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Wii Businesses Nintendo

Wii Owners Looking at a Nintendo Drought? 230

Posted by Zonk from the must-play-prime dept.
The site Computer and Videogames has up an (unverifiable article) stating that several anticipated Wii titles are going to be delayed until late 2007. Specifically, they mention Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption as being out of our hands until the Christmas season next year. They report this information via 'reliable sources', and Nintendo is unwilling to confirm or deny the claims as of yet. N'Gai at Newsweek reminds us that Reggie Fils-Aime denied the possibility of a 'Nintendo drought' in an interview they conducted back in October. Here's hoping he doesn't live to regret these words: "... The third example I would give you is Mario Galaxy, another from-the-ground-up Wii game that we are strategically timing the launch to make sure that we continue driving momentum through 2007. So N'Gai, how do I answer the question, 'Will there be no drought,' and 'How will we make sure that there are fantastic titles for Wii?' The answer is Zelda, Metroid and Mario. Which is a pretty darn good lineup."
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Wii Owners Probably Not Looking at a 'Nintendo Drought' More

Wii Owners Probably Not Looking at a 'Nintendo Drought'

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  • Wheres my Wii... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by deggy ( 195861 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @05:59PM (#17318376) Homepage
    Games drought - What about the console drought. They may be doing better than the PS3 but they're still like gold-dust. Where's my Wii???

    • Re:Wheres my Wii... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by nonsequitor ( 893813 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @06:28PM (#17318844)
      I stopped by GameStop trying to get a second nunchuk for Wii Boxing and he said the second wave of Wii shipments was sold out in 10 minutes flat. He's had several people return PS3's now that they aren't getting the prices they expected on ebay only to have the next transaction in the register be someone buying the PS3, to try to sell on the internet.

      I find it strangely curious and sad that the holiday season has spawned a new industry of parasites. People who will buy up whatever the hot toy is only to put it up for an online auction trying to make a massive profit off someone who couldn't buy it in the store because everyone who bought one got it with the intention of selling it on ebay.

      The answer to your question is:
      Your Wii is now up for auction on the internet, once supply picks up, it will be returned to the store after its temporarily inflated value goes back down.

      • I find it strangely curious and sad that the holiday season has spawned a new industry of parasites.

        Parasites? That's the free market you're badmouthing. Market demand is high, supply is low. Logically the price of the consoles should go up. Because Sony set the price lower than the market will support, it created a market for people willing to trade their time (by standing in line on launch day, repeatedly calling stores looking for returns, etc) in exchange for the difference between Sony's price an

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by nonsequitor ( 893813 )
          Ok, I'll bite. However I think stores may start revising their return policies for these hot items once they flood back onto their shelves after the Christmas season is over and everyone who wasn't able to sell their's on ebay returns it. The stores know that they lose potential holiday sales because of this, scalper's aren't returning unsold tickets after the event. People who were willing to buy one as a gift for a relative, now will not be buying it at all and total sales will drop. Whether or not th

        • Re:Wheres my Wii... (Score:5, Insightful)

          by meepzorb ( 61992 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @08:49PM (#17320312)
          Parasites? That's the free market you're badmouthing. Market demand is high, supply is low.

          Note the original poster's point: "Supply is low" because of scalpers (who have no intention of actually using the product) waiting on line to grab the PS3s before legitimate buyers can.

          These scalpers then attempt to generate wealth that they neither earned nor created on eBay-- with no renumeration to the designer, the manufacturer, the supplier, or the retailer.

          Scalping isn't an instance of "the free market", it's actually an attempt to profit through interference with the processes of the free market. So yes: "Parasites" is actually an excellent choice of word.

          • Selling an item is a value added service, regardless of how many times it has been done. Supply is not low because of scalpers, supply is low because supply is low. The Scalpers didn't prevent sony from shipping more ps3 consoles. The inflated price was due to the insufficiency of the transactions due to the limited supply. Selling them on Ebay reduced the inefficiency for *some* people, namely those who bought them. You could just as easily say Walmart generates wealth they neighter earn or create. All the

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by meepzorb ( 61992 )
              I don't see what your analogy has to do with the subject.

