Ok, I admit it. I’m a big Nintendo fan. I grew up playing their games and loved to hate Sega’s Genesis. I also beat most of the games i played including games which most consider difficult such as: Crocodile Dundee, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Metal Gear, Double Dragon, Ninja Gaiden, Contra (with no deaths), all the NES Castlevania’s, Zelda’s and Marios. Heck, i even mastered how to land properly (not to mention refuel) in Top Gun. Nintendo was the system to own 20-15 years ago. It had the best catalog of games and that was the bottomline.
Things started to change when Nintendo was getting pWn3d by Sony about a decade ago. Nintendo’s famed arrogance was gone, their reputation starting to show cracks. Sony started to get a larger number and better games on their system, while Nintendo suddenly had to carry on by itself with most 3rd parties moving to the eventual Sony juggernaut called the Playstation. Some may say Nintendo may have had some of their best games during this time when competition fueled their desire to return to the top. Games such as Majora’s Mask, Ocarina of Time. And they may be right, but it wasn’t enough to make money nor enough to propel them back to dominance.
Fast forward to E3 2007.
After a boring E3 2007, the Nintendo i knew was only a memory. The current Nintendo console (Wii) is no longer the console for the games gamers want to play, it has become what it was intended to be: a console for the masses. Instead of a riveting new Zelda Adventure, We get Wii Fit. Instead of the next big RPG, We get a Mario Kart that looks exactly like its Gamecube ancestor. Instead of having a new Tom Clancy game, we get My Word Coach. Instead of having a full fledged Dragon Quest Game, We get Dragon Quest Monsters. WTF. We don’t even have a real NBA basketball game (NBA Live 2008? c’mon read those previews. ugh).
Even the next Mario (Super Mario Galaxy) game was relegated to playing second fiddle.
Sure, they had Metroid Prime Corruption running gorgeously. What else?
……..
Exactly.
I don’t choose a console because 1) more people are playing it b) even women play it c) heck maybe even mom/dad/grandma/grandpa would play it. I love my 360, my PS2 and my DS because it has the games i wanna play. and thats the bottomline.
A lot of people are enjoying the Wii and that is fine with me. But the hardcore gamer in me says Nintendo’s Wii ain’t the first console of choice anymore.
5 Responses to “How Nintendo broke my console heart at E3 2007”
You could hope that because they managed to finally be profitable due to Wii, that they’ll use the increased capital to develop a console that will really compete with PS3 and Xbox.
It’s “too bad.” Sony had the chance to wipe-out Nintendo, but tried to do too much with the PS3.
At least Nintendo was forced to be creative… that’s why we have the Wii and the DS Lite today.
If you remember, your beloved NES was a console for the masses. Back in the day everyone had an NES.
What exactly is a game for gamers anyway? A game so long, hard and boring that the average person would not want to play it for a second.
The NES was THE hardcore gaming platform then. It had the best games, the biggest franchises, plus the other games that try to appeal to a wider demographic (Mattel games?)
Comparing the NES then to the Wii seems impossible. One was the undisputed leader, while another is moving in a whole new direction with radically different types of games.
oh btw, i love my PS2 more….
[…] that gave hope to the Gamecube (not that it had enough, but thats another story). I talked about how Nintendo moved away from catering to the hardcore gamers, and now IGN itself has posted an editorial on how Nintendo has treated Metroid Prime 3: […]
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