Delaying Games and Hardware - Beneficial or Harmful?

[CathyRina]

I can see some logic in the Wii U being a poor naming choice, I am not so sure the 3ds is a poor name in the same sense. The 3ds doing poorly seems to be more because they released a relatively weak console, one without games, had their third party developers split between it and the considerably nicer to develop, market and contemplate the size of audience for android/IOS platforms and their own.

Both the DS and Wii were really popular amongs the casual audience (Which is the majority of people). If I was a casual who doesn't bother reading gaming news I would think the 3DS and Wii U are just upgraded versions of the DS and Wii like the DSI is.
Now with the 2DS, 3DS XL and new 3DS we have a big arsenal of confusion to the casuals. DS2 is a less confusing name and automatically signals that this is an entirely new console. But it appears that lame name puns are more important for Nintendo.

 

[Delta517]

This is KIND of off topic, but I've come to really resent that Miyamoto quote. It has some truth to it, but it's also rather presumptive of certain things that aren't inherent. For example, a rushed game CAN be good with the appropriate staff and work time and dedication put in, and a delayed game is FAR from guaranteed to be good (Duke Nukem Forever, anyone?). But people (especially Nintendo fans, in my experience) use it to damage control every time a game they're personally invested in gets delayed.

I would certainly prefer a polished, delayed game than a rushed, sloppy one. But you know what I would prefer even more? A polished game that doesn't get delayed a million times.

Edit: I've only played maybe an hour of Pokemon X/Y, but I feel the game was rushed and lazy even from a technical standpoint. No 3D in the overworld, frame rate drops while using 3D in battles, no analog movement or 360 turning... It's like they cut corners at every turn. I mean, really, what game in 2013 with 3D movement using an analog pad/stick DOESN'T have 360 degrees of movement or analog walk/run control?

Then compare it to Super Smash Bros. 3DS, which is only a year younger, pushes the 3DS to its limits to get 60 fps in full 3D (with a few minor drawbacks) and was only delayed by a couple months from its vague "Summer 2014" release date, and it makes Pokemon X/Y look downright shameful by comparison.

I agree. Fun fact: Eiji Aonuma didn't like working with Zelda OoT Master Quest/Ura Zelda, so he was challenged to make a sequel to OoT within just a year. That game became Majora's Mask, one of the best Zelda games.

 

[FAST6191]

Both the DS and Wii were really popular amongs the casual audience (Which is the majority of people). If I was a casual who doesn't bother reading gaming news I would think the 3DS and Wii U are just upgraded versions of the DS and Wii like the DSI is.
Now with the 2DS, 3DS XL and new 3DS we have a big arsenal of confusion to the casuals. DS2 is a less confusing name and automatically signals that this is an entirely new console. But it appears that lame name puns are more important for Nintendo.

By and large I avoid interacting with members of the public/man in the street because I know how much of a pain it is, however I also try not to sell them too short and I fear you may be doing the latter. Equally the DSi was technically a new system, it did not play out in the same way as the GB and GBC might have but I am not sure I would dismiss it as easily as that.

 

[the_randomizer]

I have literally seen videos of a smashed 2DS completely thrown and banged with a hammer fiercely and it survived
I feel like this was a right choice for kids because for some reason they don't know how to handle a hinge but this option should have been way earlier since they are putting their N3DS out now as something to get.

Still don't care, the design is hideous and the screen is too small.

 

[CathyRina]

By and large I avoid interacting with members of the public/man in the street because I know how much of a pain it is, however I also try not to sell them too short and I fear you may be doing the latter. Equally the DSi was technically a new system, it did not play out in the same way as the GB and GBC might have but I am not sure I would dismiss it as easily as that.

Nintendo did it themselves tbh. They send a mail to the Wii Consoles about Wii U being an entirely new Console not just an upgraded model. So they clearly know that their target market is not well informed.

 

[Foxi4]

Nintendo did it themselves tbh. They send a mail to the Wii Consoles about Wii U being an entirely new Console not just an upgraded model. So they clearly know that their target market is not well informed.

