In this new age of blogging and posting I picked up one of the most ridiculous habits. I read almost EVERYONE's post. I often read user comments for sometimes hours to study how people react to an article that I find interesting. While frolicking around GameSpot and reading user comments and editorials a reoccurring theme among fellow gamers is prevalent in what I like to call "The New Nintendo Hate". While this is not limited to GameSpot alone I figured they needed a shout out. Now I know many gamers today feel strongly about the companies they support and the term "fanboy" has been thrown around so many times it might as well be a baseball, it should be noted that not all of my comments are the tell all end all of the gaming world. This is simply a commentary on why, not just for the sake of Nintendo, are we so stuck on stupid ideals such as "I only support Microsoft" and "everybody sucks compared to Sony" etc., when most of us serve no affiliation with the company whatsoever except the console that we just bought…
Your Xbox Live sh*t talkers in the flesh. Yeah they post too
It is important to note that I am a Nintendo supporter. However I own a DS but not a Wii. I also own a Xbox360 and PS3 (newly acquired Japanese version) and found great game playing experiences on each platform. The Wii games I have played are ridiculously fun and I have admired Nintendo's approach to gaming since I was a child. I grew up with Nintendo, and personally I find it quite discouraging to hear fellow gamers post lines such as "Nintendo should just stop making games" or the more harsh and more often spoken "The Wii sucks!"
What some gamers think of the Wii...but actually do as seen in this photo
Frankly as gamers it is time for us to wake up. "The New Nintendo Hate" is getting out of hand. With the Wii paving the way of future consoles with its relatively half-next-gen approach with only motion control, the other gaming giants Microsoft and Sony have resorted to claiming that they do not compete with the console by Nintendo. While this may be true on many levels and false on many more, gamers must realize that video games are a business FIRST!! We have neglected to understand this for years and while many game sites have tried to make us gamers understand the numbers and dollars of the business (GameSpot included) a small handful of us actually now what they mean and actually care.
What really matters in the Video Games business
What Nintendo did this generation is paint the other companies into a corner, a simple but brilliant business tactic in which you change the scope of the entire industry by introducing a working ( while not flawless) innovation. Now Sony and particularly Microsoft are mad rushing to the motion controlling front in an effort to challenge Nintendo. Microsoft's new NATAL implementation will allow you to use nothing to control your games, literally nothing. No controller, no "wand", no nothing…uummm…yeah. But what does this actually do for next generation? Have we actually thought about that? If you answered that all next-gen consoles are going to have motion control you would not be far from the truth. That's right kiddies Nintendo did that to the industry. No longer can we just play on the controller we have to use motion control now, and this will probably be a standard for years to come.
Be prepared to get VEEERRRRY acquainted with this guy and his ummm...Arc!?
This is all theoretical of course but what Nintendo did was, quite literally, "change the game". So as gamers we should accept that from the leading company (in numbers only, you are entitled to your own opinion). Without Nintendo's approach NATAL would probably never have the support it now has (or lack thereof). Problem is that Nintendo released N64 and GameCube and we still punish them for that. But they also made NES, the system that brought gaming back to the States, SNES, arguably the best console of all-time (seriously memories were made on this machine), Gameboy and Gameboy Advance, and the highly surprising DS ( remember when PSP was supposed to break Nintendo's dominance in handheld gaming? Yeah ok), and of course the Wii. And while many "hardcore" gamers (whoever actually made up this term is a douche) may hate Nintendo's existence, us Gamer Historians (I'll take credit for this one) understand the importance of Nintendo being in the industry. However most gamers view the problem as this...
The primary problem with most gamers and Nintendo...such a disconnect is unacceptable!!
Mario, Pokémon, rake in BILLIONS of dollars, most quality Wii games sell in the 500,000 + range and the DS is well…the DS. Nintendo has totally taken the videogame business to the next level with already available technologies and they actually had the gonads to put it on their feature console. We can complain about the ridiculous online experience or the awful shovel ware that graces the Wii and of course the kiddie games that have graced Nintendo systems since the "land before time" (you have to quote movie references). But we cannot "hate" Nintendo. Everyone counted this company out and they never once were in danger of leaving the games business. And as long as a gaming business exists there will always be a need for Nintendo franchises, actually imagine a world without Mario… that's a world I don't want to live in…
A world without Mario...No joke...
Every company has a path and while I enjoy Mass Effect 2 on my 360 and I enjoy my Japanese version of FFXIII, if I had a choice of those games or Nintendo's continued existence I would chose the obvious; Nintendo. I know a lot of gamers will not agree with me but as I mentioned before I do not own a Wii, but I recognize the need for it to be on the market. Nintendo is the catalyst for gaming. They take the risks and gamers are rewarded for it. So I ask "where is the love?" or "like?" or even just "respect?" Its a new day gamers don't get hung up on hate because anything is possible in today's game world. I mean even this is possible...
Asians playing Xbox360!? BLASPHEMY!!!
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