Unfortunate Scapegoat: The Wii's Maturity Crisis

Interesting article just posted here:

http://www.ninstation.com/index.php?topic=3307.0

Summary:

"The Nintendo Wii has a dilemma when it comes to mature titles. But is the cause really what the game publishers claim? Peel back the spin and market manipulation, and you find not all is what it seems. We analyze the situation and take a look at who is really at fault regarding the current failure of mature titles on the Wii..."

Thoughts? Opinions?

This is still missing the most important point of all, Nintendo is censoring the American market for their own personal gain. And this censorship is how third party developers justify their excuses without proof.

After all, companies tell english-speakers that Nintendo doesn't make mature games for their own consoles and so neither will they. The reality is Nintendo has. It doesn't matter if that fact was a lie, because people will not know the full truth until someone else says so. As far as Treehouse is concerned, it's the truth.

This began from the conception of NOA. They were nice during the Gamecube era, but not anymore.

Eh, theirs so many holes in what he puts forward and in the end he's speculating just as much as the gaming industry and developers are with the wii, the only difference? He's NOT a developer so his speculation is even less credible and less experienced with this issue!

Imo its just another wii fanboy letting out his frustration with the wii's current situation...

You want mature titles? You want 3rd party titles? Just buy another console like the rest of us already had!

Your wii isnt gonna get its feelings hurt or accuse you of cheating, geez, I have another console on the side and still play/like my wii the most.

At this point, with how much the gaming industry has grown in the past years you honestly cant expect any one console to do everything and fullfill all your gaming needs.

This is still missing the most important point of all, Nintendo is censoring the American market for their own personal gain. And this censorship is how third party developers justify their excuses without proof.

After all, companies tell english-speakers that Nintendo doesn't make mature games for their own consoles and so neither will they. The reality is Nintendo has. It doesn't matter if that fact was a lie, because people will not know the full truth until someone else says so. As far as Treehouse is concerned, it's the truth.

This began from the conception of NOA. They were nice during the Gamecube era, but not anymore.

SirSpudly

I like a link to this. Because apparently Madworld and Resident Evil on the Wii means that Nintendo doesn't want NINTENDO to make Mature titles. But other Publishers CAN.

I do find it interesting that there hasn't been another Resident Evil Game nor a Dead Space Game that plays like Resident Evil 4 since that game apparently did well for the Wii.

Perhaps it was because of Dead Rising for the Wii where all Mature Titles for the Wii went down the Drain.

But like what the Article said Wii owners don't want watered down titles.

But you can't force a company to make games for the system.

You just gotta wait for someone to make a GOOD game and not Bull crap around.

I like the Wii BECAUSE of the poor emphasis on "Mature" titles.

you have another console on the side, you dirty dirty man. :) I think most hardcore gamers are perfectly willing to purchase multiple systems as many titles are console specific. I myself own 5 consoles, 3 of which are the latest generation consoles. I have no problem with it. As a matter of a fact, the more the better in my mind. meekgeekquinn

Exclusive yes ..but Wii is missing out on mulitplat titles too ...the sad thing is nowadays as kenakuma pointed out you have to go multi console to pretty much play the games you want.

I think its pretty simple, when you look at the "big" M rated games on the Wii you see things like Reflex, Extraction, Darkside Chronicles and when you look at the other consoles, the big M rated games are the likes of GTA, MW2, AC etc. The Wii doesn't have big market M rated games, so they aren't going to perform like big market games. Its not like every M rated game on the HD consoles automatically sell 2 million copies, not even Dead Space pulled that off. But people say there is of course a market for it because they focus on the likes of GTA, MW2, AC and ignore the ones that failed or under performed. The Wii doesn't have that luxury, it has a bunch of secondary market M rated titles, there's no way they are going to perform really well, so its viewed as a lack of a market for M rated games. Well in reality the Wii like every other console has failed and under performing titles in every rating category, the problem with the M rating is unlike the other ratings, it has yet to get the big market title outside of RE4, which was just a port. Sepewrath

Excellent point.

