| outlawauron said: @ First paragraph, do you remember the origin of our conversation. It was the horrible image meant to imply that Nintendo is doing everything they can to satisfy traditional gamers and they don't want it. That's why Western sales are relevant because that's who we're talking about. That audience. I did my best to stay away from casual/hardcore, but there's definitely different audiences for Last of Us, Zelda, and Metal Gear Solid than there are for Wii Fit, Brain Age, and Dance Central. The people in the image would most certainly fall in the first group. Lastly, I'm saying Nintendo doesn't do it enough. After the outrageous success of the Wii and DS, there's no reason for Nintendo to not double or triple Sony+MS in 1st/2nd party efforts. Because Nintendo chooses to not cater towards 3rd parties with their consoles, this would seem like an absolutely necessary step! I'm not advocating a buying spree so to speak, but for Nintendo to get off their ass and increase their volume so the Wii U doesn't end up like the Cube or worse. And for Monolith Soft, it's inexcusable for that developer to only made 2 games for their console. They're talented and by doing so little, they're being misused. No reason they can't do what Naughty Dog, Epic, Bungie, etc. do each generation. |
Are you refering to vivster's image ? If that's the case, then I guess I have a different interpretation of it... I see it as representative of the mindset of a group of people that will never be satisfied with Nintendo, as long as they're still them. People that continuously move the goal posts in order to perpetuate the narrative that Nintendo is just rehash after rehash, living of nostalgia, etc. Why they do it is anyone's guess, but my personal one is that some people just aim to minimize them out of utter dislike of who they are and what they represent, while others just want them to be like Sony/Microsoft. The games portrayed were clearly not aimed at your average "hardcore" gamer that plays Call of Duty, GTA, Assasin's Creed, etc, that's for sure. Yet they were still new IPs (except for Sin and Punishment), with their own appeal among "traditional" gamers (even if we exclude Wii Sports here).
Nintendo is not trying to satisfy the stereotypical "hardcore" gamer, but they're indeed going for "traditional" gamers (see, this is why I hate these labels...). They are going for platformers fans, JRPG fans, fans of puzzle games, and in general those who enjoy gameplay-focused experiences, mostly arcade-style ones. On the other hand, the stereotypical "hardcore" gamer puts more importance on realism (and by extension, graphics), story-driven games (JRPGs do apply here, but are often "too Japanese"), M-rated content (primary violence), Hollywood-style presentation, "sandbox" games, competitive multiplayer, etc. Keep in mind that I'm fully aware of how all this are wide generalizations, but there's no way around it if we accept to use these labels... Anyway, so the question here is, should Nintendo go directly for that audience ? Should they produce their own answer to The Last of Us, Halo, Gran Turismo, and Gears of War ? My answer, as I stated before, is no.
Now, going back to your first comment here, this is where our conversation began, and when I asked you what "mass market" meant, you replied this: "There is no defined line, but I'm talking games that can do at least a million, push millions with advertising." You didn't state anything about limiting it to a specific region, just not being niche. And while you might have implied something about "traditional" gamers here through your examples, you didn't state it explicity. You just said "aimed at large audiences". If I knew you were talking about this specific audience, I would've answer things differently... Something along the lines of what I stated above.
As for your last paragraph, I think you're asking too much... Nintendo can't keep supporting 3DS, continue their "Quality of Life" project, and double what Sony and Microsoft produce combined for home consoles... That's crazy ! >.< They have already released 17 games for WiiU in 16 months (not counting Art Academy, Ninja Gaiden and New Super Luigi U), with 9 more games already announced (not counting Just Dance WiiU for Japan, again Art Academy, and the unnanounced NFC game). I really don't think there's a lot more they could do in terms of quantity, and increasing the output would at a certain point become counterproductive, as you need to give enough time and attention for each title to shine. In addition, just because they have the cash reserves to do so doesn't mean they should burn through them, they are there for a reason. I agree they can do better, but not on these terms...
Regarding Monolith Soft, they are in a different situation than your other examples, working on both handhelds and home consoles, while not being as big as them (which I would say it's not recommended to a certain point if you want to keep a stable team with a focus on quality...). Still, since they were bought by Nintendo they have been expanding, creating new IPs, working with various established IPs/developers, and everything we've heard from them has been positive. As I said before, I don't think we're going to agree here... I can only agree that NoA should have given Xenoblade their full attention, as well as criticizing how Disaster (in NA) and Soma Bringer weren't localized.
