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Miyamoto vs. Everyone Else
Ian_Bailey writes "Wired writes Nintendo won't grow up, because of Shigeru Miyamoto. The creator of some of the most popular franchises, and the head of most of Nintendo's creative development, constantly aims his games at children. Many other devloppers admire his creativity, and believe that a mature-themed game would rock the entire industry. A very interesting read, and a bit of insight into the 'God of Games'."
No mature themed games? What about Conker's Bad Fur Day?
Miyamoto's games aren't aimed at kids, per se. They're aimed at the young at heart, those that can set aside their preconceived notions and enjoy a game regardless of how "realistic" or "mature" it is.
I've been playing the Japanese import of the GameCube "Legend of Zelda" game, and it's easily the best game ever made, irrespective of it's "toon-shading".
Other console companies aiming for the adult market (like most xbox and ps2 titles); Nintendo is a breath of fresh air for those people still buying for their kids.
You can count on the nintendo offerings to be kid friendly and family oriented. I'll admit that's not really my cup of tea, but it's definitely the strong part of the market for Nintendo.
Any deviation from that plan would be a mistake in my opinion.
Interestingly enough I find many of my friends (18-30) still play games. GTA3, State of Emergency, Hitman, etc. are all really violent and have adult themes. They are also only as entertaining as your attention span is long. On the other hand most of my friends pick up the Nintendo titles for thier replay value, unique themes, and solid track record. Pikman was fun, differant, and entertaining time and time again. The Zelda series have been some of the best games I've played and I look forward to the Gamecube release. Many of my friends feel the same.
So while the gamers have gotten older, the desire to game hasn't necessarily changed. Many gamers look for solid games with more than just adult themes. If I want to play an adult themed game I can pick up any of a thousand variations. If I want to play a challenging, unique game that is going to keep me interested I don't have much to choose from. I feel Nintendo fills this niche even more than the family oriented nature of the games.
Look the only people who are too 'mature' for bright colors and kiddy themed games are 12-14 year old boys.
Truly mature people can appreciate the quality of the game weather it has lots of blood and guts or if it doesn't. Adults can appreciate both Mario and Vice City.
The only truly adult games I can think of (besides porn, I mean) are the hard-core simulations, like Gran Tourismo or to a certain extent counterstrike.
Anyway, Nintendo has plenty of money. They can hire more 'sophisticated' artists if they want to.
I say let Miyamoto do what he wants. Don't try to control a genious.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
I totally agree with you.
The problem is because of all the technical skills needed to makes games these days. For example, programmers working on the PS2 need a good working knowledge of assembly to pull off some of the more advanced tricks and features of other consoles.
Maybe one day proper toolkits will be made and sold for cheap to developers to create fun games, while they purchase virtual actors to place in their game without the need to create models and animate that for all the actions. That way designers can focus on the content, simmilar to the independant scenes in audio and video now.
But now, when systems are so complex and gamers crave innovation every game needs its own engine, something that requires months of work, games do indeed need to make a profit to work. It has been recently emphasised by execs that the games industry is becoming a 'hit' industry, where 5% of the games account for 95% of the profits.
Of course, you can avert this kind of problem from happening. Buy games that were made by small teams, or didn't need as large as a budget, or aren't doing so well. Let the companies know that you appreciate their efforts. Help spread the hype away from the Metroid Primes and the Halos and the GTAs.