Nintendo: Appealing TOO Much to Kids

M

M.O.V

"I may not be perfect, but I've always been true"
Since in the beginning, Nintendo has always made kids go out and buy videogames with its classic maskot, Mario the Plumber and others. While seeing how their sales are rising, Nintendo improves by coming out with many different gaming systems including the GameCube, Nintendo Wii, Gameboy Color, and the Nintendo DSi. So far, sales for both the Wii and DS have doubled since last year and is still going strong....for now.

In 2008, E3 came along with each company; Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft, displaying previews and sequels of their games. As we look at Nintendo's conference, we were greatly dissapointed of the few Nintendo games that were announced and the announcement following after that. Nintendo decided to start appealing more to kids while still fufilling the needs of teenagers. After a whole year of Nintendo in the shadows, we hear new games arriving in 09-10 but lets not forget that Nintendo is still aiming to children and family.

We all understand that Nintendo just wants everyone to expreience their games and new ways of gameplay, but after noticing some games in the past (Wii Music, Animal Crossing: City Folk, Mario Kart Wii and every 3rd party games) that didnt get that much praise as they needed, I fear this is only the beginning.

Also, New Super Mario Bros Wii will have a feature that will alow the computers to automaticly play the level your stuck on in order for you to understand it........is that really necessary? Only kids would demand this feature. What would they come up with next?
 
What about now? Nintendo redeemed itself this year. Why focus on 2008's E3, when we all know it was a sad joke?

As for the "Play your game" idea in New Super Mario Bros., many people don't seem to mind it. I'm against it, because it teaches kids to depend on the game to win instead of just trying.

TOO much to kids you say? Have you seen how many Soccer mom's are playing New Super Mario Bros and Mario Kart on NDS? Every time I see it's sold out, it's not children playing them, but a growing number of mom's and dad's, sometimes even grandparents!

What about Super Mario Galaxy 2? What's your opinion on that? How about the new Mario & Luigi RPG for NDS? Zelda Spirit Tracks perhaps?

I'm going to focus on this year, since 08' was epic fail.
 
While Playstation, PC, and Xbox 360 are focused toward hardcore gamers, Nintendo targets non-traditional gamers. As was previously mentioned, kids, soccer moms, parents, grandparents.

Nintendo has spread its demographic past the old paradigm of gamers being 15-35 old males.
 
Short answer: So?

Personally, I am not a huge fan of any console maker. I like them all equally for their abilities to bring fun games to the table. And that's what the ultimate objective is, right? Games = fun. And this is not exclusive to hardcore gamers.

I didn't pay much attention to Nintendo's '08 deal. Mainly because if they didn't offer a ton of games, they still offered some that were fun. Whether it was fun for the hardcore gamers, or fun for the whole family really makes no difference.

I can remember when Nintendo, Sega and Atari all made an attempt to appeal to kids. Because at the time that's who played these games. The strategy hasn't changed much for those companies who wish to remain economically viable. Yes, the same kids of yesteryear are now adults and still play games, but you should understand that these same adults now have kids who are at an age where they want to play games. And as a gamer dad who has a gamer son, I won't let him play God of War, or Call of Duty because those games are not age appropriate. So this necessitates developing games for kids.

Bottom line is Nintendo isn't appealing too much to kids. They are simply appealing to kids in a more successful way than Sony or Microsoft are doing.
 
The last time I walked into schools, elementary, middle, and high schools, everyone was talking more about PS3 or an Xbox 360. They all already were "over" the WIi and most only had Brawl, Strikers Charged, and DS's, with random 3rd party games, that I wont detail.


I dont think it is Nintendo itself for Nintendo 1st party is barely releasing any games each year anymore for the DS, I mean from their sales they are still only selling the Pokemon, the Mario Kart (Wii and DS), and the New Super Mario Bros DS. Nintendogs and Brain Age already had their times and still appear on sales charts but just because a game sales doesnt mean that people are "actively" playing it.

Anyway, I think their problem is that they are selling titles but arent doing anything to keep people interested. I think we have seen this as they are more concerned about pushing out their idea of fun to as many people to try it and just get the numbers out there. Fortunatly nintendo did start a loyalty program that rewards based on the number of 1st party titles to buy, but considering they are going the route of multiplayer, there is no reason for everyone to buy Wii Sports Resort etc.

To say its only kids buying it is also a bit incorrect. From seeing girls playing the IMAGINE series and its knock offs, I dont ever see any of them playing a Mario or 1st Party title except maybe Nintendogs. On the console front it varies from the Cooking Mama to Mario since Mario has a nostalgia factor.

But then again Sony has claimed that the females are buying all the stuff on the PSN for shows and are liking it so they released more content and sold record numbers ( i think they got an award for it too?) Sony is doing good with the Buzz series, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, and a few othe Eye Pets, and the third parties are releasing titles that appeal to the kids on that and they are selling appropriately, and for xbox 360 the same applies.

Maybe its that 3rd partys appeal to kids...
 
I wouldn't say they're appealing to much to kids, but that they're appealing too much to the casual audience as a whole. There's like 30 shovelware titles to each decent Wii game. I'm looking forward to a few titles this year from Nintendo though.
 
