Nintendo Switch (Nintendo's next console)

sligeach wrote: »

Ubisoft have games in development, 2 exclusive and coming out around the launch window. The first is Beyond Good & Evil 2.

Star Lord wrote: »

If this is false, I'm going to be very unhappy, it's not fair to toy with our dreams like that!

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I've a good feeling, that the new machine will be, at once, both a new bold step and conventional, in terms of how people want to play it.

Why Does Nintendo Hold Its Fans In Such Contempt?

Nintendo is one of gaming’s true giants. A behemoth that’s existed since the early days of the industry, it’s a company with a rich history and a heap of prestige attached. Yet the way it behaves you wouldn’t think this was the case. In recent years the company has developed something of a nasty streak, hitting its fans hardest at a time when they really doesn’t have all that much to crow about. It’s nasty and it seems fans are beginning to take notice of just how out of touch the company really is with their wishes – and actively responding.

Of course Nintendo isn’t actively out to frustrate its fans – but you wouldn’t know that from talking to those supporters. The company’s actions increasingly seem like that of an overprotective mother figure; attempting to dictate both the topic and tone of the conversation around it. At a time when fans are being given little to love about the company, it

It’s the bizarre decision to give Animal Crossing a board game spin-off despite there being no demand for such a game. It’s a tactic the company’s been increasingly performing – as the recent Metroid Prime Federation Force attests too. For some reason delivering solid, core games at a time when fans haven’t been getting the kind of AAA gaming experiences they expect from Nintendo isn’t what they want to do. Instead the company would rather push out half-way houses and hope that it placates fans until whatever the Nintendo NX turns out to be lands.

It’s the way Nintendo is so overly protective of its property that it won’t even allow Youtubers to use footage of their games without Nintendo’s permission. Let’s Plays are a grey area – but there’s no denying that they’ve given a spotlight to many games and helped to bring relevancy to titles that otherwise are forgotten. Yet awkwardly Nintendo has muscled its way into the scene, demanding revenue and a cut of the action – like a mafia boss demanding protection money. It’s hurt the company’s fans mostly – the dedicated Nintendo Let’s Play Community shrinking rapidly as fans are forced to go elsewhere. It’s just petty chump change but Nintendo has to have its slice – while other publishers and developers openly embrace the increased attention.

But worst of all for me, it was the way Nintendo just seems to be outwardly trying to frustrate its fans. Throughout the recent 30th Anniversary of its Metroid series, supporters of the Metroid series were holding out that Nintendo would do something to acknowledge the event. Even a passing mention of the event on Twitter seemed too much for the company though, Nintendo instead failing to even acknowledge fans direct attempts to get the company on board. Yet as fans tried to celebrate the event; one fan project emerged designed to encapsulate the spirit of the series fanbase and give them something to rally around; AM2R. It only took Nintendo around 24 hours to land a DMCA claim at the servers and effectively close the project down.

Of course Nintendo is well within its rights to attack such projects, but why do it then? Why not years ago when the project was still in its infancy? Why rip from fans the only thing they had to celebrate on one of Nintendo’s biggest franchises anniversary’s? It’s just cold and speaks volumes about the way Nintendo’s just don’t care about what their fans want’ as long as Nintendo can dictate the narrative it’s more than happy to have its cake and eat it.

To those who say “it doesn’t matter”, it really does at a time when Nintendo hasn’t got much goodwill left with its fans. Actions like that feel nasty and vindictive in nature from the outside, in particular at a time when SEGA have openly embraced the fan-made game scene. It makes Nintendo’s legally right decision to shutter over 200 fan projects seem incredibly awkward and cold – why not work with the cream of this crop and deliver something more for fans? We’re not saying the likes No Mario’s Sky or Pokemon Uranium need to be embraced fully – but when it comes to games like AM2R – remakes that only improve a previously almost-unplayable game – there should be more care taken.

