I feel like the way Nintendo runs it's business has it's positives and negatives. For example, having one smash game a generation saves money and insures that you and your friends play the same game. It also insures that they release a game that is top notch (usually). But this business model can get boring.

Games that release frequently in the gen cost more money, and your copy somewhat loses value when the newer games come out. But they keep things interesting and fresh.

Good isn't isn't good enough. If I'm going to keep any game, I have to see a large amount of replay value in it. Not necessarily multiplayer, post-launch support, or even New Game Plus. I played though Metroid Prime many times just because I enjoyed speedrunning it.

He makes a statement defending gamers, and you make a statement like that. Bravo. How's that Vita selling by the way?

Reggie hit the nail on the head here. This is EXACTLY what the industry needs to hear.

Lol @ the Villager in the background. XD

OUCH!

And people wonder why 3rd parties abandon Nintendo at the drop of the hat... too damn real for most publishers.

i completely agree (i just read the tittle though)

A couple of my friends posit the notion that the big budget console games industry is going to shit itself sooner than later. Huge megabudget games are not sustainable, that has been proven by MANY publishers/developers going out of business this past gen: Factor 5, Free Radical, 3D Realms, Midway, Hudson Soft (different case but still), THQ, and countless other development studios. Many of them went under because ONE major big budget game failed to sell MILLIONS (not just a million, but millions) of copies. Those are the stakes these days for these kinds of games, and the budgets are ONLY going to go up. You look at "FFXV", you look at The Last of Us, Beyond: Two Souls, Metal Gear Solid V, Destiny, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc., there's no WAY those games cost less to make than big budget games even 5 years ago did. It's just going to keep inflating till it pops.

On the OTHER hand, especially in this new Kickstarter/crowd funding age, smaller indie developers are rising up. Many games that otherwise wouldn't have happened because publishers wouldn't invest, are now happening. And it isn't just on Steam. Sure, all three console competitors are embracing indie games to some extent. But Nintendo has made a very public point of being very aggresive and open in going after indie devs to get games on eShop for 3DS and Wii U. And I think we're seeing more and more and more of that. A LOT of Kickstarter funds that started out as PC only games, have added Wii U as a goal that either got met, or one that they'd still like to try and reach. I think you're going to see a growth in indie dev releases on Wii U, and I called a few months back that Wii U was likely going to see more of those, surprisingly, than the other two consoles.

We'll see whether or not that actually pans out in the fullness of time. BUT, it's worth at least putting it out there, that while their retail, big publisher 3rd party support may never be ON PAR with the competition, I could really see them making up for that with Wii U being, as one indie dev called it, the "Steam of consoles", meaning that it's a very welcome, open platform for many of these small studios to put their games on. And a LOT of those small indie games are a hell of a lot more creative and fun to play than a lot of these uberbudget "AAA" titles. I think Nintendo could really make something out of a nice combo of their own franchise retail 1st party releases, and a wealth of indie "3rd party" digital releases on eShop. And you know what? That would be totally fine with me. I do prefer having my games on an actual cart/disc, but on the other hand, quite a lot of these big budget games the last couple gens just really haven't appealed to me anyway. A lot of indie games seem to be getting back to what, at least for me, video games USED to be all about. And that's a good thing.