I agree about Zelda instilling false hope for the hardcore, but I don't think it's the main cause for 3rd parties being afraid of developing titles for the Wii

The Wii is definitely not a console intended for just us gamers, but for everyone. Nintendo just does not want to admit they shifted focus from the hardcore this gen, and I find that pretty ignorant of them

I do believe that the Wii had a great start, but since Nintendo used all their best cards like Mario, Zelda, and Metroid at the beginning, the console lost a lot of steam rather quickly since nothing else has generated a lot of hype or sparked general interest since then

I'm probably going to get a lot of hate for this, but I think another big problem is the Wii's one standing innovation; waggle

It introduced Nintendo to more people, and at the same time alienated a good number of people familiar with them as well because of the new software and amount of shovel ware it introduced as well

I tottaly agree with you.

Im a Nintendo Fan Boy too, but im aware that the Wii is not longer for hardcore gamers, and I am one hardcore gamer, thats why now I have a Xbox 360, and I hate to admit it, but 360s got more hardocore games than Wii, and the only reazon I havent sold my wii is becouse of zeldas and metroids.
On 360 I will always have hardcore games I love such as Halo, Gears Of War, Call Of Duty, Assasins Creed, Bioshock, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy etc etc etc...

Nintendo should fix his problem soon...

We need a new Donkey Kong, a new Star Fox, Baten Kaitos, Zelda etc etc, Nintendo has a lot of franchises he is not using.... shame...

osm are you a tripfag on /v/

The fact that third parties are only testing the waters three years into the console's life is the real reason the quality is so poor. The quality we're getting now is what we would have put up with in the first year after launch as developers finding their footing. Instead they waited a year or two to see how things played out, then rushed their first generation of titles out the door, then complained about the shovelware ecosystem that they allowed to thrive in their absence.

@nick

namefag

@osm, lol small world

"The Wii is definitely not a console intended for just us gamers, but for everyone. Nintendo just does not want to admit they shifted focus from the hardcore this gen, and I find that pretty ignorant of them"

OSM, the only one who's being ignorant is you. Nintendo is trying. They just pushed out a Mario game and are working on ANOTHER which, might I mention, is a sequel to a game that just came out little over a year ago. Also, Zelda is on it's way and will be out eventually. Now let's not forget the upcoming Metroid which looks like an A+ game already. You don't know what's going on over at Nintendo, so you have no right to say that.

It just takes longer for quality games to be made these days. Resident Evil 5 took half a decade, and that was one of the best games of all time. Super Smash Bros. Brawl also took years, and it was arguably the best in the series.

Nintendo doesn't take any longer to make good games than Sony or Microsoft do. But Nintendo gets more hate because it pushes out more family games.

I think the issue here is that when developing a title for Nintendo, your number one competitor is Nintendo. If you haven't noticed, Sony and Microsoft don't explicitly make any games. They hire 3rd or 2nd party studios to make their games.

Nintendo is the only console company that still makes games, and they go out of their way to make sure their games are a head and shoulders above all others. So third parties receive minimal funding and assistance from Nintendo.

If anything, Nintendo is ruining Nintendo Wii. Their long development periods, and competative nature with 3rd party developers, are damaging the reputation of the Wii. 3rd party developers have gone over to other consoles for a better business partner which all results in long dry spells for the Wii, leaving the market unsatisfied.

i wouldn't say zelda's effects on the wii have "ruined it", but they have made it possibly the most awkward system ever

I don't agree with Zelda giving developers false hope. Maybe if 3rd parties tried advertising their games, they'd see some success.

And since when did the term hardcore mean more mature? I had always though that a person was hardcore, not a game, if they were really great at a particular game. The term hardcore is very skewed and there isn't one set definition for it.

