| RolStoppable said: The bolded shows that I never implied what you talk about in the fourth paragraph. This isn't the first time in this thread that you are trying to misrepresent my position. As for some of the Nintendo games you mentioned, yes, they had competitors emerge (Nintendogs and Brain Training). But Wii Sports and Wii Fit (especially Sports) haven't come under as heavy fire, and neither of them can be done on smartphones and tablets. That's the point you continue to ignore, because you believe in the casual games label that makes all games you don't like equal. The question that needs to be asked is if the Wii's potential was fully realized and hardly anyone would say that it was. It's not just simple and accessible games, it's simple and accessible games with a unique and appealing control scheme. That's what sets the Wii apart from other products, plus local multiplayer on the same screen. And once again, Nintendo was counting on the Wii audience to buy a GameCube. That was their mistake. If they hadn't been so much in love with the GC, they would have realized that the Wii U Gamepad contradicted the appeal of the Wii. |
The problem is you've romanticized this notion to a degree that you can no longer see the actual market realities of today. I mean I get it, wasn't it wonderful that Nintendo had discovered this new magic formula that allowed them to have such tremendous success? It was sweet to watch Sony/MS sputter in response, surely it could've lasted longer? It's easy to take that and think of it as dogma, kind of like a guy who has success with a pick-up line once and then assumes that it should work on every girl, every time he tries it again.
Smartphones don't need to exactly mimic Wii Sports to get the same (actually larger) audience. In fact it's an asset that they don't, the casual audience wants new/different types of experiences, Angry Birds is successful because it's Angry Birds, not Bird Sports. The ecosystem offer by the smartphone/tablet business offers them a flood of constant new software. What smartphones/tablets DO ape (very successfully) from the Touch Generation/Wii line is the same basic foundation though of easy-to-play arcadey games that any casual or novice player can get into quickly. It's no coincidence either that most of the successful iPhone/Android games feature non-threatening cartoony/simple graphics (ahem right out of Nintendo's playbook), not realistic graphics of the Playstation/XBox ilk.
The novelty of the control input is less important, what's important is the control interface is suitably user friendly and intuitive. No button multitouch fits the bill as well (maybe even better) than waving a wand around. People don't want controller novelties for novelty sake alone, otherwise Nintendo would just introduce a dozen weird controllers like maybe a game machine that's controlled by bouncing a ball (which would likely flop). Consumers aren't *that* stupid, they would eventually see that strategy for what it is -- desperation.
