
Nintendo parodies Kickstarter - erikj
http://gameandwario.nintendo.com/crowdfarter/
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hkmurakami
Nintendo has a thing for these sorts of cute mini sites and widgets.

I was referred to a random Pokemon flash game (I know right??) once and found
that it was _really good!!_ (tetris-like puzzle game). I wish they would make
a smartphone app out of it; it is perfect for the touch interface.

edit: found it! <http://www.pokemon.jp/#/contents/enjoy/play_pass/2.html> (it
has great music too)

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tagabek
Wow! I agree with you. This would be a perfect mobile game. Stuff like this
could really help to save their business.

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Drakim
Save their business? I thought that Nintendo was doing quite well with the
Wii, while also dominating the handheld market?

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rje
Nintendo revenue over the past year has been pretty abysmal, and they've
effectively admitted that the Wii U launch was an unmitigated disaster.

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MichaelApproved
Using Firefox on Windows.

Hit the back button to try to get back to HN... No luck. Try again... still no
luck. Try hitting it twice really fast... No luck. Try hitting it twice really
fast again... Frustrated. Right click the back button. Click Hacker News.

I hate webpages that get you stuck on their site like that.

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Zarel
This is because the website uses a badly-written redirect.

Chrome, Opera, and Safari have no problem with these redirects, though: their
Back button doesn't become broken when they hit a redirect.

I think if every other modern browser has no problem with redirects, it's as
much the fault of Firefox as the website...

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MichaelApproved
_"This is because the website uses a badly-written redirect."_

Maybe I'm cynical but I don't think it's badly-written, I think it's
deliberate. I agree that FF is at fault but I'm suspicious of these websites
and believe they likely do it on purpose to improve their analytics for page
retention. That probably also improves their SEO ranking since (as I
understand it) Google will see the person is on their page for longer and will
credit the page as having good content.

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qompiler
Back in 2008 Nintendo also had an amusing Wario Youtube channel. I can't find
the live version anymore but here is a video of how it went down:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSU-z-t9Ku4>

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orta
Ugly flash URL:
[http://1q1gafmnta4fm0riakrenq213o0sa9p9.ig.gmodules.com/ig/i...](http://1q1gafmnta4fm0riakrenq213o0sa9p9.ig.gmodules.com/ig/ifr?url=http://facebook.gspsf.com/~wii/wariolandshakeit2008/gadget_files_040209/google_gadget.xml&lang=en&hl=en_US)

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sgwil
This shouldn't be taken too far out of context. It's clear Nintendo doesn't
mean this as a cutting critique of crowdfuding, just more riffing on Wario's
characterisation as an idiotic selfish asshole.

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James_Duval
Yeah, this is very much of the "Epic Movie" shallow parody school, i.e. it's
not actually referencing anything or related to anything or meaningful, it's
just saying "This exists! Eh? Eh? How about that? It exists!"

I'm glad the site exists, because I suspect kids will find it funny, I'm just
a bit baffled as to why it's front page here.

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skrebbel
Wait, you didn't like "Epic Movie"?

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minimaxir
For those curious, yes, Nintendo did purchase <http://crowdfarter.com>

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bx_
Wario really is the godfather of trolls.

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claudius
Surprisingly accurate, unfortunately.

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arb99
Thats a really well made ad. I'd never have normally sat through a game
trailer and watched it all, but for that I did.

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nhangen
I think this is a great and honest parody, regardless of whether or not Wario
has anything to do with it.

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seivan
This is Nintendo... getting personality. At least in the Western world.

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huhwhat
> Nintendo parodies the Kickstarter (nintendo.com)

Do you have a link to the specific Kickstarter they're mocking? Or is that an
errant 'the' in the title?

Also, does anyone know the backstory?

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Samuel_Michon
It makes sense if you read it with an Italian accent (Wario is supposed to be
Italian).

As for background: Nintendo is crapping on crowdfunded games in general.
Apparently, they feel threatened.

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mehwoot
Why does everyone assume they feel threatened? Crowd funded indie games are
hardly destroying their business, or look like doing so anytime soon...

Just because someone makes fun of something, doesn't mean they are threatened
by it.

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Samuel_Michon
_‘Just because someone makes fun of something, doesn't mean they are
threatened by it.’_

Usually, that’s exactly what it means.

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darkarmani
People must be terrified by blondes.

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jlas
This is a very clever use of gamification, turning the kickstarter 'donation'
into a seemingly harmless tweet or a like on FB.

It would be an interesting if they followed through with this model and
started prioritizing game development based on this feedback.