Here's the thing - there's a 100+ million Wii's out there... and 99 million of them have a centimeter thick layers of dust on them. Sending a message to Wii users doesn't accomplish much because there's not a whole lot of active Wii users out there at this point, at least not a lot of legitimate Wii users who'd care. Even before the Wii U was released there hasn't been a major Wii release for years, so the console was well into the realm of obscurity at that point in time.

 

[CathyRina]

Here's the thing - there's a 100+ million Wii's out there... and 99 million of them have a centimeter thick layers of dust on them. Sending a message to Wii users doesn't accomplish much because there's not a whole lot of active Wii users out there at this point, at least not a lot of legitimate Wii users who'd care. Even before the Wii U was released there hasn't been a major Wii release for years, so the console was well into the realm of obscurity at that point in time.

that's beside the point

 

[mkdms14]

Kingdom Hearts III won't be coming out in 2015 and niether will Final Fantasy XV. SE recently stated that Final Fantasy XV after entering full production back in 2012 was 55% complete and with Final Fantasy Type-0 to come out in March 2015 with a small playable bit of Final Fantasy XV it is safe to guess it probably won't be out until 2016 at the earliest. Kingdom Hearts is still too early in its production. It probably won't be out until 2017 at the earliest it might be released in 2016 if SE moves it with how they make games but I won't count on it.

 

[TripleSMoon]

Even before the Wii U was released there hasn't been a major Wii release for years, so the console was well into the realm of obscurity at that point in time.

What are you talking about? Zelda: Skyward Sword and Kirby's Return to Dream Land both came out only a year before the Wii U did. Mario Part 9 also came out in Spring before the Wii U released, though it's debatable whether that really counts.

I mean, it's still a pretty bad drought for a year before the Wii U's release, but it certainly wasn't "years since the last major Wii release" at that point.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Still don't care, the design is hideous and the screen is too small.

The 2DS is ugly as hell, but it has the same exact screen sizes as the OG 3DS (actually, the lower screen is 0.02" bigger, but that's nothing). Your previous statements, talking about how it's "cheaply made" is the absolutely opposite of what it is, it's extremely durable compared to the 3DS/XL. The smaller buttons? Not true, buttons are the same size as the 3DS, their only difference is they're located in a different position and they're..."mushy", sort of like the DS Lite. Clamshell and whatever is just preference, so meh on that. The 2DS is an excellent entry level handheld; it's cheap as hell, will last years of abuse, and is arguably more comfortable to hold compared to the OG/XL.

As for the OP, it just depends on the devs I suppose, and how much time is gained/lost.

Take Watch Dogs, it was originally going to be released in November of 2013 until Ubisoft delayed it to "polish the game" (read: hype the fuck out of it, because there's no way they "polished" anything when the game was buggy as hell). When it released in May, the game was so hyped up that the ok-ish game it ended up being was completely shat on by everyone because it didn't live up to everyone's expectations.

On the opposite spectrum, let's talk about Mass Effect 3. A lot of people felt the game was fairly rushed because of the various plot holes, the whole "BOOHOO NO GOOD ENDING " debacle that forced BioWare to throw some DLC out there, the argument that none of the decisions you made really mattered, etc etc. Despite all of that, was Mass Effect 3 as a whole a terrible game? Of course not, it's considered one of the best RPGs of 2012.

 

[Youkai]

To get back to Topic,
Why "delay" a release instead of giving a late release date at given time ?

Really they give the Programmers hardly ever enough time to make the core of the game and in the end they rush like there is no morning and have a bugged game plus repairing all those bugs is harder than doing it right from the beginning ...
So in my opinion the best would be if you can assume Programming takes 2 years to give them 2 and a Half and tell the Programmers they get a bonus if they get it done faster in a good quality !

 

[Foxi4]

What are you talking about? Zelda: Skyward Sword and Kirby's Return to Dream Land both came out only a year before the Wii U did. Mario Part 9 also came out in Spring before the Wii U released, though it's debatable whether that really counts.

I mean, it's still a pretty bad drought for a year before the Wii U's release, but it certainly wasn't "years since the last major Wii release" at that point.

