Reassessing Nintendo's "no game drought" policy

I think you may have imagined it, not image.

I think people should calm down. There is no drought yet. I mean Zelda has been out for a month now and there a few other good Wii games such as Rayman, Monkey ball, Elebits, and Madden for Q4 2006. We shouldn't talk about a drought unless games like Sonic, Warioware, and Tiger Woods and the VC titles in Q1 of 2007 all flop.

OMG somebody besides sony screwed up. Seriously Every single system this generation has screwed up pretty bad, just microsoft was smart enough to have a year to figure it out. I'm not saying I am partial to Microsoft, but can any system do something right. Oh yea the game, but wait they all have like 1-3 great games. Is anyone going to actually get on nintendo or microsoft's cases, no never, they never do anything wrong.

Reggie is so cool!

I would rather the games shipped when they're ready, not to fill a production schedule that demands no droughts. There are plenty of great games I've missed over the years anyways that can fill any void.

Who else thinks that Reggie rules?

No use complaining. We ALL knew this was going to happen. It's Nintendo, they always delay their first party games. I guess it's ok because their first party games are among the best. But it is also why their consoles will always be the second console, with me at least. I couldn't imagine only having a Wii and having to wait till next xmas for some quality games to come out.

I really appreciate Nintendo for delaying titles until they are ready. If you read Nintendo Power's coverage of Twilight Princess developement, they were basically on schedule until Miyamoto came in and said "this isn't good enough, start over." That's how they do their project management. I'd rather wait 18 months for a good game than watch a game get hyped up for 6 months only to see it get reviewed at 7.5 after its punctual release.

Play "Sonic The Hedgehog" on xbox 360 if you want to play a game produced under strong "project management." Myself, I prefer to play Mario Galaxy when Miyamoto is done with it, thanks.

You mean like how they rushed Windwaker and Mario Sunshine? The GC drought woudlnt have been so bad if their traditional pillar titles hadn been so flawed.

When it comes down to it they need to do both. They need *more quality titles*. Better 3rd party support would help fill those gaps.

"That is assuming they use project management."

Maybe they're working on a few titles that have yet to be shown or even announced. For a good deal of time, Miyamoto himself was managing the Wii development.

Anyways, I guess based on the quality of Prime 1 & 2, Retro's earned the time they're getting for MP3.

Wasn't Resident Evil 4 re-started 2 or 3 times before it became the badass game everyone enjoys today?

And Smash Bros. Take all the time you need, Sakurai. Make it good. And put Ryu in it.

How about 3rd party titles?

Now I have Zelda, I don't really want Mario and I really don't want Metroid.

What's next for me Nintendo? Get to working on your developer friendships.

Let's not go the way of the GC.

what about nintendo's OTHER franchises?

When are we getting new Pikmin and Animal Crossing?

ALSO I DEMAND A NEW PILOTWINGS.

I'm keepin' my Nintendo-beating baseball bat ready, just in case. They have a track record of deserving the beatin' from it. It's getting a bit old. C'mon, Nintendo, don't let us down.

I still swear by this release schedule (remember, what came out today is only a rumor) and shall swear by my estimate till Nintendo says otherwise

April '07: MP3 and Strikers Charged
June '07: BWii
September '07: Super Mario Galaxy
November '07: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

that schedule fits in with 3 facts
1. Reggie says projected MP3 launch window "starting in April", if they don't want it to run into the release dates of all those Q4 heavy hitters, they have to release it before June (the summer drought all platforms experience)
2. Online games to premier on Wii by Q2, Strikers Charged is online, and it can't possibly have that long of a development time, and since they already have playable demos, it shouldn't be too hard to hit it by that date
3. There has yet to have been any demos or actual in-game screens of Brawl

is it just me, or is nintendo not really doing much about the idea of a "drought"?

it seems to me that instead of producing more quality games, they're spreading them out to minimize the LENGTH of the droughts. and when they do come, they'll put out some VC games, or something like that, to fill the void.

honestly, i'm for nintendo. if the ps3 and the 360 were $250 each, i'd still have opted for a wii. and i stand by my choice because i love the gameplay. it just seems like nintendo should not make such promises when they're not REALLY going to change it. i'll rely on VC and third-party during these times, thank you very much. and i'll just keep hoping that mario rpg, chrono trigger, secret of mana, and link to the past show up around these times.

