Nintendo Direct 17th May 2013

[grossaffe]

If one of their best and best selling franchises (we'll use Zelda) is being outsold by a franchise that was only born this very generation Nintendo is doing something terribly wrong. Since the launch of Mass Effect (10.2 million combined), Zelda (bringing in 9.9 million combined). Their biggest game of that timeframe (Skyward) barely outsold the first Mass Effect game (completely lacking in brand recognition). I'm not going to argue over quality with fan boys from either aisle but it illustrates pretty clearly that Nintendo could afford to put a new IP towards older game demographics. They're neglect is getting overshadowed by upstarts so easily.

What exactly constitutes a game for the older demographics? Bald Brooding Badasses, Blood, and Boobs?

 

[hhs]

What exactly constitutes a game for the older demographics? Bald Brooding Badasses, Blood, and Boobs?

Come on, don't do this to me man. I love pokemon as much as kids do, hell probably more. But you can tell a game made for children from one made for older crowds. The bald space marine thing is exactly what I'm not saying which I made clear. I said it doesn't have to be hyper violent machismo nonsense because that too is ironically child oriented. I listed Metroid Prime as an example. A game that at least exists in a world of depth. It sets a tone and a world of inspection.

There's no adult themes in a game like Kirby. It lacks ethics, philosophy, character development, battles of wits, politics and pretty much everything that could be implemented to make an adult game. It's just happy colorful apple trees and slices of cake. Can be fun but once you put it down you don't walk away from it with anything new. A game could be adult oriented by approaching real world issues and presentation like LA Noire. It could carry simple but ominous Brother's Grimm-like delivery like Shadow of the Colossus or Dark Souls. It could be about taking down an imperialist empire and challenging assumptions. The closest I've seen to this from Nintendo are Fire Emblem and Advance Wars: Days of Ruin but neither of them really escapes hammy-ness.

I'm just saying Nintendo could make use of the types of presentations that grab headlines. Bioshock Infinite is lauded as a game for thinkers. That attracts the adults that the violence missed. Why can't Nintendo make a game which has a smart narrative instead of assuming everyone is too stupid to enjoy it.

 

[ShadowSoldier]

I gotta admit that was pretty much the worst Nintendo Direct I've ever seen. Others may have slipped my radar and dodged the title but this one sure didn't.

I don't care about a glorified Mario reskin for a game I had no intention of ever buying. I don't care about cell phone games like ninja jump that take you out of the game by reminding you that you're in your living room constantly and need to exit the tv. I respect Pikmin, enough that I played the first one, but there's no upgrade with the 2nd or 3rd release. It still looks and probably plays like a gamecube game. I'm not sure how many more hours I'm willing to dedicate to waiting for an AI to carry a number block from point A to point B.

Nintendo is bringing out the heavy hitters for E3 and I get that but it makes me ask why they even had this Direct at all when they had nothing to show for it. We know Smash, Zelda and Pokemon are coming but Nintendo needs to bring in something fresh and sustainable. Pumping out stupid little flash games and reskins, retreads of middling IPs aren't going to help with more than a sugar crash. A new IP like Retro's version of Metroid that appeals to older players would be nice.

If one of their best and best selling franchises (we'll use Zelda) is being outsold by a franchise that was only born this very generation Nintendo is doing something terribly wrong. Since the launch of Mass Effect (10.2 million combined), Zelda (bringing in 9.9 million combined). Their biggest game of that timeframe (Skyward) barely outsold the first Mass Effect game (completely lacking in brand recognition). I'm not going to argue over quality with fan boys from either aisle but it illustrates pretty clearly that Nintendo could afford to put a new IP towards older game demographics. They're neglect is getting overshadowed by upstarts so easily.

Mass Effect is also more easily to be purchased. Zelda is only on Nintendo consoles, and Mass Effect is on Steam, Origin, PC (I mean boxed copies), PS3, 360, WiiU now, obviously it's going to sell more. And also considering that between Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword (I'm only using the main Zelda games), Mass Effect has been able to release a trilogy (few months passed Skyward Sword but the point still stands).

 

[hhs]

Mass Effect is also more easily to be purchased. Zelda is only on Nintendo consoles, and Mass Effect is on Steam, Origin, PC (I mean boxed copies), PS3, 360, WiiU now, obviously it's going to sell more. And also considering that between Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword (I'm only using the main Zelda games), Mass Effect has been able to release a trilogy (few months passed Skyward Sword but the point still stands).