Yet it appears that its customers are striking back. The recently released Metroid Prime Federation Force reportedly only sold just north of 4,000 units in Japan while failing to crack the UK’s Top 40 All-Format Sales chart. It’s the best possible response from fans as it hits the company where it hurts – in its pockets. Nintendo fans need to realise that the only way they’ll ever get what they want is if they vote with their wallets. Nintendo is a business and its fans need to remember this.

All this comes at a terribly inconvenient time for Nintendo. The company has a new console coming up and its probably going to need its most hardcore fans to rally around that device if it has any realistic hopes of holding relevance in the wider conversation. Mainstream gamers are fleeting – as the ever falling number of Pokemon GO players attests too. It’s the hardcore fans that went out and supported the Wii U during its long droughts, the fans who rushed out to snap up Splatoon and turn it into Nintendo’s most successful new franchise since the early 2000’s that will ultimately bring the Nintendo NX its initial momentum.

Nintendo needs to win those fans over and it needs to stop kicking fans hopes into touch. These guy are patiently waiting for Nintendo to release information about the Nintendo NX; the device that they’ll be rushing out to buy sometime in 2017. Yet if Nintendo believes that delivering spin-offs rather than core games, throwing copyright claims onto Youtube videos and treating its most hardcore fans with such little respect will ultimately pay off – it’s sadly mistaken.

Things have to change and fans have taken that first step by rejecting Metroid Prime Federation Force. Perhaps Nintendo might finally listen to what they want – before they talk themselves out of the conversation entirely.

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

Something something Nintendo should go third party.

sligeach wrote: »

That's not what the article says. It's pointing out fair criticisms of Nintendo that they need to right for the NX. I agree with all of it. It's so annoying when you think about the Wii U and how it's been handled towards the end, practically spat upon with just the odd mediocre title every few months if even that. The 3DS came out over a year and a half before Wii U yet just look at that 3DS Direct last week, new games galore while we Wii U owners got nothing. We didn't fail the Wii U, Nintendo failed us. I bought every game there is, multiple times even like Star Fox Zero, both the Collectors Edition and the regular version. And that game is awful, mainly because of its controls but there's other things like it's a very short game and has no online multiplayer.

Corholio wrote: »

The article is ok, it just basically puts criticisms of Nintendo together really, some fair, some not so. The comparison of Nintendo to SEGA not 'embracing' fans is very silly. Nintendo are quite robust with their properties but they always have been, people starting up these fan games, of which some are pretty cool, cannot expect anything else with other people's properties. There can be sentiment, there can be 'big bully Nintendo' type comments or they can be actually what it is. Some fair criticisms in the article of course, but nothing that others haven't put forward or said anyway. SEGA don't have too much on except retro sentiment, which I'm amazed is still as strong considering the pillaging of their mascot.

Star Fox Zero is far from awful as well, it's a shame you didn't give the controls more than....well.....20 minutes. It's a bit short but it's a really good game, I don't think I read a single review that called it 'awful' or near. Just like amiibo, you can have no complaints if you don't like something and then still buy it.

sligeach wrote: »

Damn post didn't go through, now I've to retype it all again. I'd read the reviews and heard all the controversy about the controls. But you can only be sure once you've played the game yourself. And in my opinion, they're awful. The worst I've honestly experienced on any game. Would you become fluent in Japanese just to spend a few days there on holiday? I'm sorry that demo didn't come out prior to lauch. It would have plummeted sales even lower. Remember that photo I think someone posted it here of a shelf full of secondhand copies days after the game went on sale? I'm sorry too I spent just under €100 on it. Awful in so many ways.

sligeach wrote: »

Not possible, it only surfaced half a day ago. And a lot of sites are only now starting to pick up on it.

http://wiiudaily.com/2016/09/new-mockup-shows-what-the-nintendo-nx-might-look-like/

http://news.biglobe.ne.jp/entertainment/0906/6820603557/nlb_nt_160906nisenintendo01_jpg.html

https://twitter.com/guythefighter/status/773129123455729664/photo/1 This being the original Tweet.

sligeach wrote: »

That's hardly a debunk, in fact it's not. They just said similar to what you said but they've no image from back then to back up their post. Like I said anyway, it's probably fake so don't worry about it.