Because most casuals don't post on gaming forums.

Exactly. I'm starting to really dislike this move by Nintendo away from gamers and toward the casual market. I just desperately hope Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl (most importantly) can show me they still care.

I thought the site needed a redesign, but I know it's not going to turn out as something that's designed for us.

I honestly don't think they're turning away from gamers in favor of casuals, but are trying to appeal to both. That's possible, ya know.

Goddamn, you doom-and-gloom guys piss me off.

Just saying what I'm seeing.

BPM, removing an established gaming community of over 200,000 members is not considered catering to gamers.

Why would they do that? Well obviously 'cuz of "blah blah blah" oh shut up everybody and let's see what the new site looks like maybe?

I'm hijacking the topline thread to say...

Can we get a chatroom for the site, Joystiq? A forum would be alright, too.

well, as 76% of casual gamers are females, we don't want to hang out with their sort anyway!

Its against rule 2.3b of the Hardcore Gamers Rulebook to consort with females. Noob.

" but are trying to appeal to both. That's possible"

No it's not. They are polar opposites.

Polar opposites my ass.

Real gamers like games. They don't care if they are intended for casual or hardcore. What matters is if it's fun to play. If Tetris or Dr. Mario came out nowadays, everyone would call it a casual game. Same for PacMan, Q-bert, Pong, Asteroids, and many of the classics. There was no bull over whether games were casual or hardcore. It was just fun. This industry started on these games and now when games come out now that are on par with these classics, they get called casual. What's the issue with casual? Half the so called "hardcore" gamers I have ever met are just Posers. Have you played Madden, but never/barely played PacMan? Poser. Have you played GTA, but never/barely played Space Invaders? Poser. Have you played Final Fantasy, but never/barely played Arkanoid? Poser. If you think the only games worth playing are Halo, WoW or Zelda, then you don't know shit. Poser. And you know what? I am tired of Elitist Posers coming around and shooting off their mouths about what it means to be hardcore and how lame the casual games are. I am glad that Nintendo is making games for everyone. I wish Sony and Microsoft would follow more. You go ahead and play you "hardcore" games. I'm gonna play my Metroid Prime 3 and Warioware. Maybe follow up with more FFXII and then Settlers of Catan on XBLA. Which one of those is hardcore and which are not? Fuck if I know. I'm a gamer and I don't care, just give something fun.

Quit crying, poser.

@shiggy.

Um yes it is dumbass.

It's called the pc.

Oh where EVER will I go to whine now?!

YES! GameFAQS! Brilliant!

Hahah, nice. Nice.

:(

As an ally of Fernando's..., damn, you zinged him good. Nice.

LOL! Zing! With a capital Z and exclamation mark! =D

Can’t believe Fernando didn't comment on this zing. Pretty damn funny.

Now in all seriousness, The Sony Underground forums can host you all I bet - they need some more folks squawking in there. Get your hate on!

Nintendo hates dissension. Anyone familiar with Nintendo's history is all too aware of their lust for control (whether it be the content or development of a game, the exchange that occurs between players, acknowledgment of consumer demand, or the discourse on a fan site).

Perhaps, we've all come to attribute a "kiddy" image to Nintendo primarily because they try so very hard to act like our parents.

That said, it's premature to say just what this move means, but it's still telling that we all know Nintendo well enough to jump to the same conclusion. Hopefully, many of us will be proven wrong.

P.S.: considering just how much of the Wii's early success can be attributed to Nintendo's loyal fans who braved long lines and winter cold to have cameras and newscasters give the world notice of this innovative box, you'd think Nintendo would be more gracious. Does a site update even necessitate taking down forums?

fawazer: "Does a site update even necessitate taking down forums?"

An update, yes. A redesign, no.

Even then, a site conversion will usually only take a day, maybe more if they really suck at it.

To take forums offline "indefinitely" might be because of a serious security or administration problem that needs to be fixed before word gets around to some truly sinister people.

lol, that like what, your 200th troll post of the day, do you just hit refresh over and over again and hope there something you can try to bash. Its like you made a list of common bash phrases, then just insert a random one to what ever the topic is.

Here another one, I hope they don't have to start firing people like Sony did.

Friend Codes are 12-digits, troll.

The Wii Number is NOT a Friend Code.

??? Who the fuck 1up him?

If you want to read all the post he has done recently, goes along the terms of, LOL RROD, LOL sony are a bunch of hypocritical, lol M$ paid
for titles. LOL LOL LOL,

You get the picture. One of those people that like to post stupid crap comments.

"??? Who the fuck 1up him?" What the hell does that mean?

phattie's up to 2.5 hearts for a mindless trolling comment. Preposterous. SOMEBODY must pay.

You know what I've never seen? 1.5 hearts. I just realized that.

It's you. Whenever anyone asks that it's always them.

http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/593/nsidershadowsracingmamacy2.jpg

It may be me, but it still doesn't change my opinion of the matter.

I may not have gone to the forums, but it does make sense. Casual gamers aren't ones to go on a forum and talk about video games. And since Nintendo's focus has shifted on them (becoming ever closer to exclusively), it does not make business sense to support the forums your market does not use.

Whats strange is that it basically costs nothing to run a forum.. all the content is user created; they just have to set up a nintendo themed place for their fans to congregate (rather than someplace else) and post their thoughts.

Apparently, Reggie felt there was a problem with that?

OMG that guy is sad and will probably kill himself now. 16,000 (yes thousand!) posts on a Nintendo forum!? And he only registered barely a year ago. That is pathetic!

nSiders unite. Preach on.

"This, along with the rumors that the Big N is halting publication of its Nintendo Power magazine"

Has anyone thought about there might be a forum Channel and Nintendo Power Channel on the Wii and Nintendo just wants everything in one place?

I too have been pondering that, while a lot of Nintendo's disreputable moves have always had an explanation (1st party devs hated load times, thus cartridges and mini-dvd's, the accessibility of a low cost and low tech Wii, even the click-and-go with no frills attached nature of their online play) these recent moves make no sense at all, unless placed in the context of Wii-based replacements for these losses

I mean this one in particular doesn't make sense, the Nsider forums were prospering, and i don't know why they would want to get rid of them, as phattie said, it costs them little to nothing

There is no explanation for this, clearly

When I visited, it never took 3 days. Maybe 3 minutes if servers were bogged down, but that's the worst I ever experienced.

Someone probably posted a .php link and the forums exploded.

Hahaha, nice. I remember that bitch of a problem on the forums.