

My Prescription for Nintendo - webwielder
http://bendansby.tumblr.com/post/74549892198/my-prescription-for-nintendo

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brianpgordon
Satoru Iwata has said:

> Our primary focus is to think about and actually carry out something which
> other company's hardware can never realize. We are trying to provide
> consumers gaming experiences that can only be available on Nintendo
> platforms.

But except for Sports and maybe Skyward Sword, Nintendo isn't actually _doing_
anything that other consoles can't provide. Everywhere else, motion controls
or pointing is tacked on. If you took out Star Bits from the Galaxy games you
would have the same game. Twilight Princess's "shake to attack" controls are
pointless and equivalent to a sword button. The Wii U touch screen is an
unmitigated disaster, with its pathetic battery life and no real compelling
raison d'etre... the only time I ever use it is for those forced touch
sequences in Rayman Legends.

> "If I was to take responsibility for the company for just the next one or
> two years, and if I was not concerned about the long-term future of Nintendo
> at all, it might make sense for us to provide our important franchises for
> other platforms, and then we might be able to gain some short-term profit,"
> he said.

In other words, "we'd rather do our own thing than make money." We're talking
about billions of dollars here, money that could prop Nintendo up for years
while it sorts out its hardware business.

~~~
xenophanes
Of course twilight princess controls are equivalent to buttons. it's a
gamecube game that was ported to Wii.

i'm not sure how casual gamers feel about it, but i find the motion controls
extremely frustrating and they make games significantly worse, IMO. this might
be more of a matter of opinion with better motion technology but for Skyward
Sword the motion technology simply isn't good enough. i can test several
motions to try to find the right one and do them carefully and both 1)
struggle to do something successfully at all 2) find the identical motion gets
variable results in game. Not fun. if the motion controls in Skyward Sword
were equivalent to buttons at least they'd be simpler and I'd be able to
mostly do the actions i want.

And I say this as a fan of the Infinity Blade iOS touch sword fighting games.
if the non-button technology is good quality and the game actually makes sense
with the controls, then it's fine. skyward sword fails on both counts.

Meanwhile in Link Between Worlds it breaks the flow of the game every time you
want to change items or take the broom because you have to use the touch
screen for those (which probably means pulling out the stylus since the touch
screen sucks), and the whole rest of the game is buttons. the break in the
action to grab your stylus, press twice, and set it somewhere again (on your
shirt and hope it doesn't fall on the ground?) constantly interrupts you and
does not add any fun.

~~~
EpicEng

      Of course twilight princess controls are equivalent to buttons. 
      it's a gamecube game that was ported to Wii.
    

No it wasn't. The two versions were developed in parallel[1], and the Wii
version was released prior to the GC version.[2]

[1]:[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Twilight_P...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Twilight_Princess#Development)

[2]:[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Twilight_P...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Twilight_Princess)

~~~
ZeroGravitas
Your link supports xenophanes' claim, particularly the "Wii transition"
section.

~~~
EpicEng
I guess you didn't really read it then. The game was originally envisioned for
GC but, early on, it was decided that it would be released on both platforms.
Plenty of time for development.

Anyway, it doesn't matter; the game was released on both systems almost
simultaneously (Wii first). These two facts hardly imply that this was a GC
game ported to the Wii. Years of development were spent specifically on the
Wii version.

~~~
ZeroGravitas
It was a button press for most of the Wii development too, motion control was
a last minute addition, as they struggled to convert the controls originally
designed for the GameCube, as the game's director explains here::

[http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/13095](http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/13095)

------
vinceguidry
Nintendo making games for other consoles? That's just giving up. Could you
imagine having played Super Mario World on a Genesis? Super Mario 64 on a
Playstation?

I'm not saying the great guys at Nintendo couldn't make great gaming
experiences for other platforms. But it would dilute the brand to virtual
extinction. Better to fold up the business than throw away their dignity like
that.

Nintendo's been around for a really long time. At this point they're just
having a few bad years. Let's not start dooming and glooming just yet.

~~~
freshyill
Their "few bad years" started in 1996. The Wii was a temporary blip and now
things are back on the course that started nearly two decades ago.

The Wii U is a complete failure. At some point very soon, Pokemon won't be
enough to keep selling the DS when there's so much many compelling reasons to
just buy an iPod touch or iPad.

Nintendo can still make great games, but pretty soon they're going to be
making great games for systems that nobody wants because the rest of the games
on those systems are years-late ports or just total shovelware garbage.

I couldn't imagine playing Super Mario World on a Genesis, but it wasn't the
name on the console that made that game great. There's zero chance I will ever
buy a Wii U, but I will probably buy an Xbox One or PS4 at some point in the
next two years—once the game libraries for those systems improve. I'd love for
Mario or Zelda to show up and help me make that decision.

~~~
vinceguidry
> Their "few bad years" started in 1996. The Wii was a temporary blip and now
> things are back on the course that started nearly two decades ago.

This gif tells a different story.

[http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/File:Nintendo_revenues.gif](http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/File:Nintendo_revenues.gif)

~~~
freshyill
Nice chart. Here's a similar one:
[http://mattfedder.com/img/disco_sales.png](http://mattfedder.com/img/disco_sales.png)

~~~
vinceguidry
It doesn't seem to be worth arguing with you so I'll just shut up now.

------
gfodor
Here's a real prescription, and one that is probably already bandied about in
board rooms at Nintendo. You lost this generation, just like Apple lost the PC
wars. Write it off, cut your losses, and go into R&D mode for the next wave
just like they did with the iPhone.

VR is next. Buy Valve. Buy Oculus. Or poach talent. Nintendo is the best
company with the creative talent, playfulness, and penchant for risk-taking
that is going to be necessary to rethink the gaming experience for VR. If they
pull it off they will leapfrog MS and Sony and cement their legacy for another
generation of gamers. Right now really feels like the opportunity that comes
along once every 20-30 years in the tech industry where a few players thinking
ahead make the right investments and file the right patents and absolutely
dominate the next cycle.

