Has Nintendo Really Left The Core Gamer?
It's a hotly debated topic. It's a subject that gets people on all sides more than just a little relied up. And it's something that we're all going to have to live with for the foreseeable future no matter how we feel about it. After being the "it" gift for the past two years, outselling it's competitors, and appearing as the top query on retailer websites and search engines, the mainstream success of the Wii has officially outgrown fad status and is now a force all of it's own. The success hasn't come without a few loses though, namely self-appointed "core" games feeling a little left out of Nintendo's new found "casual" focus. Most can agree that WiiMusic, Animal Crossing, WiiFit and a glut of casual games go a long way to expanding the audience of gamers, but some feel that the Nintendo they once knew and loved has forgotten them for an easier to please bunch of Johnny Come Lately's. Or maybe it's the other way around?
Woffls over at Hide and Geek presents an interesting, even if slightly flawed, argument that the "hardcore" had long ago left the console giant for more Xtreme pastures. Sighting the PS1's release as the beginning of their departure, Woffls claims that the wants and needs of the hardcore audience has dramatically changed into something Nintendo was never really about during their 8 and 16 bit heydays. It's a fascinating concept and one that deserves a read here.
Personally, I agree with him on many points. For better and for worse, Nintendo hasn't changed with the times while the landscape of interactive entertainment has. Just as the Wii is welcoming new players into the fold today, the PS1 did the same for a very different set of people upon its release. Both of these unique audiences are going to require very different sets of interactions, feedback, and experiences to keep them entertained. Where I tend to disagree with most on this subject is that for one company, Nintendo isn't doing that bad of a job of producing a variety of games for both enthusiast and casual audiences. I'm sure there are many here that will look at me funny for saying this, but in the first two years of the Wii we've seen as many significant core titles as we did with in the entire lifespan of the GameCube, and when you add in the amount of industry "cage rattling" casual releases like WiiFit, the volume of titles that the company is producing is pretty impressive.
Perhaps the real factor in all of this is that hardcore gamers are looking to one company to serve everyone's needs. Try to imagine this the other way around with casual gamers feeling a perceived drought of games. Places like NeoGAF would become havens for belligerent casual gamers moaning about how Epic Games, Bethesda, and Valve completely ignore them. Sounds silly, doesn't it? But why do people expect Nintendo to create more games with "mature" themes than they already have when they don't expect any type of content/audience exploration from makers of Gears of War? Even if we just looked at hardware makers, I don't think that either Sony or Microsoft do a fantastic job of simultaneously reaching out to these polar opposite audiences. Sony's casual offerings only include a handful of titles (Ratchet, Buzz, Singstar, and LittleBigPlanet which is facing its own issues) and even though I may love Viva Pinata, Microsoft's list of non-core games is even more bare bones. What makes Nintendo responsible for delivering an amount of varied content that no one else even comes close to matching? It's here that I come to agree with Woffls' overall thesis that Nintendo didn't lose interest in the core gamer, but rather the opposite. Nintendo is creating entertainment for the same board range of players it always has since the Game & Watch, while the others have chosen to focus on an extremely vocal niche consumer.
[How Hardcore Gamers Fell Out of Love With Nintendo] Hide and Geek
Game-Boy
Posted to Video Games on 3 December 2008
· Comments (8)
Other stuff like this: acceptance, casual games, core gamer, mainstream, microsoft, nintendo, sony, video games, wii
I've seen plenty of more 'hardcore' type games for the Wii previewed, but like a lot of interesting PS3 games (White Knight Story comes to mind), they seem to be stuck in perpetual limbo.
I'm having fun with the games I play and I don't care if they are hardcore or not.
I know, this is extremely shocking and I should repent myself for doing so.
I agree with you Game-Boy.
Please refrain from using the red "Nintendo" logo. We've had a new logo for a few years now.
With love,
Nintendo
(Disclaimer: Not really from Nintendo)
Seriously though, I like that Nintendo is changing things up. There are plenty of hardcore games- even on the Wii and DS. Its good to reach out to new audiences.
Well when I was a kid at least Mario was hardcore. I was like 5 or 6.
The Wii does lack more A titles, but Nintendo has all ready published Smash, Kart, and Mario Galaxy. They have always been kid friendly.
People change their gaming tastes as the time passes. Good point though. I still enjoy the Wii very much.
Isn't this like Gay Gamer's 10th article about Nintendo's lack of hardcore games this year? It's not a surprise to anyone.
You're not a hardcore gamer if you don't try and own all three systems within reason. (Some people just can't afford it, and that's fine.) That's all there is to it. I still have more Wii games than any othe system (sans my DS, I love that little guy) and you know what? I'm perfectly content with all of them. I'm also perfectly content with my 360 and I can't wait to get my PS3 for x-mas.
Also Matt Cassamassina at IGN did a similar article and it was also well worth a read if you're really into this stuff, which is fine, I'm not arguing this articles existence. I don't know really what I'm doing. I'm tired. Happy holidays!
I would argue that once videogames were primarily designed to be played at home, that was when the "core" audience was alienated.
I don't think Ratchet and Clank or Little Big Planet are casual games at all. FPS games aren't the only 'mature' titles around, too. Games with whimsical characters and themes can have gameplay as challenging or intricate as any Gears of War game.
Nintendo isn't really in the business of video games anymore. They're doing their own thing. What they've produced lately are more likely novelties than actual games.
Like many have noted, it's more in a difference in markets than the actual games. There's the market of preteens that will buy That's So Raven and Hannah Montana games. Then there's the soccer moms that buy Wii Fit and Peggle (which is awesome). Nintendo was just smart to make super simplified games with a trendy apple marketing plan.
It's nice that there's some variety nowadays. Video games aren't just for children anymore.