Opinion: Nintendo, Innovation, and You

What's that I hear you say? Nintendo doesn't innovate? They simply remake the same games over and over and rake in large quantities of currency? Well... Okay, I'll give you that one, but only the latter statement.

While no one is denying that we as gamers are beginning to get a little tired of Link slaying Ganondorf, Mario saving Peach and various unnamed Pokemon trainers following very closely to the long-established formula, Nintendo does indeed innovate. Not many would deny that in fact, but I believe Nintendo needs to be spared the constant bashing by 'hardcore' gamers because they made a console called the Wii.

Nintendo, of course, don't need me - a lonely curmudgeon - to step in and defend them from internet tough guys and people who still giggle at the name Wii... and I don't intend to do that. I'll leave that particular job to the fanboys, yet partially contrary to what I just said, I feel that I need to reinforce this point. Some people are happy to play the newest Zelda or Mario, and will even buy it at a midnight launch - that's a-okay. Hell, I'll probably buy those games at some point too - Nintendo knows how to make a good game, and as long as consumers such as myself keep buying them, our friends at Ninty have reason to keep making them.

At this point Activision come to mind, because they have at least one thing in common with modern-day Nintendo:

They run like a business, not a game company.

Think about Robert Kotick and what he said about the future of the company. He stated that focusing on franchises that "...have the potential to be exploited every year on every platform with clear sequel potential and have the potential to become $100 million franchises" has "worked very well for Activision Blizzard." He goes on to say that it was key to attracting development talent who may not be drawn to speculative franchises. I love you, Wikipedia. Also, it's as if even their developers are soulless monsters.

Yet Nintendo runs in a similar fashion, only with marginally lesser amounts of evil.

So much evil.

But Nintendo is still different, and not just because instead of grunting marines they have colourful dinosaurs and baby plumbers. While they primarily put out 'safe' games these days, Nintendo love to innovate. Take for example, the modern platforming Super Mario games. Super Mario 64 was new and exciting because it was a 3D platformer. Super Mario Sunshine combined a little 2D and 3D action, and added great graphics and gameplay mechanics, such as Fludd. Super Mario Galaxy added gravity physics and interplanetary travel!

Mario Kart 64 spawned Double Dash and eventually motion controls in the form of those awesome plastic steering wheels, as well as motor bikes instead of karts. Wind Waker featured sailing and Twilight Princess allowed you to turn into a wolf. It isn't always mind-blowing innovation, but at least they change more than the setting. As opposed to the Mario Party series anyway. It's even rumoured that the new Black & White Pokemon games are a large step in a different direction to the other titles.

Then come the more radical examples such as the Wii, DS and 3DS.

Not pictured: 3 dimensions

You may be thinking that the Wii doesn't have a good selection of games, and that Nintendo have been going downhill since the Gamecube, or even the Nintendo 64 depending on how elitist you are. Some people even throw around the phrase "Nintendo abandoned the hardcore gamers," but I disagree with this. In fact, I think it's backwards.

Since the release of the PS1, Nintendo faced real competition in the market, and a lot of the fans who weren't happy with the N64 switched to the PS1. Doubly so upon the release of the PS2 and Xbox. With a large part of their market gone walkabout, Nintendo no longer faced such a wide audience for their classic and brand new games. So they did what any discerning developer would do - projected their love elsewhere, like someone looking for a rebound date. In this case: the 'casual' gamer.

The 'casual' gamer apparently stands for everything 'hardcore' gamers don't, resulting in irrational hate and childish name-calling, as if they were the bane of the industry. But look at the community of gamers that allows companies such as Activision to thrive. I'm guilty of supporting them myself and feel all fuzzy inside waiting for Black Ops, but the sense of entitlement (see: Humble Indie Bundle fiasco) and lack of care for anything other than big-name titles is evident amongst those who would have the gall to declare themselves harder of core than someone who just really like Peggle.

Bitches love Peggle.

To finish off, here is a little somewhat-related food for thought. David Wong of Cracked made a valid point a few months ago after the latest E3. He basically stated that current (and therefore next) generation video game consoles are/will be expensive to make, and none of the big three developers are ready to stick their fingers into that particular pie just yet.

As such, they need something to make people buy their consoles and games, because it has long been established that after a while, console sales will begin to drop off. This prompts a new generation of sleeker, newer consoles and games to get people interested. Being expensive and all in a changing industry where we continually give graphics more weight than necessary, developers have resorted to adopting motion controls and other gimmicks to continue to draw a profit from the new phenomenon known as the 'casual' gamer. What is that anyway? Aren't we all casual gamers? Unless you do it for a living or something, and even then you're technically a professional.

Hopefully in time this will all blow over somehow and the industry will reach a nice equilibrium. That, or it will keel over and die.


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