310°

Nintendo Will Not Support Real Gamers On the Wii

Koji Igarashi, producer of the Castlevania series, has spoken out about his frustration in gaining support for titles that cater to core gamers, suggesting that Nintendo will only fund low cost mainstream titles.

When asked about his feelings on the current state of Japan's game market, and the fact that Wii is outselling PlayStation 3 by huge amounts each week, Igarashi said the "Wii is selling, but the 'gamer's games' aren't selling. That's what I'm concerned about," he says. "I think there are two roads you can take: Create a game for the core fans with as low a development cost as possible, the other is to just find a different market for these consoles outside the core gamer."
Coltrain - contributor
Published: 511 days 1 hour ago | News | Wii
 
 

Showing: 1 - 29 of 29 Comments
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tweaker - 511 days 5 hours ago
1 -
"Nintendo will only fund low cost mainstream titles"

No hope now.
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Monteblanco - 511 days 4 hours ago
1.1 -
This makes no sense at all. Igarashi doesn't work to Nintendo and thus don't expect Nintendo to fund any of his games. Actually, he only says that Wii core games are not selling well in Japan and, thus he only had a limited budget to develop a game of this kind. The phrase you quote seems to be some sort of misunderstanding created by the journalist.
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sidar - 510 days 22 hours ago
1.2 -
When i was reading it, I really did not get what was going on.
Why is he talking about a "fund" from Nintendo if Konami is suppose to be helping him out.

Does the dude speak english? or is it again Lost in translation.
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thebudgetgamer - 510 days 13 hours ago
1.3 - what happens next gen
when the hardcore nintendo fans get fed up with shovelware and juimp ship
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Rute - 511 days ago
2 - Disappointing
Nintendo has been a dictator in the past when it comes to games released on their platforms. Sometimes it was good, like the use of seal of quality in NES games, but sometimes it's not in favour of gamers.

However, I understand that hardcore Wii games tend to look pale when compared to games on PS3 and 360, even high budget ones. Devs need to innovate if they intend to make money on Wii.
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scottie2521 - 511 days ago
3 -
hence why i don't and never will buy a Wii
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DARK WITNESS - 511 days ago
3.1 -
yep...

Good for nintendo...they know their market.

also, good for MS and Sony, one more customer who wont waste money on the toy. more money to spend on real games !
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Voiceofreason - 510 days 16 hours ago
3.2 -
I'd say it amounts to more of your total lack of knowledge about the console.
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thebudgetgamer - 510 days 13 hours ago
3.3 - i allways said
most people that have bought the wii wouldve bought a pet rock back in the days
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mistertwoturbo - 510 days 22 hours ago
4 -
If they would have just made the Wii with hardware that supports 720p graphics and is powerful enough to run mid-end PS3/360 games. Then they would have much more 3rd party support and sales. Not only will they dominate the casual market (just like they are doing now) but they will also attract hardcore gamers.

Imagine in an alternate reality where GTA IV, DMC4, and hell maybe even FFXIII was on the 720p Wii. They would dominate the entire market.

With exception of a good online service, they could be in better position right now.

Granted, they are still outselling everything. But look at their image. Especially after E3 2008. Wii Music!? Come on Nintendo... Come on...
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Rute - 510 days 21 hours ago
4.1 - Maybe not
If Nintendo had made a more powerful console and sold it at price comparable to Xbox 360, casual gamers might not have created the craze that lead to the disproportion between demand and supply of Wii, which in turn lead to increased craze and long induring demand.

I might be wrong though. After all, Wiis were sold for prices comparable to PS3 at eBay in winter 2006/2007.
5 DOOMZ | 510 days 20 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show
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jtucker78 - 510 days 19 hours ago
6 -
Is anyone noticing a trend here?

- Third Party's finding out about the Motion Plus the same time as the public.
- No Support for Third Party devs.
- Small developers told they can't release on WiiWare.
- Only "nerds" wanting storage for their Wii.
- Zelda more accessible to the casual audience.

Respect to High Voltage for trying to give the last few remaining hardcore Nintendo fans out there a decent FPS. Although if I were them I'd start to wonder why I was bothering to work so hard trying to squeeze tech out of a system that is almost discouraging titles like theirs. (I wonder if they had a heads up about the Motion Plus).

Third Parties, go over to Sony or Microsoft, you'd be welcomed with open arms. Sony and Insomniac would give you developer support to help you get up to speed.
And Microsoft would line your pockets with millions of dollars to make the title multiplatform. (They may even give you more for some DLC that adds several hours more gameplay.)

I think all those Wii sales are going to Nintendo's head.
Next article on N4G will be:
Nintendo: "We don't need 3rd Party Devs, First party titles make all the money."
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Voiceofreason - 510 days 16 hours ago
6.1 -
I love how you spin the truth. Like how Nintendo tells every small developer they cant make Wii ware games because some moron thinks he should be able to without any kind of office to work at.1 guy suddenly means every company. Seems you just want to hate NIntendo and are changing FACTS to fit your opinion
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jtucker78 - 510 days 15 hours ago
6.2 -
Sorry, VoiceofReason I didn't realise that Nintendo only sent a rejection letter to 1 guy.

