Yes, this was posted in the Malstrom thread, but I feel it deserves a wider audience. This pretty much summarises my opinion on Other M too.

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http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/parody-3/

And now for an interview with Otomakas, the producer of the new Gradius game.

Above: Otomakas

Interviewer: Welcome, Otomakas! I am glad I am having a chance to speak to you.

Otomakas: Oh, the pleasure is all mine, most certainly!

Interviewer: Now, you are a producer. For what game?

Otomakas: The game is called Gradius: The Other G. Our goal is to provide the most interesting gameplay and deliver the most cool Gradius ever.

Interviewer: Will Gradius: The Other G be a 2d game or a 3d game?

Otomakas: I will not say.

Interviewer: The Gradius games have always been about going ‘pew pew’ and going through levels. But I hear you want to make Other G about style and story?

Otomakas: Yes. I believe a game like Gradius III was very story-driven. In that game, I believe I was able to explain the Vic-Viper as not just a space ship, but as a way of life. I believe I was able to explain the Vic-Viper as carrying a very interesting character inside… a character we all would like to know. And we will get to know the pilot in Other G. We will meet his wife, his children, where they live, what schools his kids go to, and how he pays his bills. I cannot wait to express the determination and character of the pilot that I believe I was able to show in many places such as that scene in Gradius III where the Vic-Viper shoots the giant eyeball coming from a giant plant. Through the Gradius games, I believe I have been able to explain the Vic Viper pilot as a person. I would like to develop his character further, as a soldier, as a human, also as a man. That’s what I’m hoping to do with Other G.

(Continues in link above.)

Malstrom hates this upcoming Metroid game with a passion.
I wonder, is it because it changes the Metroid formula, Sakamoto is imposing his vision upon it, or is it because he feels Nintendo is wasting time not making a system seller....

All it has to do is sell above 2m; then Malstrom won't be able to say much because it would reach Nintendo's expectations in that case. Besides, if this game were to never come out, MP: Trilogy would've been the last we would've seen of Samus on the Wii.

Meh who gives a toss like with Prime after OM is released it'll be a classic and all the skeptics will only have their opinion to cling to, I heard similar critical sh*t back before Prime was released, now everyone says they were down with the idea despite the reactions back then.

^

Soleron and Maelstrom = Butthurt

Malstrom did not assume Prime would flop. He actually stated it depended on how well it would turn out. He has even stated so about this game as well, so assuming he is hating on it shows you aren't reading what he wrote.

His issue is focusing on Samus, ignoring that she was an audience surrogate before.

Wii Music and Animal Crossing each sold well over 2M and he still railed about them.

Malstrom has a vision. It is now somewhat divergent than what Nintendo is doing.  And he some days seems to feel slighted by this.

Mike from Morgantown

It's a little of both. He thinks its a bad idea because we've already had Metroid, so you're not going to sell any more Wiis with Other M, and he's mad that Sakamoto seems to think that since he "created" Metroid, that he is free to change Metroid as he will, and in this case that means he's focusing on stuff that is not at all important to Metroid (hence this Other G thing, which i will admit was a good way for Malstrom to express what he is feeling by example)

It's part of his problem where he feels that it is content that sells, and not gameplay. So the vast differences between Prime 3 and Other M are irrelevent to him in considering Other M as a separate system-seller.

Eh I do not see this as a system seller, But I do think it will please people who enjoy Metroid. Come to think I do not think I have ever seen it as a system seller. They are good games, but by no means have they ever been "mainstream" compared to Mario Zelda etc etc. Except maybe during the NES days. I am shocked we are even going to get this. New style is great to try out. Will it be good, will it bring some new people in, or will it bomb? Who knows at this moment. I know I will be getting it, but again I have always like Metroid. A lot of people do not.

His main point is that these games (and AC/Wii Music) did not push hardware. No matter how well they sold, Nintendo could have better used those first-class teams to make system selling games more like Wii Fit or NSMB Wii - which sell even better than them and also drive Wii momentum. 5m sales for Wii Music, in context, is disappointing. Subsequent Wii sales support the momentum thing.

I'm not happy with it because the controls look clunky and overly complex, I hate game storylines and voice acting, and it seems to be moving the focus away from the exploration of Metroid, Super Metroid and Prime (the latter of which is my single favourite game).

I don't think it'll be a bad game, or even a flop. Just not my kind of game, after a drought of 'my kind of game' all through the second half of 2008 and 2009 (except NSMB Wii).