              IMO, scalping is more akin to abducting every woman in the village, then demanding a billion dollars of anyone who wants a wife.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by bentcd ( 690786 )
                I believe the PS3 eBayers buy a very limited number of PS3s to resell (typically one). I believe it is rather rare that one single person tries to buy a large number of them at the same time (to the extent that the store is emptied).
                As it stands, if eBay-reselling of PS3s at jacked up prices is, in fact, a viable way of making money then this can only be because selling PS3s on eBay is a superior or preferred way of trading in this commodity. The resellers are therefore doing the market a favour by offering

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Profound ( 50789 )
          I guess it is part of the market as people can do something legal to make money.

          However, no real productive work has been done, it is just people competing by lining up, holding products and then trying to sell them again.

          Originally people who valued the Wii at $200 more than the sticker price would have had that as a kind of happiness bonus over what they paid. Now that "bonus $200" has been extracted from them, people are spending their lives lining up and selling them etc.

          A good example of how GDP can go
          • However, no real productive work has been done, it is just people competing by lining up, holding products and then trying to sell them again.

            I pay people to do plenty of tasks I'd rather not do personally. Why not pay someone to stand in line for me? Someone is going to stand in line for that scarce commodity, why shouldn't those people be paid to do so?

      • Those would be the morons who put their PS3s up for $14,000 as a buy it now?

        These people have obviously never used Ebay before.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by seebs ( 15766 )
        I want one of these people returning a PS3 to sell it to me, because I actually have a project that needs one.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mr_exit ( 216086 )
        Come to New Zealand and buy them here. many shops still had them on the shelves at the end of launch day. Doing some christmas shopping today at the mall, from what I saw 3 shops had them in stock and one was sold out.

        The ps3 isn't out here yet tho, that will be well into next year I gather
    • They had a few at EB around here. Only a few, a sad number to be sure, but they were there. If I didn't think it was cheesey as hell to buy yourself something when Christmas shopping for friends and family, I would have picked one up. I figured I wouldn't deprive any kids of their present under the tree, and I won't have time to play much anyway until after the xmas season when there will hopefully be sufficient supply.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by skroz ( 7870 )
      Where's my Wii???


      I've got it. Sorry, but I've decided to keep it.

    • Re:Wheres my Wii... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by kinglink ( 195330 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @06:38PM (#17319004)
      The funny thing is the PS3 "drought" is less than the Wii drought. I know a couple people who would start a bidding war if I had a second Wii. But ps3 are starting to sit on shelves. Not for days exactly, but when you consider that they have sold around a fifth as many PS3 as Wiis, and the Wiis sales are still going strong? It's an impressive system.

      As for the story however CVG has three problems. A. They are in Europe, not America. B. They have no real proof they just claim to have an insider. C. "drought"? you mean a drought because it's a launch system and there might be "only" 1-2 nintendo brand games a month? There's a LOT of games coming to the wii, yet they are holding back on release dates. I wouldn't be suprised if we have 5-6 good to great games by March (in 2007 only) and double that before august. We know about Sonic, and Mortal Kombat Armegeddon, Wario Ware, and Wii play. Plus realize that if there's slow monthes or weeks, they have stated they will release some of the best games for the VC at that time.

      "Drought" Not bloody likely. More like "sunny days with out a chance of rain".

      • I wouldn't be suprised if we have 5-6 good to great games by March (in 2007 only) and double that before august.

        Why wouldn't you be surprised? Publishers hold back games for the holidays all the time - almost as often as they rush buggy and incomplete games to make the holiday rush.

        I'm sure that the Wii will have more releases between January and August than the Gamecube had during it's first year, but that won't be too hard at all. That said, though, the "news" (rumor) that big-name Nintendo properti

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by jdgeorge ( 18767 )
      Where's my Wii???

      In your pottii???

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Damvan ( 824570 )
      A coworker of mine, in an attempt to get a Wii for his son for Christmas, stopped by the local Target every morning on his way to work to wait in line for a Wii. He said there was always at least 10 people in line every morning. He did this for 2 weeks, and during that time had the chance 4 times to buy a PS3, but not once a Wii. Not because they didn't get any Wiis, but rather that everyone in the line was there for a Wii.

