Nintendo: "We are thinking about a new business structure"

[Agoonga]

Nintendo needs to make better use of their innovative hardware.

[Polarthief]

Nintendo needs to make better use of their innovative hardware.

Agreed. It's not even that hard.

I would kill to get an SMRPG2 (Obviously will never happen because Square's a douchebag) or Paper Mario 3 (because Sticker Star sucked a fat one) to get us another good Mario game (and RPG) in an era where good Mario games come out about 5% of the time.

[Rennadrel]

At least the Wii U is a nice touch of innovation, albeit it being a DS + Wii, but an upgraded fusion of the two.

Regardless, Nintendo's biggest problem atm is the power of the Wii U being vastly inferior to that of the PS4 and XBone, and by this, I mean "LAWL GRAYFIX RN'T GUD ENUF". Because of this (and the tablet controller that is AMAZING albeit confusing), it doesn't get the 3rd party support that the other two consoles (and PCs) get, hence why the library of games for the Wii U well over a year after initial release is really low, let alone the GOOD games that exist are... well, I could probably count them all on one hand.


My only concern is that if they decide to go with a new system (that's already been rumored), what will happen to those of us who bought a Wii U? Are they giving us a refund or discount on the new system? Are we going to get another 3DS-style Ambassador Program (for the second time now)? Or, are they just going to give their devoted fans a giant middle finger and laugh?

My Wii U's been collecting dust for the last year. I picked up a few of the newer games (SM3DW and Wind Waker HD [albeit a remake...]) around the holidays, and while they're both incredibly good (the additions to WW HD are so nice), they're basically all the games I have, after Monster Hunter and Nintendo Land. Worried that this system is just going to die off so quickly in favor of a new console that isn't between last and the current generation purely due to idiots who thinks graphics are more vital than gameplay.

I don't even think it's the consoles power, it's the lousy SDK's and poor communication by Nintendo coupled with a controller that is most likely a bastard to code for and having games play on both the TV or the controller is far more work then what other studios want to do. It might be convenient for them but it's not for the other developers. Apparently there are rumors that Nintendo already has next generation devices in the works, including a new portable and that the Wii U could wind up having it's plug pulled early.

[Polarthief]

I don't even think it's the consoles power, it's the lousy SDK's and poor communication by Nintendo coupled with a controller that is most likely a bastard to code for and having games play on both the TV or the controller is far more work then what other studios want to do. It might be convenient for them but it's not for the other developers. Apparently there are rumors that Nintendo already has next generation devices in the works, including a new portable and that the Wii U could wind up having it's plug pulled early.

- Could you explain what "SDK's" means?

- The "controller being too hard to code for" argument is absolute bullshit because there's the Pro Controller which was MADE for 3rd party games (and is NO different from a 360/PS3 controller). Not to mention, the game doesn't HAVE to utilize the motion controls, camera, microphone, nor the tablet touch controls/screen (notice all the features of the CONTROLLER, by the way). It has 2 joysticks, a D-Pad, 4 primary buttons (A/B/X/Y), 4 shoulder buttons (Left/Right Bumpers and Left/Right Triggers), and a Start/Select button. Anyone who actually says it's "too hard" to code for the controller isn't even giving a second thought about how stupid that argument is.

- Like I said, the game doesn't HAVE to utilize the screen, or could simply force the Pro Controller.

- I wouldn't mind the new console (that supposedly also comes with the new handheld) [leaked as "Nintendo Fusion"], assuming I get some form of compensation for buying this now shelved system. They had a price drop on the 3DS and I got a nice handful of 10 NES and 10 GBA virtual console games on my 3DS (the GBA ones haven't even been released for the public to buy!), which is actually a very nice value over the drop in price of $80 (not to mention they picked some of my all time favorites like Wario Land 4 and Metroid Fusion). Either some form of discount for the new system, some level of refund, or an Ambassador-like program that will carry over to the new system. Giving me ANY of these would make me feel better, but if they chose the last suggestion, they'd have to give us QUITE a bit to make up for the price of the Wii U ($250 for White, $300 for Black)

[Lothaeryn]

- Could you explain what "SDK's" means?

