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Exploiting Gaming Icons For Profit
The Escapist has up an article from the end of the week discussing the exploitation of favorite gaming icons from our past for modern day profit. From the article: "Every year, dozens of gaming legends are subjected to cruel and unusual treatment in the name of profit. Such animated icons as Mario are forced to perform tasks beneath their golden standards so their owners may earn a few extra dollars. Do you have a ridiculous game idea? Throw Donkey Kong in there and suddenly you're sitting on box-sales gold! I come to you today with a plea; a fervent hope for a cause that I hope many players will join: We need to stop the exploitation of gaming icons." Coincidentally, Gamespot has an article up entitled The History of Mario Sports Games. That's called synergy, folks.
Such animated icons as Mario are forced to perform tasks beneath their golden standards so their owners may earn a few extra dollars.
In other words, since the first game with Mario nothing has changed. Film at 11.
Karma: Positive (probably because of superiour intellect)
At least Mario hasn't resorted to selling Peach for a couple hundred an hour, that just wouldn't be classy.
Copyright owners shouldn't do what they want with their property because it might seem "below standard" for some industry jackoffs
Lets introduce a whole new slew of characters...but heres the twist, they Rhyme with *Mario* I too could be a marketing genius.
from the mostly-nintendo dept.
And the other companies are minorities? With the GTA games, Halo, Street Fighter, Sonic, EA sports games, Final Fantasy, more Megaman games than I can even count, etc.?
Between that and the actual article, it's just another example of people singling Nintendo out for something that everyone else does just as badly, if not worse.
At least Nintendo's franchises remain fun to play (with a scant few exceptions) in each iteration, which is more than I can say for a lot of games.
Can we please stop linking to articles from that stupid site until they make it actually READABLE for people who have decided to use their god-given right to have their browser window at less than 1400 pixels wide??
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Believe it or not, slapping an already recognizable character on an unestablished game idea or franchise will ensure more people will at least give it a chance.
Take for example Panel de Pon. Change all the characters to Yoshi's Island characters and call it Tetris Attack you have a moderately successful game. Further, throw out the Yoshi characters and crowbar in Pokémon characters and you have yet another decent seller.
As an added bonus, some gamers get a pretty decent puzzle game they may not have otherwise given a second glance.
http://crummysocks.com
"Coincidentally, Gamespot has an article up entitled The History of Mario Sports Games. That's called synergy, folks" :advanced tour on my GBA(Talking about synergy , the link cable provides a lot in these games) . ... though there were attempts at educational games that i would rather forget)
... The games have always generally been well liked and thoroughly enjoyable .
Mario sports games have in my experience been really top notch .
This afternoon i was playing Mario Golf for the Gamecube and Mario golf
Sure its for profit , but nintendo do not want to risk Mario's good name by putting him in crap (well these days at least
Exploitation is not by definition always a bad thing.. Yes Nintendo exploit their licenses , it's good business sense to make the most out of your resources. I do not believe though that they are a perfect example of the other definition though as i don't think they are abusing the license
Plus how do you think Mario keeps in shape between his Bowser stomping Koopa thwomping escapades
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
As if they are created for any other purpose. The whole point of a brand is to confer a good reputation from other products onto your new one.
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
Do you have a ridiculous game idea? Throw Donkey Kong in there and suddenly you're sitting on box-sales gold!
and this is bad because...? Nintendo doesnt usually put their big franchise characters on shitty games.
Mario Golf? It was great.
Donkey Konga? Original and very fun.
Soul Calbur II? Link was an appropriate addition (as opposed to Heihachi (sp)).
I will admit that Mario in EA sports games is pretty rediculous, but those are few and far between the numerous great games that get a supposely out of place franchise.
- Wake up.
- Read 1up.
- Post first article read to slashdot.
- Read theescapist.
- Post first article read to slashdot.
- Read gamasutra.
- Post first article read to slashdot.
- Read 1up.
- Post second article read to slashdot.
- Read 1up.
- Repost first article read to slashdot.
- Masturbate furiously.
- Read 1up.
- Post third article read to slashdot.
- Blow load.
- Sob softly into a hobo's buttcheeks.
- Sleep. Sweet sleep.
The key is that "whoring" out famous video games like Mario and Donkey Kong is perfectly fine, as long as their not stuck in crappy games. From the original Mario Golf all the way up to the brand new Super Mario Baseball, all those games just plain kick-ass. They bring a breath of fresh-air to the repetitive release of other sports games, which do nothing more than update their roster every year. And the few games that aren't as fun, like Donkey Konga, are respectible for trying something new and innovative.
As for adding characters to 3rd party games, like SC2, SSX3, and NBA Street 3, those are all great games and the characters are a nice bonus. It's not like it hurts the game any, they're just adding some spice to it, nothing wrong with that.
Get a life people, seriously. Until Nintendo puts out a really crappy game and truly shames Mario and gang, keep your mouth shut. I don't know why people have to be such friggin' haters...
Not usually journalism, but interesting none the less. I just thought the editors at the Escapist (if they still read slashdot after the last 2 posts) would like to hear something other than complaints about formatting/graphics.
FTA:
Morrowind was a blast. I never paid for it. World of Warcraft cost me $70, if you count the two months I paid for the subscription, and it's one of the least compelling games I've ever played. Does paying for WoW take away from the great games like Morrowind I stole? Unfortunately, it does.....
....I managed to send an unspoken message to Bethesda Softworks: "Your game isn't as good as this crappy one I just shelled out 70 bones for.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/8/28
Pretty accurate description of the evolution of the "new geek". He'll be praising Stallman by the end of the year....
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