      I finally got him a Wii because I am good friends with the local Gamestop manager,

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by EastCoastSurfer ( 310758 )
        Same thing happened to me. I've been going to BB everyday during lunch looking for a wii and have had a couple opportunities to buy a ps3. Still don't have my wii though.
    • I finally bit the bullet last weekend... and camped out overnight Saturday night to get my Wii.

      Every store within 10 miles of my house (which is a lot... including 3 "Gamestops", Toys R Us, 4! Best Buys, 2 Circuit Citys, Wal-Mart, 2 Targets and a bunch of other stuff) had a line that started at around 8:00 PM last Saturday evening. EVERYONE knew that the shipments had come in and were going to be on shelves on Sunday morning (including myself).

      I personally got in line at Toys R Us at around 10:00 PM. I wa

  • Old Games, Pshhaw (Score:5, Interesting)

    by spykemail ( 983593 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @06:00PM (#17318390) Homepage
    Who cares about the new games? Question is: will every NES game I have in my basement be re-released so I can pay for it again and play it without spending 3 hours trying to get my old (3) NES to work?? The adapters for the controllers are already being made, all I need to do is $250 for the Wii, $? for the adapters, $? for near mint NES controllers, and $5 and I'll be playing Super Mario Bros. like it's 1985.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by maynard ( 3337 )
      I have an old SNES that still works great. Why re-buy all those old games again? Never mind the difference in manufacturing quality between the SNES and a PS2 or 360. Hell, my first 360 didn't even last an hour; the SNES fifteen years and still going strong.
      • I have an old SNES that still works great.

        Same here, and I have an old NES that still works great too... except for the stupid fscking connectors, which is why it requires a ridiculous amount of fidling to get games to work. Though for this case, a game genie works just fine, assuming you can find one.

        Still, I'd pay for some of the best-of-the-best games like SMB3 and LoZ:LttP just to not have to swap consoles around when the mood hits me.

        God, I wish they'd cut the price in half. I'd buy three times as ma

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by LKM ( 227954 )
        Me too, except for some fucked up reason, it doesn't work with my beamer (shaky picture). So I'll re-buy the better games. Additionally, having the games on the Wii means I only have to take the Wii with me and have all my games.

    • Re:Old Games, Pshhaw (Score:5, Informative)

      by carlivar ( 119811 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @06:30PM (#17318872)
      You don't need original NES controllers or adapters. Holding the Wii remote sideways feels almost exactly like the original NES controller.
      • That's really not true for everyone. Personally I tried it and it's just not the same. I guess I spent too many of the best years of my life playing NES but the net result is that it's just not the same playing those games with anything but the original controllers. I definitely won't miss trying to get the cartridges to correctly connect to the console.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Aladrin ( 926209 )
      I dunno about 'every' game, but I would bet they intend to release a lot of them over the next few years. They're smart enough to know that if they release them all at once, even though they could, they wouldn't sell nearly as many of each of them.

      As for the controllers... I fully expect to see Nintendo sell 'retro' controllers that look and feel exactly like the originals for all the Virtual Console systems, maybe even the Sega ones. As soon as they see vintage controllers selling on EBay for stupid amo
  • I am not woried (yet). They seem to have really taken in the idea of fixing the key problems that Nintendo has clasicly had. They know it was their fault that the NGC tanked, and they are out there to fix it. (a Zelda game at launch does help this feeling)

    The only thing that is tickign away in my mind is that they have already broken one announced release date (though every one save me seems to have forgotten this). They announced at the 2005 E3 that the Revoloution would have a smash bros game (internet

  • Europe only? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Bloomy ( 714535 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @06:16PM (#17318642)
    Maybe this is just for Europe. The release lists linked in TFA have dates for games that are already out in the US (Children of Mana, Star Fox Command, Excite Truck).
  • Earlier this year there were quite a few playable games (BWii, Pokemon Battle Revolution, Project Hammer), there are a few games which haven't been released in North America yet (Wii Play, Hajimete no Wii), and Third parties have been announcing games that will be released in Q2 and beyond (Medal of Honor Vanguard, Prince of Persia Rival Swords). [in no way is my list complete]

    In general I don't expect a drought in the classical Nintendo drought sense in 2007; at the same time I don't think there has ever b
    • Wii Play sucks ass. There are 15 games available, most of which suck. All the major retailers (in London) have ceased selling GC games, so there's no back catalogue as there was when the PS2 launched. This sucks. I love Monkey Ball Banana Blitz, but where's Wario Ware or Mario or Mario Kart? Dammit.