Part of the reason why I like the Wii so much is because of the number of M rated titles in their library. The fewest :)
And by far the fewest than any other console this gen.

i must agree with him really.

when i find a wii game that is good fun ill play it and have a blast problem is the wii doesnt get alot of AAA titles worth my time. and im not a kid while i like a mario game i do enjoy some tv 14 or rated R stuff i dont watch exclusively disney except of course hannah montana lol jk

no why do i play xbox more? quite simple the games are usually higher quality to be blunt. take dead space...on rails or non on rails...oh man tough choice ya on rails SUCKS we dont want it its a niche crowd. resident evil again resident evil 5 which strangely is not on the wii is modeled after my favorite resident evil 4. but no wii gets on rail games again DIE ON RAIL GAMES DIE

mad world...great but too freakin short i agree

conduit again i must agree with him.

i really have to agree the wii versions of games are generally always inferior. its hard to pick the vii version of a game over the xbox one. ill be honest i started this gen of consoles with the wii had high hopes and stuck with it. but eventually a year or two into the wii had nothing but shovel ware gimmick crap. i bought and xbox and have since enjoyed my gaming days alot more. maybe its just me but the wii doesnt produce the same high quality stuff. its likes my ps3 i use it for the exclusives. punch out fire emblem smash brothers mario and zelda were all fun games and i still need to try metroid 3. but still if it werent for i dont trade in consoles and my 56 gamecube games the wii would be totally dead for me.

granted there is a game i forget what its called i jsut saw it in the stickied thread i want to try for the wii but im doubtful cause the wii cant seem to produce a high quality game usually unless its made from nintendo its sad and im a loyal nintendo fan who stuck with the gamecube lol. why is gamecube a spelling error. along with wii

though im going to be honest next gen im not buying all 3 most likely as im 25 now so im going to imagine hopefully at some point in the next 5 years ill be hitting th marriage own house phase of my life. so im trying to save up money i would of previous blown on games now and if wii 2 cant show me its going to get past gimmick shovel ware then its not getting my money. granted i love the wii mote idea when its used properly so its not that its just rarely been used and made me think of this better than pressing A. one of the games that did it best was strangely the two dbz games. and ill be honest i loved those games and wii bowling loved it.

Well that article was a huge waste of time.

Summary: The only reason why evil third party publishers can't sell Mature games on the Wii is becasue they aren't good enough.

-

I really hate when people bash games like Madworld, Dead Space: Extration and House of the Dead: Overkill and then turns around and praises games like TvsC or Little King's Story.

I also don't understand why M rated games has to come from third party publishers, why can't Nintendo develop or publish one?

Well that article was a huge waste of time.

Summary: The only reason why evil third party publishers can't sell Mature games on the Wii is becasue they aren't good enough.

-

I really hate when people bash games like Madworld, Dead Space: Extration and House of the Dead: Overkill and then turns around and praises games like TvsC or Little King's Story.

I also don't understand why M rated games has to come from third party publishers, why can't Nintendo develop or publish one?

JLF1

I think Hiphops answered your question. Nintendo is like Disney. Neither company could release mature products for fear of upseting their base. People believe that the Wii has no mature titles, but it does. Besides the fact that HOD Overkill sets the record for F-bombs in a videogame, or that, in my opinion, NMH2 surpasses games like GOW series for blood and sexual innuendo/content, games don't need an M-rating for adults to play them.

3rd party developers have yet to put out Wii games that have the depth that gamers expect from games on other systems. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is an excellent adult oriented game, but it is only 6 hours long. Dead Space Extraction and RE Darkside Chronicles are short and on rails. Those products would not sell any better on the other systems than they sell on the Wii.

Yet, developers either point to the Wii audience claiming there aren't enough hard core gamers, or point to the system claiming it doesn't have the power to make games with the depth other systems can produce. While I wouldn't argue that the Wii has the power of the other systems, I think games like Twilight Princess show you can make lengthy immersive adventures on the Wii. In fact, many last gen games had more depth and immersion than 3rd party developers are willing to put into a Wii game.

Big 3rd party titles may critically flop on other systems, but gamers still buy them. Dante's Inferno (72 Metacritic) still broke the top 20 on VGCharz last week. Meanwhile, NMH2 (87 Metacritic) didn't break into the top 40.

In my perfect world, 3rd party developers would make in-depth well produced games that adults wanted to play, and Wii owners would buy them.

mad world...great but too freakin short i agree

conduit again i must agree with him.

kayne2000

What could have made MadWorld better for me would be Better Controls. Though I like MadWorld it's pretty good!

The Conduit however was too reliant on it's Multiplayer which I was very disappointed that there was no Split Screen and the Maps were not good at all, and the Game itself didn't have much to offer. only 3 Characters and no development, hardly a story I could have made a better Story! Seriously Michael Ford said that "he was probably the only one left that knows the 'Truth'!" In the game, HE WAS THE ONLY ONE THAT KNEW THE TRUTH! There was no one else there to know!

In other words, the Story in the Conduit was a sham. Hardly a Quality Title.

Well that article was a huge waste of time.

Summary: The only reason why evil third party publishers can't sell Mature games on the Wii is becasue they aren't good enough.

-

I really hate when people bash games like Madworld, Dead Space: Extration and House of the Dead: Overkill and then turns around and praises games like TvsC or Little King's Story.

