[Lynk Former]

I'd like to show you guys something which falls in line with this thread. It comes from a news post from GoNintendo.

Shigeru Miyamoto interview
http://gonintendo.com/?p=41454

A portion of another Wii Fit-heavy interview with the Times Online…

“We want to broaden the definition of what a video game is, to create games for people whether they are five or 95, whether they are men or women.” - Shigeru Miyamoto

Personally, I agree with Shiggy here... but there are a lot of people who don't... The comments to this post shows that it's not just fans of Sony and Microsoft that hate what Nintendo is doing, but Nintendo fans as well...

I've quoted some comments from that page, it's a conversation between myself and someone calling himself JDW. Now, he's entitled to his opinion and I'm not here to slander him. We have opposing views and we're both debating them... what I want to point out in this thread are some of the views people have when it comes to games like Wii Sports, Wii Fit and the idea of an expanded market.

April 27th, 2008 at 10:40 pm

Wow….I’m really getting progressively disenchanted with the direction Miyamto and Nintendo is taking right now.

Instead of making a great game that will appeal to a specific audience who will adore this game, Miyamoto is determined to make new games so generic and lacking in any sort of personality that they cannot fail to appeal to everyone.

It’s so cheap….why try hard to really appeal to demographics when you can make one cheap-ass game for all.

April 27th, 2008 at 11:00 pm

@ JDW:

Shiggy knows that if videogames want to survive, the definition of a videogame has to expand into other fields. There will ALWAYS many developers who will create games for the existing audience, and just to remind you, that audience gets generic, unoriginal and cheap games too.

Imagine how bad movies would be if ALL of them were action movies starring the usual generic action heroes… there has to be something more than that… and I’m sure there are people who would want nothing but the same kind of action movies… but we need romantic comedies, and we need documentaries and exercise videos.

Finally, don’t think Nintendo has stopped making games for a specific demographic… I wouldn’t call Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn a generic game made for all. They’re also not publishing Fatal Frame 4 just so they can add Mii support and making it for the expanded market.

Just because there are games being made which you’re not interested in, it doesn’t mean that videogames are turning into a bad direction… it just means there is a larger variety of games being made which is reaching audiences which aren’t YOU (or me).

April 27th, 2008 at 11:24 pm

@ Lynk

It’s not that these games don’t appeal to me that is annoying……..it is the fact that they are being made as dumbed down as possible so that absolutely everyone can have a small amount of enjoyment from the game.

April 28th, 2008 at 2:26 am

@ JDW:

Which games are being dumbed down and what do you mean exactly by “dumbed down”?

April 28th, 2008 at 3:14 am

My definition of being dumbed down required several levels of thinking.

1 - “dumbed down” as in containing a purely childish narrative and offering very little in the way of an engaging storyline.

2 - “dumbed down” as in appealing t the lowest common denominator of gamers…..i.e everyone. Now Nintendo main interest is purely making games that involve no extreme gameplay elements, nothing too taxing, just watered down gameplay designed to encourage pensioners and cripples to play games.

April 28th, 2008 at 4:12 am

@ JDW:

1 - Wait, wait… “purely childish narrative”?… “Offering very little in the way of engaging storyline”?… You mean like Mario or Pikmin? No, you’re absolutely right, Nintendo needs to make the next BioShock and Mass Effect… obviously they aren’t filling their quota of of riveting narratives and engaging storylines which deal with very adult issues… but we all know Nintendo has released games that deal with some very adult issues and dark themes. If you want me to make a list of past, present and future games, let me know, I’ll be happy to enlighten you.

Just because Nintendo has made games like Nintendogs, Brain Age, Wii Sports and Wii Fit doesn’t mean that’s all that they’re going to do now. They’re expanding their horizons, not turning their back on one to pursue another.

2 - Okay, now I’m gonna give you an example of why you are so misguided about this view you have that Nintendo is no longer making games that have “extreme gameplay elements”…

It’s called Mario Kart Wii. Sure, you can sit there and assume it’s meant for casual folks because the Wii Wheel is packed with it, but this game has a lot of depth which some people aren’t aware of… maybe because they’re too proud to admit it, or maybe because they haven’t played the game long enough to realise it. I’m from Australia, so I’ve had plenty of time with MKWii to figure this all out.

The Wii Wheel does work, it really does. It’s main purpose is to attract people who wouldn’t normally play videogames to pick it up and give it a go… and it IS fun to use, holy crap is it fun. If I got four people in a room and all of them used Wii Wheels instead of traditional control methods for MKWii, we’d have a blast, it’s that good.

But of course, the Wii Wheel does have its limits, it’s a lot more difficult to use… the reason for this isn’t because the game was made badly, oh no, the game was made perfectly well. It’s because there’s a larger field of movement to be made if you want to go from 100% left to 100% right instead of using a control stick. So, okay, if you consider this to be a bad control method, that’s fine… in fact, Nintendo knew that not everyone would buy into the whole Wii Wheel concept, but they put it in there anyway to target an expanded audience.

So, does this mean they abandoned the core gamer in favour of an expanded view? No, because we still have the more traditional control methods, and the game IS challenging. Folks who play this game casually will play 50cc with the Wii Wheel and they’ll have fun… but folks like us… we’ll be on 150cc with the GCN Controller or the Wiimote + Nunchuk method (I like using the Wiimote + Nunchuk personally) and we’ll be carving up that track and powersliding around those corners and getting those killer times that’ll be posted up on the net in the time trial mode.

Nothing has been watered down in Mario Kart Wii, it just gives people MORE options as to how they want to play it and it opens up the game for a wider audience group WITHOUT sacrificing anything. Believe me, if you think MKWii isn’t going to be a challenge just because there are certain elements which are casual friendly… then you’re going to be sadly mistaken. There is so much insanity in this game, it’s not funny… well it is but you get what I mean.

Oh, and your last sentence about “pensioners and cripples” suggest that’s what your entire argument is based on… wow, one single game… but I’m sure you also mean to include Wii Fit, so two games… *thinks” let’s see… Twilight Princess, Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn, Metroid Prime 3 Corruption, Mario Kart Wii, Super Mario Galaxy… no, obviously those games get cancelled out by Wii Sports and Wii Fit, so we can’t count them at all…………………….

One last thing… I don’t care what your issues are, but don’t call people with disabilities, “cripples”… none of them deserve that.