Slashdot Mirror
On Alleged Anti-Nintendo Sentiment In The Gaming Media
Thanks to GamesAreFun for its editorial discussing Nintendo's skewed portrayal in the news media. The writer argues: "I suppose it's just trendy to bash Nintendo right now, even if the arguments for doing it can be easily ripped apart", and goes on to tackle myths on popularity ("..the GameCube has actually never fallen into third place in the overall worldwide market"), a recent half-year financial loss ("old news now... the first loss they've ever reported since going public in 1962"), and temporary suspension of GameCube production ("do they honestly think Sony or Microsoft keep up peak productions at all times?")
It's not really professional, I agree, but if you've ever spented any time at a "lesser" game forum ;-) then you know, it's hard to resist poking a bit of fun at illogical fanboys...
Of course, the conspiracy theorists are going to point out the massive resources of Sony and Microsoft, and how easy it would be for them to buy their own kind of coverage. Can't say I blame them (the theorists, I mean)-there was that dealy with the "Linux has a higher TCO than Windows" study...
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"I agree with the the overall sentiment described in the summary, but I didn't bother reading past the headline. "Quoting" the people you're arguing against using l33tspeak is an extremely weak-minded way of making them look dumb." ;)
That's a pity - you missed out on an extremely interesting and informative piece.
The l33tsp34k headlines in the article are little more than a joke. If you look around, there genuinely are people out there saying "N1NtEdN0 R tEh DUM3D LOL" just like that and expecting to be (and somehow actually being) taken seriously, so it's not like the jokey headlines are far from the truth. The article itself contains nothing but genuine facts and figures to debunk the "Nintendo is doomed" myth (currently) often perpetuated by the media and others who are in denial about Nintendo's true situation, and is actually a far better read than the summary here indicates.
It's also the first in a series of editorials, so there will be more worthwhile reading to follow.
"This is hardly the proudest hour for online game media, and it illustrates the need for journalists - even some of those working for large professional sites - to more effectively divide fact from speculation and opinion in their reporting."
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as far as i'm concerned, all gaming systems are worthy of at least being tried, any Hardcore gamer would agree that even the worst designed systems can have some of the best quality games, the problem is when joe blow spends his $150-$200 on a system that has his type of games on it, he often falls for the propaganda behind the system and beleives the system he picked is the best. when i bought my PS2 i became a PS2 fanboy, then i bought an X-Box cheap and started realiseing that in some areas the X-Box does exceed the PS2(other than the obvious graphic capability), but in other ares the PS2 exceeds the X-Box. i made the same discovery when i bought my CG and since then started to understand that if you depend on one system you miss out on the offerings of other systems.
now, granted some people can only afford one system and my only advice to them is to buy the system that has a game selection closest to what you enjoy (ie. GC - fun fantasy style games with a some serious gameplay elements, X-Box - Sports gamer heaven and a desent selection of more Adult-aimed games, PS2 - RPGs and racing games primarily, but its a very well rounded in terms of your selection, mostly sue to its Third Party Support)
from where i sit, there is no best or worst game system. its too bad there are few people that have come to this realisation. in the console war, the only winners are the gamers themselves
P.S. sorry if i went off topic a bit, i'm in a bit of a rant mood
/. is overrun by bed-wetting elitist nerds
let it be known, for anything other than servers, a *nix OS sucks
it isn't easy being a nintendo fan these days. i wish every eb employee would read this and actually read things before speaking out of their ass. you know the "gamecube is underpowered" and the "xbox RoXorS" and other statements that they make, yet have no clue what muti-texturing is, and immediatly believe that xbox has more MHz's so it must be better. They have no clue of the differences in the chips (PPC vs. X86, 32 vs. 64 bit, ect) and like so many others believe what advertisers tell them.
ps. "1337" speek and "xtreme" marketing really need to die. If you wern't using "1337" >8 years ago (and to get by filters) shut your damn mouth, you sound, type, and probably act like a 'tard
....has been reading my AC posts about the state of Nintendo here on games.slashdot.org.
