I've been a critic of Nintendo for quite some time. They, in my opinion, have made many decisions which I feel they never should have. I could go on for pages about the stuff they've done wrong. But I won't. I'm here to mention one thing I'll always respect about the company:
Their stability.
The video game industry is a high-speed one. To those in the industry, 5 years is considered a long time, and in that period, even large companies can rise and fall with relatively little warning. In video games, a lot can happen in 5 years.
But today, fads and copycats are rampant in the industry. After the success of Grand Theft Auto, developer after developer after developer has been jumping on the "mature" bandwagon. Today, more than any other period in the lifespan of the industry, many games are made for shock value, to capitalize on one of the aspects of GTA that made it sell. Titles like Roadkill, Bloodrayne 2, 25 to Life, etc., all seem made solely to cash in on the popularity of GTA. And even many of the more high-profile titles are taking that route, in an attempt to increase sales that is neither creative nor particularly wise. NFSU2 and Mercenaries could be considered random examples of this. They focus more on creating games that have sold in the same form in the past, rather than creating something original.
It seems like every company plays the "GTA effect" in their games on one level or another, prominent or otherwise. And frankly, I'm fed up with it. I'm tired of all the games that take the ghetto/urban/violent or profane just for violence or profanity's sake approach too far. I'm tired of seeing them all advertised and pushed the same way in every media outlet. It's stifling to creativity, in my opinion, and it's a reason why I don't really follow XBOX or PS2-related news, because that's where the majority of that stuff is at, and I feel like that genre is being over-flooded to the point where I just can't bring myself to give a damn any longer.
And yet, when everyone else seems to be resorting to these tactics, and I'm getting burned out with the bulk of the industry as a result, Nintendo doesn't waver. When everybody else over-adjusts to some perception of what they think sells, Nintendo doesn't cave under that pressure. They make or publish games that they want to make, or that they think is unique, rather than making half-assed sequels or games with little more than temporary cultural appeal. On some level, this is a bad thing, but I won't talk about that here (in summary, they shouldn't stray from the mainstream so much that they become completely out-of-touch. There's a balance somewhere).
And I respect that. Whenever I get fed up with the industry again, here comes Nintendo with another Pikmin or Paper Mario or Nintendo DS, making games that are unique, interesting, and different, and doing so consistently. This is possibly their strongest points, and it's nice to know that they recognize it. I can put my confidence in the fact that they will continue to make original games and try to actually give the consumers something different–if there's one thing that says to me, it's that Nintendo cares about the end-user more than most other companies in the industry, and that's good to know. They put appropriate emphasis on creativity.
I can have faith that years from now, Nintendo will still be going about their old ways, whereas I can't say that Sony and Microsoft will ever nurture and take pride in originality and uniqueness as does Nintendo. One thing I can always appreciate about them more than any other developer or publisher is their stability. Their philosophy of game development is here to stay, and thank God. Otherwise, would the industry be forced in a continual stalemate? Where would we be without Nintendo to shake things up with their originality? If there's one thing Nintendo continually and consistently gets right, it's making original games.
Do you agree? What are your thoughts? Send e-mail to Aristotlekh@gmail.com
Their stability.
The video game industry is a high-speed one. To those in the industry, 5 years is considered a long time, and in that period, even large companies can rise and fall with relatively little warning. In video games, a lot can happen in 5 years.
But today, fads and copycats are rampant in the industry. After the success of Grand Theft Auto, developer after developer after developer has been jumping on the "mature" bandwagon. Today, more than any other period in the lifespan of the industry, many games are made for shock value, to capitalize on one of the aspects of GTA that made it sell. Titles like Roadkill, Bloodrayne 2, 25 to Life, etc., all seem made solely to cash in on the popularity of GTA. And even many of the more high-profile titles are taking that route, in an attempt to increase sales that is neither creative nor particularly wise. NFSU2 and Mercenaries could be considered random examples of this. They focus more on creating games that have sold in the same form in the past, rather than creating something original.
It seems like every company plays the "GTA effect" in their games on one level or another, prominent or otherwise. And frankly, I'm fed up with it. I'm tired of all the games that take the ghetto/urban/violent or profane just for violence or profanity's sake approach too far. I'm tired of seeing them all advertised and pushed the same way in every media outlet. It's stifling to creativity, in my opinion, and it's a reason why I don't really follow XBOX or PS2-related news, because that's where the majority of that stuff is at, and I feel like that genre is being over-flooded to the point where I just can't bring myself to give a damn any longer.
And yet, when everyone else seems to be resorting to these tactics, and I'm getting burned out with the bulk of the industry as a result, Nintendo doesn't waver. When everybody else over-adjusts to some perception of what they think sells, Nintendo doesn't cave under that pressure. They make or publish games that they want to make, or that they think is unique, rather than making half-assed sequels or games with little more than temporary cultural appeal. On some level, this is a bad thing, but I won't talk about that here (in summary, they shouldn't stray from the mainstream so much that they become completely out-of-touch. There's a balance somewhere).
And I respect that. Whenever I get fed up with the industry again, here comes Nintendo with another Pikmin or Paper Mario or Nintendo DS, making games that are unique, interesting, and different, and doing so consistently. This is possibly their strongest points, and it's nice to know that they recognize it. I can put my confidence in the fact that they will continue to make original games and try to actually give the consumers something different–if there's one thing that says to me, it's that Nintendo cares about the end-user more than most other companies in the industry, and that's good to know. They put appropriate emphasis on creativity.
I can have faith that years from now, Nintendo will still be going about their old ways, whereas I can't say that Sony and Microsoft will ever nurture and take pride in originality and uniqueness as does Nintendo. One thing I can always appreciate about them more than any other developer or publisher is their stability. Their philosophy of game development is here to stay, and thank God. Otherwise, would the industry be forced in a continual stalemate? Where would we be without Nintendo to shake things up with their originality? If there's one thing Nintendo continually and consistently gets right, it's making original games.
Do you agree? What are your thoughts? Send e-mail to Aristotlekh@gmail.com
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