I also don't understand why M rated games has to come from third party publishers, why can't Nintendo develop or publish one?

JLF1

In fairness, none of the games you mentioned have been recepted too well; HotD: Overkill and TvC are probably the most successful games you speak of, but they're not exactly turning heads.

In general, I agree with Sepewrath's poing about the Wii's "Mature" games simply aren't being as big or significant as "Mature" games on the other systems. It's hard to expect the same reception when the overall quality of the games are different, and I don't think this is something that can be disputed to a great degree. To go along with that, I don't think most Mature games relate well to the majority of the Wii audience anyways. Most of the popular "Mature" games are the definition of the status quo in today's gaming, and the Wii has represented itself as something very unique. The games that has tried to capture the Mature Wii audience haven't exactly been thinking outside the box in regards to the way it approaches the Wii audience, and as a result, they've failed to attract the attention of the Wii owners who purchased the Wii for the Wii, and not for a system with experiences the other consoles provide all the time. The ideal example of a successful "Mature" Wii game would actually be more along the lines of Wii Fit than Madworld, and I don't think publishers have gone about with this mentality seriously yet.

As far as Nintendo is concerned here, I think we all know that the kind of "Mature" experiences that many have come to expect is not Nintendo's strength. Given that they've captured an older audience without having to use the "violence and gore" card this gen at all, it's hard to expect them to do so now. The next move in regards to keeping the "Mature" audience interested for Nintendo probably has more to do with the vitality sensor than releasing a sequel to Geist or something of the sort. In any case, it's not as if Nintendo has had to take the typical M-rated route to attract people this gen, and as long as it can avoid such, I suspect that they will and leave that task for third party publishers to see what they can find.

Meh, it's another cry of "developers are just lazy and greedy..." but with a special twist of "...as part of a conspiracy to eliminate Nintendo from the console market."

At least the second part is original.

Part of the reason why I like the Wii so much is because of the number of M rated titles in their library. The fewest :)
And by far the fewest than any other console this gen.

wiifan001

I like the Wii BECAUSE of the poor emphasis on "Mature" titles.

Theguy56

This and This. Although a couple of Mature titles is nice, it is the plathora of colorful games like the Mario games(Galaxy, Kart, NSMBW), A Boy and His Blob, and Punch-Out!! that keep me by my Wii.

In fact, it is the LACK of colorful games that is keeping me away from the HD twins. Little Big Planet and Banjo: Nuts and Bolts are nice, but I want to see more.

I think Hiphops answered your question. Nintendo is like Disney. Neither company could release mature products for fear of upseting their base. People believe that the Wii has no mature titles, but it does. Besides the fact that HOD Overkill sets the record for F-bombs in a videogame, or that, in my opinion, NMH2 surpasses games like GOW series for blood and sexual innuendo/content, games don't need an M-rating for adults to play them.

3rd party developers have yet to put out Wii games that have the depth that gamers expect from games on other systems. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is an excellent adult oriented game, but it is only 6 hours long. Dead Space Extraction and RE Darkside Chronicles are short and on rails. Those products would not sell any better on the other systems than they sell on the Wii.

Yet, developers either point to the Wii audience claiming there aren't enough hard core gamers, or point to the system claiming it doesn't have the power to make games with the depth other systems can produce. While I wouldn't argue that the Wii has the power of the other systems, I think games like Twilight Princess show you can make lengthy immersive adventures on the Wii. In fact, many last gen games had more depth and immersion than 3rd party developers are willing to put into a Wii game.

Big 3rd party titles may critically flop on other systems, but gamers still buy them. Dante's Inferno (72 Metacritic) still broke the top 20 on VGCharz last week. Meanwhile, NMH2 (87 Metacritic) didn't break into the top 40.

In my perfect world, 3rd party developers would make in-depth well produced games that adults wanted to play, and Wii owners would buy them.

mrfokken

I also don't understand why M rated games has to come from third party publishers, why can't Nintendo develop or publish one?JLF1

[QUOTE="JLF1"]I also don't understand why M rated games has to come from third party publishers, why can't Nintendo develop or publish one?Haziqonfire

Well, Sepewrath, I would agree that gaming has been mainstream for a while in terms of being something that the general public was aware of. Even so, until recently, the majority of big name projects within the industry had been focused on not a widespread audience, but to a specific, but seemingly very reliable, group of people (in short, the 18-35 year old male). For everyone else and even those who were part of that demographic, but didn't care for the content that was presented, there wasn't nearly as much to choose from. Even now, as we've seen systems like the DS and Wii break the mold and in ways change the perception of video games, I still think that there are a few barriers that video games have to overcome before it becomes "mainstream" on the same level as every other source of entertainment, and this will require more efforts that make legitimate attempts to reach out to those that aren't yet interested in video games.

