As far as Nintendo being lazy, of course they are. It's easy money for them, and Nintendo has always been about teh profits. Why spend a ton of money on voice actors and orchestrated music when their games will still sell millions of copies using text and MIDI files? Why spend millions on R&D of next-gen graphical hardware when last gen tech is good enough for most people? Why create new core franchises when their fresh ideas can usually be implemented into existing franchises, and sell a lot more due to brand recognition? This is how Nintendo thinks, and until they see a noticeable loss in profits, they'll continue as they have been.
Foolz said:I think I'm pretty much used to it by now! Besides we got Wii music, Wii Fit, and Wii sports this gen, so we should be happy.
Yeah, Wii Sports Resort kicks ass, so I'm happy. 
My sister likes Wii Fit, but she's super casual, so her opinion doesn't count.
Hmm, Wii Music? What's that? 
You can call Nintendo plenty of things, but lazy is not one of them.
They seem to be resting some over played franchises (Mario Party, DK, some of the sports stuff). Would something new be appreciated? Most definitely, but if they turn out more core Mario, Zelda and Metroid games then we'll be fine. I've gotten away with not buying any game that starts with the word "Wii", and I don't begrudge people who buy that stuff, I figure it's funding the good stuff.
I do think they need to keep a closer eye on where Pokemon is going. Doesn't seem to have much quality control or focus lately.
In terms of output, even when they seem perilously slow compared to other publishers or platform holders, they are far ahead of themselves.
Think about their GC output and compare it to their wii games. Already they have delivered us the wanted sequels in the franchises we love, and then some. And then all the new stuff like Wii Sports.
But despite being a platform holder nintendo just aren't aggressive enough when it comes to expansion. They had a decent idea back in the cube days, get other developers to work on lesser IP like F Zero and Starfox. F Zero GX was amazing, unfortunately Namco crapped out Starfox Assault. Imagine if Factor 5 had made it?
I think there would be an uproar if they stopped making mario and zelda, so what they need to do is partner with someone else. They need antoher Rare.
Or they need to expand and acquire. Any other company flush in cash like they are would start buying up othe companies. I mean can you imagine if Nintendo bought Capcom? The range of games those two companies could make when paired would make an entire library of games for a single system. But I think we also forget that Nintendo has to make games for two platforms at once and this has been the case since the gameboy first launched.
When you look at their output across both home and portables its pretty darn great and suprising that they have managed to consistently maintain quality for decades now.
EDGE mag awarded them publisher of the decade, well they could easily have been awarded best ever publisher.
^I think Nintendo's plan is just wait until the companies get bankrupt and then buy all the talent for cheap. They will not expand quickly, because that can be dangerous to Nintendo's internal atmosphere. Iwata said so himself. I think the plan is to work together with other companies and hire people, and slowly and surely buy the good ones.
I think they might bring Sakurai back. And buy Suda and the guys that made LKS.
Iga_Bobovic said:^I think Nintendo's plan is just wait until the companies get bankrupt and then buy all the talent for cheap. They will not expand quickly, because that can be dangerous to Nintendo's internal atmosphere. Iwata said so himself. I think the plan is to work together with other companies and hire people, and slowly and surely buy the good ones.
I think they might bring Sakurai back. And buy Suda and the guys that made LKS.
I dont think they have an expansion plan. In the cube days you had this deal for Fzero and starfox. They partnered with Silicon Knights and Factor 5. This gen they seem to secure the odd big exclusive from a big japanese developer, DQuest and MHunter for instance. Otherwise that is it.
The only recent new studio I can think of is the Tokyo one that is made up of Mario sunshine guys/DK Jungelbeat, now galaxy guys.
It was in the N64 days that a prolific Rare showed what a great 2nd party could do. Retro is only big enough to make one game at a time and they take as long as Nintendo do making zelda games.
There are tons of companies they could buy, CING would be perfect, maybe the overkill guys, Climax, the Shattered memories guys. Factor 5 ex staff - starfox beckons.
Ravenprose said:Nintendo has partnered with Sega a lot this gen and last gen. Maybe they should buy them? That way Nintendo can show them how to make a real Sonic game.
Bah.