I believe it stands for "source developer's kit" or essentially the toolkit Nintendo gives developers to use for making games on their consoles.

[Deleted]

Mario Kart is a good game, fun for everyone, regardless of the platform. I'm not saying everything Mario is bad. I'm actually refering more to what Mvallas is saying here:


At some point you saturate the market. You need to diversify, otherwise people lose interest. Not the best comparison, but, it's like when you eat something special and you really like it, but then you start eating it every day and it's no longer special.

And about the mad part. People that clearly still live in their mothers basements, clearly don't shower, ever, and look like ultra-dorks even when they're way in their thirties, piss me off so much. That guy could get some lenses, properly shave, do something with his hair, or just get rid of it entirely (1mm) and start wearing something more mature and instead of doing games, he'd be doing other things. It's like a mental picture of the bad side of gaming.

What an obnoxious person you are. Take your prejudice elsewhere.

[Immitis]

And I was sick of Call of Duty after the 3rd game and tired of Halo after the 2nd game, but you know, their respective developers have continued to milk the ever living crap out of them too.

See? I can be a pessimist as well.

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Me too, I loved that game. I don't think in the generations since I have sunk as much time into an entire gaming system as I did that one. My brother and I both destroyed more then one controller playing Mario Party games on it. It's such a shame that console gaming doesn't have that kind of fun anymore. Nintendo really did try to bring that back with Super Mario 3D World though and I hope they can find a way to reboot the Mario Party franchise into something with that old time fun simple and enjoyable local multiplayer but also expanding it to have online play as well. Despite being an adult, my most enjoyable gaming moments are the one's sitting in front of a TV with some friends having fun playing a game with that competitive sort of feel but isn't so serious that you can't laugh and have a good time with it. I have been of the opinion for some time that the advent of online gaming for consoles has overall impacted the quality of our multiplayer experiences. There is nothing more fun then being able to laugh and giggle while trash talking your friends by doing stupid things in a game.

i was kind of poor for awhile when i was younger and the only console i had was an old nintendo 64 someone gave me.

the good part was all the used nintendo 64 games were like 10 dollars so i ended up playing tons of nintendo 64 games when i was younger.

i remember going up to gamestop (it was called funcoland back then O-O) like once a month and getting like 3 10 dollar games. i dont think i got a gamecube until they like stopped selling nintendo 64 games.

then someone broke into my house and stole my 64 my gamecube and all my pokemon cards and my uncle gave me his old ps2.

then when the wii came out i had that for a few years and then i became homeless for a couple years and only had a ds and some pokemon games.

now all ive got is 1 3ds, 1 3ds xl. and an old pc from 2003 o-o

[Suporex]

To think the same company that made this commercial is the same one that makes commercials with 10 year old kids and emphasizing family time for the Wii and Wii U.

What Nintendo needs to do is ditch the ultra family niche they adopted with the Wii and go back to SNES, N64, Gamecube type of advertising. Which appeals to all ages not just 10 year olds and their parents.

To rebound the Wii U Nintendo really needs to put first-party into overdrive. Announce actual release dates for Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. instead of vague time frames. Mario Kart 8 is supposed to be released in the Spring but it's almost February and all we have is "Spring 2014". Announcements at E3 for the next Zelda or Metroid would help a lot too. Nintendo also needs to work with third-parties instead of them expecting third-parties to develop on the Wii U. If they don't do something fast the Wii U is going to flop harder than the Sega Saturn.

[Vespian]

What an obnoxious person you are. Take your prejudice elsewhere.

Nothing pre about it. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/postjudice

[Deleted]

Make a freaking pokemon game wich play's like the modern day mmo !! i'm pretty sure they could figure a way to make this happen !

[draykorinee]

Nothing pre about it. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/postjudice

What you said was prejudice no discussion, it was also a pathetically puerile.

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To think the same company that made this commercial is the same one that makes commercials with 10 year old kids and emphasizing family time for the Wii and Wii U.

