The crowd Nintendo's shooting for with Gamecube (1 Viewer)

[Nathan A]

No, it's not the younger crowd; not the kids.

It's the gamer.

I don't know if all this has already been said here (I haven't read any of the 'wars' threads here), but reading a couple of statements in the 'Nintendo outsells competition' made me upset.

Why did Nintendo get this rap for being a kid's game company? I think it's because they make great games that can appeal to ALL gamers. All gamers except the closed minded, unfortunately. 'Gamers' who dismiss games that have E ratings. 'Gamers' that judge games based on the rating on the front of the box and how 'cool' the back of the box make them look- "Cutting-edge 3D graphics engine", "In-your-face sound and graphics" -wow, I'm sold (those are 2 of 6 phrases on the package of Expendable).

Earlier I was telling my friend about my new Gamecube. When I told him that one of the games I picked up was Luigi's Mansion, he asked why. After asking why he wanted to know, he told me what I predicted he would say- "It looks like a kids' game". I don't get it. Just because it's from Nintendo and doesn't have blood he labeled it a kids' game. Does anyone call the Sonic games kids' games? Not that I know of. Why not? They don't have blood? Oh- I forgot. Nintendo didn't make them. They're the ones that make the kids' games.

By not adding blood and gore to games that don't need it, gamers of all ages can enjoy them. The only argument I can see on the other side is that Nintendo doesn't make bloody games at all. While this is true as far as I know, they don't prohibit other companies from making those games. They own RARE (Perfect Dark, Conker's Bad Fur Day). Resident Evil is now Gamecube exclusive. You want Nintendo to add blood to all of their games? Games that are already incredible and can be played by any gamer? You're selfish. If we listened to you, young gamers would no longer be able to enjoy them.

I like great games. Nintendo makes great games. Therefore, I like Nintendo. It's that simple. Nintendo is the only company that I can think of that can make such incredible games that can appeal to ANY gamer who's willing to give them a try. Nintendo doesn't make kids' games, they make great games.

I own both the PS2 and the Gamecube, and plan on picking up the X Box when I've got some money to spare. I'll buy the good games that I think I'll like, no matter what their rating is.

 

[Stephen L]

Bravo Nathan , nice post.

I own both the PS2 and the Gamecube, and plan on picking up the X Box when I've got some money to spare. I'll buy the good games that I think I'll like, no matter what their rating is.

I own PS2 ,DC ,N64 and of course Game Cube and maybe sometime next year Xbox(if my wife lets me).I hope all 3 sytems do well it is good for us gamers.

 

[Steve Clark]

Why did Nintendo get this rap for being a kid's game company?

Uh, one word, Gameboy. My personal experience and perception over the past eight years has been in general that older gamers play(ed) on Sega Genesis, Playstation, PS2 and XBox and younger gamers on Gameboy, Super Nintendo and N64.

Perception IS Reality. PS2 and XBox seem to have a more sophisticated and "Cool Factor" image. Now don't get me wrong. Since I have a 6 year old boy and four year old daughter, I did consider buying the GC since my kids currently have the Gameboy. However, my son did not like the kiddie games at all on the Playstation and enjoyed the racing, sports and fighting games on it more. As a result, he is loving the XBox.

 

[Mike_G]

*sigh*

Look, Nintendo has a reputation for making kids games because they're, as you said, rated 'E'. However, a 'Gamer' doesn't always want rated 'E' stuff. Sometimes we want the rated 'M' Silent Hill.

The 'Gamers' that are 'closed-minded' as you say are screwed if they want something a little more hard-core. You failed to mention that. Getting Resident Evil as an exclusive isn't going to save Nintendo from their label as a 'kiddie' machine.

No Halo

No Silent Hill

No Devil May Cry

No Half-Life

So where do those 'closed-minded Gamers' go if they want something a little more adult?

Not with the Gamecube.

Try to look at the Bigger Picture. I own a GameCube and it's SERIOUSLY lacking in the adult games department.

Anyway, there are great games for consoles OTHER than Nintendo. Atari (I'll bet you that you'll cry after 4 levels of the original 4-bit Space Invaders), Sega, PS, PS2, XBox. However, just because YOU don't like them doesn't mean that everything without a "Nintendo" logo on it is bad.

Don't you agree that not everyone's going to like every single game for every single console? As was said here earlier, we all have great toys. Don't turn this forum into a fanboy arena.

Mike

 

[James Nguyen]

welp, resident evil coming way of the gamecube now may help to start to turn the tide of that image, but even that I don't think can make up for year and years of Pokemon...Red....and Green.....and Blue....and Yellow....and Gold.....and Silver......and Crystal...and Stadium.....and Snap...

10+ years of kids staring into their monochrome and then pseudo color gameboys has much to do with Nintendo's rep.

The recent uproar about the new image of Link in the upcoming Zelda for GC hasn't helped with the hardcore (and nostalgic) older audience either.

 

[Andy Sheets]

welp, resident evil coming way of the gamecube now may help to start to turn the tide of that image, but even that I don't think can make up for year and years of Pokemon...Red....and Green.....and Blue....and Yellow....and Gold.....and Silver......and Crystal...and Stadium.....and Snap...

