Nintendo Will Not Support Real Games On the Wii
July 24th 2008 01:48
Koji Igarashi, producer of the Castlevania series, has spoken out about his frustration in gaining support for titles that cater to core gamers, suggesting that Nintendo will only fund low cost mainstream titles.
When asked about his feelings on the current state of Japan's game market, and the fact that Wii is outselling PlayStation 3 by huge amounts each week, Igarashi said the "Wii is selling, but the 'gamer's games' aren't selling. That's what I'm concerned about," he says. "I think there are two roads you can take: Create a game for the core fans with as low a development cost as possible, the other is to just find a different market for these consoles outside the core gamer."
Igarashi has felt this frustration in his developement of the latest in the Castlevania series, having to create the game on a shoestring budget and aiming it squarely at the target audience of Nintendo, the mainstream non-gamer.
"I have to adapt to the times, but I can't alienate the core fans," he concluded.
Third party titles have long been a distant second place in sales on the Wii, and the news that Nintendo do not want to fund titles that cater to the core gaming community means that the Wii looks destined to sit underneath its unused Wii Fit board until the EA's decide that it is time to take the reigns.
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Comment by Anonymous
Fail.
Comment by Glen Atwell
Computer Game
Nintendo have hit home runs with their big budget titles.
Zelda, mario galaxy and super smash brothers are all classics!
Look forward to seeing how Castlevania shapes up on the Wii!
Comment by TimmyH
Tech News
Can you HACK it?
Genyration
Comment by Bomb Shop
Comment by Hazel Castillo
Working Title
Cirrus Cloud
Parent Adventures
Although.. Xbox is releasing a new platform that'll make it more family friendly like Wii... they also will have avatars much like the Miis, but more realistic.
They said they've given up on the Wii market but will still try to have their share.
Comment by Anonymous
Secondly, it has nothing to do with Nintendo, it is ultimately Konami making the decision.
The fact is that the market has decided which direction the Wii goes, and with gamers lapping up motion sensitive and new-age games, it's no surprise that Konami is reluctant to fund traditional projects for the platform.
It has nothing to do with real games at all. It's purely market-forces at work.
Bashing the Wii in a blog won't help, mate - especially when you can't check your facts.
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Shaun Inguanzo
Blogocratic Nightmare
It's naive to suggest the Big N is responsible for any of this when the article talks about the publisher, ie, Konami.
The Nintendo platform launched Castlevania into existence, and is still the only home to decent, old school platform games such as Super Mario Galaxy, and the system's Virtual Console range.
In Japan, Wii is selling well because it allows people who wouldn't normally play those games to start playing some sort of video game. In other words, Nintendo is bringing new gamers into the market, not turning old ones into Castlevania-absconders.
I'd arge it's the evolution of online play, through the 360 and PS3, that has put the nail in single player platforming games like Castlevania.
Igarashi can't create his wondergame because hard core 'gamer's gamers' would rather be shooting each other in their heads over the Internet.
Comment by PsiWren
For me, the "Big Three" are all part of the same family: the Console Family, so I WILL call them "The Fraternal Twins" and "The Black Sheep" of the family.
Whatever. The way I see it, the guy isn't even dealing with the same situation. Sony and Microsoft MOSTly go after the crowd that really wants to sink into a storyline and be able to take it seriously (as a game). Nintendo's after people like...me. I like/don't mind playing video games, but I want to be able to pick it up and put it down whenever I want. I'm not looking for a storyline/plot (I go to novels for that). I don't want or need to sit there for 3 to however many hours at a time playing a video game. I play just for sheer enjoyment. [I do/have done enough studying in my real life that (all lords above forbid) I don't need to be doing it during my playtime.
So. It's not a case of [Nintendo do(es) not WANT to fund titles that cater to the core gaming community], it's that they're not even aiming for that audience for the most part. Go to different branches of a Department Store Chain and they are not all going to have exactly the same merchandise. They put in different stores what the people of that particular area want.
By the way, please note that of late, Nintendo HAS begun to put out a couple of serious gamer games. If you want them to make more, they you'll have to convince them that the serious gamer market is worth their time. The only way you'll do that is if more of you guys buy them.