://www.notenoughshaders.com/2013/03/14/howard-lincoln-kicking-ass-before-reggie-came-along/
Reggie is a great guy and everything, but one has to wonder what he has actually done. At E3 '04 he said, "My name is Reggie. I'm about kickin' ass, I'm about takin' names, and we're about makin' games." But since he took over in '06....what exactly has he brought to the table on the western front? Gamers had to BEG NoA to release Pandora's Tower, The Last Story, and Xenoblade Chronicles in NA. NoJ published those games in Japan, but under Reggie....there had to be a protest to even get a separate publisher.
Other than that, I really just don't know what Reggie has done for Nintendo and the industry. I'm not saying he should be fired, but it definitely bears looking into rather than Iwata, seeing as Japan is still Nintendo's bread and butter.