Good on ya, Sammy! Send the mindless newbie armchair analysts off to Clu Clu Land for me!
I see 2 problems with the article:
1. If you're going to be funny with the title, make it a funny article - if not have a serious title and give yourself some street cred.
2. You can quote me all the number games you want, but can you name 10 games that are must owns for every gamecube owner? No, but that is easily done with XBox and PS2. If you can't do that, who gives a shit what the numbers say. I can name hundreds for the Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and Gameboy (both) - the N64 and Gamecube (at least for me) have been total failures in that area.
schild @ f13.net
schild
editor, f13.net
What the hell did Nintendo make in 1962??
http://www.archive.org/details/ThePowerOfNightmares
Metroid Prime
Eternal Darkness
Super Smash Brothers Melee
Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
Viewtiful Joe
Super Monkey Ball
Pikmin
Animal Crossing
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles
Mario Kart Double Dash
Mario Party
Super Mario Sunshine
Mario Golf
F-Zero GX
Rogue Squadron
Ikaruga
Pac-Man vs.
Star Fox Adventures
Wario Ware
Oooops, went over ten, sorry. There are also some games available for multiple systems, or that aren't quite out yet.
Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes
Tales of Symphonia
Prince of Persia
Beyond Good and Evil
Resident Evil
Lord of the Rings
Spider-Man
Harvest Moon
Skies of Arcadia
Soul Caliber II
SSX 3
The Simpsons Hit & Run
I'm not even including several cases of multiple games from the same series. (I don't count Mario Kart, Mario Party, etc as being the same series.)
There's probably a lot more than i'm forgetting about, especially in the action and sports genres which i don't play very much.
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As a representative for all Nintendo fans everywhere, I would like to extend a hand of friendship towards our brothers, Apple users. Together, we might.. uh... profit?
"Derp de derp."
Either way, the Internet would be a much better place if every 12-year-old with a nickname ending in 3 digits and having to do with Dragon Ball Z didn't feel a need to jump on sites like Neowin and respond to any console game-related article with "XBOX RULEZ!" and then attach some shiny smiley face to it.
The advocates for consoles/operating systems do the most damage to them in my mind, more than the actual product. You start wondering if any well-adjusted people actually use the product. Thus I'd have to rate the majority of pro/anti-console sentiment as simply the inane banter that makes the Internet go round. The real question is, why do people keep eating it up?
"Nintendo makes kiddie games"
and of course gabe from penny arcade said it best when referring to wind waker...
"...these guys think that Zelda is a game for kids. Well only KIDS would care that a game looks like it is for kids. It's like when you are 14 and your mom wants to get a picture of you on the merry go round with your little sister but you don't want to get on because it's for kids. Eventually you grow out of that phase and you can appreciate just having fun whether it be on the back of an undulating wooden horse or in front of a cell shaded video game."
Now, I'm the kind of person who still plays NES games from time to time, and can replay some games nearly endlessly, so I don't lack for games to play so much as lack for variety of gameplay (like being in the middle of five RPGs at once...). It makes sense to go for whatever genre I'm craving more of at the moment (and purchases of other consoles can come at a later date).
I thought the article was well written. However, calling the media any one thing sounds remarkably like the political camps in the United States saying that the media is exactly opposite of whatever political persuasion they're coming from. "The media is completely liberal!" cries Rush Limbaugh and, well, Fox News. "It's completely conservative!" cries (shouts, perhaps) Howard Dean, or Michael Moore.
So it comes as no surprise that there's an article saying there's bias against the Gamecube, when this is probably not true as most of the console gaming press have chosen a Gamecube for their game of the year for the last two or three years. I have no doubt that Microsoft could very well prove anti-Microsoft bias in the media, especially in the beginning of its lifespan. Anyone remember why Halo surprised everyone? It was because the press generally trashed it from E3 onward. No doubt Sony, too, has had its moments, also particularly in the beginning of the PSX or PS2 cycle lifespan.
