You made some good points there. I agree with much of it.
Innovation for innovations sake is often not at the bequest of gamers or often serving them better.
I agree. That's no different to HD for HD's sake. Without the fun factor the game will not be fun. There has to be a point to all the additions from all of the big 3 (Sony, MS and Nintendo). So far all 3 are justify them relatively well.
Motion Controls on Wii made actually limited a lot of wii games or were a poor option to some more traditional style games.
For a few games like Xenoblade Chronicles and the 2 Zelda games I agree. But we can't deny the sales effect the Wiimote had. The Wiimote sold the Wii so very well.
The wii-u control pad even in Nintendo's first party titles has offered very little to the table enhancing game controls in any meaningful way. It's best feature is off screen tv gaming, but that's it.
I mostly agree with this. Very few games have used the gamepad well. Most of them were not released on launch though. The only 2 on launch were NintendoLand and ZombiU. The first was just a bunch of overly hard mini games and the other was a really niche game, not a big seller. That hurt the WiiU on launch. No great 1st party game selling what the gamepad can do.
Sure later on, Splatoon, Captain Toad, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Art Academy Atelier and Star Fox Zero exist (or will exist). But they all came much too late. By then the writing was already on the WiiU's wall.
I've been gaming on Nintendo platforms since the NES. I am not 'new' to Nintendo and their best gaming moments over the last 30!l or more years - irrespective of generational platform - generally never have gimicky controls at their heart of them. Most control in a simple traditional manner where the content was centre stage, not the control scheme.
So we are both older gamers. I started gaming on the NES. My first game was Zelda 2.
I just think today the big 3 all have different ideas of what the best way to give their customers fun is. Sony and MS used better graphics, longer more indepth games and a richer online multiplayer experience. Nintendo on the other hand use innovative controls. Not just for the sake of them, but it's in their DNA to think outside the box. That is a little hit and miss. None of the bog 3 are wrong for what they do, they are all just doing in different directions.
Regarding third parties, Nintendo needs solid hardware and a consistent controller, so that the machine can keep a pace with the competition or better it, so that multi platform ports do not suffer on the machine.
This is an issue because most multiplatform ports are just lazy on the WiiU side and don't use the gamepad much or at all. Secondly there is no real reason to spend a lot on developing a WiiU port because they are traditionally best sellers. Most of the Nintendo best sellers are Nintendo exclusives.
Also keeping pace is a subjective thing. You can talk graphics. And that's understandable. But you can also talk in other ways. With a standard controller, games like Splatoon would not be able to exist. The real issue with 3rd party ports in my opinion is that Nintendo till recently had not made developing for Nintendo hardware an easy experience. The Nintendo SDK's abd API sets and other things were barebones at best. Made people think twice for developing on Nintendo. Concerning harware power and Nintendo controller choice, 99.9% of the 3rd party developers that refused ot develop for the WiiU all cited a lack of sales as their reason. That's a legit reason and I can understand. onle one cited not enough WiiU CPU/GPU grunt. That was for Project Cars. They seriously tried to make the game for WiiU and gave up after they realised what they wanted to do was too much for the WiiU. Fair enough. But Xenoblade Chronicles X proves that with the right compromises you can make a great looking game on the console.
I did go a little off topic there but I think you get my point.
Underpowered hardware, or difficult to programme hardware with a doubly difficult / verging on limited controller making translating games to the platform screams of the mistakes of the last 10 years and why third party support has been lacklustre.
The WiiU being underpowered is a myth. As I said above only the Project Cars people cited that as the reason they pulled WiiU support for their game. Xenoblade Chronicels X as I said above proves that amazing things can be done with the WiiU. But difficult to program for is 100% correct. Till recently, Nintendo consoles have been a nightmare to develop for. Nintendo did not go out of it's way with it's SDK's and other things. Slowly Nintendo though are learning that was a mistake and needs to fix it up.
Likewise Nintendo need a clear defined message with the hardware that says 'this is what I do, this isn't why I exist, this is why you should buy me'...
I disagree. No one cares for Nintendo hardware like they do for Playstation hardware. Nintendo hardware is only the price of admission to play the Nintendo games. Nintendo need to have amazing games so people pay the console admission price to play them. Without the amazing games, Nintendo consoles do not sell and Nintendo go out of business as they do not have other departments like Sony and MS to cover a failing console department.
Nintendo first party games may often be great with a few notable turkeys pushed out to fill the MASSIVE gaps in release schedules - simply do not sell consoles alone.
Actually a few great Nintendo games to sell consoles. . . but this is mostly to the Nintendo faithful who are waiting for that one good game they want. Nintendo's issue now is how to get new customers. The old faithful like us are getting older now. 30+ mostly. Nintendo need to do more to get the 15-30 year old market. I do hope the NX launch will somehow deal with this issue.
More than anything else, Nintendo needs 3rd party support and ANYTHING that could jeopardise that, resulting in the same old mistakes and dwindling support - will not help its cause.
If sales are anything to go by, Nintendo need it's 1st party games more than anything else. 1st party games sell Nintendo hardware. It's that simple. The WiiU is the best example. No good 1st party hardware on launch and the hardware sales were just not there. Good 3rd party support is important too. And I think Nintendo realise this. All of Nintendo's cross promotions, with Smash Bros 4, Super Mario Maker, MK8 and others is proof of this. But theyb are just a drop in the ocean. The NX launch will proove to us all if Nintendo has learnt from it's WiiU mistakes or not.
Give me beautiful powerful hardware, akin to the wow factor the Panasonic Q had, and give me a controller that feels fantastic in my hands, simply disappearing in them with a familiarity that allows me to enjoy the content on my screen, not staring down at my fingertips.
That's fair enough. Each to their own. A lot of people like exactly what you describe and there are developers out there to cater for you.
Myself on the other hand, want fun. That's it, fun in a game. I have an open mind I will let the game decide how it will provide me with that fun. Be it a traditional control scheme or a touch screen or something elese entirely. Fun to me is fon, no matter what the control scheme is.
We wait and see, but if they feck up yet again with the NX - it will be a tragedy, but one of their own making.
Yes we do. I don't think the WiiU is a disaster, but many mistakes were done with it. If the NX is not an improvement, it will not mean the end of Nintendo, but it will not look good for them in the long term.