Yeah, that special yellow Pikachu-shaped N64 probably didn't help much either...

 

[Paul Richardson]

Some excellent points, Nathan. Blood, gore, and scantily clad women isn't mature...it's catering to adolescents who eat up that sort of thing with a spoon. I know I did back in the day. Now, I'm just bored by it...especially if the gameplay is bad. It's funny to go to the IGN boards and see posts like "now that i m 14 i dont lik kiddie games like zelda. i played gta3 and slapped up a whore. i'm so matur!!!!!!!"

If Luigi's Mansion featured a buxom girl in a tight outfit and the ghosts were changed to rotting zombies, but the gameplay stayed exactly the same, people would be lauding it as a "mature" game. It's just silly.

 

[Nathan A]

Mike,

You've got me all wrong. I'm no Nintendo fanboy; it's just upsetting to think that Nintendo might not have a shot because of this reputation that doesn't belong there. I still have my NES, SNES, Genesis (with 32X and Sega CD), Saturn, PS1, N64, Dreamcast, PS2, GBA, and the Gamecube, a PC, and an XBox is soon to come. All in all I've collected probably 400+ games for them. I like to think that this makes me at least somewhat qualified to have an opinion on who makes the best of them. And it's just my opinion that Nintendo does. That doesn't mean I boycott any other hardware or software company, though. I get all of the systems so that I can pick up all of the best games for each one.

I'm an adult. I don't mind blood in my games. It even adds at least a little something to some of them. I own Devil May Cry, GTA3, Silent Hill, and many other games with gore (and I still remember the first time I saw NARC on the NES). But I don't mind blood not being in my games. Nintendo just doesn't make those types of games. I don't see anything wrong with that. It's not like they prohibit developers from making them on Nintendo systems. In fact, they're starting to encourage it. Square doesn't make bloody games, either. No one calls them a kids' game company.

And you act surprised that your Gamecube, which has been out for all of less than two weeks, is "SERIOUSLY lacking in the adult games department". Less than two weeks.

Also, Steve, it's kind of unfair to compare the Gameboy to consoles. Kind of like comparing consoles to PC gaming. They're different. And what system were the Digimon games on? What kinds of games are flooding into the PS1 section at Target?

My thanks goes out to those who see where I'm coming from. I just can't understand why anyone would give up Mario, Starfox, Zelda, Metroid, etc. just because they want more blood in their games.

 

[Trace Downing]

I have to take exception that the blood laden, ultra-violent games are "Adult- Oriented". These Silent Hill, Duke Nuk'em, Carmageddon, puerile slasher games are MUCH more geared towrds teenagers than adults. Adults have grown out of the "Cool! Blood!" phase and are on to more things of substance. Which is why none of us get scared by the latest "I know who you blew last summer" film.

I'm 36, I don't know how old many of you are (except I think Morgan said he was 15), but you teens and early twenty-somethings will eventually come around to find that your tastes in these games (If your still into them) come full circle. I don't have an ego to protect anymore, so I can play a cartoony game without feeling guilty of being like a kid.

I also have work and overtime, bills to pay, political pundit shows to watch, union rallys to attend, bars to go drinking in, friends to entertain, lawns to mow, Dinner to make, dishes to do, and sex to have. I don't have the patience or the interest to be "Fully Immersed" into an ultra hard and convoluted game that takes months to complete, just to see the fighter pull a spinal cord out of his opponent. Sometimes a simple fun ganme, with a bit of challenge is what I really want, and Nintendo delivers that in spades. I see the blood and guts selections of PS2 to be immature and adolescent. Eventually you boys will come to relise that too.

You want your blood and guts? Fine, but DON'T call them "Adult Oriented." Because real adults find them silly, and adolescent.

 

[Mike_G]

And you act surprised that your Gamecube, which has been out for all of less than two weeks, is "SERIOUSLY lacking in the adult games department". Less than two weeks.

And the XBox and PS2 had adult games on launch. So this goes back to the "kiddie oriented" image Nintendo has.

Trace,

I'm almost as old as you are, but I guess that different people have different priorities. When the kids are sleeping I like to immerse myself in games. Just because YOU don't doesn't mean that every thirty-something person shouldn't. So you don't like blood and gore. Well guess what? My DAD likes it. Are you going to tell him that his taste in games is wrong because he's 60? I hate it when people say what others should and shouldn't like and dislike. It pisses me off. There are those of us that like Super Monkey Ball as much as Silent Hill. Hell, I listen to Rob Zombie and Jewel so go figure. Some of us have a more open mind than others, I guess.

Mike

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I think Mike's point is that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, and after people do so on all of Nintendo's games, they consider them too childish.

Who here actually played Pokemon? How many of you know that it actually has pretty good gameplay and lots of depth?

If people would look beyond the graphical style or cover art, they would see that just because a game is designed to be child-friendly graphically doesn't mean its a child's game.

Then again, what is a child's game? Seriously, what makes one a child's game? Graphics? Gameplay? Music? Sound effects? It seems to be based totally on either social perception or graphical style, which to me, is sad, considering how many games are good but get looked over.