Aye, gettinga bit bored of the family fest of Nintendo.

[Deleted]

Ok? PS and Xbox have parental controls. Doesn't stop kids there.

that is due to the parents, not the parental control systems.
I'm a teacher and i like spending my breaks with the kids talking about videogames.
What i noticed is, that 99% of the kids i teach and take care of are completely unrestricted when it comes to video games.
i know kids the age of 8 that are allowed to play Borderlands, Assassin's Creed, Counterstrike and many more. Kids the age of 10 playing GTA5 and watching movies like Saw and stuff.

To be honest: it is shocking. Don't get me wrong, not every kid out there has such parents, that's why i said "99% of the kids I teach" ... just to make that clear again.
Parental control does NOTHING if the parents don't set it up. and in my experience they usually don't care. Simple as that!

With Nintendo on the contrary i have the impression that many things from games to online content are tailored to be fun and innocent in a way, which kind of is good. It certainly isn't a disadvantage for the mature customer (those usually couldn't care less if there's lots of blood or none at all if the gameplay feels good). And it certainly isn't a disadvantage for the younger customers that are being protected automatically.

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Let's look at some of the "helpful" suggestions some of the people here have layer out.

-Stop making games of their flagship IPs

This is what Capcom is doing (Mega Man). Their fans are pissed.

-Port their games to cell phones rather than making good console games

This is what Square is doing. Their fans are pissed.

-Go 3rd party.

This is what Sega did. Their quality cratered. Their fans are pissed.

-Make new IPs

Let's take a look at this one seriously. Did ANY of you buy the following games? (Be honest)

-Elite Beat Agents
-Alundra
-Brave Fencer Musashi
-Okami
-Ni no Kuni
-The Wonderful 101
-Zack & Wiki
-Xenoblade
-Last Story
-Pandora's Tower
-Madworld

Don't get me wrong, I would like new IPs. It's just that I don't want to hear this from people who most likely won't buy them.

Look, I get it. Nintendo games aren't for you. That's fine, I should expect that from a primarily PC focused site. But do you really want the gaming scene to become even more homogenized than it already is? Most of the market is focusing on you guys. Even companies that didn't traditionally focus on games that appeal to you are solely focusing there just to stay afloat. How much more do you want before you're satisfied?

I played:

The Wonderful 101 (hillariously amazing)
Xenoblade Chronicles (one of the best JRPGs out there, can't wait for X to be released)
Madworld (hillariously amazing)

friends of mine played and greatly enjoyed:
Pandora's Tower
Ni No Kuni
Last Story

one of the best examples for an IP being mainstreamed is ...
Resident Evil! And I hope Nintendo won't go down that route ... would be disastrous.

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Or Gamecubes original name, Nintendo Dolphin! At least I think that's what it was

Why not Back to the Roots ?

Nintendo Entertaiment System 7

(Why 7? Count with me ... NES, SNES, N64, GC, Wii, WiiU - that's 6 ^^)

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My only concern is that if they decide to go with a new system (that's already been rumored), what will happen to those of us who bought a Wii U? Are they giving us a refund or discount on the new system? Are we going to get another 3DS-style Ambassador Program (for the second time now)? Or, are they just going to give their devoted fans a giant middle finger and laugh?

My Wii U's been collecting dust for the last year. I picked up a few of the newer games (SM3DW and Wind Waker HD [albeit a remake...]) around the holidays, and while they're both incredibly good (the additions to WW HD are so nice), they're basically all the games I have, after Monster Hunter and Nintendo Land. Worried that this system is just going to die off so quickly in favor of a new console that isn't between last and the current generation purely due to idiots who thinks graphics are more vital than gameplay.

Nintendo couldn't pull such a thing off ... they'd piss off every single customer who trusted in them. And i believe Nintendo to be a company that doesn't turn down their loyals.
I think they'll stick with the WiiU for a couple more years and maybe release a new console "earlier" (meaning much earlier as PS4 and XBO followups are released). Maybe 2017 ? Actually i'd be ok with that, would give me 5 years with my beloved WiiU which is quite good a lifespan for a console, considering that i upgrade or exchange my PC every 2-3 years, which is much more expensive

[Deleted]

you forgot to count the dreamcast so 8 then

[Deleted]

you forgot to count the dreamcast so 8 then

that was sega ... ^^

[Vespian]

What you said was prejudice no discussion, it was also a pathetically puerile.

