Gaming Nintendo's image

[vegeta rocker]

I have a question for you guys, should NIntendo remain aimed towards kids? It's basically the only thing left that could be for kids. It was recently said that they are trying to get rid of their squeaky clean image. They don't want to be seen as a kiddie franchise.
An example is them getting BMX XXX uncut and other Gamecube games such as the resident evils (which actually aren't selling very well). So is this good? Is it bad? Or is it inevitable that they will go the way of GTA.

[Semjaza]

I'd have to say the million or so copies RE Remake sold and the 800,000 or so of RE Zero are selling pretty well. People seem to forget that sales for the series were going down as it was.

To me, Nintendo has always remained the same. Iwata actually addressed this actually, and I agree with him. Sega and Sony are the ones that pressed this image on them. The vast majority of games for GC from Nintendo are something for all ages, not something for little kids.

I don't get the whole kiddy idea. Are people afraid they'll be dorks if they play a game with bright colors? Hello? You play videogames and think that kiddy games somehow affect your sexual preference (hence these games being referred to as "gay" so often). You're already a dork.

And I think Nintendo is addressing a lot of it. BMX XXX doesn't even matter, but Nintendo didn't even attempt to censor that unlike Sony. Nintendo 64 also had quite a few very violent FPS games and so on. GC already has some 1st/2nd party games that aren't marketed to kids/family, as well as gaining exclusive Capcom games (the newest video of Killer 7 is probably the most bloody/violent game I've seen in a while) MGS:TTS and others.

So despite this going on for years already, Nintendo is stuck in this rut. It's not something they can easily get out of, and based on Iwata's comments it seems as though they are trying to appeal to everyone now.... and I think they are on the right track.

In a sense I feel that the GC is a transition from the old Nintendo (Yamauchi) and the new Nintendo (Iwata). There have been things that happened under Iwata that never would have happened in a million years with Yamauchi. It's just going to take time to completely shed some of his less desirable influences (basically relying on Nintendo only and ignoring 3rd parties).

Anyway, like I said... I personally feel that Nintendo is aimed mostly towards everyone. They can't really do everything at once, and there is TONS of room for improvment... but if things keep up, I think they will be on track for next-generation. Hopefully they won't go with a toy looking console again (as much as I do like the GC design), or at least a better color set.

I had just read a few minutes back that Iwata has plans to give the goahead on more 1st/2nd party "mature" titles, basically because over 50% of GC users are over 18... we'll see if anything comes of that.

[Shinmaru]

I agree totally. Just because a game looks "kiddy" (I'm really tired of that being thrown around) does not mean that it's not a good game. In my humble opinion, Nintendo's games are much better than most of the games with "adult content" on the market today. Now, I'm not saying that all of Nintendo's games are better than all of the others, because that is not true at all. I'm just saying that adult content does not automatically make a game good, just like a kiddy image does not automatically make a game bad. Besides, Nintendo is quite capable of making adult games...just look at Eternal Darkness.

[Turkey]

I heard (I believe in IGN) that Miyamoto is working on a Mature-rated game called "Fear". It is about conquering, well, fears. I'm really interested in seeing how Miyamoto makes this one.

[Shinmaru]

I heard something about that too in Electronic Gaming Monthly and AllRPG.com. Sounds pretty cool, if you ask me.

[Semjaza]

Fear turned out to be Geist... and I don't know that Miyamoto is [i]working[/i] on it per se. It's being made by N-Space.

It's still very early, and the screens convey that. It has some neat ideas though, namely that of possession. Your character can possess a character that knows the keycode to open a door, for example... and so on.

It had some neat ideas and some of the stuff that was shown looks interesting... but it still has a long way to go.

[Turkey]

I just can't seem to believe that Fear is Geist, since both games have such different premises. Besides, IGN was the first to say that; [i]and we know how strange they can be at times...[/i]

[Semjaza]

See, I don't even know where you got this Fear information so I can't really contest it lol.

The first time it was mentioned was in Gamepro of all places... and then a German site claimed it was about a kid trying to get over his fears. It was hardly something I'd consider "mature."

Something that was denied the next thing I heard, and Geist took its place... because the fact is that Fear and Geist have basically gone hand in hand throughout all these rumors and discussions.

So really, there's not much to think about as it is. Perhaps Fear is something else, but perhaps it was just a bunch of crossed wires. The title was never anything more than rumors and speculation as it was, and from what I've heard lately... Fear was the codename of Geist for quite a while now supposedly.

And as you mentioned IGN, normally I do also doubt them lol... Especially something out of Matt's mouth. But what they said wasn't some rumor they spouted off, it was about something they actually got to see firsthand. They specfically mention getting to mess around with this game at a time when it was still being called "Fear." I'd have to say that's what has become of it heh.

The kid getting over his fears idea is still perplexing, as I'm sure the rumor has to have been based on something.

I guess we'll see.

[James]

[color=#808080]The image thing really has little to do with Nintendo. It's something that other companies have focused on and it's something that gamers themselves turn into an issue.

Nintendo is Nintendo. It makes games for all ages. Some games (like Yoshi's Story) are obviously for younger players, while games like Zelda are obviously for older kids/adults. And games like Animal Crossing are designed for parents and children to play together.

I mean, really...I'm getting to the point where I no longer want to mount any kind of argument when it comes to Nintendo's image. If people are going to get hung up on the "kiddie" thing, they are only proving that they [i]don't[/i] understand video games and that they also don't understand Nintendo. It's as simple as that.

When you look at games like MGS: TTS, Product Number 03, Resident Evil 4 etc...games that Nintendo are sanctioning as GameCube exclusives, you can't possibly say that Nintendo is focusing only on younger players. By the same token, we can't ignore that some of Nintendo's franchises are aimed at families (I wouldn't even say that they are aimed directly at little children; most of Nintendo's games are aimed at many ages - so they have to be warm and approachable, which excessive gore or sex won't help).

People who play Nintendo's games know that Nintendo is the master of gameplay. When you play Super Mario Sunshine and you realize that Mario's movements are as soft and smooth as melted butter, you completely forget that this game is "colourful and looks kiddie". And that's what it's about.

[/color]

[Shinmaru]

I agree with James on every account. Companies should be judged not by the look of their games or what age they're supposedly for, but how good they are. That's why Nintendo is the best or is at least at the upper echelon of the gaming world and people who are making immature "adult" games coughAcclaimcough are stuck near the bottom of gaming.

[hiachi]

I dont care about the maturity level of a game, I just play what I enjoy, I play Animal Crossing still and am not ashamed, I dont need to play bloody gore games to make me feel mature