~~~
ZenoArrow
Buying Oculus would be a great move for Nintendo, but I don't think they will
for a couple of reasons:

1\. They've already been burnt from trying to enter the VR market early with
the Virtual Boy. I understand that times are different now, but the memory of
the previous failure would definitely have some influence. 2\. VR doesn't fit
in with Nintendo's ethos of social gaming, which runs deep in the company. The
idea that Nintendo seems to have with the majority of its products is to bring
people closer together, here are some small touches that highlight this...
Famicom (family computer), N64 (four controller ports), Gamecube (handle on
console so can easily move, including to bring to a friend's house), Wii (all
the casual games), I could go on. VR isolates us, we're physically there but
our attention is not.

Perhaps Nintendo will do something with multiplayer VR (requiring more power
than single player VR), or with AR, but I do think it'll take more than just a
shrewd business decision to get Nintendo back using VR.

~~~
erikj
Nintendo already bundles an AR-based game (which is called, er, "AR Games"
[1]) with every Nintendo 3DS console since the launch, so it's definitely one
of the directions Nintendo actively researches.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AR_Games](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AR_Games)

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hkmurakami
John Siracusa's assessment of the situation is still the best synopsis imo.
[http://hypercritical.co/2013/09/02/nintendo-in-
crisis](http://hypercritical.co/2013/09/02/nintendo-in-crisis)

~~~
wvenable
The flaw with this analysis that it pins too much on the success of the Wii.
The Wii was really a fluke. The problems that plagued the Gamecube also
plagued the Wii and now the Wii U. The temporary novelty of motion controls
sold a massive amount of consoles but those consoles are now mostly collecting
dust. Both the PS3 and XBox 360 eventually caught up a sold more units.

~~~
r0s
You mean the PS3 and 360 combined eventually caught up.

The stated strategy of innovative hardware is a hit-maker, the Wii nailed it.
If it's a fluke, the DS wouldn't be where it is today. There is a history of
intent and delivery, anyone betting against that is a fool in my opinion.

~~~
rm445
To be precise, the PS3 and 360 each sold around 80 million and the Wii around
100 million.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_game_consoles_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_game_consoles_\(seventh_generation\)#Sales_standings)

------
bly
The post actually contradicts itself in many different ways and therefore I
don't think the prescription can cure Nintendo at all.

1) I agree that Pokemon on smartphones will definitely be a hit, but I am very
skeptical of Nintendo's capability to execute well against that particular
platform. Mobile gaming is a very different beast from the packaged goods
console gaming space in which Nintendo is currently comfortable. They not only
lack the experience and expertise, but more fundamentally lack the willingness
to adopt a new platform. This is actually a common trait among almost all
established game publishers such as Activision and Ubisoft. I highly doubt an
iOS Pokemon would be the success it needs to be.

2) Handheld is a declining market. Period. Continuing making handhelds is not
going to dig Nintendo out of the hole they are already in. Putting Pokemon on
iOS would definitely not help, as the franchise is likely the biggest hardware
mover for them. This is where the original post contradicts itself: doubling
down on handheld while making a move on smartphones is a very bad idea.

3) Stop making home consoles and make titles available on rival consoles?
Really? The post is simply suggesting Nintendo to castrate itself of a core
competitive advantage of theirs. The level of disingenuousness is simply
appalling.

------
harunurhan
If they made nintendo games for mobile and other consoles, there would not be
any reason to buy a nintendo handheld or home console.

------
icarusmad
It's a prescription that'd end up killing the patient.

~~~
freshyill
Take the prescription and _maybe_ die, or just sit there and bleed out.

------
protomyth
A far better analysis occurs during the front part of this podcast
[http://www.shacknews.com/article/82702/weekend-
confirmed-200...](http://www.shacknews.com/article/82702/weekend-
confirmed-200-200th-episode-spectacular)

------
apunic
Good advice but is this 'prescription' and its explanations not obvious, long-
known and could have been squeezed into one tweet instead a blog post?

"Nintendo, stop building hardware, start being a publisher."

~~~
ZenoArrow
If you change 'hardware' to 'console hardware', that's an accurate summary.

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malloreon
The latest episode of Marco/John/Casey's "Accidental Tech" podcast covers this
really well.

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jrs99
Buy Sega. Release Dreamcast 2 for hardcore gamers. Continue with Wii brand for
younger/casual players.

~~~
ZenoArrow
I understand the sentiment, but from what I can see the important ingredients
that made the Dreamcast great have mostly been lost. To me, the Dreamcast was
the swansong of arcade gaming culture, a culture that has largely disappeared.
Sure, there were some games without that type of focus (I'm still hoping I'll
kick Lan Di's arse one day), but I fail to see what the mere existence of
Dreamcast 2 would do to encourage publishers to move away from making what
works for them in the short term.

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trollingineer
Oh look - a compendium of poor advice gathered on one webpage! God bless the
Internet!