As my dad used to say when I whined about my little brother getting something I felt I ought to have, "Cry me a river." You'll always be able to find a bias in the press, because the press is as varied as the community it serves. Duh. I could probably find bias in the gaming media against flossing teeth. Which would be kind of gross, but probably true.
If there's a bias in the media, it's because Microsoft is an American company, and knows how to work the American press. Surprise. Sam Altersitz has no problem claiming Japanese sales number in his article, thus opening his table of study to Japan. But I see absolutely no mention of the Japanese press whatsoever, and while I've probably read as much Japanese press as Altersitz, which is to say none, I'm inclined to believe that Microsoft would be highly justified in claiming in that the Japanese press is extremely anti-Microsoft. Why? Because Microsoft has absolutely no idea how to "press" the Japanese. So why is it a shock that Nintendo, which always seems to be off a wavelength in relation to the American press anyway, is worse at convincing particularly the mainstream press that it is "winning" the console war?
Either way, it doesn't matter. I appreciate the amount of thought and time and research that Sam put into the article, but the answer to why the press seems slanted is obvious. It is, but it's also slanted for the Gamecube as much it is against it, it's just so varied that it's easy to say it's for or against anything. And if there is a slant, that slant doesn't take into consideration the Japanese press nor the obvious advantage Microsoft has in home turf.
I don't keep up on the financials of gaming companies, but... I think this "defense" has convinced me that the biased Nintendo articles are maybe not so biased. Nintendo has it's first financial loss since going public 42 years ago? That's pretty serious. The fanboys can compain that it's old news, but it's news that would fund speculation and future plans by investors. If the Nintendo apologists want to end the unflattering chatter, perhaps they should start with Nintendo's business decisions.
My Greasemonkey scripts for Digg &
It's not the console I despise, it's the company and their practices.
Microsoft has a well developed reputation of being greedy and disheartening. They have no intention of making a profit until 2006 at the earliest. Until then, they just want market share at the expense of quality. I believe it was Seamus Blackley himself that said MS was creating an artificial economy by paying developers exorbitant amounts of cash BEFORE a game's release as incentives to develop. Ever wonder why Xbox games have so many bonuses? You really think they couldn't fit Prince of Persia 2 onto a PS2 or Cube disc? Come on!
Of course, we all remember the early Xbox flash cartoon making fun of Nintendo, don't we?
Sony has other issues, from their artificially high prices to their shoddy equipment to their pompous attitude. Do you know ANYONE with a broken PS2? I think we all do. And it's not just because of the selling rate. If it was, there'd be a lot less PS2s in the shop. Go to Gamestop and ask what the ratio of broken PS2s is to Xbox/Cube consoles.
If I can't appreciate the company, I can't enjoy their product. Now, leave me be while I bid on the Pokemon PT Cruiser with all the proceeds going to the Starlight Foundation.
Blatant bias against them in the mainstream media? Check.
Produce high quality hardware with excellent design? Check.
Described as "doomed" year after year? Check.
Still have billions in cash reserves? Check.
Not enough software? Check.
Always being trolled by moronic Microsoft fanboys? Check.
It's obvious, Nintendo are the Apple of video games.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
When you think about the competitor of GameCube, I mean not PS2 which is invincible at this time, but other green & black one, it has plenty of cash. You know what I mean?
I love this. Especially the SEC report on Microsoft. I myself had no such luck searching the SEC website, but I'm attributing that to short attention span and lack of interesting in learning about that search engine. Goolge has provided, on the other hand, what seems to be lacking from the article. An explination of exactly WHY Nintendo's profits fell.
:)
But in the end, does that really matter? Nintendo lost 26 Million. Microsoft is loosing a quarter of a Billion dollars every quarter this thing goes on. And desipte the nay sayers which come out of unholy holes whenever Nintendo's on the board, when its the turn for the Xbox usually the spectacular loss gets a footnote for the entire article. Blah.
And no one's willing to try and touch Sony. I mean, doesn't anyone remember this??? I know I sure as hell do. And that's when it started.
