M-Rated x Nintendo = major failure?
M-Rated titles are not exactly flowing on Nintendo’s consoles. It’s always been like that, but maybe even more so with the Wii and DS and their largely casual audience.
The latest reports (presented by Gamasutra) show that the excellent GTA: Chinatown Wars is a relative flop on the dual-screen, scoring only 200,000 copies in March according to EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich (the information is being contested by analyst Michael Pachter from Wedbush Morgan but it’s not really the point here). This again fuels the debate on the unprofitability of the Mature games released exclusively on Nintendo consoles.
But what’s the problem really? Clearly, the Nintendo audience is mostly composed of casual gamers who flee at the sight of violence. But more importantly, the reason for this is the lack of mature games on the Nintendo systems acting as a deterrent for so-called ‘adult’ gamers in the first place. It’s a question of the big N’s image, of course, and the eternal chicken and egg problem in this industry. Developers won’t make adult games for Nintendo because they have the wrong audience, and since only a handful dare to try the experience the attempt as a whole is too weak to expand the Nintendo crowd to the more mature gamers. All this results in relatively poor financial results for the braver ones such as Rockstar’s Chinatown Wars, Platinum Games’ MadWorld and Grasshopper Manufacture’s No More Heroes.
Now what’s interesting is that if you look at these last 3 games, you will notice that they are all brilliant, innovative experiences in their own way. Talented developers who aren’t afraid to try the experience are usually extremely careful about crafting their games as much as possible. Moreover, the mix of Nintendo’s great control schemes and delirious mature themes (especially in Suda 51’s maddeningly fun NMH) seems to be working pretty well. These great experiences are just too rare not to be mentioned, and for us it all comes down to this: if the rarity of mature oriented content on the Nintendo consoles means that we will end up with only the very best of them then well, there is really no reason to argue or complain.
EA's CEO: "The beginning of the end"
A very interesting read on Gamasutra where John Riccitiello, the man who wants to turn EA around, tells us how prioritizing profit when making games can be the beginning of the end.
In a nutshell, Riccitiello thinks that the right logic is to make great entertainment that will in turn generate profit instead of taking the latter as the priority. I can hear you saying that EA is not exactly the non-profit type, but before you start throwing stones at him, I think we should give the man credit for what he’s done to EA so far. Rock Band, Dead Space, Mirror’s Edge, and to a lesser extent Army of Two: all innovative, and at least 2 of them are excellent games even for the hardcore crowd.
And it’s also the proof that Riccitiello is really trying to diversify the Nr.2 publisher’s profile, by adding bolder titles to the usual Madden, Burnout and Harry Potter.
We’ll see what comes up next year, but I think that with Riccitiello on board the Redwood-based giant is slowly leaving the dark side of the force.
EA and Take 2 Marriage: getting closer
CEO’s of both companies seemed to be having a lot of friendly meetings these last weeks, as the hostile takeover bid by EA has been withdrawn. A merger is definitely going to happen and it’s only a matter of how and when.
After the creation of the Activision-Blizzard powerhouse, it’s quite clear that EA couldn’t stand being just the number 2. It seems like being second always sucks, even if you’re making gazillions !
The industry is consolidating more and more, and it’s not that good for gamers. Just look at the music industry, dominated by five big players, in a total debacle. They were so anti-innovative that it’s the natural evolution of technology that killed them. Now they are suing little kids who download songs on their computers illegally, instead of being constructive about it.
EA is already big and bad enough as it is. Riccitiello is trying hard to make more innovative games, but with a behemoth like EA you can’t really blame him if it doesn’t work, with the inertia that big sized company typically suffer from. Now it’s trying to get even bigger. Does that make sense to any of you?
Nintendo Wii banned from the US?
Wii
Nintendo is facing a possible ban for its Wii system in the US, as a tech company called Hillcrest Laboratories is suing them for copyright infringement.
This is of course related to the motion technology used by the Wiimote apparently being very similar to some obscure remote made by Hillcrest.
Patent infringement is of course to be taken seriously, as a weak protection against it would deter innovation. But it’s a well known fact that a lot of companies register tons of patents just to be able to sue successful companies to actually make up for their own businesses operational failure.
Personally, I think Hillcrest is just being a pain in the a– here. They have not invented the Wiimote or even something remotely close to that, and they know it. I would understand if Sony or Microsoft launched a lawsuit, had they invented something similar. But Hillcrest labs? Come on!