The Wii is the middle road console. It is as far beyond the “Last gen” consoles as the PS3 and Xbox 360 are beyond it. Where Microsoft went all out to try and capture a large share of the hardcore audience early, and Sony went all out to future proof their console (both successfully mind you), Nintendo saw the largest portion of the market’s present, it’s relative immediate future (these past two, and perhaps two more years) and seized the day.
At this point, a full two years after the Wii was released, several misconceptions have been disproved; and yet, there are indeed some teeth grinding truths that must be faced, and accepted.
With the truth of the power of the Wii ’s hardware having been detailed; with games being released such as Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and upcoming games such as Monster Hunter 3, and The Conduit; no one can say that it’s a “Last Gen” quality console and actually believe it unless they’re just downright ignorant.
Games such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Guitar Hero 3 sold millions at their release, and games such as Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 (in spite of its barely adequate graphics), and Mario Kart Wii have extremely competitive online communities. All of this disproving the hypotheses of some that Wii owners are all little kids, Soccer moms, and grandparents.
Non-casual, 3rd Party games such as the two Resident Evil Wii games and the aforementioned Guitar Hero have sold Millions, disproving the idea that 3rd party core type games can’t succeed on Nintendo consoles.
Though there are a relative few casual gamers picking up such games, in truth it is the deep seated core Nintendo fan that is responsible for all of the above mentioned bragging rights that are sales oriented.
If they hadn’t been the ones during that early first Holiday season to create and stand in those long lines, and create the initial Wii shortage that has now snowballed into an unprecedented success, it is quite likely that the Wii would have ended up being only slightly more successful than another Game Cube.
It is the anticipation and loyalty of the faithful who set the tone back then, who set the demand curve, who made the Wii the story that it was then – making it able to be the story that it is now. Soccer moms didn’t know they wanted a Wii until millions of starving, Nintendo loyal, Game Cube owners brought attention to it.
No doubt that Nintendo counted on this, and capitalized by packing in what will likely go down in history as one of the most fun, pick-up-and-play-whoever-you-are mini game collections ever. Wii Sports. Come on, admit it. No matter how much you may love The Legend of Zelda, or may be anticipating Monster Hunter 3, you absolutely loved at least 2 of the 5 games of Wii Sports.
The particular two or so Wii Sports games that the individual may love varies as much as possible across the board though. Therein lies the secret to many of Nintendo’s insights, and policies of late. People differ greatly from one to the next with what they like most. Capitalizing on that with offerings that appeal to the largest audience possible is a main additive to the current Nintendo fuel.
Still, there are some things that Nintendo is doing that to a great extent just make people scratch their head, get frustrated, or even get angry over. Here are some of those things, and the reasons why Nintendo is doing them, even though so many hate it:
1. Lowered difficulty of Core style games.
When people who have played past Mario platforming games played Super Mario Galaxy, many of them felt as though the game was gimped. To some extent it was. If your goal is simply to beat the game it is quite easy to do. 60 stars allows you to face Bowser the final time, and those required 60 levels aren’t exactly the most challenging. Conquering the game with 121 stars with both characters though is another thing altogether.
The reason for this is quite obvious though. Nintendo has a current strategy of introducing people to games through simple, easily accessible games such as Wii Sports, then taking as many of those people as possible, and helping them to graduate little by little into being more serious gamers. From that viewpoint, SMG is a Masterpiece in yet another regard. From that game, to LoZ: Twilight Princess, to Mario Kart Wii, to Super Smash Bros. Brawl, this is their strategy.
To a certain extent, the Core gamer is frustrated with this. But there are two things that we must consider. Nintendo is working toward building a larger “Core Market”, and secondly, with their recent relative console failures, they are not likely to ever go the complicated route again when it comes to controllers of many buttons, and games designed around extreme control schemes. They can’t afford to.
2. Frustratingly limited online choices.
One thing that gets to the deep and loyal Core Nintendo gamer is the lack of options when it comes to Online play on the Wii. Personally, it is one of my huge pet peeves. Nintendo created an extensive parental controls feature into the Wii, and yet they not only severely limit options such as chatting, and who you can play with online, they also do so to 3rd party developers as they create their games.
