Am I the only one who feels like nintendo hates its fans?

[TehCupcakes]

Copyright infringement is not just an issue of money. It also effects the public's impression of the characters therein. A fan-game which depicts Mario in an uncharacteristic manner, or is simply not a high quality game can reduce the general public's impression of the character. You may say, "That's stupid... Everybody who plays a fan-game KNOWS it's not official Nintendo and they think nothing of it," but the fact is that there is a subconscious effect which cannot be controlled or measured. Furthermore, if you get your full taste of Mario in non-official games, suddenly the official ones are not quite as enticing... Scarcity of games actually increases the craving and thus increases sales. Nintendo's biggest strength is in its well-known first-party characters, so they do everything in their power to protect that. Maybe it's overplayed paranoia, but this is one of the arguments against fan-games.

On the console argument, you really need to look to Japan to understand this one. (Since Nintendo America is not making any of these decisions, and both Sony and Nintendo are Japanese-based.) In Japan, Sony is much bigger competition than they are elsewhere. 3DS still blows away PS Vita any day, and Sony has as much as admitted defeat, but at least in their early days there was some real competition there. Secondly, I don't see anything wrong with Nintendo trying to be innovative when it works. It's gutsy, but hey, I love a unique gaming experience and that's what is special about the Wii for millions of people. The numerous iterations on hard-ware are a result of demand, rather than an innovative or cash-hungry attempt on Nintendo's part. Mobile devices got smaller to the point where they are getting bigger again (you know what I'm talking about - BIG smartphones...) The XL was about recognizing this shift in market and giving the consumer what they want. Likewise, the DS was very popular with younger children, but the device was a bit too easily damaged and the 3D on the 3DS was not child-approved. To fix this, they had to provide an alternative, but some of the design decisions to make it child-proof would not provide a better gaming experience for older gamers, so they marketed it as a separate device rather than an upgrade to the existing 3DS. I would argue that Nintendo is not necessarily suggesting you buy a 3DS, 2DS, and a New 3DS XL... Rather, for people who do not own any, they have more choices to pick from based on their needs.

Just my two cents.

 

[foob]

1) fans might not know what they want until after it's made. Especially not casual fans.
2) arguably, getting off the couch to play a game has been what made Wii so popular; if they didn't do it first, someone else (Sony, Microsoft) would have. It's not the be-all and end-all, but if Nintendo didn't do it first, they'd probably be broke now since they don't have the technical leadership (in the graphical grunt sense). The Wii was different enough to get people intereested enough to buy it. Moving in this direction was not the best for 'traditional' games and gamers. The nunchuck add-on always strikes me as odd and silly, just to be able to get the kind of controls a regular gamepad would have. Works for some games, but very odd for many others. At this point Nintendo was the most profitable Japanese company or something, so they did extremely well being radically different. It probably really was a 'revolution' in gaming that caused their competitors to hurry up with their own systems (which had been in their research phase for a while). Nintendo were smart to be first, if not the best technically (again).
3) 3DS versus 3DS XL. It's not really a case of "why are you so poor". It's simply a case of offering different products for different needs. XL models are targeted to a crowd that likes a bigger screen and bigger stylus and bigger DS. Adults, etc. They are making what people want. Even looking at my DS Lite nowadays, I still prefer the slightly bigger screens of the DSi (and the better sound) and sometimes prefer the huge screens and feel of the XL too. Different products for different needs. Nintendo doing the sensible thing. More to the point to me is why Nintendo still haven't bundled a USB cable wtih their portables. Ebay sellers have to cater to this simple demand, to this day. Especially for the units with no bundled charger. Madness.
4) Nintendo aren't the only giant in the portable gaming space today. Once that was true but no longer. I think they are the most successful but far from the only giant. They are facing huge pressure from mobiles & to a lesser extent, Vita. Physical backwards compatibility must be working extremely well for them, so they can maintain some of that huge momentum of the DS going forward in a more competitive world. But backwards compatibility is not really doing much for them with the Wii U, so there you go. I think many users have grown out of the Wii experience and the branding. At the very least they should have stopped using Wii in the branding of their new console, even though it's backwards compatible (just like the earlier DS units stopped using Game Boy branding but could still use Game Boy cartridges). A new brand for a different experience.
5) 3DS versus 2DS. They had to do the 2DS so worried parents can actually give their kids a console that doesn't hurt their eyes. Have you seen the warnings on the back of the 3DS games? The 2DS move: there was never a bigger sign that the 3DS was an unnecessary gimmick than the making of the 2DS. It also allows Nintendo to reach a far lower price point to compete with all the cheaper phones and of course to get more edge on the relatively expensive Vita. Nintendo are the kings of cost savings. However, they are an anomaly in the portables space today 'cause everyone can see the jaggedness of the pixels on their low-detailed screens. Today that's mostly disappeared from view in phones and tablets but Nintendo still looks old-school. It doesn't seem to have hurt their 3DS sales that much though: they are still selling 3x-4x as many units as the technically superior Vita (with its overpriced PS Vita memory card). The 2DS branding is a bold move but probably had to be done due to their 3DS 'worried parent' concerns (lawsuits!). I think the 2DS brand creates confusion.
6) Not sure exactly what you mean by "and instead of correcting mistakes with the current 3ds, we're going to make an absolutely new 3d". Refinements and improvement (and cost savings) have always been part-and-parcel of any new portable or console, no matter which company. Nintendo have done a lot to make the 3D feature better in the New 3DS. Sony and others have made similar refinements to any new portable and console. Sometimes arguably backwards steps too (for cost savings). But often times not too.

It amazes me that Nintendo, despite being technical laggards, still rule the portables space. Being different has done a lot for them. Even DS, the 'touch generation' thing...they were first. Now they are being eaten by more touch devices of a different kind, but their strong IP keeps them going much further than I thought it would. I don't think it's a case of hating on fans or anything of that nature, but it's just that money (and banks) rule the world.

 

[DiscostewSM]

I've always found this article to be both enlightening and relevant when it comes to this discussion. I'll toss it out here now.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-secret-developers-wii-u-the-inside-story

I take that with a grain of salt because the simple matter of it being by an "anonymous" developer already raises a number of flags. It's basically "take my word for it". Of course a developer wouldn't reveal themselves with anything that would be considered under NDA, as doing so would figuratively kill them, but the lack of credibility leaves little to be desired. It could be true, or it could be false. For all we know, having an official developer say "that's not true" may very well be a breach of the NDA, hence why one one is coming forward to refute it.

From what I believe, this is just one of those click-bait articles to get people talking and visit the site. True or not, the damage is done, and Eurogamer is benefiting from it.

 

[TecXero]

Nintendo is just Nintendo. It's their way, if anything deviates from it, they hate it. Homebrew, emulators, youtube, options, etc. Anything that gives their consumers choice and control, they will go against. Either they'll try to shut it down or try to make it their own, generally making a crappy version of it. Of course they're a company, they're out to make money, but some of their choices are just odd and makes them seem like they're just kind of stuck in their own little world.

 

[Bimmel]

One could believe that some people here think that Nintendo is one person. One evil person.

"I'll make you toys, but they won't be fun. Mwahahah!"

 

[Haloman800]

Money mate. Money talks.


They only care about our money, nothing else.

Which makes sense when you think about it. Why would a business be in existence, except to make profit (by offering products/services that individuals want)?