Family oriented =/= Kiddie

I never said cersorship is the reason why they have a kiddy image (by "hardcore" gamers). I implied that their current kiddy image would be strengthened if they pulled another Man Hunt 2/Mortal Kombat 2. They definitely wouldn't want that.

There are several reasons to their current kiddy image, including: Aforementioned Mortal Kombat censorship, nearly only kiddy games being well known on the N64 (Goldeneye being the great exception), the main Gamecube design being purple (what the hell was they thinking?), lack of mature titles for the Wii, Nintendo refusing/not wanting to develop mature games (Metroid being closest), the Gameboy being called "Gameboy", etc, etc... All of which I'm pretty sure you already knew about.

BINGO

Not one of those games is 1st party. Thats where the claims come from. Any 3rd party can beef up your mature catalog but we tend to focus on what the corporation themselves makes to define their console.

Games not restricted by age = Games for kids that older people may like as well.

Smash bros seems to be the sole exception to the rule.

Not sure why you feel the need to try to insult people who aren't necessarily fans of all Nintendo first party games, but whatever floats your boat.  The colors thing is just silly.

As for the OP, it seems to me that Nintendo is being very aggressive in going after the core gamer by using overt sex and violence. They're really trying to expand the portfolio of the Wii U in that regard.  It's a pretty interesting move.  I can't help but wonder if there will be some backlash from the media.  I'm sure The Sun will probably try to stir something up.

Family oriented = Games that parents can play with their children.

Hence.....family.

I think Nintendo's increasingly "kiddie" labeling is do to its own decisions. With the Wii they added Miis, whimsical music, silly animations, and their interface is cartoon like. Nothing about the Wii aesthetics is in line with more mature audiences, for everyone, sure, but things tend to go to the lowest common denominator. If you make something with 5 years old and up in mind, it has to work with 5 year olds and that is the age group that gets the most attention because the aspects that appeal to the older groups won't fly with the younger ones, therefore the older groups don't get what appeals to them.

Same goes with their games since many use the Miis, but also NSMBWii which in my opinion was a terrible game plagued with over active attempt to make it for as young of an audience as possible and as easy and simple as possible. I had 90+ lives through the whole game. The game was a tutorial from world one to world ten, it treated you as if you didn't remember you had a controller in your hand. The music was also irritating, too floaty, and the animation of the enemies dancing to the music. Why Nintendo, why? How come my enemies have big smiles and cute features when I kill them? It's sick, lol. For a game that was suppose to be the equivalent of SMB4, it failed me. Anyway, I found NSMBWii an abomination of Mario, but I suppose Nintendo has been slowly drifting towards this for years now. I was 5-7 when I played the original mario and that game was fine. The mario game today...well how much younger is it targeted for if the original was 5-7 for me? 1-4, idk, it is just baffeling that they would change the series so much.

Yes there are exceptions and yes there are titles that retained their general age appeals as well as 3rd party mature titles, but when you wrap it up in a bow and present it with rainbows and flowers popping out of it it is hard to view it as anything else. This is not an issue of the consumer, but one that Nintendo has created themselves. Is it necessarily a bad thing? Not really, unless you are a full grown adult trying to make it something it is not. Please do enjoy the console, the younger appeal doesn't prevent older people from liking it, and you can always grab some mature games. But if mature games are important apparently, then why can't mature hardware be as well?

OP, I'm guessing Japanese ratings are more diverse in criteria than in the US. The US would almost only put an AO label on a game if it was a sex game essentially, everything else gets an M. The labels in the US cover a wide spectrum of topics.

The "timeline" of the Nintendo kiddy thing goes back a ways actually, lol, but I'll start it like this

1985- Nintendo introduces Super Mario Bros., in the successive five years the NES/Famicom becomes a global phenomenon.

1990 - Mario effectively eclipses Mickey Mouse as the most popular "mascot" character in the world.

1991 - With Nintendo owning 90% of the game market, Sega has little choice but to try something different. They start to market the Genesis towards teenagers rather than younger boys. This aggressive style of MTV marketing works, and the Genesis gains traction.

1993 - The SNES backed by Street Fighter II and many big Nintendo exclusives is starting to overtake the Genesis, but Nintendo makes a crucial mistake ... they choose to censor the arcade blockbuster Mortal Kombat. The Genesis version consequently sells much better. The "kiddy image" is basically born here.

1994 - Nintendo nixes the SNES CD-ROM behind closed doors and opts to make the N64 (then known as Project: Reality) cart based. This is really where the "kiddie" stigma gained traction. Going cart-only forced an exodus of most of Nintendo's third party support. Without franchises like Contra, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear ... suddenly Nintendo's library indeed looks more kid-skewed, because you're left with Nintendo IP primarily.

1995 - Sony enters the game industry and markets/sells the Playstation as a brand for the 20-something male player. They are "gifted" the perfect killer app for their platform due to cartridge developer exodus away from Nintendo -- Final Fantasy VII, which they market like a movie. It works and the Playstation brand largely dominates the console market for the next 10 years focusing on male teenager/college-aged players. 

1997 - Nintendo scores a surprise blockbuster hit with GoldenEye. With the James Bond character relevant now to a whole new generation. This is Nintendo's actual biggest success with this "hardcore gamer" crowd. Nintendo opts to listen to Martin Hollis of Rare and not renew the Bond license, even despite the incredible success of the game. They follow up with Perfect Dark, but Joanna Dark is no James Bond, and the game sells less than half of GoldenEye. The mantle of this game is really succeeded by Halo, which becomes the next big home console FPS franchise, unfortunately it sells XBoxes and not GameCubes. Perfect Dark on the GameCube never even materializes.

Then there was the GameCube design which was cute ... but in hindsight .... too cute for its own good (and purple as the primary color was a mistake, even Nintendo says that now they won't launch home consoles in bright colors anymore).

What insult? I'm just calling it like it is. If its doesn't invole gun/swords and blood then its called kiddie these days.

he is.

Chark
"think Nintendo's increasingly "kiddie" labeling is do to its own decisions. With the Wii they added Miis, whimsical music, silly animations, and their interface is cartoon like."

so strong arguments...i just cant counter...you won


also why always people say kiddie when they mean teenie