  • Drought? Who Cares! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by freeweed ( 309734 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @06:33PM (#17318908)
    Fortunately, Nintendo came out with a strong enough launch lineup that I really couldn't care less if nothing new came out for another 6 months. Include stragglers like Elebits (which was a couple of weeks late) and the system already has a solid half dozen must-haves.

    The Wii is an overwhelming success not because people are ga-ga over the latest and greatest, and just trying to be "first on the block" to have one. It's successful because there's already a TON of fun to be had with it. The last time people were buying a system by the million JUST TO PLAY THE PACK-IN was the NES and Super Mario Bros. We all know how that one turned out. It took a year or two for much else to happen (I'm thinking Zelda and the ensuing Nintendo-mania of the late 1980s), but in the meantime everyone was very happy just playing SMB and a few other early releases.

    Other than the real hardcore types who buy 20-30 games each and every year, there's more than enough Wii goodness to last the average person for 6-12 months. Coincidentally, this is exactly the type of person who the Wii is aimed at.

    • Re:Drought? Who Cares! or Elebits (Score:4, Informative)

      by WillAffleckUW ( 858324 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @06:37PM (#17318992) Homepage Journal
      I bought that as a bonus Xmas present, in addition to another set of Wiimote and nunchuk, for my son. The cool part so far is all the old GameCube games, like Dungeons and Animal Crossing, all work fine on the Wii - you need the old controllers, but they all pop in the top.

      Is Elebits as good as it seemed in the previews? I hate waiting until next week ...
      • If you trust metareview sites, such as GameRankings, then Elebits appears to be a decent game [gamerankings.com], averaging about 71% at the time of this posting. Not a 5-star title by any means, but around the 3 to 4-star mark.
    • ...including the Virtual Boy, the fear of drought is enough to make me wait. The DS, Gamecube, and N64 all had significant post-launch droughts.

      I agree the Wii has a lot of well-regarded launch titles, but apart from Zelda there's an awful lot of minigame collections in that list (Trauma, Rayman, Wii Sports) so I worry about how long those games will last. It's a problem with a lot of the DS' library too - there's a good number of good games but they tend to be on the shallow side in terms of lasting valu

      • The minigames are the whole point! (Score:5, Insightful)

        by freeweed ( 309734 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @08:26PM (#17320132)
        Funny that you'd mention minigames. Again, you have to think of just who the Wii is aimed at.

        Is it aimed at the guy who plays Zelda all the way through 10 times? No.
        Is it aimed at the gal who collects every last star, heart, bonus fish, or whatever in Mario to unlock another costume? No.
        The guy who races every last track down to the microsecond hoping to finally open another level? No.

        Is it aimed at folks who just want to sit down and have some fun for a while? YES.

        Minigame collections, to me, are exactly what the doctor ordered. Not some sprawling 100+ hours of gameplay. Not some endless quest for little reward.

        I'm in the gaming middle. I play through Zelda, but ONCE. Once I'm done, it has zero lasting value to me. Minigames, on the other hand - hell, I'm STILL playing Tetris, which for all intents and purposes these days, is a minigame. Quick if you want, no story, no collecting things, nothing. You just fire it up and play for a few minutes. I find the mingame style of games are playable far longer than most modern games.
    • I'm a rather busy uni student who works part time and I already play EVE Online...

      I skipped the last generation as it just wasn't 'fun' though I see this opening line up lasting me the year. To be honest most of my time is already taken up with other things so when I get my Wii it'll be used for parties (and Wii Sports takes care of that) and the odd few hours of solo (which Zelda will do nicely). I really wont be buying any new release games for almost a year after I get it as I'll be spending my spare
    • Seriously. They could delay those games until 2008 for all I care. As long as they keep the Wii shop channel flowing with new games every week I'll be happy.

