Nintendo: We’re ignoring someone? Really?
Monday, August 27th, 2007 at 8:48am by Jack
IGN just blew the doors off of the airlock and bestowed a 9.5 Incredible rating on Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. A four page review accompanies said rating. I fully expect every other “media outlets” out there to do the same in the coming days and weeks. But something has been tickling the back of my mind today, and I can’t quite place it. Something about Nintendo ignoring a certain group of people. Bah, whatever. I can’t remember today — haven’t had my coffee yet, you see — but I’m sure it will come to me later.
Question now is… will there be a line tomorrow for this game? Probably not, but that’d be pretty cool.
Please note: Nintendo did NOT say that quote from the headline, but I imagine it’s what they’re going to be thinking secretly from this week onwards. Well, until Reggie fires off a cocky press release anyway [Image courtesy of IGN].
UPDATE: Metroid Prime 3’s average score: 95%, with several reviews still outstanding.
UPDATE#2: Next Generation says: “The control system has a responsiveness and accuracy that no other console FPS has possessed.” More here.
August 27th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Do stores get this today or tomorrow?
August 27th, 2007 at 9:39 am
It’s great news, I really really can’t wait to play it.
(Although there is the fact that Nintendo are barely the game any attention whatsoever, like ol Matty at Ign pointed out but whatever)
August 27th, 2007 at 10:25 am
lyskan: It ships today but probably won’t be in stores ’til tomorrow.
Roid: Um, there’s been a TV commercial and an entire channel dedicated to previewing MP3 on the Wii. What more do you want, exactly?
August 27th, 2007 at 10:41 am
GameTrailers.com just gave Corruption a 9.6. I’m not going to be sleeping much for a while……someone get me a towel….I’m drooling…..
August 27th, 2007 at 10:51 am
Got mine pre-ordered. Can’t wait to play. Between this and BioShock, we are in single-player game heaven.
And I don’t really think that Nintendo is “ignoring” the hardcore crowd. They are just emphasizing them less than their casual crowd at the moment.
I can’t wait to see what Retro will work on next.
August 27th, 2007 at 10:51 am
Urgh, sorry about this.
@Fairlady Z.
Um, a lot. Compare it to the hype and marketing Bioshock or even Halo 3 has been getting for last few months and there’s no comparision.
Or even compare it to the first Metroid Prime which came with a huge marketing blitz, magazine ads,constant internet features, previews and media updates as well as great television ads WEEKS in advance.
So what does Prime 3 get? An “entire” channel and a mediocre ad? Granted it’s better than the nothing and zero hype we had a couple weeks ago but still the people who will go the channel will be hardcores getting the game anyway and the ad seems to aimed towards casuals who will be completely uninterested and not the shooter/adventure fans it could be attracting. The fact that people on Nintendo website are asking when the game is coming out and it is only a day away (I even thought it was next monday) should tell you something.
Why should they bother?
Ps: I got to learn not to make controversial comments.
August 27th, 2007 at 10:54 am
@Cygnus.
Can’t wait. They’re supposedly working on a couple other games. I wonder if one might be the cancelled rpg Raven Blade…
August 27th, 2007 at 11:53 am
@Roid
I just checked out the small bit of info on the cancelled Raven Blade game that Retro was working on in the past. Damn, that sounds cool. I would love for them to revive that project for their next Wii game. I guess we can just hope…
August 27th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Nintendo doesn’t need to spend the money advertising this. There has been so much attention given to the Wii that people are actively looking for information about it and games available for it. Unlike the Gamecube where it was overshadowed a bit….
August 27th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
Dustin has a point (which Jack made last week, anyway)… Nintendo most likely knew the kind of reviews Metroid Prime 3 would get and decided to give it the absolute minimum advertising. Why? Because any advertising, without being able to play the actual game, would beg a comparison between it and Bioshock and Halo 3 based only on their advertising. It would be a pointless marketing war parallel to the hardware war that Nintendo precisely got out of when they launched Wii!
August 27th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
I think the ad works since the wii isn’t really about flashy graphics more about how you play, that’s why the commercials focus on the players, I’m happy the game got a longer commercial also…
August 27th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
I’m more surprised 1up gave it a 9.0. It must mean this game is EPIC since this guys hate the Wii!!
August 27th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
jack, you must be the hardest of the hardcore fanmen, even moreso then me, and i didnt think that was possible.
on occasion your articles are a bit like rambling, but still, its good to see another fanboy with intelligent views who has thought things through rather then blindly liking or hating something.
i think its ok to play favorites as long as we have more then just emotion to back it up.
i heard what blake said about why you believe so much in nintendo, them allowing gaming to become acceptable so it never has a chance to die out again, i agree with you and more.
August 27th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
to be on topic, cant wait to try out metroid prime 3 for myself
August 27th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
Wonderful review scores! I don’t have to be back to work until Sunday night.. and it looks like the 2 days of vacation time I’ve spent on this game are going to be worthwhile.
August 27th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
must… buy… game…
August 27th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
I have the game and its awesome, its the best Wii game so far.
August 28th, 2007 at 7:47 am
I was very pleased about the games score and Nintendo have done a decent job at advertising the game. The preview channel was another clever marketing idea.
I don’t think that Nintendo is forgetting about us. I think its just that fans are getting upset that the spotlight isn’t on them and frankly it shouldn’t be.
August 28th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
You cant say that Nintendo is ignoring the hardcore this holiday. They might never have served them as much as now. But as a Nintendo fan I still feel worried since all of these hardcore games have been in development since before the casual games boom. And e3 didnt really help to calm these fears.
August 28th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
I do worry that we’re going to get the current wave of games leading up to Xmas, then Mario Kart next spring or summer…. and then…. nothing but Mii games and various Mario sport games. If anything, I think Nintendo has played to its fanbase much more strongly this time than they did with the N64 or Gamecube, but now we’re looking at all of Nintendo’s big franchises being released before the Wii is 18 months old. I can’t wait for Pikmin 3 or Animal Crossing, or at least a dozen third-party games on the horizon, but they’re not system sellers like Zelda, Metroid, Brawl, Galaxy and to a lesser extent MK.
Now that Nintendo is once again the market leader, will they pull out Wii sequels to keep us entertained, as they did with the NES and SNES… or will they do what they did with the Gamecube, and tease us for several years with news of an amazing new Zelda or Mario game only to delay them till the next console comes out?