Screw Market Research! (Somewhat inflammatory topic)

[Steerforth]

Do you think the success of DS and Wii can change the kind of games and even consoles we see made?

I wonder if this is a turning point for the industry:

Why continue to make larger and more complex games that require huge budgets and development times, when Nintendo is doing so well with titles like Brainage, Nintendogs, Wii Sports, and Wii Play?

Why bust your butt developing and manufacturing advanced hardware, take a big hit when selling it, money you might never get back if you are unable to get a large enough install base? Nintendo has made money from the sales of the Wii and DS from day one, and ironically the pressure is on their competitors to deliver the goods graphics wise, to justify  much greater systems costs and more expensive games.

Why wouldn't the success of Live Arcade and the Virtual Console, not to mention New Super Mario Brothers, convince devs to commit more resources to 2-d games, especially on home console systems? Obviously there is an appetite for these titles, it is not all nostalgia. If people are paying for 10 to 20 year old titles, I would think they would buy quality new efforts as well.

Its a copycat industry, but maybe people are copying the wrong companies. I can't wait for the day when violent, juvenile games become the niche market, instead of the mainstream. If the industry truly expands, we could see a wider variety of software aimed at a wider variety of people, and the purchasing power of the 12 to 17 year old game will shrink by comparison. As his influence wanes, so will the glut of iMmature titles. Forget the Revolution, is see a Renaissance on the horizon!

[Alienblue]

Simple games-much as I WISH!- are NOT going to take over. 3D, complex scenario games are too firmly entrenched. Nintendo has always been making these kinds of games cool, they even have a Retro section in their magazine (as does EGM)... but I'm glad people are more and more getting a CHOICE.

People who haven't been able to play 2-D genesis/SNES games in years may be lulled away from your average 3D adventure, but they'll keep making them. Wasn't one of Nintendos biggest sellers TWILIGHT PRINCESS? There you go.

[BigOldCar]

Manufacturers are investors, and they think with their wallets instead of their heads.  They want to distill product to a formula they can throw money at rather than actually being creative or hiring creative talent.  Some companies know better and richly reward their best talent.  That's why people like Miyamoto are superstars.

So a simple game like Mario Bros. or Tetris or PacMan will be remembered forever, but an expensive-to-produce failure like Enter the Matrix will be quickly forgotten.  Better hardware, tons of effects, lots of money thrown at it... and it sucked.

It's the same thing with movies.  How many special effects were in Breach?  Zero.  Compare that with Armageddon.  Which was the better movie?  No comparison.

The two industries are very similar in this way, and are becoming increasingly linked, too, I might add.  There's a reason critics use the word "formulaic" as a pejorative.

[Evan]

The best sellers for any given year are usually big budget, complex games.  While a game like Gears of War might not appeal to this new casual gamer that Nintendo seems to be targeting, it's still ultimately what the general gaming public wants and its sales reflect that.  It's been said already, but even on the Wii, the best selling game is Twilight Princess and that isn't likely to change for a long time.

[feilong801]

It's too simplistic to say that Gears of War's sales means that the public inherently wants games of that type. Tetris and Myst are some of the biggest sellers of all time. Bejeweled is a massive, big hit.

The only thing that Gears success tells me is that compelling gameplay tends to do well.

While true that Twilight Princess was the fastest selling Wii game in the early going, Wii Play, a simplisitic bordering on infantile selection of minigames sold very well also.

People want compelling experiences. It can be a big epic adventure or it can be something simple.

-Rob

[Steerforth]

Alien -

If Nintendo made a true sequel of Super Mario Brothers 3, an inspired collection of new levels built on that same engine, it would become the biggest selling game on Wii. Try finding people of a certain age (mine) that did not love SMB3. Mario Galaxy is going to be big, but this would be bigger. Super Paper Mario is fine, but not a true Mario platformer (no dash!?!). New Super Mario Bros was pretty dang good, but it was on a portable, console gaming is a bigger and more engrossing experience. 

Its great that Nintendo like to break new ground, and doesn't run succesful ideas or franchises into the ground, but at the same time they should not be to proud to expand on a perfect game engine.

[Alienblue]

Steerforth-
Human, I agree with you 100%. What I said is that I SERIOUSLY DOUBT that that will happen. I think the idea is that too many 2D games make your system look old and outdated. The more realistic and fancier (or in Wii's case WEIRDER!) the graphics the more "new school" they look.

I could see Nintendo releasing a Mario "all*stars" type game for the Wii, but a brand NEW FULLY 2D game? Possible but unlikely.

[a1]

Super Paper Mario is almost a full 2d Mario game. You can go into 3d, and in some cases you have to, but the core of every level is entirely 2d.

[Steerforth]

Sorry a, it may be a fine game in its own right, but it is no TRUE Mario platformer. Mario needs to be able to do 2 things to be Mario :

1. Dash.
2. Jump.

It just that simple. I'm keeping the dream alive, Alien.