I love Nintendo.
This is not something I hide.
In fact I downright wear it on my sleeve whenever and wherever I can. But when it comes to their shortcomings as a company people think I worship the ground that they lay and that everything they touch turns to gold. In some respects they may be right. What other company can boast such an astounding catalogue of game titles as Nintendo can? Not many. If Nintendo is the grandfather of the Video games industry than Microsoft and Sony are undoubtedly its veritable grand-children. Yes they may be stumbling as they walk - but they are both growing up very fast and are able to carry out tasks that require a lot more dexterity and agility than their hunched over grandfather. And though the past may have born great fruits for the old man - the youngsters have yet to discover their true potential.
This is the reason I returned to write on this blog - I feel that Nintendo's bones are beginning to creak.
This week the Games Developers Conference was held in San Francisco and as per usual with that came a plethora of game announcements, trailers and business deals. However lest we forget this was supposed to be a GAMES DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE. And if anyone was going to come up with inspiration and words of wisdom for game developers at this turbulent and economically unstable time it was sure to be Nintendo of Japan's President Satoru Iwata....No this was not the case. Instead he spoke of his own history and explaining how difficult it was to make games back in the 80's and touched upon renaming Kirby after Tinkle PoPo failed to ignite any interest.
Meanwhile on facebook - my friends were all like - omg this is boring. Wheres ZELDA? and - Drop the Bomb Iwata! I must admit I was totally taken aback by the hype and momentum of this keynote address but after the dust had settled (And Reggie had come on stage and announced some netflix 3DS deal and an AT&T partnership) I was beginning to wonder whether Mr Iwata and his friends at Nintendo had got drunk off the kool aid and saw the keynote as merely an opportunity to boost 3DS momentum (lol like it needed any) and to show off Super Mario 3DS and Zelda Skyward Sword on Wii.
Ok, lets get things straight. I'm not saying - "WTF man! Why the hell did they have to show us awesome screens of a Mario game on 3DS that look like Galaxy and Link attacking a door to unlock it!" (Where the keys at link?!!? :S) No, I'm just saying there is a time and a place for these things and that is at E3 In June...Or at a press conference before or during GDC. (Ala Microsoft and Sony) Kudos to the kids! If it wasn't bad enough that Reggie came on the stage and did his whole song and dance including the gem - we are still all about the games! - HERES NETFLIX Y'ALL!. Iwata barely said anything inspiring to his audience concerning actual 3DS content development...Instead he bashed the App Store and called them out on not caring about the quality of their games. Sure it reaches the masses but their view of gaming may be tarnished after playing the god awful Gameloft games or maybe even by playing splinter cell double agent...That game is not fun...Not at all. Its bad enough that those who are just starting out developing games are filling it with crap - we don't need the big hitters of the industry doing it to 'cash in' on the whole App store phenomenon.
But Nintendo is charging £40/$60 for the software on 3DS. Does the consumer realise that the quality is with Nintendo software? If I asked a bunch of random people what games Nintendo made - I'm pretty sure they would just list games that were ON a Nintendo platform but not the ones that actually were made by the company...The same goes for movies. Most people dont give a flying crap about who directed/wrote it let alone which film studio was behind it. The games industry is the very same. Iwata is trying to say quality will shine through - but if you are making and selling millions of copies of games like Wiiplay, Brain Training and Nintendogs - why do you care Iwata? Clearly you have decided that you want EVERYONE to play videogames - and yet you shit on the App store which has the ability to reach a greater audience than the games industry will ever hope to touch.
The world of technology is ever changing and Nintendo is showing its age. It needs to learn to adapt to change. So far Nintendo has had very little competition in its lifetime. Even in the Gamecube days they were super profitable and basically printed money with the Gameboy Advance. But Apple isnt just competing anymore is ripping out the ground beneath the games industry and tearing it up. I see Apples strategy as the quickest way to death for the industry. It may reach a global audience but its in danger of cheapening the very industry that is keeping it alive...First apple did it with music then video content and now its hell bent on sucking gaming dry and levelling it with the other mediums. As a consumer its a double edged sword - we are getting masses of content at a very cheap cost, sometimes even free. But true gamers will attest that their just isnt enough substantial quality content on the App store to keep us entertained for longer than 10 mins. And the main reason for this is?....Interface and power.
Games need a certain amount of power these days for us to even recognise them as being worth of wearing the title 'videogame'. A decent ergonomic interface is key to the gaming experience. It always has been. And its the one thing that Apple does not have at the moment...How long do you think it will be till they fix this? As silly as Sony's XPERIA Play might look - it's definitely something I think will be integrated in smart phones sooner or later. Now marry that killer control method with the App Store and BAM! Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft are in trouble. Plus the power of these devices is just gonna ramp up higher and higher - just take a look at the iPad 2 as an example. Nintendo used to be the kings of power but in their old age they are growing weak. They are still full of wisdom though. Which can get them out of tight situations, but they need to start adapting around the tech boom happening around them. Iwatas keynote told me that Nintendo are missing the plot a bit. Apple won over a lot of developers at GDC. (And they weren't even at GDC) So unless Nintendo play nice with games developers and give them the tools they need to create compelling content for their platforms - then frankly they can kiss goodbye to first place.
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