Episode 32 – What’s up with Nintendo?

First up, apologies this is so late in being written up. Netflix got a hold of me and you know what back to back viewing is like.

Oh Ninty, what’s going on?

As I have stated on other pages on this blog, I am and always will be a firm Nintendo fan but blimey are these guys in serious distress of arrogance in not understanding what the market and consumers want. In the week that both Sony, with the PS4 and Microsoft, with the Xbox One announced successful sales and huge growth in profits, Nintendo started to show that its about to post huge losses compared to last year and to be honest this hurts me. Does it hurt enough for me to rush out to buy the Wii U or the 3DS XL? No! because like millions of other families around the world I have a largely unused Wii sitting underneath the TV. Have I bought a new Nintendo title in over a year? No!

Be Like SEGA please Nintendo

However, if Nintendo were to lose the arrogance and allow for their software titles to be made available on a platform that I want, such as an iPad or iPhone then dear Ninty I would happily spend pound after pound to have your beloved titles on the handset of my choice. Yes, the Nintendo approach may be similar to the Apple approach to business, but they are poles apart in current success. The rise of the 69p/99c game has revolutionised the gaming industry and SEGA have rushed into this world with successful ports of Sonic games. Hell, even Oceanhorn has proved that there are developers out there that can create Zelda type games and at the time of recording the pod Micromon, the 69p Pokemon clone was at number one in the Apple App store.

I rest my case

Innovate, don’t let the clones win

To me this is madness, these are Nintendo staple games and to not have that shiny official Nintendo seal on the app stores is allowing other developers to borrow great ideas and concepts. Moreso, with these developers borrowing their ideas from other sources and delivering a decent game then quite frankly there is little point in me currently buying a new Nintendo handset when there are so many developers out there with such a rich indie scene in the app world. And here is another problem, with Dan Adelman, the head of Nintendo of America’s indie program, leaving the company with not exactly the most subtle of tweets,

Happy to announce I reached an arrangement w/ @NintendoAmerica whereby I can tweet again. Arrangement includes my not working there anymore.

this does sort of suggest that Nintendo really don’t give two proverbial shits about the indie gaming scene and by this this you can squint and see the arrogance that I really really hope does not damage this much loved company in the long run.

WANKER OF THE WEEK

Well, OK not so much a person but F@£K Me sideways! Microsoft!!! Are you freaking kidding me? Is this arrogance worth of Nintendo or another case of you really not knowing what the hell you doing in terms of sensitivity if the rumour is correct and you are offering the staff you are making redundant a windows phone as part of the redundancy. I sincerely hope this is not the case, but if it is it really is sadly worthy of the Wanker of the Week title.

All this discussed in this weeks pod

EPISODE 32