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Jesus, I forgot what a mire Joystiq comment boards can become when a console wars worthy newspost comes along.

Really, it all comes down to implementation. If the hint/digest/skip features was optional, I see this empowering Nintendo to make a Zelda game that is harder and more non-linear. If you are going to make a game that appeals to as broad a stroke of Wii owners as possible, there are two approaches. The first is to simply find a median difficulty: dummy down the combat/platforming so that death is rare and hold the player's hand through many of the puzzles and dungeons (NPC: I bet if you did something to that unlit TORCH that locked DOOR might also do something).

The second is to a modicum of difficulty, but provide the option(s) for those inclined to flatten the difficulty curve to an incline of their choosing. The usually route down this path is the "difficulty level" option when you start a game. But a hint system+ goes to the same ends, and is probably more applicable to a series where the puzzles have usually been the greater source of the challenge. The irony is, contra Joystiq's headline, that having an optional hint system in a game, just like a sliding scale difficulty level, gives a game developer the appropriate cover to make a more "hardcore" game. I will note that Metroid Prime and its lesser spawn have been able to retain a greater level of non-linearity/difficulty/"hardcoreness" precisely because they have an optional hint system that tells you exactly what to do if you want (well, less than optional in the third installment, but that's a topic for another day).

However, if these features are not optional or are accompanied by an unaviodable Wii Music style simplification to woo grandmas, then we can grab the pitchforks and burn effigies of Reggie. Maybe I am being too optimistic here, but that's not the way I interpretted the substance of the Joystiq post.

I call BS. The Age series is still pretty lucrative and on going (Age3 is still in top sellers and they just produced a second x-pack that sold quite well), plus they have a new IP that is being pushed hard by MS. Maybe ES and Big Huge Games (also a MS owned RTS-maker) are being merged, and the layoffs are because of that, but Microsoft would be retarded to shoot one of their golden geese.

Hey guys, a quick check at VGCharts puts some of the information on this list in doubt. A number of the games mentioned earlier have been excluded for whatever reason. In the US, Pokemon R/B sold approx 11 million, as did the Sims. Pokemon G/S sold approx 9 million. Grand Turismo and Nintendogs both sold just over 7 million and Mario 64 just under 7 million. They supposedly get their information straight from the NPD, FWIW.

http://vgchartz.com/games/index.php?name=&console=&developer=&publisher=&genre=&keyword=&order=Sales

Why can't MP3 be a multiplayer-focused frag-fest, after all, MPH was?

Why can't MGS4 be a turn-based card game, after all, Metal Gear Acid was?

Why can't Halo 3 be a RTS, after all, Halo Wars is?

Why can't FFXIII be a MMORPG, after all, FFXI is?

Why can't LoZ become a money-based RPG, after all, Tingle's game is?

Why can't Mario Galaxy be a mascot kart racer, after all, Mario Kart is?

Why can't Killzone 2 be a tactical RTS, after all, Killzone: Liberation was?

Why can't the next Mortal Kombat be an action game, after all, Shaolin Monks was?

There's a reason that they are called spinoffs: they have nothing to do with the original game.

Crono, when people say Multiplayer Metroid doesn't make sense, its not that it wouldn't make sense to have 4 Samuses or whatever. Its that Metroid is not an FPS, has very slow pacing, and is built ground up as an adventure game. For example, did you know there is only one gun in MP3? You get upgrades throughout the game, but they stack onto each other like they did in Super Metroid. How much fun is multiplayer with only one gun? Or with Zelda-like auto lockon? I seriously doubt many of the people who are complaining right now even played the original Metroid Prime.

Brawl had better have online. Unlike MP3 for example, Brawl online makes a lot of sense. I am disappointed by this, but I guess Sakurai didn't want people to get their grubby hands on Smash until closer to release. Whatever they bumped Smash for had better be good.

To those hoping this would have been your big online Wii "FPS", sorry to disappoint, but even if it did have multiplayer (which Retro said it would not from the start), it would have sucked. Its near impossible to turn a slow solo adventure game into a twitch-based FPS. It would have by necessity played a lot like the Echoes multiplayer (ie slow and sluggish), which is no fun for anyone.

Just a reminder, from Gamespot's original MP review:

"...finally, someone, somewhere will complain that Metroid Prime has no multiplayer features. But we'll leave that for someone, somewhere to complain about, since it's hardly relevant. "

And from their MP2 review:
"Strangely, Echoes has a multiplayer component with a handful of maps for up to four players, but it's unfortunately not up to the single-player game's quality and seems a little incongruous with the solitary, adventure-driven spirit of the Metroid series."

Multiplayer Metroid simply does not make sense

Hmm, I don't know why it keeps reposting my previous post.

Hunters was a spinoff designed specifically for multiplayer. Nobody wonders why MGS4 won't have card based fighting, or why RE5 isn't an onrails shooter. Just because a spinoff does something, doesn't mean the main game should. If MPH2 had no multiplayer, I'd be pissed to.

I think the BioShock comparison is very apt. The System Shock games have had a lot in common with the Metroid series, especially its 3D iterations, especially their focus on exploration over combat. And yet where is the outrage over BioShock not having multiplayer? It simply doesn't make sense for multiplayer to be shoehorned into BioShock and it certainly makes little sense for it to be shoehorned into Metroid.

peeweejd-They simply aren't FPSs. The first two MP games (much to the chagrin of fans of the 2d versions) were first person Zelda. Which means a lot of exploration, a lot of puzzle solving, a lot of item finding, some token combat, and massive "figure out their weakpoint" bosses. Unless Retro screws up royally, MP3 will probably be more of the same.