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Resident_Hazard on 24 April 2008
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Ian said:
Let's overgeneralize and speculate a bit- To me this article says a lot about Nintendo's intentions for the Wii. For starters I'd say Nintendo's business model, as well as their prior history, indicates they really don't care about making hardcore games for hardcore gamers and never will (I mention this based on another thread where people were discussing this in regards to Retro, this is not in line with their business model, too expensive to produce these types of games when they can make money on Tech demos and new genres-Wii sports, fit, etc). From this I would expect that mature games will stay few and far between on the Wii (at least from Nintendo) and anyone expecting sometihing different just because the Wii has a big install base is in for a let down.

Second it says alot about how long Wii might last and where Microsoft and Sony fit into this generation. Nintendo's success puts both Sony and Microsoft in a bit of a holding pattern. Both are doing well servicing the hardcore market but are now forced to push for the casual market with motion based and casual products sooner than later (Sony for example would rather do this later in the life cycle of it's system).


 

You seem to equate Mature titles with Hardcore, in which case, you lack understanding of gaming. Geometry Wars is a hardcore title right to it's very core. And the massively expanded version of it is (at this point) a Nintendo exclusive. That's on the Wii and not a Mature title, but it is screamingly hardcore in design. The same goes for Battalion Wars, Smash Bros, Metroid Prime, Zelda, and Fire Emblem.  These are all hardcore titles that are not only not Mature-rated, but also made by Nintendo. 

 Then again, Nintendo did publish hardcore mature titles such as Giest and Eternal Darkness, and will be publishing hardcore mature Fatal Frame IV. 

 Nintendo's mantra has always been to make games for everyone.  Hardcore gamers included.  With the Wii and DS, however, they tapped into a vital area that the other guys didn't understand:  How to actually bring new, former, and non-gamers into the fold.  How to make video games fun and friendly, rather than just technical, complex and scary.  Nintendo has always tried to make gaming easier for non-gamers to understand by making a smoother learning curve.  Pretty much every Nintendo game has an introductory period that allows you to learn by playing rather than having to mire through an-equally complex tutorial or an overly-thick options menu or a complicated-to-follow instruction manual. 

 In recent years, however, it all became over-complicated, and even the friendly GameCube offered enough complexity to prevent gamer noobs from easily jumping on-board.  The Wii and DS simply soften the learning curve to a point that regular non-gaming-inclined people can grasp it.  That's all.  They've always been about reaching out to gamers and new people pretty much equally.  This time, they found a successful way to actually accomplish the task of reaching out to the non-gamer crowd.

 

This paranoia that Nintendo is forsaking the hardcore crowd is just a bunch of crap.  If anything, it's the 3rd party companies out there that are forsaking the hardcore crowd on the Wii with their mindless slew of crappy mini-game collections and shovelware crap.  Don't bitch about Nintendo, bitch about the third party developers who just aren't getting it.