Nintendum?
If you remember in my last blog, I mentioned how I was worried that if Nintendo stayed on their current path, they could end up doing to the industry what, in years bygone, they saved the industry from. Here is my blog where I mention this:
If you don't won't to bother reading it, essentially Nintendo saved the gaming industry, single handedly. As trashy, poorly developed games were bought up by the publicon thecheap, more expensivegames that developers poored their hearts into sat on the shelves. Studios went out of bussiness, and the video game industry was literally on the verge of collapse.But good ole' Nintendo came in to play. They inventedthe Nintendo "Official Seal of Quality". If you bought a game with this seal, you knew you were getting a good game, because Nintendo only awarded it toquality titles. In this way (although, for the sake of this article, I have shortened the story), Nintendo saved the industry. Seriously.
Like I stated before, in my previous blog, Iexpressed my distaste for Nintendo's new business model. I was worried they couldturn the game industry back to the way it was when they saved it. Although it was probable, I didn't think we were anywhere near the point where we would see evidence of of my worries, but check this out:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6240132.html?tag=latestheadlines;title;3
There is the artical if you would like to read it in its entirety, but I will be quoting the most important parts for you here.
-"True to analysts' predictions, the gaming industry was not able to lure consumers in increasing numbers to retail in October." "...drops of 19 percent...hardware drops of up to 23 percent..."
Why is that, you say?
-"According to a pair of analysts, October sales indicate that casual gamers are largely at fault for the continued decline in industry sales. As noted by Electronic Entertainment Design and Research's Jesse Divnich, casual gamers haven't returned to buy more gaming goods this year. Further, he believes this group will continue to stay away until the arrival of new hardware from platform manufacturers, such as Microsoft's Project Natal or a new DS from Nintendo."
-"The lack of sales continues to be driven down by non-traditional and casual gamers who have failed to make follow-up purchases,"
-"...deflating casual games bubble..."
Sound familiar?
So, how arethey gonna fix this mess?
-"We believe it will take the introduction of some newtype of gameplay or peripheral before we see a resurgence in the casual and non-traditional markets,"
Oh gawd...Did anyone else notice the underlined word? How arethey gonna fix this mess that was started by crappy games and an outlandish number of peripherals? Why, by peripherals of course! Endless spiral anyone? Indeed.
And what do more perihperals do? Reign in more shallow customers, which do this:
-"We believe these declines represent a current video game economy that is driven by promotions, discounts, or temporary sales,"..."Once the excitement of a bundle, discount, or permanent price drop retreats, so do sales."
These aren't return customers Nintendo! Can't you see that?!?
I could rant and rant and rant, but sometimes you can say more with less words. So, I will leave youwith these nice littles quotes and predicitions from industry analysts. Until next time.
~This is just gonna be a short little entry.
Go to this link:
And look under the "Blog Bunker" section. My blog is there...I can't believe it...honestly, I can't. I am so happy, I can't quite describe it.
To Gamespot: Thanks for the mention, that makes writing these blogs worth while. Your timing couldn't have been better, as I needed a little pick-me-up. Thanks again, and again, and again. Thanks a thousoand times over! 
Wii Woes:
So, Iwata says the Wii has stalled, huh? No kdding! Today, Nintendo, I want to teach you a little history lesson. And, amusingly enough, you will end up learning from yourself! Here we go:
If one reads the full history of Nintendo (a Gamespot article, and a great one at that), a philosophy of Nintendo becomes quite apparent: Gameplay first, graphics last. Nintendo has always developed high quality games for its systems, as well as getting well known third party developers to do the same. Reading the history of Nintendo shows that-again and again-Nintendo's system's areoutperformed graphically by other offerings, yet succeed in sales. Why is that? When the Sega 32X (We know it as the Genesis), a 32-bit system, was getting stomped on by the NintendoSNES, a 16-bit system, a puzzled press asked a Nintendo representativethe reason for the SNES success over its technically superior partner. His response? "Games make the system, not graphics".
Beautiful.Hit the nail on the head. While the SNES was getting Mario, Link, Mortal Combat, and other such gold titles, the Genesis was getting flops, rushed projects, and poorly done ports. Who cares how good a game looks if it sucks? As for me,graphics have always been second rate in myopinion. Honestly, I don't much care for amazing graphics. Sure, its nice, but gameplay and storyline mean so much more. As an exmaple, I enjoy Call of Duty on my Wii considerably more than I do on a PS3 or 360. Are the visiuals sub-par on the Wii? Yes. But the control scheme more than makes up for it in my book.
So, right now, some of you are thinking, "Whatever, Nintendo's under poweredsystems have sold well because of kids, thats all.Graphics are the real sale point of a system". Well, here is another tidbit to back up my opinion. The PS2, despite beingnine years old, is stelling selling respectably well. Why is that? Because of its amazing graphics? Compared to todays systems, its graphics aren't anything special, so no one should be buying it anymore, right? Wrong. The PS2 has a plethora of outstanding titles spanning every imaginable genre. RPGs, FPS, rythm games, and a laudable amount of highly unique games. Titles like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, Shadow of the Colossus, Time Splitters, Okami, Parapa the Rapper, ICO, Guitar Hero, and much more made this system strong. There is a wealth of instant ****cs and must-not-miss games on the PS2. Heck, their still developing games for it today!
And why has the DS become the best selling game system of all time? Amazing titles. Sure, there is alot of junk to sift through to find the good titles, but some simply outstanding games have been, are being, and will be developed for the DS. Many games on it are a can't-miss experience, and the DS's sales reflect that.
So, back on track. Nintendo, why do you think your Wii sold strong, then flat-lined a fewyears later? Maybe, I dunno, its because of the complete lack of good games bieng developed? Yah, that might be it. Almost nothing but shovel-ware and senseless periphreals have graced Wii in the last two years. There certainly are good titles for the Wii, but a steady stream (or even anoccasional stream!) of quality titles are needed to sustain a system's worth.Nintendo systems are all I have everowned, but thisgame draught for the Wii has pushed me over theedge and into buying a PS3.
Nintendo, you single handedly brought the gaming industry back from the brink of collapse by creatinga system(the NES) with high quality titles,keeping down shovel-ware by instituting the "Nintendo Seal of Quality".In this way, you pulled theentire industry back into existence, even after poor quality games had turned the publicopinion to that of believing gaming was a "fad", and that it was "done and over". So, don't fell victim to something that, by conquering, made you great. No more junk, no morefoolishness, no more periphreals, no more gimmicks, no more Mario Galaxy 2 (seriously...); bacl basics. Remember who your realfans are: not the Wii Fit buying sixty year olds, but the teen to young adults who truly love your offerings.
Learn from your past to shape your future. That is all.
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