Dart said:
Bottom line is Nintendo isn't appealing too much to kids. They are simply appealing to kids in a more successful way than Sony or Microsoft are doing.
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Exactly what I think about the topic. Kids don't need to be playing 90% of the games on Xbox 360 and PS3. I'd rather my kids play Spongebob shovelware on the Wii than God of War or Gears or Call of Duty.
 
aleeock157 said:
Exactly what I think about the topic. Kids don't need to be playing 90% of the games on Xbox 360 and PS3. I'd rather my kids play Spongebob shovelware on the Wii than God of War or Gears or Call of Duty.
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So true. Sony and Microsoft do not even wish to even tap into that. They try, but it doesn't create the income they wish to see.
 
I have a real beef with what Nintendo is doing lately. They seem to have jumped mostly on the "Plaster Miis on it and sell it" boat. Appealing too much to kids? Of course.

Before I go into it, I should get one thing clear. There's a difference between appealing ONLY to kids and appealing to everyone. Wii Music is appealing to kids. As Yahtzee (aka "Zero Punctuation") once said, Nintendo should not be Fisher Price. Super Mario Galaxy is appealing to everyone, which is more of what needs to be seen. Also, it's mainly the Wii I have the problem with. On the DS front, they're doing great, although there hasn't been much first party offering on the DS lately. I'm not complaining though, because I have time to enjoy Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

I was honestly glad to hear the news that sales for Nintendo wasn't as much as usual. Now maybe they'll learn to start appealing to everyone, not just kids. It also wouldn't hurt to appeal more to the more mature gamers. By mature, I don't necessarily mean it has to be full of blood, gore, and nudity, I mean things that are so far out there that only people that play games a lot would understand them. Madworld and Okami are both good examples of this. Sadly, Madworld did not sell well at all, and it's already discounted to $20 in some stores. Remember that incredibly obscure Japan-only game published by Nintendo called "Captain Rainbow" for Wii? That looked awesome, but they thought it wouldn't last 5 minutes in the Wii crowd. I can tell you I would be lining up at midnight to pick up that game. Another good example of this is the Tingle game on DS, Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland. The general concensus in America is that we hate Tingle, so that's why that game didn't come over here. I was lucky enough to get my hands on the European import of it and I absolutely loved it! Many of the problems I have with the Wii or even the DS can be remedied by bringing some of these games that never hit America to America!!
 
Hylian7 said:
I have a real beef with what Nintendo is doing lately. They seem to have jumped mostly on the "Plaster Miis on it and sell it" boat. Appealing too much to kids? Of course.

Before I go into it, I should get one thing clear. There's a difference between appealing ONLY to kids and appealing to everyone. Wii Music is appealing to kids. As Yahtzee (aka "Zero Punctuation") once said, Nintendo should not be Fisher Price. Super Mario Galaxy is appealing to everyone, which is more of what needs to be seen. Also, it's mainly the Wii I have the problem with. On the DS front, they're doing great, although there hasn't been much first party offering on the DS lately. I'm not complaining though, because I have time to enjoy Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

I was honestly glad to hear the news that sales for Nintendo wasn't as much as usual. Now maybe they'll learn to start appealing to everyone, not just kids. It also wouldn't hurt to appeal more to the more mature gamers. By mature, I don't necessarily mean it has to be full of blood, gore, and nudity, I mean things that are so far out there that only people that play games a lot would understand them. Madworld and Okami are both good examples of this. Sadly, Madworld did not sell well at all, and it's already discounted to $20 in some stores. Remember that incredibly obscure Japan-only game published by Nintendo called "Captain Rainbow" for Wii? That looked awesome, but they thought it wouldn't last 5 minutes in the Wii crowd. I can tell you I would be lining up at midnight to pick up that game. Another good example of this is the Tingle game on DS, Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland. The general concensus in America is that we hate Tingle, so that's why that game didn't come over here. I was lucky enough to get my hands on the European import of it and I absolutely loved it! Many of the problems I have with the Wii or even the DS can be remedied by bringing some of these games that never hit America to America!!
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THANK YOU!!!
 
Well although Nintendo pursues this route, it adds more identity to the videogame marketplace. People who like this type of stuff will stay with the with, diehard Nintendo fans will continue to gobble incarnation after incarnation, and those of us who like some of the titles Japan gets (ahem, Fatal Frame IV) will just be deprived, and the cycle continues. Nintendo fails to realize much potential in the RPG front as of late, and is fortunate to remember the Golden Sun and is giving Monado: Beginning of the World here (YESSSSSSSSSSSs).

They seem to want only money this gen and not do like Microsoft or Sony (by asking their studios to create new IP's) and are following that goal while some video game creativity rests with those two companies and their underling studios (or even third partys who swore to stand by their side).

I guess the games I consider kids games are those realease by Ubisoft and other companies while I see Nintendo as just releasing "get up and lose some calories and spend time with your family" experiences, while other companies are like "enjoy our game with DLC!".

Honestly, cant say that after a long and tiring day that I would really want to come home and play Wii Sports Resort, or Wii Fit, or Wii Music, they all seem to require standing up and activity...
 
@Hylian. That's the problem I'm seeing as well. American market is so weird lately, it's like where to target first?
Demon Blade comes to mind, this game was on the slab of beheading almost if it wasn't for one company to save it's butt!
Nintendo should take a hint after the falling numbers and try to listen to the consumers!
 
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