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Forums - Nintendo - The flight of third parties, my take on the Wii and its shovelwares

http://malstrom.50webs.com/birdman.html

That explains the phenomenon pretty well. Developers look at socially-oriented downmarket games being released by Nintendo, see them as casual games, and make what they think "casual games" are. This viewpoint is based off of surface-level observation, however; they don't understand the difference between their failing "casual" games and Nintendo's socially-oriented downmarket games: that Nintendo's actually appeals to a real demographic of underserved gamers who want something fast, fun, and friendly, while their games are pale imitations of this. End result: the ever-so-notorious "shovelware" people go on about endlessly here at VG Chartz.



Sky Render - Sanity is for the weak.

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Chadius said:
Super Mario 64 was so legendary at the time.

Basically every platformer after SM64 superficially copied it. Most platformers dropped you off in a hub, unlocked the first world and said "get 6 (completiion items) to unlock the next world." Just like SM64. The big difference, of course, is that SM64 did it already.

For more fun, let's rewind to the NES era. Super Mario Brothers spawned a million platformer clones where you ran from left to right, jumped over pits, dealt with enemies in some way and cleared multiple stages. Some of them had variants, like giving you a melee attack or a gun or a strict timer, but they were all following SMB's blueprint. Sega eventually broke out of that by making a platformer that was fast and had "attitude." Thus Sonic the Hedgehog.

Look at the XBox & XBox 360. Lots and lots and lots of FPS clones. Most of them with "take cover to regain shield" mechanics. Just like Halo. Sure there are variants (2-player online coop, different weapons, different plots) but they are following Halo's blueprint to the letter. Has a break-through FPS emerged yet? I don't really know (a little help from FPS nuts out there?)

So when the Wii came out, what did developers see? Wii Sports (OMG TECH DEMO?) Rayman Raving Rabbids (OMG MINIGAMEZ!) and promptly shoved waggle-driven tech demos onto the Wii. Of course, they didn't notice how Nintendo used its A teams to program Wii Sports or how subtle the controls are in RRR. But they'll figure it out soon.

 

OK, so whats the games in PSX during its launch then when 3rd party developers dont know what games they'll put on the system since they dont know how to make a game on 3-d yet?

And aboout third party support, if third parties now learn their lessons not ditching the Wii, when will the real quality third party games come?

 



end of core gaming days prediction:

 

E3 2006-The beginning of the end. Wii introduced

 

E3 2008- Armageddon. Wii motion plus introduced. Wii Music. Reggie says Animal crossing was a core game. Massive disappointment. many Wii core gamers selling their Wii.

 

E3 2010- Tape runs out

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/march2009/ICG_Tape_runs_out.jpg

Look to the DS for that answer, yushire. The initial DS offerings were largely along the same lines as the initial Wii offerings have been: a bunch of great Nintendo games, a handful of good third-party games, and a lot of games that nobody wanted. That changed as developers learned to use the DS stylus controls in new and innovative ways, and (in the case of more traditional games) learned to not let the stylus be a mandatory element when it made no sense.

The Wii will reach those stages too. The "old-gen" developers who cannot adapt to the Wii's new controls will find ways to use its non-motion-control ones. You'll probably see a lot of those developers adding Classic Controller and GameCube controller support. The "new-gen" developers will get their bearings on how the Wiimote really works, and start putting out games that will even make Nintendo marvel at the innovative use. As ever, things don't just happen. It will take some time yet for these changes to come about.



Sky Render - Sanity is for the weak.

Here's an interesting extract I was just linked to from an interview with one of the LostWinds developers:

http://gonintendo.com/?p=43317

It's quite relevant, actually, to why traditional third parties aren't investing in dynamic and innovative Wii titles thus far. The fear of what it could cost them if it failed is what holds them back. And WiiWare is perhaps the best solution for them to test the waters and find out what will and will not do well on the system without investing in a huge-budget title that might ultimately flop.

Though I do find it interesting that they lack these concerns when making 360 and PS3 games... Perhaps they simply assume that, since the old method of making games has worked for so long, it will continue to work indefinitely...