Even more frustrating is that if you look at a system like the DS, with its built in microphone, and voice chat for various games, even with it’s Friend Codes, and much earlier release, its online system is more advanced than the Wii.
Why is this the case? Again, it’s simple. Nintendo has found it best (from a console standpoint), to fill in the gap left open by irresponsible parents who’d like to buy a console and not have to worry about parenting when it comes to it. While it is absolutely unfair to the loyal core, or even the casual player who would like more options; Nintendo, by playing it safe and catering to the way things are rather than the way we wish they were, is bolstering sales by solidifying their reputation of being family friendly.
3. Continually releasing Core games with little to no replay value.
Sadly, while the above issues are understandable, even in the face of the fact that they are hard to swallow, this is an area where there’s no way around the fact that Nintendo is just sticking it to us in order to lower risk on their end. With the exception of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Mario Kart Wii, Nintendo’s core offerings, even amongst their masterpieces have much less replay value than we’d like.
Of course part of the reason for that is that core gaming has entered an age where online is key. Nintendo’s online policy negates the possibility of an online system such as Microsoft’s or Sony’s, so an inherent part to the replay value of today’s gaming world is negated on their end.
Nintendo seems to continually ignore the fact that these days, more than any time before it, gaming has become not only a mainstream form of entertainment, but that many people would rather spend their money on games constantly than on Cable, or other forms of entertainment. The result of that is that people need for higher numbers of quality games to be released or more replay value to exist among what is being offered.
But if you look at it from a sales standpoint, would most of us have bought a game like Wario Land Shake it! or Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, for $50, or even consider this current lackluster incarnation of console Animal Crossing if we were satisfied with Brawl’s online system, or if Pokemon Battle Revolution had unhindered voice chat, or if Star Fox or Kid Icarus were due for release this holiday season? Many yes. Most? no. It all plays into Nintendo’s hands sales-wise.
Even so, I give Reginald Fils-Aime props for his insight into the Disaster: Day of Crisis situation. Many of us would have been even more upset if we’d bought that game for 50 bucks, and Reggie realized that very fact.
4. Why no RPG’s???
Nintendo hasn’t released any true, classic, replay value filled, months long quest RPG’s for Wii. The 3rd party games on the Wii that even slightly resemble that which was described (with the exception of FFCC: My Life as a King) have looked like something between a N64 game and a Game Cube game.
Thanks to Namco/Bandai the Wii will be getting a full featured, Tales, game that much work has been put into over the past few years. (Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World) But truly, after two years, this is the first one that is not a port of an old game, isn’t ridiculous looking, and is traditional in most of the ways that matter.
Why is this the case? Why hasn’t Nintendo themselves filled this obvious gap even though they torment us with the appearance of Earthbound characters in SSBB? Such RPG’s not only take several years and alot of money to make; aspects of these games such as the story, the characters, and combat system are all “Make it or break it” issues with gamers, which means that these games are more risky. Nintendo is now, more than ever, averse to taking such risks, even for its deepest Core gamers, who literally exist as their backbone.
It all goes back to the issue of varying opinions and accessibility. Rest assured, if Nintendo ever figures out how to do for RPG’s what they did with Wii Sports, we’ll see more of them. But until then, they’ll likely count on companies such as Namco/Bandai and Square/Enix to take such risks. Even as I write this, the reasons for the current incarnations of those companies strikes ever clear.
So, with the exception of milking the hungry devout
with a policy of little replay value, Nintendo’s choices this generation, and likely to a great extent throughout their future are all about accessibility, survival and negation of risk. Without even considering what business they are in, it’s obvious that this is a strong business model.
Even so, with record profits and success, and the fact that the backbone that Core gamer’s provide is key to Nintendo’s success; Core needs will have to be met at least a little bit better in order to maintain such loyalty after 3 straight generations of various frustrations.
Nintendo has had some praiseworthy insight, and yet has failed to see the obvious in certain areas. They themselves must step up and help keep the core audience intact. 3rd party’s can only do so for so long, and they may change loyalties at any time. Besides, it’s about time that Nintendo took a smidgen of these record profits to take some risks again. No, not everything they do will be loved or accepted, even if they put their heart and soul into it. But chances are, if they do put heart and soul into it, and it is apparent, then we deep seated Core gamers would buy it just because we appreciate the effort.
