Dear God Miyamoto in your infinite wisdom please save our heathen souls from the scourge that is MS and Sony and all other non nintendo developers. Please show the unwashed masses the greatness of the "third dimension" that nintendo invented and also of all the new and fantastic IP's that they have created this gen including the amazing new zelda and mario that have saved us all from the brown and bloom that all other non nintendo gaming is. And to those who would question their amazing innovation and charm, may you be struck down by the shiny white gods of gaming who watch over nintendo and ensure that they remain untouchable and objective criticism of them impossible. 

Amen. 

But really, I wrote this post because I'm sick of the pedestal that nintendo gets placed on. They can never do wrong, every idea they have is genius, and Miyamoto is the unquestioned God of gaming. They're just a game developer, a good one of course, but one that makes bad games and bad decisions like all others. Take the 3DS, or the best thing since sliced bread as most would call it. What does it have? A healthy amount of of ports, remakes, and software that is very "console" as opposed to the the quick bites that handheld gaming is supposed to be. Also, just one analog stick. You know what that reminds me of? The psp. And yet, unlike the psp, the 3DS remains without criticism. This is due to nintendo's infallibility amongst gamers.

People laugh at MS needing people to wear white gowns to their natal press conference, yet when nintendo announces that children shouldn't use the 3DS due to problems with muscle development, nobody bats an eye. Nintendo to the gaming world is like apple to a mainstream audience. Perfect, infallible, shiny, white and new. Everything they do is amazing, even when it sucks or the competition does something better. Nintendo gets praised for innovation, yet sony - and even MS- have released far more new IP's over the course of this generation. Where is the praise for them over games like patapon and locoroco?

And the worst part is that nintendo can not be criticized. I admit there has been unfair shots at them, including faulting them for the failure of mediocre third party hardcore games on the wii. But even a reasonable critique is bashed as biased or "a fanboy argument." I myself fully expect to be yelled at over this post despite gaming on nintendo systems for longer than a lot of the people who will call me out. Hell, Majoras mask is neck and neck with Starcraft and Shining Force 2 for my favorite game of all time.  But since I broke the pact of unquestioned nintendo loyalty I will undoubtedly have people jumping on my back over it.

Ill end with this, Sony has made bad decisions, Microsoft has made bad decisions - and when they do people call them out over it. Nintendo makes bad decisions, and no one says anything. Take this as an example, mario galaxy 2 is no more changed from mario galaxy then modern warfare 2 is changed from 1. But browse a gaming forum and you would think that mario galaxy 2 is the most innovative platformer of all time, despite LBP planet completely trouncing it in the innovation department. The 3DS looks great, and has a great software lineup- but nintendo has been beaten in game quality by its rivals for the past three years. So the 3DS isn't nintendo blowing is rivals out of the water, its nintendo trying to play catch up on the number of quality games that non nintendo devs have made over the past few years while they did very little. 

Of course some will say that gaming journalists have mocked nintendo since the wii was announced, and there is truth to that, but its no more criticism then sony or MS received. And when ever nintendo releases a game from one of its big franchises like mario, zelda, or metroid (which are rarely added to with the last good IP from nintendo being Pikmin in 2001) it receives unanimous praise whether it deserves it or not (twilight princess).  I realize there is a target on my back now but I really wanted to say this. And don't get me wrong, I love nintendo, but part of love is being able to see someone for who they really are - imperfect. 

Thank you, Leatherhat. This was a meaningful post and is much different from the recent E3-crazed non-sense. Thank you. 

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it- I really expected the first post in this thread to be someone yelling at me. 

IMO Nintendo's critism by the gaming mass and media takes both extremes: they are often viewed with rose-tinted glasses and sometimes get let off (this is often refering to the 8/16 bit era Nintendo), however they also have a level of irrational hate within the gaming media and fans with greatly surpasses that of it's rivals.  I have never seen that level of hate for any other game manufactuer.

I think the fact is a lot of the gaming media love the Nintendo of yesteryears, but for various reasons (some justified, most not) hate Nintendo this generation.  I wouldn't think it is fair to say Nintendo is always on a pedestal, as when the media don't like them, they really don't like Nintendo.

I remember comparing fanboys to religious fanatics here like two days ago... JACKPOT!

I don't know what rock you've been hiding under, but there has been plenty of criticism of Nintendo. You'd have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to see it.

@leatherhat: RESPECT!

I got the feeling from skimming the 3DS news headlines that it wil have a lot on remakes. Everyone is loving that.

I remember a while back someone criticising the PSP for having a lot of remakes.

I see people saying that the 3DS will have more ower than the PSP, like that is some achievement. It's been 5 years, tech has evolved a lot.

I see poeple saying that Sony's 3D effort is fail, while Nintendo's is 3D effort is win, despite the obvious weaknesses (one person, one position, what if I want to scratch my nose?) the 3DS has too.

Where have you been the last 3 years? Nintendo has been critisized a whole lot this gen particularly from the gaming press. I don't understand what you're talking about really. Just think about E3 2008. They were slammed from all sides.

I agree with you though that Nintendo has made mistakes. But they have to be doing something right to be as successful this gen as they have been.. don't you agree? People love Nintendo for a reason. Just like people love Playstation, or xbox.

Have you played galaxy 1&2? They are amazing games and despite what you think they were quite innovative with the whole gravity thing and extremely original platforming. They deserve the praise. Yes LBP was innovative with the level building and 4 players (I think... I never played it). That game got a lot of praise too. Don't act like nobody liked it.

It really sounds like you are one of the HD's fans, and are a little jealous of Nintendo's recent spotlight. Sorry if that sounds harsh.

Isn't Nintendo like the most critisized game company?

isn't that sony?