IGN's former Nintendo Executive Editor and current Editor-at-Large Matt Casamassina rants on Nintendo's Wii game development quality.
"In New Super Mario Bros. Wii's multiplayer mode, you can play as icons Mario, Luigi or two versions of sideshow character Toad. So when famed Nintendo designer and development leader Shigeru Miyamoto is asked prior to the game's release why Princess Peach wasn't included as a playable character instead, he pauses and says that it would've been nice, but that the physique of Toad more closely resembles that of Mario. "And if one of the four had a dress, we'd have to come up with a special programming to handle how the skirt is handled in gameplay," he jokes.
I know the legendary producer -- a man responsible for many of my favorite games across two decades -- is just kidding about Peach's dress, but it's the first part of his comment that strikes me as interesting and even a little disturbing. He just told a room full of reporters that the only reason gamers must play as multi-colored versions of Toad instead of Peach or other beloved Mushroom Kingdom characters is because Toad has the same body shape as Mario and it was simply easier for Nintendo to recycle him.
With all due respect to Miyamoto, a proven gaming genius and innovator, that's just lazy. Either that, or Nintendo has gone off the deep end in its dogged pursuit of the business bottom line. This is not a two-man garage developer which works on games after its kids go to bed. It's a multi-billion dollar corporation with thousands of employees, many of whom have helped shape the very industry as we know it. A cash behemoth with unrivaled game-making experience. That it might even ponder recycling a character for one its most beloved and lucrative franchises so that it might save time, money, or whatever, seems ludicrous. That it actually did so is unbelievable."
He goes on to mention Animal Crossing City Folk, Wii Fit Plus, Wii Sports Resort, new Play Control! titles and Wii Play.
http://wii.ign.com/articles/105/1054621p1.html
I'm sorry to say it, but I agree with him. But I doubt Nintendo plans to make changes anytime soon. Just look at what they're doing with Super Mario Galaxy 2. Not only is it a sequel, they're going to recycle many of the same stages from the previous release and add them back with new objectives.
"In New Super Mario Bros. Wii's multiplayer mode, you can play as icons Mario, Luigi or two versions of sideshow character Toad. So when famed Nintendo designer and development leader Shigeru Miyamoto is asked prior to the game's release why Princess Peach wasn't included as a playable character instead, he pauses and says that it would've been nice, but that the physique of Toad more closely resembles that of Mario. "And if one of the four had a dress, we'd have to come up with a special programming to handle how the skirt is handled in gameplay," he jokes.
I know the legendary producer -- a man responsible for many of my favorite games across two decades -- is just kidding about Peach's dress, but it's the first part of his comment that strikes me as interesting and even a little disturbing. He just told a room full of reporters that the only reason gamers must play as multi-colored versions of Toad instead of Peach or other beloved Mushroom Kingdom characters is because Toad has the same body shape as Mario and it was simply easier for Nintendo to recycle him.
With all due respect to Miyamoto, a proven gaming genius and innovator, that's just lazy. Either that, or Nintendo has gone off the deep end in its dogged pursuit of the business bottom line. This is not a two-man garage developer which works on games after its kids go to bed. It's a multi-billion dollar corporation with thousands of employees, many of whom have helped shape the very industry as we know it. A cash behemoth with unrivaled game-making experience. That it might even ponder recycling a character for one its most beloved and lucrative franchises so that it might save time, money, or whatever, seems ludicrous. That it actually did so is unbelievable."
He goes on to mention Animal Crossing City Folk, Wii Fit Plus, Wii Sports Resort, new Play Control! titles and Wii Play.
http://wii.ign.com/articles/105/1054621p1.html
I'm sorry to say it, but I agree with him. But I doubt Nintendo plans to make changes anytime soon. Just look at what they're doing with Super Mario Galaxy 2. Not only is it a sequel, they're going to recycle many of the same stages from the previous release and add them back with new objectives.