Sky Render - Sanity is for the weak.

yushire said:

OK, so whats the games in PSX during its launch then when 3rd party developers dont know what games they'll put on the system since they dont know how to make a game on 3-d yet?

And aboout third party support, if third parties now learn their lessons not ditching the Wii, when will the real quality third party games come?

 


I'm not sure I understand your first question, but here goes ...

Wikipedia

The PlayStation was launched in Japan on December 3, 1994, North America on September 9, 1995, Europe on September 29, 1995, and Oceania in November 1995. The launch price in the American market was US$299 (a price point later used by its successor, the PlayStation 2), and Sony enjoyed a very successful launch with titles of almost every genre, including Battle Arena Toshinden, Twisted Metal, Warhawk, Philosoma, and Ridge Racer. Almost all of Sony's and Namco's launch titles went on to spawn numerous sequels.

Now we all know that the original Playstation and Sega Saturn struggled durring their first year being outsold (by a wide margin) by the Super Nintendo; it was in its second year that Sony really started to see good sales because of a massive influx of third party support (after Nintendo alienated third party publishers) that the Playstation started to take off.

 

As for your second question ... We have been seeing a steady increase in the quantity and quality of third party games on the Wii since it has been released; I suspect that we will hit a watershed moment at E3 and TGS when third party publishers unveil their efforts for the Wii that began after it launched and will be released for Q3 or 2008 through Q2 of 2009. You can hold me to this prediction on your favourite crow eating thread ...



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HappySqurriel said:

 


I'm not sure I understand your first question, but here goes ...


 

 

Im posting on what chadius post last night, thus the first question:

Basically every platformer after SM64 superficially copied it. Most platformers dropped you off in a hub, unlocked the first world and said "get 6 (completiion items) to unlock the next world." Just like SM64. The big difference, of course, is that SM64 did it already.

And about the DS, so how many years before the DS have quality games on the system then? Just to compare it for the Wii.

 



end of core gaming days prediction:

 

E3 2006-The beginning of the end. Wii introduced

 

E3 2008- Armageddon. Wii motion plus introduced. Wii Music. Reggie says Animal crossing was a core game. Massive disappointment. many Wii core gamers selling their Wii.

 

E3 2010- Tape runs out

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/march2009/ICG_Tape_runs_out.jpg

A Good Trick

There is a good trick to making your articles more readable.

Now for the Advice

Using bolded headings at the beginning of new thoughts and ideas not only helps you organize your thoughts but it keeps people interested and doesn't make them turn their head away from huge walls of text.

Good Luck 

I hope this helps you out. Walls of text are a scary thing.



^ OK THEN...



end of core gaming days prediction:

 

E3 2006-The beginning of the end. Wii introduced

 

E3 2008- Armageddon. Wii motion plus introduced. Wii Music. Reggie says Animal crossing was a core game. Massive disappointment. many Wii core gamers selling their Wii.

 

E3 2010- Tape runs out

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/march2009/ICG_Tape_runs_out.jpg

 The DS' breakout year was really 2006. Prior to that, most of the games put on it were either ports or half-arsed attempts to do something with the stylus (but usually done poorly; a lot of them required use of all face buttons AND the stylus at the same time). I can't cite any specific games, unfortunately, but a quick look at the top 50 charts for 2005 vs. 2006 show that was when the DS software really took off. The end-result software sales for 2005 for DS: 29,666,698 for the year (32,970,196 total). 2006: 72,299,762 for the year (105,269,958 total).

 Temporally speaking, that would make 2008 (yes, this year) the Wii's equivalent year.  Meaning it's reasonable to expect that the Wii will start to get those much-anticipated yet elusive "real games" that many are complaining the Wii currently lacks some time in the next 6 months.



Sky Render - Sanity is for the weak.

^ Do you mean that DS really took off 2 years after its launch? Is the launch of DS same as the Wii when casuals constantly buying it just to play Nintendogs and such?



end of core gaming days prediction:

 

E3 2006-The beginning of the end. Wii introduced

 

E3 2008- Armageddon. Wii motion plus introduced. Wii Music. Reggie says Animal crossing was a core game. Massive disappointment. many Wii core gamers selling their Wii.

 

E3 2010- Tape runs out

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/march2009/ICG_Tape_runs_out.jpg