Nintendo games getting longer

[Varian]

Is the OP joking? The complaint I hear from most gamers is that Nintendo doesn't make enough 'epic' games. Twilight Princess is/was supposed to be similiar to Ocarina. Super Paper Mario is a platformer/rpg. Metroid Prime 3 will be like length of Metroid Prime 1 or 2. I don't see any 'change' coming with those games.

The change I have seen is Nintendo making more casual based games like Wii Sports, Wii Play, Brain Age, and so on. For the Wii, I would divide Nintendo's offerings into two categories:

Super Gamecube Games- Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3, Super Paper Mario, Mario Galaxy, Smash Brothers Brawl- these are games made for that core player.

Wii Games- Wii Sports, Wii Play, etc- these are games for those who aren't traditional gamers.

[Zenzerotron]

For Twilight Princess..........

1. People complained Wind Waker was too short
2. it was meant to be the final Gamecube game
3. for Wii, Nintendo released there might be a sotware drought in the beggining

So to me, it makes sense that Twilight Princess is so long

As for Super Paper Mario, it maybe be the same case as Wii Twilight Princess, Nintendo is making long games because there isn't a huge software flow for Wii right now.

[Conn]

Well, it all depends. I expect RPGs to be long, but I'd rather have a tightly-packed 10 hour RPG than a sprawling and drawn out 40 hours one. Action games are usually short, but I would play a long one as long as the game was consistently awesome.

[Alienblue]

...As long as it has a SAVE function, I don't care how long a game is. (Of course a game shouldnt be sooo long that the DVD doesnt fit in the system! )

-I don't play straight through any game all at once, except old coin-op types with 5 or 10 screens. On modern games like Super Princess Peach, I play awhile, set it down, come back later... like reading a long novel!

[VideoGameCritic]

I think around 10 hours is the sweet spot for most games - like Resident Evil 4.  I suppose the "cream of the crop" games like Zelda can stretch that out a bit, but with there's so many entertainment options available today (games and otherwise), I rarely want to invest an inordinate amount of time on one game.

[Edward M]

[QUOTE=The Video Game Critic]I think around 10 hours is the sweet spot for most games - like Resident Evil 4.  I suppose the "cream of the crop" games like Zelda can stretch that out a bit, but with there's so many entertainment options available today (games and otherwise), I rarely want to invest an inordinate amount of time on one game.
[/QUOTE]

 

 

Wow you beat RE4 in 10 hours?   It took me about 23 hours.   Were you attempting a speed run?

 

Anyways, the reason people expect so much length with their games is the price.  For a teenager living on allowance, like I was just about 5 years ago, 50 bucks can be alotta money.   You expect value from your money.    That is probably where all these complaints about length come from.

 

But the thing I hate is length padding.  For example people complained that the first Castlevania for PS2 was too short at about 8 hours.   I didn't I thought it was perfect and helped move the game along at an acceptable rate. so they made the second PS2 Castlevania long have and long boring levels and it was about twice as long, almost certainly a board room member's decision, because it near ruined the game.  

 

I really wish that developers would consider releasing their games for cheaper that are short instead of length padding them.   I only got about 80 years to live.   I dont got time to play length paded games.   Maybe 30 bucks for a good 7 hour non length padded game would be excellent, instead of "milking" another 5 hours into it and charging full price.  The second PS2 castlevania game would be much better if they took that route.

 

A great game will leave you wanting more.   So even though Paper Mario was 30 hours long, it is one of the best RPGs Ive ever played, and it didn't feel like they put a ton of "length padding" into it.  It felt like there was really 30 hours of excellent content into it, so I don't mind that. 

 

But on the other hand, some idiot reviewers complained that Yoshi's Island 2 for DS was too short.   Nonsense.  Its about 6-7 hours long, the perfect length for me.  Also there are a ton of levels to unlock and secrets to find.  This game has a ton of content for a Mario platformer, and I feel I got a great value for the 22 bucks I spent on it.

 

So basically what I am saying is that if your game has 30 hours of actual great content which is rare, I have no problem with it being 30 hours.  I have no problem with Paper Mario, Oblivion, Zelda Games, or Toy commander being that long because they are a ton of fun.   But if your game only has about 7 hours of content, don't length pad it.  Consider keeping it the way it is as it would be a better game, and lower the price of it because of its reduced developing costs.   That way, more people would probably buy it.