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If the gaming industry is an automobile, and the game designers are the drivers, then that makes us, the players, backseat drivers, and we'll be damned if we're gonna let the industry keep on heading the way it's going (good or bad) without letting them know what we think. So buckle up, feel free to complain about there being no air in the back, and bring your most critical and analytical mind to the open air discussion of the current age, Backseat Gamers!
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Thursday, May 5, 2011

Hardcore Nintendo

CAUTION: Wild speculation occurs below.

Stumbled across this article and it made me want to punch all game journalists in the face.

It's painfully obvious that Nintendo is trying to make a core system again. I know that the Wii has been anything but a failure with it's gigantic install base, but I was always right in saying that they're boned come the next XBOX and PS. They're proving me right by making this system.

It's a power grab to try and reclaim some market share for the next year or so because nobody that bought a Wii is going to line up to buy a Wii 2. They don't see the benefit of Wii Fit HD.

I'm sure that 3rd party developers from the US will start porting stuff to the new system, but I'm still banking on Nintendo blowing a goat when it comes to online functionality. They'll do the traditional Japanese thing and it will exist, but only to the gimped standards that Nintendo deems necessary. Friend codes are still around aren't they?

I guess I've just grown very tired of Nintendo love and nostalgia. So what if they make a "core" system. You'll still be able to get the best core games from the 360 and PS3 with great online functionality and a better controller. The only thing that this console means to the fanboys is Zelda and Mario and Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros in HD. That's all. Same old gameplay with the same old tried and true Nintendo methods.

The best thing the console seems to have is 25gb discs. It's something that the PS3 got right and is currently limiting the 360

No hard drive is another huge problem. This is also what leads me to believe they're online will be garbage. So far they're saying it has 8gb flash drive.....wow. My Droid X has a 16gb micro sd card.

The controller has a 6 inch touchscreen on it. Who the hell cares? It's another gimmick that only Nintendo will be able to effectively use in Zelda or Mario for inventory management. The Dreamcast did a very similar thing with their badass removable memory cards with a built in screen. The only game to use it well was Resident Evil: Code Veronica. It displayed your current health at all times which was nice because normally you had to check your inventory to see your health.

I'm just sick of Nintendo always getting a pass because they're Nintendo. They dropped the ball and left the consumers that got them to where they are years ago.

Even if this machine owns you can still only expect a new Mario or Zelda every 3 years. You're looking at probably one of each before the new competition rolls out.

I think that this will go the way of the Dreamcast. A (debatably) great system that tried it's best to make up for a poor previous system. It attempts to grab up market well before the competition and then gets left in the dust. Left to make the worst Sonic games ever for the rest of it's terrible existence.

Mario on 360 and Zelda on PS3. I'm just saying.

9 comments:

  1. I jumped off the Nintendo train a while back.

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  2. I know I talk about this subject a lot and after the actual reveal of this console at E3 I'm sure I'll have more to say, but I'm just so tired of Nintendo love.

    It's the like a less hip version of Apple, but for game consoles. They aren't the end all be all of gaming like most game journalists seem to think.

    I'd like to play Mario Galaxy, but am not paying for a Wii to do so and I won't pay for this new console to do it either.

    Not until they show real growth in game development will I give them anymore money.

    Metroid Prime is the best game Nintendo has ever made and it's the reason I won't sell my GameCube. Well, that and all the hard to find expensive Resident Evils I have for it!

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  3. Scratch that. Retro made Metroid Prime, but I know that Miyamoto had a lot of oversight on it.

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  4. Mario Galaxy was really disappointing... at least, from what I saw. Running around and around on a circle? Ratchet and Clank already did that and way better...

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  5. You're way wrong about Mario Galaxy, Juniper. It was a really engaging game. Adding that smaller planet sphere element to the platforming allowed them to design levels in unique ways, all while maintaining the Mario charm. Mario Galaxy 2 even nailed it down further, with a return to form in level selection (think, Mario Bros. 3...).

    In short, Mario Galaxy is the premiere Mario game for this generation. If you're gonna hate on the Wii, then I guess Mario sucks too, but it was as solid of a release as any previous Mario title. If anything, Galaxy felt less rehashed because of those new elements.

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  6. I just didn't like it... but I also wasn't a big fan of the N64 Mario either. The change from 2D to 3D felt awkward for me but maybe I was too big of a fan of the 2D games, I don't know.

    But a lot of you enjoyed the N64 and the Gamecube whereas my Nintendo days ended with the SNES and then I switched to the PSONE in my early college days.

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  7. Honestly, I'd give Mario Galaxy a run because it can't be worse than Mario Sunshine.

    Sunshine was the THE game that made me go out and buy an XBOX. I'm not joking. I played it and realized that there wasn't any games for me left on the Cube and bought an XBOX 2 days later.

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  8. Agree completely on all counts with 3N3MY. Not a day goes by that I don't look at my entertainment cabinet and see the Wii sitting there just wishing I could get rid of it. Unfortunetly about every three weeks my kids get the urge to play Smash Bros or Wii Sports/Resort. This is only rubbed in when I look at the 5k pts I have on Goozex, scan the Wii games, and see NOTHING good.

    Juniper, you took me back...it was the PSONE that introduced us in college (Business Law wasn't it?)

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  9. I forget which class we had together. Business Law was where we had the fake court hearing and I was the RV salesmen and I wore the ripped pants, cordoroy jacket over a pink/orange/white hawaiian shirt with gold buttons, mesh cowboy hat, and I didn't shave for like a week. I even had the Judge cracking up!

    Those were the days. I got so many burned games from you, LOL!

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