      Honestly, I originally wanted a Wii because I wanted a Gamecube, and since I was putting off buying a GC for so long it got to the point where the Wii was coming, then once the Shop details were released, I was sold. The scary part was while waiting in the Wii line, I met not one, not two, but three separate PS3 Ebayer groups who stood in the PS3 line t
  • Sorry, I'm not too concerned about the purported Wii blockbuster game drought.

    I'm too busy playing my GameCube version of Sims 2: Pets on my Wii, while my son plays his GameCube Super Smash Brothers on it.

    Between that and all the fine games, I'm just hoping to have a chance to finish Rayman's Raving Rabbids myself (my son's already a World Champion), let alone delve into Excite Truck or Zelda that he's already mastered.

  • Drought now or drought later (Score:5, Interesting)

    by SalaciousPucker ( 911419 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @06:49PM (#17319132)
    Zelda was a Gamecube port. It was held back on the Gamecube solely to be a Wii launch title. Besides that, what do you have on the Wii? The games fall into two categories based on what I've seen: Tech demos (Wii Sports) or 3rd party XBOX ports (usually bad ones). Still, it's a pretty strong launch, solely based on Zelda.

    The problem is that the Wii launch, constitutes almost the entire production from Nintendo game studios over the last couple years, cause they sure weren't making Gamecube games. I'm sure they have a Mario and Metroid game in 2007, but what has Nintendo done to prevent a drought after that? The real problem is that Nintendo consoles still rely on Nintendo providing all the games worth playing and they just don't make them fast enough, for a broad enough market, or even at the same level as in the past. The reason the PS1 or PS2 was consistent was not cause of Sony's games, but cause of 3rd parties.

    3rd party Developers are not looking at the Wii as a place to make new creative games - why do it on old technology? The Wii is going to be looked at as a dumping ground or a place to make a cheap buck. PS2/XBOX ports, new levels on an old engine, rework the control scheme and push it out the door. Look at the Wii version of Far Cry or the fact that the 'new' Wii Prince of Persia is actually the OLD Prince of Persia (with NEW control scheme!) that came out last year for examples of this.

    • Re:Drought now or drought later (Score:5, Insightful)

      by togashi06 ( 1013825 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @07:15PM (#17319428)

      3rd party Developers are not looking at the Wii as a place to make new creative games - why do it on old technology? The Wii is going to be looked at as a dumping ground or a place to make a cheap buck. PS2/XBOX ports, new levels on an old engine, rework the control scheme and push it out the door.
      Can't agree with you on that, just look at DS compared to PSP. Which one is getting the really creative games? It's not about power, DS and Wii have more than enough to deliver a complete experience( who has an HDTV set at home, anyway?), just look at DS's catalogue... elite beat agents, final fantasy 3 just to quote some. The last thing I hear from someone who has played them is a complain about it being old technology.

      • Re:Drought now or drought later (Score:5, Interesting)

        by paitre ( 32242 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @07:36PM (#17319654) Journal

        who has an HDTV set at home, anyway?
        Me. Bought 2.5 weeks ago, as a matter of fact, for far less than I was expecting to spend for a 40+" set.

        I have been quite pleased with the purchase, and the upgrade to HD/Digital Cable is worth the $5mo it's costing me (NFL in HD ftw).

        That said - I agree with you otherwise. The new controller is already forcing developers to think outside the box, and I feel that there will be far more innovative and exclusive games for Wii than there will be for PS3 or 360. I'm not saying that those systems won't also have innovative games, but they won't be game-play innovations. PS3 and 360 are definitely going to try to push the envelope on graphics and audio realism, I just don't think they are going to have the same effect as innovative play control is going to have.

        Again - look at the DS. I just bought a DS Lite for my 8yo for his birthday, and it was absolutely intuitive for him to use. Hell, I'm seriously considering getting myself one for MY birthday (or to celebrate my divorce being final, whichever happens first) to help break me off of my MMORPG habit. :D

        • And this is coming from a sound designer. All these systems are capable of high quality audio, it's called "digital recording". There are only two instances that I can think of where "high power" would make any difference what-so-ever:

          1) Real-time MIDI instrumentation that can be changed on the fly. Building interactive midi music is not a processing nightmare, but playing back good quality samples IS. Still, very few game developers have had any interest in this. In fact, the only one recently is Zelda,

          • Some of the older LucasArts [wikipedia.org] games might interest you audio-wise.

