IMPress Polly
06-13-2013, 11:20 AM
I love you, Nintendo!! Thank you for doing the most defiant thing possible: not compromising with the Americanization trend in the gaming world!! (http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/06/12/nintendos-e3-2013-tearing-up-the-rulebook) From the sidelines of the main E3 events, Nintendo announced directly to its existing fan base its line-up of standard first-party titles and Japanese third-party support: a losing formula that says they're playing to Nintendo fans only and don't care what the rest of the world thinks. They have their audiences and they're contented to remain in that place indefinitely. It seems like a belated admission, but one to which the sole conceivable alternative was to go down the same road as Sony and Microsoft have of pumping in more or less only shooters, sports games, and action titles and focusing heavily on non-gaming technology over all else. I love the way this article sums it up (and you'll want to read the whole article, by the way):
Nintendo is endearingly earnest about fun. Its developers come out and talk excitably about games in which you jump around bright, cheerful worlds collecting coins or bananas, or guide tiny plant-people around a garden, or race flying cars. They don't say meaningless things like “entertainment ecosystem” and “true next-generation engine”; they come across as people who make things rather than corporate robots removed from their charging stations to present for two minutes on a stage.
The article later concludes:
I'm not sure if Nintendo is totally out of touch with everyone else, or if it simply doesn't care. I suspect it's a bit of both. Its E3 showing put fun first, showing plenty of reliably entertaining games; it didn't do anything to make the Wii U look essential to people who haven't already bought one, but it provided plenty of reassurance to those who already have. Skipping the press conference might have been a tacit admission that Nintendo couldn't compete on Sony and Microsoft's terms, but blatantly Nintendo isn't interested in competing on those terms any more.
Willingness to accept last place, defy the Westernization trend, and accept their natural position in today's annoyingly sleazy and soulless market wherein consoles are now more like computers than game systems. I like it! It's not the most creative thing ever, but it's biggest form of rebellion possible under present circumstances. Sometimes staying the same when the trend line is negative is the best thing you can do. Go Nintendo!! :smiley:
Nintendo is endearingly earnest about fun. Its developers come out and talk excitably about games in which you jump around bright, cheerful worlds collecting coins or bananas, or guide tiny plant-people around a garden, or race flying cars. They don't say meaningless things like “entertainment ecosystem” and “true next-generation engine”; they come across as people who make things rather than corporate robots removed from their charging stations to present for two minutes on a stage.
The article later concludes:
I'm not sure if Nintendo is totally out of touch with everyone else, or if it simply doesn't care. I suspect it's a bit of both. Its E3 showing put fun first, showing plenty of reliably entertaining games; it didn't do anything to make the Wii U look essential to people who haven't already bought one, but it provided plenty of reassurance to those who already have. Skipping the press conference might have been a tacit admission that Nintendo couldn't compete on Sony and Microsoft's terms, but blatantly Nintendo isn't interested in competing on those terms any more.
Willingness to accept last place, defy the Westernization trend, and accept their natural position in today's annoyingly sleazy and soulless market wherein consoles are now more like computers than game systems. I like it! It's not the most creative thing ever, but it's biggest form of rebellion possible under present circumstances. Sometimes staying the same when the trend line is negative is the best thing you can do. Go Nintendo!! :smiley: