Miyamoto Speaks, Nintendo Ditching the Hardcore?

After Nintendo's very ... different ... press conference, you may be wondering what's going on. In a roundtable discussion with Nintendo, folks like Eiji Aonuma and Shigeru Miyamoto discussed Zelda, Mario Galaxy and WiiFit , giving some context to the message the company had on Wednesday. The balance board begged the question from the people there, is Nintendo ditching the hardcore? According to the Nintendo folks, not at all: "Aonuma believes that control can be pick-up-and-play, but that doesn't necessarily mean a game overall has to be easier. But he still states that his 'goal was always to appeal to...a vast audience.' One attendee pushed the issue further, asking if all Zelda games from now on are going to cater to the more casual crowd--will we ever again need a strategy guide to complete a Zelda game? Aonuma says that judging by Japanese sales so far, accessible 'stream-lined play has been effective,' but he wants to see how Western audiences react to the new Zelda before making a final decision on future games' difficulty levels. Aunoma also hopes to venture into new territory and create a wholly original game at some point in his career." For a lengthy treat, check out Kotaku's series of interview clips with Mr. Miyamoto.

Comments

Never wholly geared to hardcore

[religious freak]

Nintendo was never geared to truly "hard core" players. Sure, you had the occasional games, like Zelda which required a fair bit of tinkering, but truly hard core? Nope, I don't think so.

Re:Ragging on the Wii for a moment

[Lost Engineer]

Wow I really didn't expect a line by line refutation of my diatribe. In any case, I am justifiably mad because Nintendo has sold out in the past few generations to the casual gamers, abandoning those who like to play more traditional games. They didn't even bother to ship the Wii with a proper controller, making their intentions incredibly clear.

Exactly what justification is there for not even supporting HD. How does this simple feature prevent your ability to innovate? I am justifiably mad that Nintendo refused to make their product produce a good picture by modern standards.

I am not a hardcore gamer, I am just a traditional gamer, and Nintendo has abandoned me to the likes of Microsoft and Sony. I'm not complaining that I have to buy a Wii, I am complaining that I have to buy a 360. I am not a hater either; I'm a Nintendo fan. I'm just a fan of the old Nintendo and not what it's become.

Remember when Nintendo used to have FF games? Hopefully those days aren't gone forever, and I can go back to Nintendo.