With all do respect, when you know people that live with their mother til their 40th and they look like the guy in the video, you might comment about that guy, talking about how that person should grow up and get his own life. I'm not one to constantly have such conversation, but this occasionally happens, because everyone has one or two of such characters living in their vicinity. And you have had such conversation as well, unless you are the subject of that conversation, in which case this might seem slightly confronting, although not meant that way.

Biased or not, prejudice or not, the guy was clearly not shaving and he definitely didn't take a shower or wash his face before he did that video, which suggests that he might not do it that often at all. Contrary to your believes, people can see when someone isn't ´clean´.

Recently, in LoL, there was this Australian Caster. If you compared the regular UK Casters and him, you could clearly see a difference. As if he ran right out of bed, into a shoddy suit, barely or ..not.. considering how he looked. And I'm ignoring the hair. Oh god, the hair.

And if you think I'm looking down on those people, you're wrong, it's the exact opposite. I think they're cutting themselves short. Capable of so much, but looking like a 30 to 40 year old teenager in a sloppy T-Shirt doesn't help.

Enough on the topic though. Let's go back to Nintendo. Which is losing control. Rapidly. They can still be saved.

[Ausr]

Make a freaking pokemon game wich play's like the modern day mmo !! i'm pretty sure they could figure a way to make this happen !

They're not going to make Pokemon an mmo. That's one thing Nintendo is pretty adamant about since they want you to go out, trade, battle, etc instead of just sitting on your fat ass.

Although, that being said, they don't help when you're kinda forced to perfect IV/EV a Pokemon and breed it to hell. /grumble

[Polarthief]

Nintendo sells boxes to play Mario and Zelda.

I was fed up with these two over 15 years ago, so yeah, it's about time for people to start realize this.

Except for the fact that there's SO much you can do with Mario & Zelda, but Nintendo continues to play it safe for the most part. However, SM3DW and Link Between Worlds (as well as Wind Waker HD, but that's a remake so it doesn't really count...) are amazingly fantastic games. Maybe they got their imagination and creativity back.

They're not going to make Pokemon an mmo. That's one thing Nintendo is pretty adamant about since they want you to go out, trade, battle, etc instead of just sitting on your fat ass.

There has been talk of Gen VII being on the Wii U and being named Plus and Minus, so an MMO isn't too to think about (I'm sorry, I had to).

Hell, they don't even need to make it a forced MMO, but they could definitely have some level of MMO-like features like seeing other players in the world and getting to battle/trade with them on the spot rather than at forced locations; just curious how a console Pokemon would fare... I'd much rather prefer them to make it on a handheld (as per the usual) and make a Pokemon Stadium 3 (with online capabilities and 3DS to Wii U connectivity*) that I've been waiting for ever since Pokemon Coliseum let me down so much


* This is already capable as the DS was able to connect to the Wii so I don't see how this would possibly be an issue for Pokemon Stadium 3.

Although, that being said, they don't help when you're kinda forced to perfect IV/EV a Pokemon and breed it to hell. /grumble

Not to mention for no reason. Due to the lack of endgame in Gen VI (X/Y), I became an Eevee breeder. After a week of that nonsense, I got so bored that I don't play X/Y anymore... Kinda wish they had something besides Battle "Maison" to do...

[Vespian]

xcept for the fact that there's SO much you can do with Mario & Zelda

I disagree. You see, the one thing that inventing new characters allows you, is freedom of character. If you pick Mario or Zelda, you are stuck in an archetype, or you are stuck making the character secondary to the gameplay. In the case of Mario definitely the latter. Mario has been a characterless puppet, being abused by all sorts of games, some of which are fun, some of which are not. As I said before, the problem with Nintendo is rehashing of characters. They don't have enough and by using them over and over they beat the living crap out of any individuality those characters used to have.

