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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Malstrom talks about disruption!

mike_intellivision on 22 July 2009
Slimebeast said:
MontanaHatchet said:
"The Nintendo fanboys revere the Atari fanboys as gods, and Malstrom is the prophet of their return."

It's really hard to take Malstrom seriously when he's so attached to buzzwords. I guess it comes with his profession, but he puts way too much emphasis on words with really hollow meanings. It makes each of his bits so annoying. And why is he ignoring Natal and Sony motion control, as if Motion Plus is the only thing on the market (save for the Wiimote)?

And this is where he's way too attached to buzz words. He says that sports games are "core" games. They're not. Sports games are a decent chunk of core gamers, and an even larger chunk of casual gamers. That's why the biggest sports games ever have had lots of casual appeal (Madden, Mario & Sonic Olympics). The reason Tiger Woods sells so well on the Wii is not because core gamers want to play motion plus, but because the Wii has the highest userbase, one shifted towards golf (people ages 25-44 and up), and a good control for the game. And good control is something that appeals to "casual" gamers just as much as "core" gamers.

Basically, he hates core gamers, and he doesn't want a group of people to have fun. What a great guy.


I was about to write this post. I have nothing to add.

Well, just one thing to add:

I think the 'upmarket tactic' and 'core market meltdown/disruption' is a mith. Or at least it's not working.

The (hard-)core market as defined by the two HD consoles is bigger than ever, and typical hardcore games have never sold better (shotters, WRPG, ResidentEvil, action games like MGS4, Assassin's Creed etc etc). Twe two HD consoles will have sold over 120 million consoles comnbined. So far Ive seen no signs from Nintendo to have been successful to steal anything from that huge 'traditional core gamer' audience over to the Wii.

 

I am not going to agree with everything that Malstrom has to say. To be honest, I think a lot of his more recent blog comments have been a full of it.

That being said, I think that the extreme view painted of him by some is the same view -- in reverse -- that a lot of self-proclaimed "hard core" gamers have toward more causual gamers.

Casual gamers who buy one game every six months over a five-year lifespan of a system have bought 10 games -- a not-to-shabby attach rate. Not all may migrate up, but a lot do buy some games, even if they are ones that most people here would never consider playing.

Finally, people on both sides tend not to let facts get in the way of a good story. Aligning launches, the Xbox 360 is about 10M up on the XBox at the same point in its life cycle while the PS3 is down 11M compared to the PS2. Meanwhile, the Wii is up 36.5M on the GC and almost 18M up on the PS2. (It should be noted that PS2 comparisons are skewed because of the launch taking a long time).

Mike from Morgantown

PS -- The Wii is about expanding the market, not stealing gamers per se. The hardcore gamer ages out, gets a job, maybe a family, and has less and less time to devote to gaming. This is particuarly true in Japan and parts of Europe where the population is rapidly and there is negative population growth (excluding immigration).

 

 

 



      


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Slimebeast on 22 July 2009

Which games do Malstrom define as 'upmarket' or 'upstream' anyway?

Is Mario and Zelda included?

It will be interesting to see if the next Zelda Wii2010 manages to sell significantly more than 7 mill (Twiligt princess, Ocarine of time).

If Zelda Wii sells less than 10 million lifetime i think that would show that upstreaming doesnt work.



disolitude on 22 July 2009
student said:
? explain your logic their disolitude?

Well he finshes the statement by saying that wii motion plus may already be doing more than your average consumer needs. This means that he thinks that blue ocean of casual gamers may soon think motion controls are too complex.

I don't care who you are...casual, hardcore...whatever. No one will argue that Wii mote is perfect as it is and that it couldn't stand to be improved. The bloody thing is not accurate at all. Right now my gf beats me in boom blox because she learned how to trick the system and flick her wrist when throwing the ball.

Therefore the only logic I have with him saying this is that he is afraid motion controls will become skill based and more accurate and he will start sucking in gaming again...