It's a simple matter of resource allocation. Other companies generally do not make Nintendo-type games, but they do make other kinds of games. Only Nintendo makes Nintendo-type games, and those Nintendo-type games which move consoles should be their number one priority. Not-system-selling Nintendo-type games should be their second priority, because these games are still unique and will generally not be in direct competition with any other games.

Even Nintendo's "red ocean" games shouldn't have to compete in a red ocean. Why would anyone do that? To spite the other guy?

I knew that my favorite game turned ten. I celebrated by playing it for five hours, which is all I need in order to beat it these days.

Looks like Reggie knew it too. +1000 respect points from me.

they did buy that horror IP, Fatal Frame and they are co-developing Bayonetta so its a start.

My question is why can't Nintendo go back to the 8/16/64-bit days when they made games that everyone from novices to serious gamers could enjoy, not just the expanded audience / casual crowd?

And why do they have to dumb down their existing franchises to try to appeal to as many people as possible rather than giving us new installments that are natural progressions over their predecessors in every way and that at the very least keep up with the latest standards of gaming in both design and technology?

OP, that's like asking Beethoven why he didn't come up with dubstep if he was such a smart guy. They simply can't do it since they have no idea about HD developement right now. They want to progress into this field and that's why they got Namco Bandai on board for Smash and that's also why they are doing a lot of collaborations with Platinum and other studios. I would think the staff they sent is not only there to supervise, but also to learn.

Right now the Nintendo games might not be that impressive but I'm sure as this generation progresses we will se some crazy shit from Nintendo's own studios. Right now it's all about them baby steps.

I don't even know where to start on this one. Your question is more than one question, by the way. I suppose I'll approach this seriously, because fundamentally it's not so bad of a topic.

It's not a matter of if Nintendo could. It's a matter of wanting to. Nintendo lost in the 64 bit era, and tried to compete in the GameCube days, but were thrwarted at every turn. Old tactics didn't work - they were being squeezed out of the market altogether. The GameBoy model of sucess with limited power became Nintendo's new approach to console design, and it worked. Simple as that.

Also, the games Nintendo has produced as of late do generally have a wide range of appeal, and I haven't seen an example of a franchise being "dumbed down" for the masses quite yet. A case could be made for New Super Mario Bros., though it exists to reintroduce people to the basics of Mario after a long hiatus, so I tend to give it a pass. Especially since later NSMB games up the challenge and level design creativity... and thus are "natural progressions" so to speak, particularly the latest one for Wii U which picks up where Super Mario World left off design-wise.

Finally, I don't think that superior technology is all it takes to make a great, memorable game. I could fire off multiple examples of Wii games that have evolved or revolutionized nearly every aspect of their respective series, without needing exceedingly advanced graphics. You can say Nintendo's approach stymies the potential of their products, but I believe in multiple paths of growth and evolution, and more power need not be the answer. Much less innovative new controllers. Point being, no matter what, there will always be room for growth and expansion, and I have enough faith in Nintendo's developers to find a way through any limitation.

Nintendo is a family company. Simple as that. You won't see Rated-M titles from them.

Indeed. It would be idiotic to limit a game's audience to teenagers.

Ha!


On topic: 

I like the simple answer: It's not Nintendo's style. They have their unique franchiese which they can draw so much from, it's useless to try to provide multi[le other companies already do. All they want to do now is get those 3rd parties to port their games over. 

Because Nintendo don't like to copy, they want to be 'copied'. Making a games like ZombiU will be a copy of similar genre game already exist.