I, too, am mad that people consider Nintendo to be childish. If you grow up playing good games when you are small, why shouldn't you play similarly good games when you get older? Did anyone stop playing Zelda because they played it when they were kids? Or maybe Dragon Warrior? Or maybe Final Fantasy? Or maybe Metal Gear?

My point in the last paragraph is that even social perception is off. Just cause kids play it doesn't mean its a childish game. Heck, everyone played GoldenEye, but is that a childish game? Hell no! If a bunch of kids play GoldenEye, should nobody else because its a "child's game"?

Sorry, rant off.

 

[Steve Clark]

Uh Morgan, if a game is developed and marketed for kiddies and then bought and mostly played by kiddies, then yes, under most definitions, it is a kiddie game. Parsing words or rationalizing won't change this.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Nintendo (more specifically Shigeru Miyamoto) is the master of the simple, appealing game. They have it down pat. Do they deserve slamming? No. Do I think they need to diversify more? Yes.

Shigeru Miyamoto is a genius, and I'll always be happy to play one of his games

(However, I will never buy a Nintendo system, and I never will. I'll never forgive them, for the death of my Master System)

I will say one thing, everyone screams about how great Smash Brothers is. You people need to play some Power Stone 2 and you'll toss that game in the garbage (which is sure to show up on GC or PS2) I just wish they'd kept the online play from the Japanese version in

 

[Stephen L]

Now don't get me wrong. Since I have a 6 year old boy and four year old daughter, I did consider buying the GC since my kids currently have the Gameboy. However, my son did not like the kiddie games at all on the Playstation and enjoyed the racing, sports and fighting games on it more. As a result, he is loving the XBox.

I don't see a problem with Nintendos "kiddie" games , I have a PS2 & GCN and sometime next year maybe a Xbox. My only question is if a 6yo should be playing fighting games , especially on Xbox.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Jeff-

I agree about the Power Stone 2 comment, but I don't think its THAT good.

PS and PS2 (games, not consoles) were great games, but they were imperfect. Also, PS2 felt like they literally took PS, added 4 characters, and just changed around some big gameplay elements, and not necessarily for the better. I find PS's battles (one on one) to be better than PS2, even though PS2 has some great stuff in it.

I still think Smash Bros. is better because of it being made by Nintendo. Its simple, well designed, and just feels 100% Nintendo. I'm not saying PS or PS2 suck, they just aren't as good as SSB, IMO.

 

[Trace Downing]

I hate it when people say what others should and shouldn't like and dislike. It pisses me off.

You know what pisses me off Mike? When someone takes a small part of a general theme, out of context, and blows it out of proportion. Did I say you were wrong for wanting to put bullet holes in big boobs? No.
Maybe I generalized too much for your taste? Should I have put an IMO somewhere on my post? I thought that was a given.
These games are no more geared for adults than for the (in your words) kiddies. These ratings are on the boxes for the appropriateness of it's content, not who would really enjoy them. Don't forget that.
Re-read my last sentence (if you even got that far). If you like them, fine. Why should I have a problem with that? I take issue with the "adult" rating used as a belief that these games were actually made for adults, which they weren't. They were made for teenagers. There's nothing wrong with you or your Dad if you enjoy them. There's also nothing wrong with me enjoying a Luigi, or Rayman game, just because I'm older than what the box says is appropriate. I know they were made for kids, because kids are the only group that still has all the time in the world to play them. Unless one is unemployed.

 

[Mike_G]

Trace,

Yes, I read your last sentence and was very offended by it. Just because YOU are an adult and YOU don't like "adult oriented" games doesn't mean that EVERY ADULT has to dislike them. Not every adult finds them "silly and adolescent". I've played everything from Mario to Silent Hill and everything in between, so please don't lecture me on what the rating means.

Mike

 

[Trace Downing]

True, not every adult finds these bloody games silly and adolescent. You just proved me wrong on that. If you see things that are inspired, brilliant, thought provoking, artistic, and have social redeeming value in these games, then you see something in them better than I do.
It's also quite mature to be "very offended" by a mere cranky opinion too.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

One thing I don't get...

How can people like PG movies but not games rated E (Everyone, as in people of all ages can play)?

 

[Romier S]

I have to take exception that the blood laden, ultra-violent games are "Adult- Oriented". These Silent Hill, Duke Nuk'em, Carmageddon, puerile slasher games are MUCH more geared towrds teenagers than adults

I agree with you on some points but I think you are lumping some games in the wrong category. Silent Hill and its sequel are not aimed at teens at all IMHO. Hell, there are adults who still cant even understand the storyline of the two games. I think there is a distinct difference between what you mention as "slasher" teen oriented games such as Mortal Kombat (which I enjoy by the way) and Duke Nukem and truly "adult" oriented titles such as Silent Hill 1 & 2 or the new remake of Resident Evil (admittedly bordering on "slasher" but damn it is good fun). Both feature elaborate storylines that I think are geared more for adults then teens. As always its a matter of opinion. TO each their own I guess. By the way just for posterity purposes I am at the ripe age of 24