Reggie: Nintendo “lost its soul?!” You’ve lost your mind
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008 at 7:32pm by Jack
One last post-E3 interview, during which I break my word and mention E3 one more time. I guess I do this because I know that like all knee-jerk, vocal minority-driven “public outcries,” this one has been incredibly short-lived. Wii Music was awkward and borderline offensive with its boredom, Blake said, and there were no first party megatons announced on stage during the keynote, this we know. But, given a closer look, with a bigger lens and greater understanding of Nintendo’s past and present behavior, things are, predictably, not as bad as the forums would have you think. They’ll get even less so as we get closer to the holidays and 2009.
Already we know new Mario, Pikmin and Zelda titles are underway; that there are some WiiWare titles forthcoming that will knock retro gamers socks off (Mega Man 9 *ahem* — now with t-shirts!); and that even solid first party IP in the form of Wario and Animal Crossing are going to hit Nintendo consoles this fall and winter. And, unlike Sony with Killzone 2, the Nintendo of today will never show off some rendered cutscene or incomplete demo to showcase a game. They’ll show it when it’s ready to kick your ass, and then they’ll release the game soon afterward:
“There’s one thing I do want to reinforce,” [said Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aime.] “I could almost put myself into the ‘geeks and otaku’ camp. I grew up playing all those great Nintendo games. And so for me I look at product like “Animal Crossing” and I get tremendously excited. I look at “Wario” and get tremendously excited. I look at “Sluggers” coming out and get tremendously excited. So this mentality that we have somehow lost our soul and [are not] speaking to our fanbase, there is nothing further from the truth. And if you talk to Mr. Miyamoto, you really understand that we really have the interest of our core fanbase right at the top of the list. The recognition is — and I think this is really the point — we’re not going to tease you over 18 months or 24 months. We’re going to show you something that’ll make your jaw drop and make it available shortly thereafter.”
That’s a pretty Apple approach to things (show jaw-dropping products and then release them on the same day). I guess I don’t want to be teased with my games. I want to play them. If that makes me some biased fanman, so be it. At least I’ll be having fun, instead of camped out on some game blog riddled with misplaced angst.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:26 pm
I’m not usually in such a hurry to comment, but I have to say this sounds every bit UNLIKE Nintendo. What exactly is the “Nintendo of today” anyway? Is this promise of not teasing, something they plan to do, or have been doing?
For the record, I remember seeing/hearing about Smash Bros years before release. I also remember seeing a rendered cutscene of Mario Kart Wii long before a release.
This is my take…
Nintendo’s “hardcore” titles sell predominantly to guys like us reading sites like this. The fact is, it is very unlikely they’ll promote these games as heavily the “casual” games, because they rely on something far more powerful: “fanboy-hype”; generated by teasing gamers, often 18-24 months in advance of a game’s release. This, to some degree, is far more powerful than an expensive ad-campaign, especially in the world of sequels/rehashes.
With those arguments in mind, I highly doubt the “Nintendo of today” is going to do what Reggie says.
As far as I’m concerned, the teasing will continue, and the gamers will lap it up!
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:34 pm
And to a point they did tease, you’re right. The Mario and Zelda teases, and Pikmin 3, all teases, I concede and agree 100%. But I doubt we’ll see hyped cutscenes masquerading as game play from Nintendo ever again.
And I’m ok with a few sentences about Mario, Zelda and Pikmin. I know they’re coming, eventually, and I’m not going to get mad when Nintendo doesn’t show them to me on my timetable.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:52 pm
I don’t mind waiting (up to a certain point) for a good game. In fact, sometimes, the anticipation of an event is half the fun. Trying to figure out what the game will include, how many levels, what new characters…(I think Brawl was the best example of this – Sonic will be in the game, he won’t, he will, he won’t….)
But one thing I can’t stand is when you are given a release date (3Q 2008, for example), and then it is postponed to 4Q 2008, then 1Q 2009, then 2Q 2009). Waiting is one thing, being put off time and time again is another. Hopefully, if the Big N sticks to their guns with this philosophy, it will help eliminate postponements.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Amen, Jack.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:59 pm
The whole Kid Icarus debacle is a perfect example why this thing is so messed up. Everyone is pissed that we didn’t get to hear about a game that was only RUMORED to be making an appearance. It makes no sense. I blame IGN for much of the angst. Their lame attempts to create hype and drive traffic to their “exclusive” reveal stories was incredibly dishonest and did a HUGE disservice to the gamer community.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:39 pm
My prediction for the E3 big Nintendo announcement had always been Animal Crossing for the Wii, so I’m not dissappointed!
A hardcore gamer is the one that finished paying all the extensions on his Animal Crossing house, in my humble opinion…
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Its funny, but do we REALLY know that there is a new Mario and Zelda game coming? They said the ‘Mario’ and ‘Zelda’ team is working on something, but it can be anything far as I know.
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:21 am
The Regginator… gotta love ‘em
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:38 am
Nintendo seems to have it right by revealing awesome games, but they have it wrong about how long we wait: we don’t wait “shortly”. We wait years. (See Brawl). Also, we get 15 second trailers. (Once again, see Brawl). And c’mon people, let’s look at the facts: Nintendo isn’t going to reveal this stuff to at least GDC of 09 and most likely E3 2009. And the release dates will be Q3 or Q4 2009 at least, and we know Nintendo, so most likely 2010. People, it’s not going anywhere but down hill right now.
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:58 am
“we’re not going to tease you over 18 months or 24 months. We’re going to show you something that’ll make your jaw drop and make it available shortly thereafter.”
::cough:: ::cough::
SSBB
::cough:: ::cough::
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:24 am
Twilight Princess comes to mind when I read this :S
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:35 am
“we’re not going to tease you over 18 months or 24 months. We’re going to show you something that’ll make your jaw drop and make it available shortly thereafter”
I agree with Cory. This is a new strategy. When was Wii Music originally shown? 2006?
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:44 pm
“…we’re not going to tease you over 18 months or 24 months. We’re going to show you something that’ll make your jaw drop and make it available shortly thereafter.”
Um, excuse me? I have two words for you Reggie: Smash Bros.
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Sorry…but things Reggie says come across as a lot of salesmen speak bullshit. He’s already been busted in the comments here alone….Wii Music was shown in 2006; Brawl was shown forever, Twilight Princess was shown forever.
It’s one thing to be called to the carpet for your crappy showing, it’s another pretty much make up a policy on the spot.
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:35 pm
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July 23rd, 2008 at 6:55 pm
[...] from the gaming press onslaught regarding the lack of “hardcore games.” Reggie said ”We’re not going to tease you over 18 months or 24 month. We’re going to show [...]
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:40 pm
I like this way better then I don’t have to keep refreshing some blog to see or hear a rumor. Then wait years for them to make the game beat it in 2 days and watch other people trade it in. The last year and before has been surprise after surprise for me I’ve never expected some many games and some told me they could not keep that pace up and I was right. let the 3rd parties wow us that’s what SONY was so good at. When SotC came out it was a great surprise. Hell SONY having killzone2 may actuality hurt resistance’s sales. The hardcore is coming and I don’t miss the missed target dates for games over and over like the PS3 in it’s beginning and even up to today some times.
I think if you like waiting get a PS3. I mean some day it’s going to be big and it’s even foretasted to sale 150 million units.