All of that said, that's not exactly what I wanted to talk about. My comment in general was more about addressing the Wii's "Mature" market in particular, and I wanted to touch on something you said with this reply.

What the Wii did was offer something to that part of the mainstream audience that has been ignored for years. However that same basic mainstream, boys club audience is still there and they still respond to the same thing. I mean lets face it, no matter how you try and dress up CoD, one of the most mainstream games on the market, its not a game that my mother or my sister will be interested in playing.Sepewrath

^This was part of my point in regards to developers possibly having to think outside the box with their "Mature" titles on Wii. Let's face it; at least 85% of the M-rated games on the market are about the "shoot shoot kill kill" side of gaming, and the Wii's expanded audience probably isn't one that takes too well with that. If that was the case, they would have been gamers long before the Wii arrived, am I right? :P On the other hand, there are millions of adult gamers out there that have become a part of gaming over the last few years because of ideas like brain training, fitness, and mystery games making a home on systems like the DS and Wii. If you only look at the ESRB rating, then these titles don't come off as "Mature" games, but these are games that are just as approachable, if not moreso, to adults as they are to children. Instead of just presenting themes that are better suited for adults than children, like violence or sex, these games are mature because they are sophisticated and present goals that adults are more likely to take to heart as part of their lives.

I'm just saying that if publishers REALLY want to see a "Mature" Wii market react to their games, it might be a good idea to go about their methods in a different light that just giving a character a gun and seeing if that will sell. That's not to say that the stereotypical M-rated game won't sell on the Wii, but I do think that it's just not what everyone was looking for when they invested in the system. Outside of a true Resident Evil game, I'm not sure that there are any popular M-rated franchises at the moment that would produce surefire, runaway hits on the Wii to begin with. Furthermore, I think this might be one of those circumstances where you can look at the DS and the sales of a game like GTA Chinatown Wars and see that the expanded mature audiences for these two particular systems aren't just looking for the same ol' "Mature" experiences that have been used time and time again with success elsewhere.

In closing, I just think for a system with an "outside the box" approach in reaching out and expanding the market over simply doing more of the same, it just might be a wise move to think "outside the box" in creating content that appeals to this new audience over trying to introduce them to content they originally had no interest in to start off with. There's the idea that the "Mature" Wii audience just doesn't exist, but the more I think about it, I prefer to believe that there is an audience there... but just doesn't want what most within the industry see as "Mature" video games.

[QUOTE="Haziqonfire"][QUOTE="JLF1"]I also don't understand why M rated games has to come from third party publishers, why can't Nintendo develop or publish one?JLF1

Yeah and look how great that turned out for them...

They desperately tried to change their image last gen. They made a console with competitive specs, tried to release "mature" content, and they ended up in 3rd place with their worst-selling console of all time. Fact is, people don't want Nintendo releasing M-rated content. They want the family-friendly stuff.

I understand exactly what your saying MMG, a different kind of M rated experience might appeal to that other side of the mainstream audience. A great example that comes to mind is Heavy Rain, its something that could appeal to novel readers and people who love thriller or murder mystery movies. I could even make a case for Uncharted because it plays out like a Indiana Jones movie. But I think its bogged down from appealing to that audience because it has so many video game standards, like cover systems, platforming, puzzles etc. I think that audience could sit there and watch the game being played, but they wouldn't actually go get it themselves like they could do Heavy Rain.

But that's kind of my point, Quantic has done this before, they know how to make that kind of experience. And Sony though while to a lesser extent than Nintendo it would appear, knows how to handle things like that, how to market to that audience and has an idea of what that audience would like. The other publishers, like Activision and EA have no idea how to market to those audience, outside of the music genre which is just basically a license product. It would be nice to get more Mature titles along the line of Heavy Rain instead of your standard FPS fare, but publishers and developers need to study that, figure out what exactly that is, because so far their attempts at appealing to that audience have been terrible.

Why would Nintendo develop an M rated title? They've always been seen as generally making family friendly games, they wouldn't want to lose that image. It's like if Pixar decided to make a gory, bloody R-Rated movie. Its out of their character to do so. - As for this article, all I can say is 'facepalm'Haziqonfire

Yeah like JLF said they have published M rated games before. Aren't they also publishing that M+ game with the giants. But Nintendo is alot like Disney, they have a bunch of subsidiaries they could use for games they don't want to "taint" their image. But to be completely honest, Nintendo will always be that company with Mario as the face, no matter what kind of games they come out with. Just like Disney who over the years has loosened up, are still just Mickey Mouse. They could come out with a hardcore porn line and history would remember them as Mickey Mouse lol.