Ravenprose said:Nintendo has partnered with Sega a lot this gen and last gen. Maybe they should buy them? That way Nintendo can show them how to make a real Sonic game.
OR, they buy Sega for the sole reasons of stopping the Sonic franchise. Everyone is happy except Vader, but seeing Vader cry would make everyone happy, so win-win
also i think it's a mistake to say that nintendo is lazy or that they don't invest in R&D. if anything they are the only company who has been brave enough to shake up the industry this go around. as iga said in the news section after his cat-fight with grammatoncleric ...
1. the DS
2. the wii-mote
3. nintendogs
4. brain games
5. wii sports
6. wii fit
these are all stuff which were so revolutionary they kicked off entire genres but they were all risky to begin with. none of this happens without significant investment in R&D and excellent strategic planning (luck too, but that is always a necessary ingredient)
___
Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
bugsonglass said:as raven said, so long as the games are consistently good then bring them on. i'm very sad about pikmin though. i want pikmin 3 already, seriously! (i know there's LKS but i want pikmin). they should be working on pikmin 4 by now yet there hasn't even been a single pikmin game on the wii yet (new play control don't count).
also i think it's a mistake to say that nintendo is lazy or that they don't invest in R&D. if anything they are the only company who has been brave enough to shake up the industry this go around. as iga said in the news section after his cat-fight with grammatoncleric ...
1. the DS
2. the wii-mote
3. nintendogs
4. brain games
5. wii sports
6. wii fit
these are all stuff which were so revolutionary they kicked off entire genres but they were all risky to begin with. none of this happens without significant investment in R&D and excellent strategic planning (luck too, but that is always a necessary ingredient)
If this is a response to my R&D comment, I was talking strictly about graphics/processing power, not motion tech or software. I'm sure they spend a ton of money on that stuff.
Also, as far as them being lazy, they are lazy but in a very smart way; actually, frugal would be a much better word. Nintendo does not go after all of the extra bells and whistles that most other companies do simply because they don't need to in order to compete.
and it wouldn't have been out of place in NewSMB___
Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
Nope I wouldn't mind at all, since that's what I got the Wii for was to play Nintendo's mainstay franchise games as well as for the VC.
SteelAttack said:You mean...if I would mind Nintendo being Nintendo? No, not at all.
What would you guys think if Nintendo used the same design but as a new franchise? I mean Mario Galaxy was a new concept, from planetoid to planetoid. It's a new game that has an old franchise attached to it. What if they just created another furry looking platforming icon and named it differently? Would they have a better image for creating new IP even if the design would be the same as mario galaxy?
What if Twilight Princess didn't have zelda attached to it and you played as the wolf and midna combo the whole way through? The game was called Midna and the wolf and had the same art style and new name, hence new IP but same design as Twilight Princess.
Better image as a new IP creator? I see a lot of similar games getting credit for being a new IP even when its a reskinned clone of an existing design. What's the bigger sin here?
SteelAttack said:Ugh, I was just giving you guys shit. No need to get your panties in a bunch.
Panties aren't in a bunch and I actually agree and LOLed at your observation. I'm just trying to have a discussion here like what the thread was made for.
Anus.
My point is that we've been seeing Nintendo make sequels to these core franchises that they haven't done before on their past consoles. Already we have two Super Mario Galaxy games, New Super Mario Bros. for the Wii, two Zelda games for the DS, three Metroid games on the Wii including Trilogy, and even another console Zelda game, even though technically Twilight Princess was a Cube game, but it still counts as a Wii game because it came out first for it.
My question is, do you guys mind if Nintendo keeps doing this? Is IGNorant right in that the big N is being lazy with these easy cash-ins? Of course, I wouldn't call them fully lazy. I mean even the half-hearted Nintendo games are much better than most developers' full efforts.
I know Nintendo making a bunch of sequels to their core franchises is nothing new but we're definitely seeing more of them during one console generation. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad one. I kind of feel it's in-between. Part of me likes it and will swallow anything Nintendo gives me to eat, while the other part of me wishes Nintendo made newer foods instead of the same meals with different toppings.
What do you guys think about this?
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Now Playing: Golden Sun Dark Dawn, God of War Ghost of Sparta, and DKC Returns