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Nintendo Promises 3rd Party Support
Eurogamer reports on claims by George Harrison (NoA's Senior VP for Marketing) that the Revolution will feature extensive third-party support in the coming years. From the article: "'One of the lessons we tried to learn from GameCube was that we kept things too close. And so as we got ready to launch, we had some of our own great games but third parties were kind of behind the eight ball in terms of being able to have games ready,' Harrison stated. In terms of early support for the Revolution, which launches this year alongside Sony's PS3, third party software ought to be available in abundance, Harrison confirming 'We've got more than 1,000 developer kits including the controller kits, out, so there should be plenty there.'"
On the other hand, we may see silly shoot-em-up games with the new controller. It's a coinflip until the system has been on the shelves for a few months, really.
really illustrates the difference in style between Satoru Iwata and Hiroshi Yamauchi.
I'm really teeter-tottering on this. Nintendo has stated with EVERY console they've made in the last 10 years that it'll have extensive 3rd party support. I'm a raving Nintendo fanboy who believes everything Nintendo tells me, but I'm shaking my head reading this. "Prove it."
That said, there are some encouraging things in their favor:
1.) Development systems are very cheap.
2.) By most accounts, this hardware isn't all that different from the GC hardware, transitioning to it should be easy.
3.) We still do not have all of the details about the wi-fi service. Maybe they'll allow developers to release games exclusively for it?
4.) MS and Sony have standards in place about things such as HD support for their games. This means more asset creation which means more money to develop the game. The Rev, being somewhat inferior in terms of technology, has a much lower barrier to entry.
5.) The Nintendo DS is very popular, largely in part due to the attention paid to the interface and wifi connection. Perhaps more developers will see the Rev as less of a gamble.
So.. I'm undecided. Nintendo has promised this many before and hasn't delivered. Nintendo has also, however, changed their habits before. At least they recognize mistakes were made. So.. well I just don't know.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Nintendo has recently taken a partnership approach with other developers instead of the historical "Give me money, and I'll let you develop FOR us" approach.
With the recent praises from many third parties with regards to the Revolution, hopefully Nintendo will rise again.
When I was a lead tester at Atari, I became the Nintendo guru (did 9 titles out of 10 for GameCube or AGB). Third party support didn't exist back then, the documentation was seriously lacking, testing multiplayer over the link took twice as long as testing the single player, and we were forced to beta test wireless link hardware for the AGB because their APIs were so poorly documented that their own support programmers got confused. Nintendo didn't care about 3rd party support until the new product announcements started leaving GameCube and AGB off as supported platforms. By then, it was too late for this pain in the ass.
One clue I'm seeing with this is the staggering amount of developers who say they are excited about developing games for the Rev. I'm seeing a lot more of those than the PS3 or 360 equivalents. I suppose Nintendo did this right to get thier interests piqued.
In Soviet Russia, backwards is everything.
The fact is, since the NES, i have always been a once console person. Up until this generation with the GCN, I have been perfectly content with only having an nes, snes, n64, etc. and just missing all the Sony, Sega, and Microsoft exclusives, because i could always have a good library of fun interesting games for my system.
However I have to say that I finally cracked and bought a PS2. Don't get me wrong, there are some great GCN games out there that i absolutely love, it just really seems that for every great GCN game coming out, there are at least 5 coming out for the PS2, and when I hadn't had a decent game to play in a while, and guitar hero came out, it finally just pushed me over the edge.
As for the article, this isn't a new thing... nintendo promised more third party support on the GCN, and while it definitly seemed to have more than the N64, as i said earlier, compared to the PS2 it's lacking. Honestly, the only way i can think of to really get more third party support is to pick up a much bigger share of the console race, and the way nintendo operates (catering to niche markets, being happy with non-HD, etc.) It just doesn't seem like that's going to happen any time soon.
If there's anything more important than my ego around, i want it caught and shot now.
Third party support really won't make or break the Revolution. It will be the first party support.
For the first couple of years, the Famicom had no third party support. Yet, it beat its challengers such as the Atari 2600 (or whatever they called it in Japan). When the NES emerged in America, it was the quality of first party titles that moved systems. People bought the NES because of Super Mario Brothers and Zelda. Third party support was icing on the cake.
Look at the Super Nintendo. The quality of first party (and second party) games moved systems. People wanted Super Mario World. Later, they wanted Super Mario Kart, Donkey Kong Country, and Super Mario All-Stars (the best selling SNES games).
Look at the N64. Again, the quality of first party titles was the primary driver of system sales. Super Mario 64, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Super Mario Kart 64 were the best selling N64 games.
Now look at the Gamecube. The quality of first party titles were still good but disapointing to what Nintendo delivers. Honestly, would anyone say Super Mario Sunshine, Zelda: Windwaker, Mario Kart: Double Dash were the best entries in the franchise? Most fans had problems with them in one way or another. And while Metroid Prime was nice, it also put off many traditional Metroid fans. The problem with the Gamecube was really with the Nintendo made games. Second party games became a joke (as Rare became a joke).
The DS had this initial problem. At launch, the 'best' DS game was Super Mario 64 DS... a port! Warioware Touched was a disapointment to warioware fans, Polarium was a joke, but at least Yoshi's Touch and Go was decent. The real change occurred with the DS not when great third party titles came out like Castlevania: DS or Meteos, but with First and Second Party Nintendo games like Kirby: CC, Advanced Wars: DS, and the killer-app of Mario Kart DS. Add in Nintendogs if you'd like. The DS is moving because Nintendo is focusing hard on the quality of their software. Tetris DS is amazing. Metroid Prime Hunters is impressive. Brain Age is... different. I have no doubt that New Super Mario Brothers will be a killer app as Mario Kart DS was.
Keep in mind that the same situation applied for Sega. Sega began to move consoles only when it made games like Sonic.
Third party support is important but nowhere near as important as first party support. Nintendo is the #2 game publisher for good reason.
All this talk about third parties is really only because Sony and Microsoft are in the market. Do you ever hear talk about first parties? No! Because Sony and Microsoft cannot match the sheer quality and diversity of first party Nintendo games. This is why their marketing will say, "Only Nintendo games sell very well on Nintendo consoles," without mentioning the fact that this has been the case ever since the NES.
Only a few third party games ever seem to move consoles. Losing Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest hurt Nintendo especially in Japan. Not having Grand Theft Auto 3 hurt Nintendo in the West and helped give it the reputation of 'kiddie console' (though Nintendo didn't help with its purple toy look).
Through console history, the primary system sellers have almost always been Nintendo's first party games. This is why the DS is outselling the PSP even with western third party support for the DS being very low yet very high for the PSP. This is why when Peter Mooer said that if he could take any game franchise from any other system, his answer was solid: "Mario. I want Mario." Peter Moore knows that Mario sells. Even the disapointing Super Mario Sunshine sold as much as Halo did. Moore knows what moves units which is why he would pick up Mario if he ever could.