I guess Nintendo only allows quality titles and doesn't want to risk a developer releasing shovelware on their system.
Got to preserve the Nintendo Seal of Quality!

Now that we've cleared that up would you be good enough to tell me why my 4 other points are untrue also?
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SaiyanFury - 510 days 13 hours ago
6.3 -
Actually the Nintendo "Seal of Quality" was only to ensure that software would properly run on the NES. It didn't have anything to do with the actual quality of the game. It's a throwback to the various Atari systems which had a bunch of games that were poorly coded and developed and had a crapload of bugs.
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911 Gaming - 510 days 19 hours ago
7 - Just buy another console, stop playing Nintendo
With the amount of money it will cost you to go through short games with little replay value in your minds, why not buy the enemies console? Stop playing Nintendo? Because, if you haven't forgotten about PopCap Games, that is the kind of company Nintendo is becoming. Its not a real gaming company. It just makes "games" that nobody will ever play after the first week. I hate saying it (because I own it; then again I own all three) but I'd consider that. Its not going to change. You're not going to get through to Nintendo. They figured out that they make more sucess out of crap like 'Wii Fit' then Zelda. So they will continue to make crap. Hopefully, you guys will get some kind of game.
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haphilli - 510 days 19 hours ago
8 - Welp....
I am going to hold on to my console until TGS and if nothing shows up then that puppy is up for sale.
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PistolPumptMonk - 510 days 19 hours ago
9 -
What are you talking about man?? Not supporting real gamers? I have three words: ANIMAL EFFIN CROSSING!

(thick tone of sarcasm detected throughout previous statement)

ohhh reggie...
10 Zerodin | 510 days 18 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show
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ItsDubC - 510 days 18 hours ago
11 -
The Resident Evil Wii games have sold very well. What "gamer's" games on the Wii is he talking about specifically that didn't suck and therefore were expected to sell well to "gamers" but didn't? Surely he isn't thinking of Boom Blox or Zack & Wiki. I'll give him No More Heroes, but what else?
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jtucker78 - 510 days 17 hours ago
11.1 -
MoH2 - the first Wii game to perfect FPS controls. (2nd if you include Metroid, but a lot of people believe MoH2 improved and perfected on Metroid.)

EDIT: In my opinion MoH2 should have easily outsold RE: UC. That Resident Evil was really awful! A dumbed down rail shooter, with bad hit zones and no rag doll effects (I know the Wii is no PS3 or 360, but even the PS2 had games with rag doll effects.)
I wouldn't say RE: UC was casual, but considering it was going to be third person like RE4 and they converted it to a rail shooter - they definitely dumbed down the experience.

What's wrong with Boom Blox or Zack & Wiki?
BTW I'm not trying to be contentious, I'm just interested.
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ItsDubC - 510 days 16 hours ago
11.2 -
Ya, I'll give him MoH2 as well. Part of the reason why I think the RE games have sold well is because the RE franchise is popular enough outside of the gaming industry to warrant having a number of films based on it, aside from the fact that it is a great franchise among avid gamers.

I mentioned Boom Blox and Zack & Wiki because I personally would not consider those to be "gamer's" games in the way that I perceived his definition of the term to be. While both are excellent, I don't think that they appeal solely to the demographic that he was referring to when he used the term "gamer" in "gamer's games". This of course is just my perception of his statement(s).
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Voiceofreason - 510 days 16 hours ago
11.3 -
NMH is Suda's highest selling game so far. Even beating killer 7 sales on PS2. Okami sold better on the 23million Wii then it did for 120 million PS2's. People are quick to point out failure on Wii but they call anything a failure and lack any knowledge of game sales for the most part. God OF War 2 was a complete crap fest according to them when they hate on Wii. PS2 had 120 million console sold and God of War 2 didnt even break 2 million in sales. SOme of those crap Wii games that nobody buys are acutally selling better than PS2 games that are considered hits and AAA must own titles.
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jtucker78 - 510 days 15 hours ago
11.4 -
ItsDubC - Fair Points
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Product - 510 days 11 hours ago
12 -
How is Iga gonna complain about core fans.......when he makes a Castlevania "FIGHTING" game for wii..........when all wii fans want a true Castlevania.

Thats a hypocrite in my book.
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cooke15 - 510 days 6 hours ago
12.1 -
he knows the game we want yet hes making a game that no one will buy to prove a point? i swear game companies do this just out of spite.
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sidar - 510 days 11 hours ago
13 -
I still dont get his "Fund" remark, Why Nintendo?
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cooke15 - 510 days 6 hours ago
14 -
considering Nintendo is publishing Fatal Frame 4 and Tales of Symphonia 2 i find that kind of hard to believe
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