          • In fact, the only one recently is Zelda, which has music that transitions into other themes depending on the gameplay circumstances... that's not possible with acoustic recordings.

            It is possible to do this without a MIDI-like setup. Some games that come to mind: Escape From Monkey Island and Phantasy Star Online. Both used prerecorded digital audio tracks but were able to make transitions in the music depending on the situation. It might be more difficult if you want to record a live performance and still

            • Though I hate to bring up the hated EA here, SSX 3 did some nice things with [admittedly, mostly lame] prerecorded music in that game. While in the air, the music would transition seamlessly to just the rhythm section, and the song would continue when you hit the ground. Despite all the bad things about EA, I'm looking forward to an SSX 4.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by thatguywhoiam ( 524290 )

          That said - I agree with you otherwise. The new controller is already forcing developers to think outside the box, and I feel that there will be far more innovative and exclusive games for Wii than there will be for PS3 or 360. I'm not saying that those systems won't also have innovative games, but they won't be game-play innovations. PS3 and 360 are definitely going to try to push the envelope on graphics and audio realism, I just don't think they are going to have the same effect as innovative play contro

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by grumbel ( 592662 )

        Can't agree with you on that, just look at DS compared to PSP.

        Look at NfS:Most Wanted, Tomb Raider or Burnout on the DS and tell me that those are not the perfect definition of making a quick buck with a crappy port. Those games are however only the tip of the iceberg, the DS has tons a bad games, in fact a lot more bad ones then the PSP, even so the DS has fewer games in total. Don't believe it? Just look at the ratings [seul.org]

        There really aren't that much original games on the DS, lots of it are ports or seq

        • Actually the Junk to Quality Ratio on the DS is pretty much 10:1, which is not too bad for a successful gaming system. And I agree the DS in the recent months has become a dumping ground for the quick buck to be made, the junk to quality ration used to be way better. But there are a lot of gems, while you mention starfox, I dont think this is a quick buck port, the game is excellent, super mario 64 also was no straight port but altered, but it had the usual first lineup problem they did not know how to ge
      • A few million more people than had an HDTV in their home last year, it would seem... including myself and a good few people I know. They're finally hitting that point.

    • Re:Drought now or drought later (Score:4, Insightful)

      by seebs ( 15766 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @09:10PM (#17320494) Homepage
      Actually, so far, I'd say you're precisely wrong; this is the one platform offering any real chance to do something different, rather than just the same with more polygons.
    • The problem is that the Wii launch, constitutes almost the entire production from Nintendo game studios over the last couple years

      Definitely true.....if you conveniently forget about the DS and the MANY great games that were made for it over the last 2 years.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by LKM ( 227954 )
      3rd party Developers are not looking at the Wii as a place to make new creative games

      Are you living behind the moon or something? Have you really missed the news during the last few weeks?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ookaze ( 227977 )
      The games fall into two categories based on what I've seen: Tech demos (Wii Sports) or 3rd party XBOX ports (usually bad ones). Still, it's a pretty strong launch, solely based on Zelda

      Like, mmmh, Elebits or Excite Truck, or Red Steel ?
      Man, some people have blinders it's amazing.

      The problem is that the Wii launch, constitutes almost the entire production from Nintendo game studios over the last couple years, cause they sure weren't making Gamecube games

      Only you and your fellow NA hardcore FPS gamers see any

  • horses (Score:2, Insightful)

    by headonfire ( 160408 )

    The answer is Zelda, Metroid and Mario.

    You mean the answer is flogging dead horses by using the same franchises over and over again. Not that I don't love me some Zelda, Metroid or Mario action, as most games in the franchises are excellent; but I'd like to see something else move into Nintendo territory. Please, for the love of god. Give us some fresh meat. Hardware-wise, we're in a new realm, and it's been fantastic. The DS, the Wii, both great. Now let's try some new characters, shall we? Mario

    • How about Disaster Day of Crisis, Project Hammer, and Forever Blue? The fact is that Nintendo is always producing new genres/franchises ... the reason people don't realize this is that none of these games get the press that a new Pokemon, Zelda, Metroid or Mario game will get.
    • Please, for the love of god. Give us some fresh meat.