"And the justification that Nintendo only releases games when they are "really good" is a bit tired. At some point Nintendo Project Management has to take responsibility for something. That is assuming they use project management."

It's always the people who have never actually done any software development that bitch about this sort of thing. Develop some titles THEN try pretending software timelines are so fu.cking easy to predict.

"And the justification that Nintendo only releases games when they are "really good" is a bit tired."

The hell does that mean? Would you prefer they Fable-ized Zelda, releasing it half-done?

Wouldn't it be more encouraging for devs if Nintendo doesn't drop all the killer 1st party titles they are known for within 6 months of the console release?

Personally, I'd love to see 3rd party games coming out in between the Nintendo classics (or will be classics).

You know what makes me mad? Most of the time, the critics bitch in their reviews about how a game was released too soon, or too buggy or not polished enough, or too few levels or that the game is too short or wah wah wah wah waaaaah...besides Blizzard and iD and maybe a few other developers, Nintendo always makes sure that their 1st part franchises are top notch, and as far as I'm concerned, they can take their damn time.
I have both the Wii and the 360(got it for Gears of War), and while GoW is one of the most, if not the #1, most visually pleasing game, AND fun as hell to boot, but when it comes down to pure gameplay, Zelda:tTP is probably one of the best ever, it is simply amazing(can you imagine Zelda with GoW caliber graphics?). If I had to wait another year for it, it would've been worth it. Stop complaining about great quality games that take their time to be good, Joystiq. Sorry for the long rant...

I for one am glad that they delayed MP3:C. After what happened to Red Steel they probably wanted the control scheme to be top notch.

2 ganes was rumoured to be delayed and suddenly its the apocolypse you ppl need to calm down its not the end of the world

hey delay games if needs be , but nintendo is a big company , it should have other games comming .
so say we put mario and metroid to he side a second, when are all the other "Big" game's comming ?
we can throw a few names around , prodject hammer, day of disaster . but what the hell do we know about these ? .. nothing really when you look at it .
so if nintendo must continue to delay key games , they better make sure they have other good ones to fill the year with , and promote the damn things( and i dont mean bloody party games).

i think ninty have quite a few first party stuff on the go, but im clueless as to what it is , love to see a list of known first party titles and estimated release schedule

"The answer is Zelda, Metroid and Mario. Which is a pretty darn good lineup."

Wow, how original. C'mon Reggie, can't you spill the beans on some sequels to other Nintendo originals such as Mario Kart, Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, Mario Baseball, Mario Party, Mario DDR, Mario Hoops, Mario Strikers, Paper Mario, and Dr. Mario??

I don't mind if Nintendo pushes a game back if it means it's going to be better. I really wish more developers took this route, rather than release something that they KNOW could be better.

What Nintendo has to do is shore up some major 3rd party support on both the "gamer" front AND get a bunch of games from newer studios that go after their more casual market focus at the same time.

And most importantly, they NEED TO ADVERTISE THESE GAMES! Christ, I only yesterday found out that MGS was on Gamecube when I was at Gamestop.

"And the justification that Nintendo only releases games when they are "really good" is a bit tired."

So, would you want Nintendo to release Metroid Prime 3 now, or wait until Retro is finished? Nintendo takes their time because it makes the game better. Miyamoto once said that a delayed game is eventually good, but a bad game is bad forever. Learn some patience instead of bitching, Joystiq. As far as I'm concerned, Miyamoto and team can take as long as they goddamn want to finish Super Mario Galaxy.

I wasn't sure what to think of N-Gage Croal at first, but it's clear now that this kid is a shark! It takes gonads to get in an industry leader's face and demand accountability from him. Keep up the good work!