On of the biggest secrets of the PS2 are Disc read errors. Well, it's actually not so big of a secret. When you get buisness offering to fix your game console becuase Sony won't, you've found a pretty significant problem. Granted, the Xbox has the same thing, but my understanding is that those have been overcome. Sony has denied that this is a problem. How many people have heard they where sued over it??
I'm spouting rhetoric now and will stop. My point that negative attention about either Sony or MS rarely gets published on gaming websites stands. These are examples, and I'm pretty sure that given some creative manuvers i can find more, but I need to get back to work.
X
You forgot the qualifier, "provided it's a viable system."
It would have taken some pretty killer apps to give the Game.com any measurable market segment. And this is coming from someone who owned every Game.com item he could find. I just kept hoping one of them wouldn't be awful.
Then again, that could have been Tiger's strategy all along... Genius!
Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.
Nintendo was a major producer of all sorts of toys and games. They made playing cards and some of the first light gun games, as well as the Ultra Hand (not to be confused with the Power Glove).
And don't forget the "love hotels" and taxi services.
Nintendo's been around for much longer than 1962. It's over 100 years old.
Seriously, go read the book "Game Over" to brush up on your Nintendo history. B-)
I have 3656.9 Bogomips. How many Bogomips do you have?
Now that video games are more than niche market and Sony, Microsoft and your mom are interesting in getting a piece of the action, they're going to bash the guy that tries to stay true to their previous success.
Everyone calls Nintendo a kiddy company b/c they don't get the games where you blow cops and everyday citizens apart. (Not that there's anything wrong w/ that.) But they make some of the best adventure/platform/plain ol' fun not overly complex games I can think of.
I told my non-gamer friend to get a Gamecube, here's why: He can still get Madden and other EA Sports games, Tony Hawk games, plus the born again classics of Zelda, Metroid, Mario Games. He's played Xbox/PS2 since and says he'd still rather be playing his Gamecube.
No sig for you!!
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Seriously, the XBox is not a great platform for games. KOTOR was fun, but I'm not a huge RPG fanatic. Halo -- well, it's nice to see FPS's catching on, and I dug the soundtrack, but its deathmatch sucks pretty hard if you've played Q3A... or hell, even doom2. The other titles are mostly non-exclusive -- or just bad. Nintendo games are lighthearted, frequently innovative (admittedly, not in theme -- in gameplay) and ALWAYS fun.
But stick a chip in that XBox, open up the world of emulation, and you have perhaps the best console *ever*. I'm considering buying a spare just so that I can count on having a solid emulation-capable console for the foreseeable future (since I imagine they'll lock the console down with XB2).
He didn't... he only listed the good ones, and those are the only ones you've heard of or remember. Simple.
Luigi's Mansion isn't on that list... fun it might have been, but it was basically a tech demo. Offensive that it was full price.
If you want a real stinker, go back to something like Yoshi's Safari, Yoshi's Story, or Paper Mario. Shudder. Some will tell you Paper Mario was pretty good... I don't know if these people are thick in the head or don't know about Super Mario RPG or what.
" Is Nintendo REALLY 100% infallible, that every title they have ever produced is SO great that everyone 'must own' it?"
They aren't infallible, but you know what I never hear about Nintendo? I never hear "The game sucked because it was rushed to market." I don't hear, as I did of Beyond Good and Evil "The game would have been better if the heroine's personality and appearance hadn't been changed at the last second for market reasons."
As far as I can tell, they give their teams as long as it takes to do a new game. If the game isn't working out, they kill it and move on.
That seems to work pretty well, huh?
Further, when soemthing really IS bad, like Yoshi's Story, Nintendo is pretty good at making it disappear. The biggest black eye Nintendo has is the virtual boy... other failures don't come up much.
The difference between 2nd and 3rd place right now is one good month. Sony is so far ahead at this point it's academic. How the next gen plays out will be a bigger issue and if Nintendo goes into that generation of console with the same press it will harm them.
It was great (though not up to the original), but few people bought it it seems. Really, it should have been released on the GameCube.
After I played through it repeatedly, I sold my X-Box and haven't looked back.