This week I started Pokémon Heart Gold a re-release of what is said to be one of the best Pokémon games. This got me thinking about Nintendo and the company. Even more than that, it got me asking myself, “Where did the Nintendo ingenuity that made them a household name go?”
Nintendo has released a new coloured Wii to attract a different demographic, Super Mario Brother Wii is almost the same as other Super Mario games, the new DS XL, which is the 4th redesign of the DS and the re-release of Heart Gold and Soul Silver.
What troubles me about Nintendo’s new design philosophy is that I haven’t noticed any new series’ that are worth the money it cost to develop them. Anecdotal evidence suggests that even though the Wii is winning the pissing contest between Sony and Microsoft, people buy the Wii and soon move on from the novelty of motion control and the gimmicks wear off quite soon after. And the DS isn’t much better. With games varying from Barbie Fashion Show to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Mobilised, the handheld device can’t decide if it wants to accessorise humanity or blast it to hell.
I’m starting to think that if Nintendo can’t release anything that isn’t in the same league as games from the glory days of the late eighties and early nineties, they might be looking at the beginning of the end and in ten or so years, Nintendo might only be a memory.
I don't think Nintendo are going to go under any time soon. They have a target market for making the moolah (enter Gamefreak studios). The only difference between Sega and Nintendo when Sega went under is that Sega made their dosh in the arcades. The end of the arcade era was the deathknell for Sega (until they started to pulled their heads in 10 years later).
ReplyDeleteNintendo has always been ahead of the curve while taking the direction that keeps them familiar with consumer expectations. So while they may seem to be going the way of Sony with re-released products, their ingenuity is still present in many other products and projects.
They're Japanese, so they'll think of something.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to pokemon in particular, it would be nice if they had some form of online PvP that didn't only involve people you know.
I was actually considering buying the game just so I could make a competitive team (99999999 hours of grinding, but I'm pro at grinding) and then beating people to a pulp... but then I found out you can only battle people if you have their 'friend code'.
Sure, you can get friend codes online, but fuck that. They should have set it up in such a way that online tournaments could run through their servers.