Nintendo's wonderful strategy

[The Former DMiller]

The only thing I remotely agreed with Iwata about was about the complicated controls. While we gamers don't care how complicated controls are, I know a lot of casual gamers who have been put off by how complicated videogames have gotten. A lot of the friends I grew up with playing videogames have stopped playing them because there aren't too many pick-up-and-play games anymore. However, that doesn't mean Nintendo should make every one of their games drop-dead simple. Nintendo's fans want some depth to their games and don't want our hands held the entire time.

As for online gaming, we still don't know how it is doing. Yes, Xbox Live is nice, but Microsoft hasn't released numbers for it in some time, and all of those free year subscriptions should be up now. I am really interested in hearing how many people renewed. The thing is when MS does release numbers they will probably just say how many Xbox Live users there are total which will include all of the free 2-month subscriptions that new Xbox owners are getting. That doesn't mean I don't wish Nintendo would get online, but I understand why they see no profit in it.

However, what Iwata said about graphics and storylines is mind-boggling. Yes, Final Fantasy has gotten too story-oriented in my opinion, but there are games like Eternal Darkness that have an incredible story, but don't overdo it and have incredible gameplay at the same time. The graphics thing is ridiculous too. Yes, Wind Waker was an incredible-looking game, but cinematic graphics are great too. I'm not saying Wind Waker should have looked realistic, but if Nintendo wants to attract more casual gamers they need to stop making every one of their games look like a cartoon.