That is a better point than what the previous guy said but it is making the wrong argument. I'm not saying that Zelda is a worse seller than Mass Effect. I'm saying if a new (unknown quantity) IP from a far less powerful developer can hit the stratosphere and go toe-to-toe with Nintendo, it is either being exceptional or Nintendo is performing poorly. In either case, Nintendo should be analyzing and utilizing the things that the other developer is doing to improve their own performance where it succeeds.

 

[ShadowSoldier]

That is a better point than what the previous guy said but it is making the wrong argument. I'm not saying that Zelda is a worse seller than Mass Effect. I'm saying if a new (unknown quantity) IP from a far less powerful developer can hit the stratosphere and go toe-to-toe with Nintendo, it is either being exceptional or Nintendo is performing poorly. In either case, Nintendo should be analyzing and utilizing the things that the other developer is doing to improve their own performance where it succeeds.

We're talking about BioWare though. They're not exactly that small of a company, they're well known and highly praised for their games. They've been around since 1995 making fantastic games that everyone loves. Everything they touch gets really high scores, they're that good. Zelda on the other hand is a franchise that simply does not reach out to everybody.

 

[grossaffe]

Come on, don't do this to me man. I love pokemon as much as kids do, hell probably more. But you can tell a game made for children from one made for older crowds. The bald space marine thing is exactly what I'm not saying which I made clear. I said it doesn't have to be hyper violent machismo nonsense because that too is ironically child oriented. I listed Metroid Prime as an example. A game that at least exists in a world of depth. It sets a tone and a world of inspection.

There's no adult themes in a game like Kirby. It lacks ethics, philosophy, character development, battles of wits, politics and pretty much everything that could be implemented to make an adult game. It's just happy colorful apple trees and slices of cake. Can be fun but once you put it down you don't walk away from it with anything new. A game could be adult oriented by approaching real world issues and presentation like LA Noire. It could carry simple but ominous Brother's Grimm-like delivery like Shadow of the Colossus or Dark Souls. It could be about taking down an imperialist empire and challenging assumptions. The closest I've seen to this from Nintendo are Fire Emblem and Advance Wars: Days of Ruin but neither of them really escapes hammy-ness.

I'm just saying Nintendo could make use of the types of presentations that grab headlines. Bioshock Infinite is lauded as a game for thinkers. That attracts the adults that the violence missed. Why can't Nintendo make a game which has a smart narrative instead of assuming everyone is too stupid to enjoy it.

Sorry, didn't mean to come off too snarky there. But if you're looking for a game that has depth of characters and story, politics, betrayal, vengeance, etc., then you should play Xenoblade Chronicles. We know it's getting a sequel (or at the least a spiritual sequel as what Monolith's 'X' is hasn't been explicitly stated) that's probably three years in development, so that should give mature Wii U gamers something to look forward to.

I think Pandora's Tower sounds like another game that would fit your description; you have to kill monsters and rip their flesh out to feed to a vegetarian so that she does not become a monster herself. While Nintendo did not directly develop this game, they did recognize the potential in the studio previously known for producing games based on anime series' and came to them about making a completely new game.

 

[TripleSMoon]

Come on, don't do this to me man. I love pokemon as much as kids do, hell probably more. But you can tell a game made for children from one made for older crowds. The bald space marine thing is exactly what I'm not saying which I made clear. I said it doesn't have to be hyper violent machismo nonsense because that too is ironically child oriented. I listed Metroid Prime as an example. A game that at least exists in a world of depth. It sets a tone and a world of inspection.

There's no adult themes in a game like Kirby. It lacks ethics, philosophy, character development, battles of wits, politics and pretty much everything that could be implemented to make an adult game. It's just happy colorful apple trees and slices of cake. Can be fun but once you put it down you don't walk away from it with anything new. A game could be adult oriented by approaching real world issues and presentation like LA Noire. It could carry simple but ominous Brother's Grimm-like delivery like Shadow of the Colossus or Dark Souls. It could be about taking down an imperialist empire and challenging assumptions. The closest I've seen to this from Nintendo are Fire Emblem and Advance Wars: Days of Ruin but neither of them really escapes hammy-ness.

I'm just saying Nintendo could make use of the types of presentations that grab headlines. Bioshock Infinite is lauded as a game for thinkers. That attracts the adults that the violence missed. Why can't Nintendo make a game which has a smart narrative instead of assuming everyone is too stupid to enjoy it.

I get what you're saying, but I really think it's just not Nintendo's MO. Not every company is going to make adult-oriented games. Conversely, not every company is going to make universal or family oriented games either. Sure there are exceptions like Ubisoft, who make both Rayman and Assassin's Creed, but that doesn't happen terribly often.