JR

Nothing grows during a drought. Christmas 2007 is a long way off and VC games alone won't satisfy our hunger.

so does this mean like the PS3, the wii is gonna suffer from no games?

I eman come on.. its not like there's any game worth buying on the 360 other than gears...

Come on people, sure there may be no metroid or mario for a while, but just like the 360 and the PS3, the Wii will get a bunch of titles that will be good. Its not like every single game in the pipeline is known about months in advance.

Some games get hype, some dont, period. I mean if youf ollowed this line of thinking the only game on the 360 would be Gears of war and thats just not true. granted not every title can be a Zelda, GoW, Resistance rated high scoring game, but they dont need to be to be fun and get a lot of play time.

I'm sure between now and summer, there will be a bevy of great games released on the Wii that dont have the advanced hype of mario and metroid.

Just gotta relax, systems only been out a month, if everything was doom and gloom at first then the 360 would of stood no chance on its release either.

#9 tcc3,
It sounds like you haven't played either Wind Waker OR Mario Sunshine. While Sunshine was more "kiddie" than other Mario games in the past, it was still a good game.

Wind Waker absolutely rocked, however. The game was awesome, and anybody who says otherwise clearly hasn't spent more than an hour playing the game. Period. Get over the cell-shading, it actually helps make the game even better in the case of Wind Waker.

Case in point, Wind Waker has a 95% rating on gamerankings.com.

Wind Waker was fine until you had to talk to tingle on a regular basis to locate the triforce shards.

I hate scavenger hunts in games. Its why I hate spyro and Jak & Daxter so damn much. "Find 12 purple gems." Why, because you told me to?

I played Wind Waker until that point, and I haven't touched it since. There were, what, 3 dungeons in that game?

TP is by far a superior game.

Mario Sunshine was awesome. I loved it.

27 "I wasn't sure what to think of N-Gage Croal"

Hilarious. You win the thread ManekiNeko

I purchased a GameCube in 2003 for Wind Waker. After that I was able to buy and beat games at a steady pass, and the system hardly tired. The problem was that people who purchased the system in 2001 would only receive a good game about once every six months. This does not meet the demand that hardcore gamers want, and the GameCube was given a bad image, because of this. If Nintendo doesn't get more third party support, they will be in the same six month situation.

Reggie knows the drought has already started in the UK right? No Elebits, no Trauma Center, no Dragonball.

*SPRING*

Dear Reggie, please tell NoE to stop being neglectful, thanks!

I don't think I've ever seen so many freak out over a rumor. Not only that, but I know plenty of people who don't own Zelda (I don't, and I never will), but they love the games out for the Wii. Just because it's not Mario or Metroid, people tend to think it's the end of the world. Excite Truck, Madden, and even Monkey Ball are pretty good games. It's the quality of the product, not the quality of the name. Case-in-point, Super Mario Sunshine.

There's a lot of hypocrisy going on (and I'm not trying to bash commentors, I mean just in general). People despise rushed games, but they bitch when games they want don't come out exactly when they want them. Not everything can be within the launch window. If they could, there'd be a drought for quite a long time afterward. Furthermore, for those people complaining about lack of third-party titles, stop complaining about rumored delays. Even if this were true, the delays allow third-party games to make a big splash on the Wii. What happens when some new title hits the console, it's an outstanding game, but it gets squashed by the release of MP3? No good game should ever be ICO'd.

To be entirely fair, people shouldn't be implying that Nintendo is always 100% correct on what they say either. I generally despise companies who lie and deceive (Sony right now). That being said, if a game like MGS4 didn't meet the launch window that Sony were to predict, I don't think I'd be mad. Same goes for KillZone. Every company either lies, or makes a statement far too early. Nintendo is no different.

Really, and this is one man's opinion.. I'd obviously like Nintendo to take better caution when setting expectations, and really to communicate more frequently and more effectively with the general pubilc in regards to those expectations. That said, I have absolutely no problem in seeing a game delayed, such as the case was with Zelda, only to receive a top-notch product in the end. If we start seeing sub-par products after such a wait, well that would be an ENTIRELY different story.