15th March 2006, 10:32 PM
Quote:Were in the hell did I say I have a dislike for PC gaming? As if I condemn it or some shit. I said I don't care for it.
It is a preference to play consoles. If I had more time for video games I might venture into PC gaming, but I hardly have any time to play video games these days. This last week I got to play about 3 hours. Before that I hadn't touched my PS2 for 2 weeks because I didn't have fucking time.
I don't play handhelds because I don't like holding a portable for any length of time. Next you're going to tell me that that doesn't make any sense. There are great games and I should play them whether I want to or not.
I don't need to, you did it for me. :)
Handheld games are great... I've had gameboys longer than any other consoles, and have gotten many fun hours out of them... I do find myself more likely to play a handheld game when on a trip or something like that where you're away from the TV or computer for long periods of time, but a particularly good game can draw me away (Fire Emblem, for instance... such awesome games...).
I also picked up a Super Game Boy last week and was playing Donkey Kong('94)... (seemed appropriate, as the game they tried to sell the accessory based on... Still as good as ever, and that's a game that has not been matched since in its particular subgenre of puzzle/platforming... the only other title like it I know of is Mario vs. Donkey Kong for the GBA, and that one's just not as good.
Quote:Sony created a mass market of cool gamers who buy things like 50 cents' game and Need for Speed: Driving with no Headlights. That doesn't mean original games don't sell, just not as well when compared.
The so-called hardcore is still around. They're just not as great in number, and there is more to choose from these days so not every great game is going to sell a million copies.
That's missing the point though. Yeah, Sony has built a market... focusing on the male 12-to-25 demographic, or so (give or take a few years on each end). And they've done really well at it, and they surprised Nintendo and Sega because those companies greatly underestimated Sony's ability to steal it... well they did, and this is the result. But the question Nintendo is asking is 'we want to win, but can't win by just directly competing with Sony (remember, they tried that this generation, and it failed), so what can we do?' And they came up with the answer we've seen, "let's find people who don't play games and get them to buy our consoles somehow!" And so we get Brain Training.
Anyway, originality... gamers say they want original games, but original games just don't sell. Safe games that fully fit into preexisting franchises and are parts of existing serieses do sell, so they make those... whether or not the world truly needs yearly updates to three hundred EA serieses (seriously, take a few years to make each game! Make each one actually MATTER! That'd be a far better strategy for the gamer... that's my opinion, at least. The yearly sequel is a scourge...)
Anyway, I think that that includes the 'hardcore' gamers too -- ie, they make up a big portion of sales -- so if they were truly buying original titles in numbers they'd be doing better than they are. The problem is convincing people to buy games that aren't sure things, and that can obviously be tough...
Quote:The ONLY thing I dislike about the whole situation is that they're up and completely changing direction. I'm still enjoying the way I play games right now. I like current controllers and big epic games. I also want to try these new supposedly innovative games with a weird new controller. My question is why shouldn't I have both on the Revolution?
Why are they only trying to appeal to new gamers? Why not having something for everyone and appeal to a even wider demographic.
Nintendo has a point that 12-button, dual analog-with-dpad controllers are intimidating and far from approachable, though... finding the middle ground where they make approachable games while not alienating existing gamers does seem like a huge challenge, but for the most part it seems to be working on the DS (maybe a few less games the hardcore would love, but there are still more than enough to make it a system worth owning, whether or not you're interested in Nintendogs or Animal Crossing...)... I don't think they are trying to just appeal to new gamers. They've repeatedly talked about attracting new people while holding on to the hardcore, and I think they mean it; things like the download service to a large extent exist for the hardcore, after all.