      Of course I'd like that, though I'll never besmirch Nintendo for giving me an excellent Mario or Metroid game.

      Personally I'd love to see a Wii Pikmin game.

      Or anything that comes out of Miyamoto's head.

    • Re:horses (Score:5, Interesting)

      by meringuoid ( 568297 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @07:58PM (#17319866)
      You mean the answer is flogging dead horses by using the same franchises over and over again.

      These horses are far from dead.

      The last Zelda and Mario games that came out, I bought both of 'em on launch day. New SMB I finished in a weekend, though it took me a long while to find every level and get the three-star save file. Twilight Princess - well, I'm at just over 30 hours since the UK launch on December 8th, and I just completed the Snowpeak quest. Died twice early on, only once been seriously threatened since then.

      These games have been fairly easy, because I'm extremely good at them. For this I have to thank some 20 years of experience. But they're both of them excellent games, at least as good as anything else you'll find on the shelves. My experience of their forebears means I pick up the new game much more quickly, but it doesn't make it any less a great game.

      A new Zelda or Mario isn't like a new Madden or even a new Championship Manager. It's not just a reissue of the same basic game with prettier graphics. It's the same underlying mechanism, sure, and with recurring characters, but it's always a new world to explore.

    • Mario tried to go on a short vacation, in Super Mario Sunshine, but an impersonator framed him, and he had to clean up the mess. I prefer Mario to be in the Mushroom Kingdom. But they are changing up the formula some... I've never played a platform game that uses a pointing device and an analog stick at the same time. (Mario Galaxy)

    • Re:horses (Score:4, Insightful)

      by LordKronos ( 470910 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @10:20PM (#17321026)
      Please, for the love of god. Give us some fresh meat.

      Have you tried Animal Crossing or Pikmin? Those are both relatively fresh (2 titles each) and both incredibly fun. With Animal Crossing, I can see how it definitely has limited appeal for many gamers, but I think Pikmin could be great for almost anyone.
      • oh yes, i'm an animal crossing:wild world addict on DS. That's definitely a great game. :) I haven't played any Pikmin titles yet. I don't think that there's a Pikmin DS out yet, but I'll keep an eye out for the GCN games.
    • Donkey Kong (well, he's old, but was made anew) at one point moved into the spotlight previously held by mario. Certainly Donkey Kong Country (and to some extent DKC2) were as fun as the mario games, and nearly as memorable (if not moreso in some ways). Latter games with DK have been less lustrous, but why not let that franchise overpass the mario one, and perhaps find another character who would be just as memorable as Mario and the Kong Bros?
      • donkey kong is also a spinoff right from the mario franchise, and is right there along with the same characters that i so love/hate seeing.

        I guess a lot of it comes down to memorability and history. All the franchises do have that time-tested thing going for them. They make good concepts to grab for a game that are easy to work with and instantly recognizable by the public, hence saleable; as well as being great concepts to put on bedsheets, breakfast cereal, and lunchpails for much the same reason. I sti

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by LKM ( 227954 )
          Technically, Mario is a spinoff from the Donkey Kong Franchise, I think :-)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ookaze ( 227977 )
      You mean the answer is flogging dead horses by using the same franchises over and over again

      No, that's a misinterpretation of yours. You obviously don't understand anything about brand.
      Even worse, you assume once sth is a huge success, the name can't be used anymore.
      You don't even search far either. How about Fire Emblem, Super Smash Brawl Melee, Starfox, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Nintendogs, ...
      Nintendo is doing so much successful games already, but it's not enough to you, you would like them to name each

  • Bankai! (Score:2)

    by rlp ( 11898 )
    If Sega implemented it right the Wii Bleach game could be a lot of fun. It's supposed to be released in Japan real soon. The question is whether they made proper use of the Wii controller. Then there's the issue of whether Sega will sell it in the US and how long will it take to localize it. Still, it would be nice to see a two player (mostly) sword fighting game for the Wii.
  • Shit, thats like 10 days!!!!!! OMG NO!!!

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