The advantage of a NEW IP, which Nintendo lacks, is that you can create a setting and character from the base.

[Rennadrel]

Nintendo couldn't pull such a thing off ... they'd piss off every single customer who trusted in them. And i believe Nintendo to be a company that doesn't turn down their loyals.
I think they'll stick with the WiiU for a couple more years and maybe release a new console "earlier" (meaning much earlier as PS4 and XBO followups are released). Maybe 2017 ? Actually i'd be ok with that, would give me 5 years with my beloved WiiU which is quite good a lifespan for a console, considering that i upgrade or exchange my PC every 2-3 years, which is much more expensive

I don't know about that, they seemed to piss in the hardcore gamer's cereal with the Wii and they wound up alienating 3rd party developers with the Wii U as well, they honestly can't get any lower at this point. I'd rather them abandon the Wii U and come out with a new system that walks all over the competition and sticks to the hardcore gaming mentality. They need to improve their online services but right now they seem to have finally started coming around in that regard. I can understand why they went the way they did for the Wii, they had just come off their worst console sales performance in their history (aside from the Virtual Boy) and needed to find a way to make money. So they did that, and it brought them a lot of financial success, however they failed to truly shift their focus back to what their competitors were doing with the Wii U and that is ultimately been what caused the system to fail. I'd rather them admit to their mistakes and move on to something that will garner them more developer support and more content.

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I disagree. You see, the one thing that inventing new characters allows you, is freedom of character. If you pick Mario or Zelda, you are stuck in an archetype, or you are stuck making the character secondary to the gameplay. In the case of Mario definitely the latter. Mario has been a characterless puppet, being abused by all sorts of games, some of which are fun, some of which are not. As I said before, the problem with Nintendo is rehashing of characters. They don't have enough and by using them over and over they beat the living crap out of any individuality those characters used to have.

The advantage of a NEW IP, which Nintendo lacks, is that you can create a setting and character from the base.

I have already stated in multiple threads why new franchises don't work, there is no reason for Nintendo to invent something new when they have the creative assets as developers to find ways to reinvent their existing franchises without making them feel stagnant and rehashed. Just look at every attempt made by 3rd parties to create something new, most of them haven't been financially successful long term. BioShock and Gears of War are two of only a handful of franchises that have been financially successful.

[Polarthief]

I disagree. You see, the one thing that inventing new characters allows you, is freedom of character. If you pick Mario or Zelda, you are stuck in an archetype, or you are stuck making the character secondary to the gameplay. In the case of Mario definitely the latter. Mario has been a characterless puppet, being abused by all sorts of games, some of which are fun, some of which are not. As I said before, the problem with Nintendo is rehashing of characters. They don't have enough and by using them over and over they beat the living crap out of any individuality those characters used to have.

The advantage of a NEW IP, which Nintendo lacks, is that you can create a setting and character from the base.

You don't seem to understand. I said they can DO things with Mario, except they CHOOSE not to. For a (typically) platformer type game, there's so much level design and theory to go into the next Mario game that they've taken upon themselves to not use for anything except SM3DW in the last... what, 10 years? The most "innovation" was the addition of multiplayer since NSMB on DS. I also don't see any problem with the Zelda series (except the motion controls on TP and SS making me not play them) with the only exception of the DS ones Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass, almost all of which have been unique, different, adventures. Each one taking a generally different approach and art style (unless they're released too close together on the same system) that continues to make the games fun.

I'm also curious where the hell the pink puffball has been nowadays.


As far as other IPs go, Square is sitting on quite a goldmine if they were to work with Nintendo once more and make a SMRPG2 (or let the two characters into Smash 4). There's so much love for Geno (and some for Mallow) even to this day EIGHTEEN (18) YEARS LATER (not technically "new" but VASTLY UNDERUSED, with Geno only showing one super-minor appearance in M&L: Superstar Saga on GBA). Or, y'know, come up with a new character; preferably one who uses magic in some form because magic seems to be seriously lacking in Nintendo's IPs.