The games industry is at a crossroads, and Nintendo are at the centre of the change in direction.

The old focus of games for the "hardcore/old-school" gamer is being overrun by economics - simpler, cheaper games for the casual/non-gamer are making more money, and having less risk. It also opens the industry up to "simpler" development companies - less focus on art, technology, polish - and more on brand names, marketing (etc...).

I argue this:

It should be in the interest of all "old-school" gamers (and related parties, such as review sites) to show Nintendo that not only can "hardcore" titles sell well (and make money) - they can sell better than non-gamer titles (and return a greater profit - after development).

I doubt there is a single person here that sincerely wants Nintendo to move completely away from the creation of titles such as Zelda, Galaxy, Brawl & Zelda (and closer to titles such as 'Face Training' & WiiFit). There needs to be a balance - and no doubt Nintendo will continue to support hardcore gamers in some form/ratio.

But there is a real chance that the sales of these titles now may determine this development balance in the future. No doubt Ninty will be watching this carefully, and formulating their future plans. Why would Ninty care about Metroid Prime 4 - if Metroid Prime 3 cost 4x to develop what Mario Party 8 did - yet Mario Party 8 sold 4x as many units???

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I personally think this is also very relevant to non-Ninty fans as well. If Ninty drop hardcore game development - almost completely - and end up ruling this generation - what do you think the impact would be on Sony & Microsoft (and other developers)? Regardless of what the people in charge at the moment might want/think - there would be strong pressure from shareholders (who simply want to maximise their profit) - for these companies to follow similar strategies.

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I know there are some of you that will laugh at this, and make some comment about a bitter WiiFanBoy who  is sore on some MP3 reviews. I can assure you this is NOT the case at all. I personally couldn't care less about review scores ;), as I know I will love the game and buy it regardless. Its the impression to the average gamer that matters - not me.

But I just want to get some of you actually thinking about this seriously. The industry is undergoing the most significant change ever - and 'trivial things' like review scores for a game like MP3 - may end up affecting sales, which may affect a companies future direction... and subsequently the direction of the entire industry.

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What I find ironic, is that any review site that intentionally gives a game such as MP3 a lower score than it may deserve - is actually fighting against everything they really are fighting for.

I can only imagine the reaction of the big-wigs at Ninty if MP3 got straight tens (or close to) & sold 10m units. God forbid, they might have to divert some of their casual dev resources back towards the hardcore gamer. And wouldn't that just be terrible... [sarcasm off]

I'm ready for this debate, shams. Nintendo doesn't hold as much power as you guys think.

Well I think that the target audience for most game reviewers is 15 year olds and by extension most game reviewers are forever locked into that age. 15 year old video game fans tend to be so fixated on the idea of their own maturity that they tend to develop a paraphilia for things which they believe separate games for adults from games for kids (e.g. expensive hardware, gore, and online play with uncensored chat). Not all reviewers are like this, but I feel like at least some of it seeps into all of them.

There's a segment of video game fans that think that anything made by Nintendo is beneath their dignity and though they make up a relatively small portion of the video game market, they make up a disproportionately large proportion of games media readers.

I'm not sure how you can say that. They control/produce the top 2 hardware platforms around the world at the moment, have the biggest selling titles around the world, have 4 titles in the top-10 best ranked ever, have 70% of hardware sales in Japan & 80% of software sales, etc...

Nintendo are roughly equal to the rest of the entire games industry summed up. For the last 2-3 years anyway.

But what is really important, is the change they have brought about since the DS was introduced. Take a look at the Japanese weekly charts. Compare them to the charts in Japan 2 or 3 years ago.

Compare the raio of "hardcore" games/sales then - versus sales now.  

 That made me laugh out loud...  LOL that was a good one... hahaha... you were being funny right?

Nintendo is still the heart of the game market, it beat a little slower last gen but this gen it's got almost complete control over the market.  Both with it's games and 3rd party games.  Look at all the third parties jumping on the Wii bandwagon and also look how they are all changing their styles to have a better mix of game types.  

Nintendo takes in the largest profit of any game company.  They make more games then most and when they see a new way to exploit profit they go after it and own that market.  Most companies try to copy what Nintendo does.

 I'm on side with you a bit here on the support for Metroid Prime 3.  I don't think it will have the impact you think it'll have.  Nintendo is using the game to shore up it's own past fanbase onto the Wii.  As long as everyone who bought Metroid in the past buys it again they will be happy.  The people into Metroid tend to buy a lot of games.  Ask any Metroid fan how many games they have and I'm sure every one will tell you they have tons of them.  Nintendo wants their money...  anything else is gravy to them.  They knew ahead of time what they were getting into with Metroid Prime 3 by looking at Prime 1 and 2's sales.  They only expect the same amount of sales as the first.  If it gets close to that number, they will be happy with the results given that it means an extra 1 million hardcore game buyers own their system.

Also, Prime 3 was used to shunt some 360 purchases...  They served us a plate of shooting goodness which makes it far less likely for someone like me to want a 360 given that I can feel full on the Wii with it's full course meal. 

I disagree with why most sites would want to review MP3 highly.

It sounds like you're saying they should buffer MP3 ratings higher not because of merit but just for the simple fact that its on Wii.... which in fact it already is, the graphics are great compared to other Wii games but would be ok on the 360 or PS3, the size of the rooms blocked by "loading" doors is a great concept for the Wii, but would be substandard for the 360 or PS3.

I was going to argue this but then realized you've summed things up.

Nintendo is moving away from "Action" games (I can't call Zelda, Metroid, and Mario, "hardcore"). They continue to support "action"games in some form or another, but expect all new Nintendo IP's to be aimed at casual players.

No no no no.

Reviewers should review the software honestly and without agendas. They should have a measurable, verifiable way to establish the benchmarks, and then supplement that with their observations. So I totally disagree with your point.

Look, as long as there are hardcore gamers, there'll be hardcore demand. And as long as hardcore gamers are profitable, there'll be someone on the other side collecting the money. So there'll be hardcore systems and hardcore games. The gaming companies are not walking away from hardcore just because they are now noticing a profitable venture in casuals. Consider this. Did Coca Cola forgo their Minute Maid brand because they sell more Coke than Orange Juice? Of course not! Um, actually it could be the other way around, I don't really know. But I think you get my point.

@ seqor ... well said

@ shams ... you make a good point but you can't just say everyone should give nintendo's 'hardcore' games 10's just so that they hope nintendo keep making hardcore titless