I don't know. 3rd party Wii titles aren't selling because the games really aren't that great. They are good (some of them) but they aren't AAA titles they are B to B+ titles. Besides Monster Hunter Tri, there really isn't anything for the core gamer. FF:CB does not count, that is not a Core title, that is a kiddy FF game. If they had done something to rival the quality of FF XII, it would sell like hotcakes. If Capcom made a real RE game rather than rail shooters, it would sell. Dead Space, had it been a real game rather than rails, it would sell.

The mistake the developers are making is that they think the Wii is different and that you have to do something different to appeal to those gamers and they are wrong, that is why they are sucking. They just need to make AAA Wii games and they would sell.

FF: CB, is a kids game? Really? Have you played it? Have you payed attention to it's massively long development? It is made to rival FF XII. That is the intention. It is a full fledged FF game (unlike it's predecessor) that is going all out on the Wii. It is clearly intended to rival the so called "main line".

It's a AAA title. Monster Hunter Tri is the first of the series made for console, and appears to be every bit a AAA title. Dead Space Extraction is a really damn good game. However, if you don't like on rail shooters, you wont like it. However, for what it is, it is most likely the best on rails shooter on the market. Game is win. Seems AAA to me.

Games like The Conduit, Madworld, obviously not AAA. Made by upstart studios, but could get better over time. There is a rumor of a sequel to The Conduit in production which should blow away the first title, plus another game coming from them meant to be the Wii's L4D game. Obviously, the first one will just be a B title, but the Sequels, if it makes money, should start to really rival the big boys.

What I am getting at, is there are good titles out there. As some have said earlier, what we are getting now is what we should of gotten the first 2 years of the Wii's life. The experimental games to see exactly how to sell stuff. Then, by now, we would be getting the AAA The Conduit game, or more AAA games coming like FF and MH3.

However, I still feel Zelda is a big reason they try now, because now the "shovel ware" got old and doesn't sell,a nd people are holding on for Zelda Wii. So, to that crowd, they are now trying to target it. It may be a bit too late.

To be honest though, it could be good for the future of Nintendo. If they can get some good 3rd party support here in the later stages on the Wii's life, then their next console should get even better support. Especially since it appears Reggie is hinting at HD and all that coming on Nintendo's next generation console.

"FF: CB, is a kids game? Really? Have you played it? Have you payed attention to it's massively long development? It is made to rival FF XII. That is the intention. It is a full fledged FF game (unlike it's predecessor) that is going all out on the Wii. It is clearly intended to rival the so called "main line"."

Dude, you can't be serious. FF:CB does not in any way come close to rivaling FF:XII and it isn't meant to. It is a game meant for a young Wii audience and they hope "Casual" gamers who don't even exist. The people who bought all the Wiis were core players who were let down. Yes, a game for kids up to about 13. It is not in any way a mainline FF title - I've played every FF "mainline" title that has come out and this isn't one. It is second or 3rd string - I'll give it second. Development time has nothing to do with who the game is geared towards.

It might be a well-designed game, it might be fun but it isn't going to catch the attention of anyone who plays regular FF titles.

yep i totally regret getting the Wii for just Zelda and super smash...my Wii has sat in a corner for over 6 months with a layer of dust...ill probably pull it out when the next zelda come out. On a side note....Crystal Bearers is the worst game with the word final fantasy attached to it.

Thats the problem nowadays,people don't realise by Nintendo selling games for the people who don't play games(the casual crowd) brings in extra cash for them to produce games like, "Mario Galaxy 2,Metriod other M and Zelda".

Nintendo Wii is the "#1 selling game console" for a definite reason, so don't worry about Nintendo letting up anytime soon.And why are people talking about "Madworld and Conduit?", yes they were ok games but...

Madworld is way too short(with little to no replay ability) and many didn't like the black and white look.And the Conduit was generic,playing like a shooters in the past(Turok and Goldeneye say hello), and the online mode was flooded with hackers and spawn gliches.

The ''real" games that don't sell got me worried a bit like "Little King's story", a great game you should all try.Nintendo never really had third party support after the Snes was discontinued so their just now learning how to market 3rd party games so they can reach their gaming potential.

