Angry time
Dear Nintendo,
Over the years I have been a big Nintendo fan, and have only questioned the crazy decisions your company makes once (Mario Kart Double Dash: and I still say it was a bad idea to have 2 people in one kart). But this....this is not the Nintendo that I have followed over the years. What I saw today you should be ashamed of. What I saw was an arrogant show of saying "look how popular we are!" Where are the games? Yes, a new Animal Crossing is nice, and Wii Music is sure to do well, and of course the new Wii Sports but really, that's all you're going to show? Nintendo is famous for having the largest and best selection of first-party games of any other system, and you only show 3? Microsoft showed more first party games, that's just embarrassing. Yes, we get it, it's great that games like Nintendogs are still selling well long past when normal market habits would dictate, but that doesn't mean you should rest on your lorals and not make any more games. You're Nintendo for Christ's sake, all you do is make games! Where's a new Pikmin? That was one of the first games that I thought of that could benefit from Wii remote control when the Wii was announced. Or even a sequel to Geist, which didn't do well on the Gamecube, but could truely benefit from the Wii controls. Or a new Star Fox? Or Donkey Kong? Or Earthbound? Heck, even a new Doshin the Giant would be a welcome announcement. Actually, Doshin the Giant would work really well on the Wii. Why am I the one that has to come up with this, have you just given up Nintendo?
But no, that wasn't even what made me the angriest. No, it was a few articles I saw over at IGN in which Miyamoto said he has no intentions of making new Wave Race or 1080 Snowboarding games. Now, I don't care about those specific games per se, but it's the mentality behind it that bothers me. Nintendo has the perfect means for a new great snowboarding game with the Wii balance board, and instead they strive to make games that "appeal to the broadest audience." Which is a stance I can appreciate, but you can still make those broad appeal games, and then make another game that expands on it to make it more of a challenge for the hardcore audience. Same with Wave Race, where they showed a jet ski game in the new Wii Sports that was very basic. Miyamoto says there aren't plans to expand on it to make it into it's own full racing game, but why? They can release Wii Sports Resort for the "broad audience" appeal, and still do a new Wave Race for the hardcore appeal. It's great that Nintendo has found a new market, but the outright rejection of maintaining their previous audience baffles me.
I need some time to myself, some time to think. I'm only angry because I really, genuinely want Nintendo to succeed, but if they keep shooting themselves in the foot I can't keep rooting for them. I know this seems a little extreme considering this is just videogame news, but Miyamoto is someone that I hold a great deal of respect for. If I could someday have even half of the talent and creativity that he does, I could die happy. But I don't even recognize him anymore. This is a deep personal blow for me. I don't expect anyone else to understand why it means so much to me, but I hope people at least understand that it does mean a lot.
Update: Nadia and this are what keeps me going:
Over the years I have been a big Nintendo fan, and have only questioned the crazy decisions your company makes once (Mario Kart Double Dash: and I still say it was a bad idea to have 2 people in one kart). But this....this is not the Nintendo that I have followed over the years. What I saw today you should be ashamed of. What I saw was an arrogant show of saying "look how popular we are!" Where are the games? Yes, a new Animal Crossing is nice, and Wii Music is sure to do well, and of course the new Wii Sports but really, that's all you're going to show? Nintendo is famous for having the largest and best selection of first-party games of any other system, and you only show 3? Microsoft showed more first party games, that's just embarrassing. Yes, we get it, it's great that games like Nintendogs are still selling well long past when normal market habits would dictate, but that doesn't mean you should rest on your lorals and not make any more games. You're Nintendo for Christ's sake, all you do is make games! Where's a new Pikmin? That was one of the first games that I thought of that could benefit from Wii remote control when the Wii was announced. Or even a sequel to Geist, which didn't do well on the Gamecube, but could truely benefit from the Wii controls. Or a new Star Fox? Or Donkey Kong? Or Earthbound? Heck, even a new Doshin the Giant would be a welcome announcement. Actually, Doshin the Giant would work really well on the Wii. Why am I the one that has to come up with this, have you just given up Nintendo?
But no, that wasn't even what made me the angriest. No, it was a few articles I saw over at IGN in which Miyamoto said he has no intentions of making new Wave Race or 1080 Snowboarding games. Now, I don't care about those specific games per se, but it's the mentality behind it that bothers me. Nintendo has the perfect means for a new great snowboarding game with the Wii balance board, and instead they strive to make games that "appeal to the broadest audience." Which is a stance I can appreciate, but you can still make those broad appeal games, and then make another game that expands on it to make it more of a challenge for the hardcore audience. Same with Wave Race, where they showed a jet ski game in the new Wii Sports that was very basic. Miyamoto says there aren't plans to expand on it to make it into it's own full racing game, but why? They can release Wii Sports Resort for the "broad audience" appeal, and still do a new Wave Race for the hardcore appeal. It's great that Nintendo has found a new market, but the outright rejection of maintaining their previous audience baffles me.
I need some time to myself, some time to think. I'm only angry because I really, genuinely want Nintendo to succeed, but if they keep shooting themselves in the foot I can't keep rooting for them. I know this seems a little extreme considering this is just videogame news, but Miyamoto is someone that I hold a great deal of respect for. If I could someday have even half of the talent and creativity that he does, I could die happy. But I don't even recognize him anymore. This is a deep personal blow for me. I don't expect anyone else to understand why it means so much to me, but I hope people at least understand that it does mean a lot.
Update: Nadia and this are what keeps me going: