Nintendo Caring About Hardcore Gamers Is Good For Everyone
Since Nintendo has come out and apologized for not appealing to the “core” gamer with their E3 conference, a major argument I’ve been hearing in several places, including some of the comments on my previous article, is that Nintendo doesn’t HAVE to care about hardcore gamers. They’re doing just fine without them, so why bother?
Here’s why.
The Wii had doubters, but after two years of seeing how WELL Nintendo did with bringing hardcore titles like Castlevania, Advance Wars, and Phoenix Wright, most people became believers. It was these Nintendo faithful that originally turned their back on the “gimmicky” DS but were converted through the power of 3rd-party implementation.
I firmly believe that if the DS (and the hardcore Nintendo fanboys that it spawned) were not around, the Wii would’ve sold far less than it did. I’m sure many of you reading this have a gaming friend that spends hardly any time playing games on the Wii. I’ve even noticed a lot of the so-called soccer moms, a core market for the Wii, relegating the system to the backroom, only to be played once in a blue moon. The attach rate of 5.3 certainly isn’t horrible for a system at this point in its lifetime, but nowhere near the 7.5 of the Xbox 360. (Especially once you consider how many people have bought replacement consoles, for one reason or another.)
Face it, the Wii is the “Tickle-Me Elmo” of the past couple holiday seasons largely because of the excitement and fervor that the hardcore gaming communities fostered for it. Will these same people be as excited for the next Nintendo system? No, of course not. Naturally, there will be the 500,000 “brick-buyers” that will buy the next system as long it says “Nintendo” and will eventually be able to play the next Smash Brothers game. However, the rest of us will be watching carefully, waiting to see if get shafted a second time. Once bitten, twice shy…
Unfortunately, lower sales for Nintendo’s system means less competition for Sony and Microsoft, both in the NEXT generation, as well as in the current market. As game and system sales start to slow down for Nintendo, there will be less incentive for Microsoft and Sony to improve what they have now. Fewer dashboard updates… fewer price drops… fewer cross-platform titles… The diminished drive to compete with Nintendo’s more casual, less sensational offerings, will remove much of the impetus for innovation and quality amongst Nintendo’s competitors.
I think the worst part of Nintendo’s willful ignorance of hardcore gamers is that it shows that Nintendo really is content to rest on their laurels. “What do we care,” they must be saying. “We’re selling millions of bathroom scales, LOL!”
This brings me to my final point, which is best summarized by this vgcats strip. Nintendo has made us, the hardcore, out to be pea-brains. We’ve been swindled. Albeit, fairly. Caveat emptor, as they say. I just wish that I could have as much fun with the Wii as I’ve had with the 360, or even the DS. I wish network play was unencumbered by an archaic and ponderous friend code system. If only there was something more to do than play Metroid Prime 3 and Resident Evil 4 again and again. The hardcore gamers have been made into fools, and unless something changes in the way Nintendo exercises it’s market presence, the entire industry will be that much more worse for it.
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A question that most people dont ask themselves is this; which is more important in a game? The play or the graphics? The answer, offcourse, is the play and that is IMO why Nintendo has survived to this day while others like SEGA and Atari died remembering that Atari made the first 64bit back then. The resilence of Nintendo cannot be underestimated because they started as a small company making playing cards and look where they are today; competing and, at the moment, outselling massive corporations like sony and Microsoft. People have been predicting the death of Nintendo for a long time due to thier not adopting disks quickly and so on but again they are probably in better shape now than ever. As for hardcore games, the fact that they as selling well means they have more money to re-invest in making games so the future can only be better.
I actually disagree that lower Nintendo sales would lead to less competition. Sony and Microsoft have both made it quite clear that they are not in the same market or after the same audience that they Wii is after. And while both are trying to capture a larger share of the casual market (as indicated by recent e3 reveals) they are truly concentrated on the hardcore market. So, regardless of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft’s real drive and competition are really each other. As a side note, silly wii is silly.
So far Nintendo has released, Mario Galaxy, Paper Mario, Metriod 3, Super Smash Bros, Mario Kart Wii and probably one or two that I am forgetting. These are the stable of Nintendo games that their hardcore audience expects from Nintendo.
The Problem is Nintendo put all their eggs in one basket and released all these games within a year and a half( which is unprescedented for Nintendo). I don’t think people remember the staggered releases of the N64 and the gamecube. I think Nintendo got caught in the hype of their own machine and figured 3rd party developers would come and start releasing quality games en mass. So instead of staggering these releases over 2 and a half years they changed it to a year and a half. They figured 3rd party developers would have some big releases this holiday season, which they didn’t.
Nintendo didn’t foresee that any developer with ambition toward games can more easily see their ambition translated with the horsepower of the 360 or the ps3. I am upset with Nintendo, but more upset with 3rd party developers and their lack of quality development for the system.
I think instead of referring to hardcore for wii they should perhaps rephrase it fancore. I guess my definition of hardcore games is deep, graphically intensive above 14 games. The wii fails in all categories in most their games.
