Nintendo Wii Fanboy

One of our readers sent in this interesting article about the rise of Rock Band parties, and in his e-mail, Dan said that he felt Nintendo was on the right track with their games-for-everyone strategy. While he and his friends -- the force behind the parties mentioned in the article -- were playing Rock Band on other systems, obviously, he felt that one game was similar to many of Nintendo's current offerings. That is, it's a game that brings everyone together, whether they're into those "vidya games" or not.

He mentioned that he spends time playing WarioWare: Smooth Moves and Super Mario Galaxy with some of the new gamers in his life, gamers who were picking up the Wii, and that experience is enriching his gaming life as a whole. He can have it all -- time with more "hardcore" games, and time with his friends, just having a good time, and Nintendo is making that easier and more welcoming.

We wanted to pass along his story not only because, hey, we agree with him when he says Rock Band for the Wii is a sadly lesser entity, but also because we have to agree. Holing up for hours to get through one tough stage in the hardest of hardcore games is fun, but it's also fun to host a drunken tennis tournament or pass a few hours with a group of friends and WarioWare: Smooth Moves. But there's a trade-off: some of the traditional games are getting a little easier and a little more casual-friendly. For some of us, that's not a problem ... while others see it as a possible death knell for the hardcore niche title, and that's what we want to discuss this morning. Is the trade-off worth it? Can the hard modes in casual-friendly games keep things interesting for the rest of us?

[Thanks, Dan!]

Thank you.

Look, we here at Wii Fanboy love the Wii and often criticize it because, frankly, we expect nothing but the best. If nobody will step up and address certain concerns, then we will. It's our duty to present you with the news, but it's also our duty to be honest and objective with what we see. Considering that, we're not too happy with the amount of "hardcore" games available on Nintendo's latest console.

They've never been one to present oodles and oodles of more serious titles on their consoles, compared to their competition, but with recent games that have changed our life like No More Heroes and Zack & Wiki, we crave more long-lasting games that we can sit down with for more than a half-hour and enjoy. It's just how we feel.

And it would appear Sega of America president Simon Jeffery feels the same way. He thinks it's a mistake for western developers to ignore the hardcore gamers on the Wii, instead flooding the market with tons of casual titles that appeal to a wider demographic. "There's no reason why [hardcore gamers] should be excluded or excommunicated from the Nintendo world," he commented. We agree.

We're excited for Wii Fit and we're happy the console is getting the third-party support it deserves, but we want more. Maybe we're just too selfish?

The so-called "hardcore gamer" contingent may see any move away from better graphics and story as something of a betrayal, but in a recent interview, Nintendo's Satoru Iwata makes an interesting -- and obvious -- point. "Targeting highly detailed graphics and epic stories are options, and in that situation, the gamer population doesn't increase," Iwata said, according to Asahi.com, and there's a lot of truth to those words. There are many ways to approach video games, and the epic story/epic visuals is one way. It's been the most common path to improvement in the gaming industry over the past few years -- and it wasn't really growing the market. So Nintendo, in an effort to bring in all new gamers, tried out some different options, and thus, we have Wii Sports (and more).

Iwata also says that many people shy away from gaming (or did) because so many games are a huge timesink, and here we agree. Listen, we play games like there's no tomorrow and even we think there's just not enough hours in the day for everything. Sometimes you want to plop down for five minutes and take a breather, and there are a lot of great options for that on the Wii and the DS. Apparently, people who weren't gamers felt a similar need for mental breaks, and that contributed to the rousing success of Nintendo's latest projects.

Does this mean that Nintendo will abandon the older core audience? As we've said before, no, we don't think so. Just as with the strong visual approach, the pick-up-and-play mentality is only another option. Unfortunately, it's one that makes for a lot of cheap games for developers, but we've seen enough goodness on the Wii that we're confident there will be much, much more.

[Via Develop and Kotaku]

During its first four days on sale in the US, Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure sold approximately 30,000 copies. A week later, it had added 15,000 to that total. Hardly breathtaking figures in a nation with over 3.7 million Wiis in its bedrooms and living rooms, and the game also struggled to leave a mark in its homeland, where it is known as Takarajima Z: Barbaros no Hihou. There's no doubt about it: Capcom's splendid piratey adventure has, as much as it saddens us, flopped.

On the face of it, the game's commercial failure might seem odd. After all, Zack & Wiki earned eye-catching scores from a number of reviewers, while IGN's Matt Casamassina loved it so much, he frothed and raved about it non-stop for four months, before slapping a 90% on it come review time. Its bright, attractive visuals, cute character design, and puzzley action were seemingly the perfect ingredients for massmarket appeal. Ultimately however, it sank faster than a holed galleon.

