By Jamaal Ryan
This has been an important time for Nintendo.
Nintendo’s tremendous nose dive in sales forecasts – particularly
for the Wii U – didn’t come at a surprise, though it was no less catastrophic. Radical
changes had to be in order for Nintendo; and though the multi-billion dollar company
as many says, “could weather the complete failure for the Wii U”, such
ludicrous statements manage to be nothing more than standard Nintendo apologist
affair. Saying “Its ok, Nintendo will be fine” solves nothing, and Nintendo
doesn’t seem to think so either.
The Wii U isn’t in a good position. Relying on the success
of a small handful of franchises isn’t enough to revive their drowning system.
Smash Bros. and Mario Kart 8, arguably Nintendo’s two most popular franchises
among the hardcore and wider audiences, can only do so much on their own. One could
argue that third part support is stamped with a countdown as well. Nintendo sort
of has the PS3 and Xbox 360 to thank for the third party offerings (stripped
down as many of them may be). Publishers might not take it as a major
inconvenience spreading titles like Call of Duty and Assassins Creed across
last gen’s and Nintendo’s hardware, but two-three years from now once the focus
is nearly entirely on the PS4 and Xbox One, what reason do publishers have to
extend their resources in developing Wii U versions? It didn’t work well for
the Wii, and doesn’t seem to be doing so hot on the Wii U either.
The words “Nintendo isn’t relevant as a hardware
manufacturer”, courtesy of Naughty Dog co-founder Jason Rubin, stings because of
the fear of truth. I discussed the potential Nintendo has as a console
manufacturer as being the only native second screen experience, however – and I
have to be honest with myself – the few examples in validating the Gamepad are
inexcusable for a system’s that’s been out for more than a year.
"We have
managed to offer several of such software titles for occasions when many people
gather in one place to play, but we have not been able to offer a decisive
software title that enriches the user's gameplay experience when playing alone
with the Gamepad," Iwata
says.
This admittance precedes Iwata’s announced plans to
legitimize the Gamepad as gateway to unique experiences to Nintendo’s platform
and help consumers understand that this is indeed a NEW system. The validation
of the Gamepad’s existence, in theory, would communicate its message better to
consumers with hopeful sales following. But not only would the sales attract
the attention of the third party, it would also pave the way and set an example
of how the hardware can be utilized, something that didn’t transpire all the
time with the Wii.
To help this is the revival of the Virtual Console, a
splendid concept that has waned across Nintendo’s two home consoles. Nintendo
looks to help do this with the inclusion of DS software. How this obvious
direction hasn’t been explored yet is beyond me, given that the Wii U is a
consolized vision of the Nintendo DS. But unlike the image the Wii U has made
for itself thus far, the DS used its second screen in some glorious ways. While
we might not be able to experience games by holding them like a book, a game
like The World Ends With You makes perfect sense on the platform.
In efforts to wield the strength of their dense number of
franchises, Nintendo is also looking to license their game characters to new
partners. While this doesn’t specify that this will entirely be related to
games, ideas like Lego (enter Nintendo franchise here) would be a fascinating way
to see how Nintendo characters can be captured in a different light. Sure,
Metroid Other M sucked, but Hyrule Warriors and Fire Emblem x Shin Megami Tensei
could bring us the spirit of Nintendo from different minds.
And then there’s the mobile narrative.
I have to give it to those folks, they won that bet, but not
quite in the “Super Mario on iOS” kind of way. Nintendo’s looking into the
mobile space to, in essence, bring consumers to their proprietary hardware.
Sony and Microsoft have found ways to connect gamers to their home platforms
through smart phones, and Nintendo simply cannot afford to resist this culture.
I would like to think that this encompasses their “quality of
life” initiative, hypothetically taking concepts such as Brain Age and Wii Fit
with the consumer, however their idea of “non-wearable hardware” is a bit
cloudy and nebulous (technically phones aren’t wearable I guess?)
While this has been one of the biggest culture shifts in the
company’s history, Nintendo has managed to pull off these moves in decidedly idiosyncratic
Nintendo ways. Legitimizing the Gamepad is exciting. DS Virtual Console games
are exciting. Outsourced Nintendo licensing is exciting. A quality of life initiative
is exciting. Nintendo building itself into a company beyond two platforms and
building within those two platforms themselves represents the type of evolution
the company needs.
Let’s just hope that they don’t fuck it up.
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