I hate journalists like you :P People that just "know" :P

It's like reading something that I myself would write, because I myself, is experiencing what you have written. Except, i wouldn't write this, because I did not expect there to be so many people doing the same thing :P

You've got this article spot on for me. I have Wii, and GUESS WHAT!? I own 3 games for it; each consisting of one particular name..... ;D

Zelda :P

Obviously my first and only buy for the wii at launch was Twilight Princess. Then after finishing that a few times; I re-purchased the gamecube classic Zelda: Wind Waker. Which (obviously) had to be the LE version with Ocarina of Time, and OOT: Master Quest. Bought myself a GC controller and Memory card, and since have been enjoying that absolutely perfect n64 classic, time and time again.

Now as soon as I find some money, I will be purchasing all the Zelda Classics on the Wii store to enjoy once more.

I can't fucking wait for this next Zelda Wii to come out, and as you correctly stated, it is the ONLY reason I still own my Wii right now tbh :P

And until that day comes, I suppose i will just have to make do with the Zelda classics, and the 360, PS3 and PC games :P

Great article man :)

that's all truth... and it's sad..

I'd rather miss 10 Halos and 100 Call Of Dutys than one Zelda or Metroid game...

Try is the wrong word... 3rd parties never dedicate there top teams, top budgets etc to a nintendo product and they haven't since the super nintendo which is largely nintendo's fault.

Any core gamer can not take nintendo seriously because traditionally nintendo has failed to deliver anything much beyond mario and zelda and with the sale of studios like rare there ability to deliver products to the core audience was further diminished.

Nintendo painted themselves into this corner, they target the non core audience and hoping for 3rd parties to bail them out is a futile hope for the core fans.

Nintendo needs to invest in the core audience with hardware that is comparable to the competition and with new teams to make the game we "core" users want and lets not forget the online aspect that in terms of features is way behind the times.

Nintendo is where it wants to be, they got the soccer moms and bowling grandmas to buy a console... the problem is those users just don't buy games and the few core users keeping wii's around for zelda are not going to buy the 3rd party 3 rate effort because we have xbox's and playsation. Zelda is the only thing that isn't a complete joke about the wii and nintendo and its all I care about in terms of my relation to nintendo as a consumer and that's not going to change anytime soon.

"Any core gamer can not take nintendo seriously because traditionally nintendo has failed to deliver anything much beyond mario and zelda and with the sale of studios like rare there ability to deliver products to the core audience was further diminished."

Actually, I'd say that Punch-Out and Metroid -should- count in to this as well.

As for Rare, honestly, the most they lost was the rights for GoldenEye and Banjo-Kazooie/Tooie. Rare is a shadow of itself right now. Would it have been better if it had stayed with Nintendo? Who knows?

"Nintendo needs to invest in the core audience with hardware that is comparable to the competition and with new teams to make the game we "core" users want and lets not forget the online aspect that in terms of features is way behind the times."

Ehhhh, wrong. The competition are the ones who need to catch up to Nintendo, not the other way around. It's been said that Nintendo "needs to do this" and "needs to do that" for three years now, and it's never been like that. Nintendo needs to create games that sell. THAT's what they need to do. The thing is, they seem to be the only ones who actually know how it's done. Yes, Nintendo needs to keep their core audience in mind, but compare what "casual games" and what "core games" we've gotten for the Wii as of yet. The vast majority lies with the core games. It's just that the better a "core" game performs, the more "casual" it becomes.

This year we've seen some great releases for the Wii, most notably a solid finish with Super Mario Bros. Wii. In 2010 we will be getting Super Mario Galaxy 2, Metroid Other M, Sin and Punishment 2, and that long awaited Zelda announcement for the Wii. To say that Nintendo needs to cater to the core audience MORE seems kinda pointless right now. When we see a year where Nintendo utterly fails to bring out quality core titles, then we shall talk.