So all in all, three-four games within a two-year span? That's not much. I wasn't being literal, my point was that people stopped playing on the system due to a lack of major releases in its final years.

 

[TripleSMoon]

So all in all, three-four games within a two-year span? That's not much. I wasn't being literal, my point was that people stopped playing on the system due to a lack of major releases in its final years.

Like I said, it was still really bad. But "no major release in years" isn't a very good hyperbole to use in this case.

 

[Hop2089]

The PS4 and Xbox One should have been delayed until late 2014, the consoles have suffered from droughts, huge amounts of remakes, and there has been very little support in Japan until recently and despite having great games announced, the Japanese market also suffers from large amounts of remakes.

 

[Foxi4]

Like I said, it was still really bad. But "no major release in years" isn't a very good hyperbole to use in this case.

Skyward Sword and Return to Dreamland were released in 2011, like you said. Sure, there was Mario Party, but even on the best of terms the Wii didn't see a single worthwhile release for several months, that's quite a downer to me considering the fact that the PS3 and Xbox 360 see support to this day. The Wii was very much dead the way I see it, Nintendo couldn't support it all by itself and third party long since lost interest.

The PS4 and Xbox One should have been delayed until late 2014, the consoles have suffered from droughts, huge amounts of remakes, and there has been very little support in Japan until recently and despite having great games announced, the Japanese market also suffers from large amounts of remakes.

Remakes aren't necessarily a bad thing as long as they're remakes of actually good, entertaining games. You say that about the PS4 and the Xbox One, but didn't the 3DS kick off with a line-up of remakes as well? Splinter Cell, Rayman, Starfox, Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid 3D, SMT: Devil Survivor and more? It was the Portendo 3DS for a long time.

 

[The Catboy]

Small delays can help fix a game overall and work out some of the bugs that they don't want in launch or at least make it stable enough to allow a future patch to fix it. But with that said Nintendo has been delaying far too much lately, to the point where there are extremely dry spells between games. Like yes the ones we have now are good, but they aren't holding over for new games and for the most part my Wii U is just sitting there collecting dust.
Then of course you have games like Watch_Dogs, which was a good game to begin with, but waiting for the delay on the Wii U is killing it. Like yeah I bet it's going to be good, but at this point in time everyone who is anyone has played, beaten, sold, and re-bought the game for shits and giggles. At this point the delay is just hurting the game more than it's helping it.
Of course there's also games like Duke Nukem Forever...I don't think there's a reason to get into detail on this game.

My point is, yeah delaying can help, but know the limits before you start killing the game with your delays.

 

[TripleSMoon]

Skyward Sword and Return to Dreamland were released in 2011, like you said. Sure, there was Mario Party, but even on the best of terms the Wii didn't see a single worthwhile release for several months, that's quite a downer to me considering the fact that the PS3 and Xbox 360 see support to this day. The Wii was very much dead the way I see it, Nintendo couldn't support it all by itself and third party long since lost interest.

I'm not sure why you're repeating that over and over again when I already said that I agree with that bit. But "no major release in years" is just a flat-out false statement. "Not a single worthwhile release for several months" is WAY different from "no major release in years."

 

[Guild McCommunist]

I think there's a sweet spot for delays. Like one delay I think should be enough. Announce more than that and you're dead in the water.

If you delay a game too much, people begin to lose confidence and hype in it or build up unrealistic expectations for it. Like Half Life 3, while I guess never "announced" or "delayed", it's been so long that no one cares or people think it will be the most revolutionary thing in gaming.

A bad game will always be bad, but no one will care about a game that takes ten years to come out.

 

[Foxi4]

I'm not sure why you're repeating that over and over again when I already said that I agree with that bit. But "no major release in years" is just a flat-out false statement. "Not a single worthwhile release for several months" is WAY different from "no major release in years."

I apologize for my obvious and humorous hyperbole which I admitted was a hyperbole, I was just explaining that the hyperbole was a hyperbole.

 

[Hyro-Sama]

I apologize for my obvious and humorous hyperbole which I admitted was a hyperbole, I was just explaining that the hyperbole was a hyperbole.

Yo dawg, I heard you like hyperboles...