There are a couple exceptions for nintendo, I enjoyed brawl. It’s a fun game but still falls in the category of casual gaming. Metroid is a great game and possibly the most notable. Other than that Nintendo is a niche console for exactly what they have been doing. Casual gaming for children and family fun. Being that casual is the opposite of hardcore I would say that the “hardcore” tag doesn’t really fit with nintendo. There’s nothing hardcore about 98% of the games available for wii. It’s a subpar sytem with subpar games.
Nintendo has a lot of fun family oreinted games, but they also have a few games that the hardcore gamers love like Metroid. I just dont think Nintendo can ever compete with PS3 and Xbox in the hardcore department.
I’ve been playing since Atari. I’ve had a hell of a lot of systems, and I’ve played rather my share of a wide variety of games. Gaming is a big part of my life. I like network play, but it doesn’t kill me to live without it. I grew up playing alone, and I’m used to it. Am I “hardcore”? To hell if I know. It seems like “hardcore” is too often defined in opposition to any game of which parents might conceivably approve. And “hardcore gamer” is too often defined in opposition to anyone who might enjoy such a non-objectionable game. But, honestly, I don’t care too much: Call me and people like me whatever the hell you want, hardcore or something else entirely. Point is, I’m a dedicated gamer. And I love my Wii.
I will say that the one thing that has been insanely overlooked is the price difference between the Wii and others. The Wii is much, MUCH more affordable, and for some of us, that’s a big consideration in terms of which system to buy, if we can only buy one. (Which is, shock and awe, often an unfortunate reality.) Certainly, I wouldn’t buy a system based solely on price, but I’m not going to buy based solely on graphics, either.
But let me get to the point, and come out with my assuredly unpopular opinion: The Wii is novel, and it has good, very entertaining games. I think sometimes we get a little too worked up about graphics and “next gen,” and forget that it didn’t used to cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars to play a good game. Maybe I’m missing something, but isn’t enjoyment the whole point? There are a lot of classic games that are still quite beloved. They didn’t need the best of the best graphics to be FUN. Maybe there’s something to be learned from that. Those classics have good stories and challenging, well-designed puzzles and play, and they can hold their own. Sometimes that’s good enough. Especially when it means I can be just as entertained and with a little extra cash to show for it.
So, yeah, I’ll miss out on the new GTA (which I expect to get on PC) and some others. And yeah, the graphics aren’t as impressive. But overall, I’m happy with the Wii–both gameplay, and as a bonus, price.
I love Zelda, but I love Wii Sports too. I love GTA, and I love Katamari. I love Half-Life 2, and I love The Longest Journey. And, hell, I like Scrabble, Monopoly, and Arkham Horror, if you really wanna get diverse. Maybe the key to satisfaction is learning to be a little more well-rounded, to take pleasure where you find it. Even if it means having to admit you enjoy a game that your grandma wouldn’t be offended by.
And just to head off those of you who like to make assumptions, let me point out that I’m not some old, uninformed fogey or soccer mom who “just doesn’t get it.” Try woman in her early 20s, with nary a kid in sight.
Just because the wii is not based on photorealism does not automatically make it “casual.” Look, I’m not an animal crossing type, but there are plenty of hardcore platforming games to find on the wii. It’s much more diverse than the shooter on the 360.
Motion sensing is pretty hardcore if you ask me.
I consider myself a decently “hardcore” gamer. When I play a game I get really into it, try understanding every aspect of it and replaying it 10 times to discover alternate scenarios. I’ve played strictly Nintendo games from childhood (starting at SNES, I would discount NES as I really only played Super Mario) and have purchased each and every console, and in turn each and every hardcore game (every Zelda, Mario etc). Yes, I have a life and engage in activities other than video games (I’m not THAT level of basement-lair dwelling hardcore), but I used to spend a good hour or more daily playing games (unless it was a new Zelda or Smash, in which case I’d spend all day playing
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This is the first time I’ve ever been so frustrated with Nintendo.
I honestly just can’t play games anymore. I power-on the Wii, flip through games I would consider playing and realize I’ve played each one far too many times, then turn it off. WHERE have all of the great games gone? I decided to play a bit of Breath of Fire II for hours and hours and barely scratched the surface of all the secrets in that game. Even more surprising was that the 16-bit game made me more emotional than ANY Wii game I’ve played so far (excluding Galaxy, which was awesome). I didn’t want the game to end, and THAT’S how games should be made. They should leave you wanting more. Why do I not get that feeling anymore from any current games out for Wii? I played Okami and stopped a little while after killing Orochi; it just got too repetitive.
Don’t reply with a simple “play more games” or “you’re not looking”. Nor do I believe my taste in gaming has faded. Why though, do I enjoy Chrono Trigger and BOF more than Twilight Princess? It’s not that I’m stuck on older games, I just feel that there’s a missing X factor from most of these new games. I can’t put my finger on it though…
When I look at trailers for new PS3 games though, I feel like those are the games I want to play (obviously, trailers always emphasize only the great cinematics and epic battles). I can’t believe that after years of adamantly loving Nintendo I want to abandon ship so strongly.
I’ve reread this post and I doubt that anyone’s going to understand half of what I’ve written. I can’t articulate my feelings properly because I don’t really understand them much myself. I also find that this post makes me sound much more of a nerd than I am. Still, is anyone here on the same boat as me to at least some degree?
I completely agree with you.