Jenny Lauck and Stefania Pomponi Butler, both of them "Alpha Moms (influential matriarchs)" and Wii Ambassadors, sat down with Electronic Gaming Monthly's podcast crew to chat about Nintendo's efforts to attract mothers to its consoles. Though they didn't take to the Nintendo DS, both women were eager to talk about how much they enjoyed titles like Cooking Mama, Wii Play, and, yes, Boogie.

When asked about the often touted complaint that casual releases like Wii Fit and Wii Sports are pulling resources and funding away from games meant for the hardcore audience, Ms. Lauck reasoned, "I don't think developers are going to start ignoring them. I think there's definite room ... for both markets."

She continued the argument on her blog with an analogy that puts these irrational fears into perspective: "I think studios should stop making lame sitcoms and focus solely on new episodes of Lost, for example. But you know what? There's a market for sitcoms, and even though I'm a hard-core supporter of Lost, there are other genres out there that other people watch."

Read - She Just Wouldn't Shut Up
Read - EGM LIVE 09/03/2007 Podcast

Maybe it's us. Maybe we're the ones who just don't get it. But the last time we checked, lots of Nintendo fans enjoy cuteness (hi2u, Kirby!) and the look of Miis, and it doesn't mean we magically became casual gamers overnight. However, to hear IGN tell it, a fondness for anything cute obviously means it's family-friendly ... which these days, seems to be code for "non-hardcore." IGN confirms that theory when, at the bottom of their latest MySims preview -- which is as devoid of actual content as they claim the game to be -- they say, "This isn't likely to be a game that appeals to hardcore gamers, but families will probably enjoy some innocent fun in a creative environment that will provide some interesting challenges and problem solving."

Did we maybe miss a memo about how games can't be fun? Because we like to think of ourselves as pretty hardcore -- we like to sweat and toil and swear our way through hours and hours of gaming of all types -- but we also like to have fun. If MySims is fun, how is it somehow only okay for families and not "real" gamers? The preview doesn't deny the fun factor. And there's no age limit on being a hardcore gamer. So what gives?

We can only guess that the folks at IGN have never heard of a little game called Animal Crossing ... or maybe they just assume that only children want to beat up Tom Nook when he starts asking for his mortgage payments. After all, seems that MySims is pretty much Animal Crossing that trades the animals in for more building elements, and nothing in their preview contradicts that image ... except their idea that "hardcore gamers" won't like it. Personally, we're looking forward to giving it a try. The building elements of The Sims were always fun, and perhaps this new spin will make the actual gameplay more engaging.

In response to remarks from Steven Kent to USA Today predicting an upcoming Wii bubble burst-- an end to its massive popularity, brought on by a high price relative to its power, Game|Life's Chris Kohler wrote a brilliant editorial looking at what he sees as the four different kinds of gamers (in terms of casual-to-hardcore) and how such a bubble burst would affect them.

Most interestingly, Kohler defines the "casual gamer" not as we do now (non-gamers who enjoy some Bejeweled) but as the majority of the gaming public who buys systems following price drops and owns two or three games. The grandmas and such fit into the "expanded audience." The other two categories, "hardcore gamer" and "kid" are much easier to define.

In Kohler's view, the only audience whose interest in the Wii would be affected by a "bubble burst" would be the casual gamers, who may be more willing to respond to an Xbox 360 price drop than an underpowered Wii. Unless, of course, the Wii gets a bunch of mass-market games.

This morning, at the Nintendo Media Summit, NoA President and resident badass Reggie Fils-Aime had some interesting statistics on the Nintendo juggernaut. While a lot of it may not be the best news for the hardcore gaming contingent, the massive revenue increases indicate that the wider potential market may well be what powers the industry in the coming years. One particularly telling statement backed up the figures: "We don't consider Sony and Microsoft as our only competitors. We're competing with other leisure time entertainment. If people stay at home and play Wii bowling instead of going to the movies, we win."

It's not all gloom and doom for the hardest of the hard, however. Reggie had some interesting things to say about this summer's highly anticipated Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. It "will reinvent the control scheme for a first person shooter. It's the closest you can get to PC control in a [console] game." A lot of people hoped Red Steel would pull that off for the Wii at launch, but leave it to Nintendo to really show us what the Wiimote and nunchuk combo can do for the FPS.

Reggie also added that the DS continues to print money, just in case none of us knew.

Our discussion the other day after the news of the coming Popularity Channel touched on an issue that it seemed worthwhile to discuss: the differences between casual and hardcore gamers, and just where the middle ground might be. Of course, opinions are mixed on the subject, but a couple of statements were pretty interesting. What is too casual? How much depth does casual content need? And how should Nintendo balance content for hardcore gamers and casual content -- or are they doing just fine? Share your thoughts.