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k__
Seems like someone is butthurt...

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bjourne
Funny thing is they are using their two decade old character Wario. About time
they come up with something new after milking the overused Mario and Zelda
franchises for so long.

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thezoid
Yes because the rest of the competition is completely coming up with new games
and characters all the time.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Gear>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_of_Duty>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(series)>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Turismo_(series)>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Fighter>

There's nothing wrong with using a franchise. The characters are memorable,
and perhaps even people really like them. As long as they are putting the
characters into new worlds/levels it's all that matters.

Yes, Nintendo is notorious for re-releasing their older games, but it's not
like the other companies don't do the same thing either.

Just look at the re-release of Combat Evolved, or SquareEnixs constant re-
release of their older Final Fantasy games (with cheesy 3D added to them)

Edit: Don't know how to use HN markdown or something.

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Jach
Well they are. If you count non-first-party titles from independent studios,
yeah, the competition is making a lot of new games and characters all the
time. If you just want to limit it to new first-party IPs, just compare the
number of new IPs that Sony has put onto the market over the last generation
vs. Nintendo.

I agree there's nothing wrong with using a franchise, but there's definitely
something wrong with not putting out a decent amount of new IP (or at least
significantly different versions of a franchise, e.g. comparing Paper Mario
with Super Mario 64). Can you think of any new first-party Wii IP besides the
various Mii-based games like Wii Sports, Endless Ocean, and Xenoblade?

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kbenson
What, so Nintendo is not only responsible for launching the platform, but
needs to come up with an entirely new franchise each cycle as well?

They release the platform, and then they use their first party titles to bring
the initial group of people so third party developers have an audience to sell
to. As long as the first party titles are fun and interesting, I don't see any
problem with that.

P.S. Are you really equating Paper Mario and Super Mario 64? As someone who
played Super Paper Mario for the first time a few months back, beyond
superficialities, they aren't much alike at all.

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Jach
I'm talking about the original Paper Mario and Super Mario 64, both for the
N64. It was my intention to compare them, not equate them, precisely because
they aren't much alike at all and demonstrate that even within a franchise you
can be quite unique, which is more or less as good as a new IP and Nintendo
has shown itself repeatedly capable of doing that. What's not good are games
like the last several Mario games since Super Mario Galaxy and New Super Mario
Bros. DS, which have all, again more or less, been the same. (Note Super Paper
Mario (fairly different from the original itself, and Thousand Year Door as
well) was released before Super Mario Galaxy.)

Nintendo is responsible, yes, so long as they're a games company and not a
hardware company. Sony does it, Microsoft even does it to a lesser degree.
There was not a single new IP that Miyamoto worked on for the Wii apart from
Wii Sports. Wii owners did get 1.5 new Zelda games though, and as a Wii owner
of course that pleases me. Again, nothing wrong with using a franchise.

It's also in their self-interest to make new IPs, if for nothing else than to
show what their console can do which is just one extra selling point for
getting third-parties on board. I would have thought they learned their lesson
with the Wii from its final couple years, but how's the Wii U doing? A lot of
third-party developers (notably in the news recently, EA) aren't getting
invested in that at all, especially with the PS4 and Xbox One on the way, and
especially with the rise of mobile gaming. And there is still the audience
that's always there, the glorious PC Gaming Master Race! (My own bias. Though
the consoles have made it this way for me by no longer catering to the gamer.)

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kbenson
At some point, I don't think it's in their best interest to create new IPs.
They have a well known and strong stable of titles they can choose, and adding
to it may delay new releases for an IP even further than they are.

As for the SMB Wii-U, it is a bit of the same old, but it's the only title I
have for the Wii-U I was gifted for Christmas. I'm not sure what the other
titles have to offer. (It used to be when I was younger I could go rent games
from the local video store or chain, but Netflix has killed them all off. What
do people do now, just use something like gamefly?)

Other than that, I agree completely. The fact that the Xbox One launched with
four EA sports titles - and that's it - made it pretty clear who their target
audience is, and it's not me (not that I have the time to play games much
anymore anyway, which is probably the point).

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egypturnash
Wow. This is really juvenile and unfunny.

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recycledair
You've just precisely described Wario's character. Looks like they hit the
nail on the head!

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Stranger2013
Pointless and unfunny. Nintendo doesn't even produce the kind of hardcore
games, that are most popular on KS. And not a one mention of Ouya - too scared
to draw in that comparison?

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LucasKA
Lol, yeah that tablet in a box with the crappy controller is a huge threat.

Maybe it's paving the way for the threat but that thing is craptacular.

