Blog Post: Mature games: The Nintendo Dilemma Subscribe to this RSS feed
- Author: Ishaan Sahdev
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Gamers say they want more mature titles on the Wii and DS, but are they overlooking another major element of gaming that the hardcore crave?
Minigames are fun, when they aren't in every other game.
Time and time again, we've heard them say it. Less "kiddy" games on the Wii. That they're tired of cutesy, stylized titles on the system. That the "hardcore" crowd is crying out for more "mature" content on the Wii.
Notice the quotes around "mature".
After scouring several blogs and forums of much lore and IRC chatrooms of many a great debate with my all-seeing eye, I've come to realize that this isn't quite what everyone in the industry perceives it to be.
WHAT DO WII WANT?
What people want on the Wii is not "mature" games ... rather; they want games with more depth. To put it in a nutshell, less minigame compilations, more immersive games that don't sport the atrocities from a game like Super Monkey Ball. (No offense to SEGA)
Unfortunately, it seems this crowd of gamers hasn't been very successful at communicating what they hope to see from Wii developers, which is resulting in a ton of confusion, and causing a lot of developers to debate whether they should create "mature" titles on a system that is clearly aimed at everyone from your 13-year old kid to your 75-year old dad, with majority of the audience consisting of the age group in between, all worried about exposing their children to the wrong kind of games.
In this case, I feel the word "mature" is acting as a substitute for "deep". Does anyone complain about Metroid or Zelda? No. Did anyone complain about Super Paper Mario? Nope. Is anyone going to complain about Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles? Never.
And, are those M-rated games? Once again, no.
Not a drop of blood, but every bit a Mature game.
REDEFINING MATURE
Let's turn to the DS for a few examples of excellent non-M-rated games that are incredibly deep and involving, with regards to both gameplay and story. Cing's two adventure titles Trace Memory and Hotel Dusk: Room 215 have done very well. Although Trace Memory was a tad short, I played it just recently and can assure you that it is an excellent adventure game, which provides just the right amount of challenge. The fact that it is about a 14-year old girl hasn't hampered its plot in any way at all. In fact, Cing has masterfully used the young lead character to provide the player with a sense of discovery and wonder all throughout the game.
The same could be said about the Phoenix Wright titles. Intricate, addicting, deep. M-rated? No. And what about games during the PS2 era? Were the Final Fantasies "mature"? Were the Kingdom Hearts games "mature"?
As you can see, this is a topic worth giving some thought to. Do gamers really want more M-rated games on the Wii, or are they simply sick to death of the cutesy overload the system has been suffering from since its launch in November of last year? I'm willing to bet it's the latter. Ratings have never mattered much in the event that the content is satisfying. If people like a game, they will buy it, regardless of whether it is rated "M" or "T" or "E".
So, please, developers: stop thinking we just want M-rated games on Nintendo's platforms. What we want is depth. Sure, a few M-rated titles here and there would be great to balance out the overall content on the Wii nicely. But do we need them? No. We just need depth. And less minigames.
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Posted at: 08/14/07 at 6:01 AM PST
This blog speaks the truth. M-rated games are not needed to have a great time. I personally like games filled with story and great gameplay. And yes, developers need to stop making minigame collections. No one likes them, and waste of money.
Posted at: 08/14/07 at 11:22 AM PST
nice article.
Posted at: 08/14/07 at 6:42 PM PST
Well fetal is right this blog does speak the truth. I mean mini games are fun every now and then but all gamers want a more in dept experience at some point or another. I know will see that on the wii. And i bet they want have a M tatted on the case of the game either.
Posted at: 08/15/07 at 7:18 PM PST
Very true, Wii just don't want M-rated games, Wii want games with ore depth than just mini-games compilations like Wario Ware. Those games aren't bad at all, but come on Nintendo bring us more titles like Zelda and Metroid, and keep Mario coming but don'r rely on that franchise only.
Posted at: 05/11/08 at 2:50 PM PST
I think what Wii needs is a game like Conker's Bad Fur Day. Why? Many different reasons. First off, the game was a departure from previous titles featuring cartoon characters, in that Conker was originally a character featured in kids games (marketed to a young audience). The original idea for Conker's BFD was going to be a similar platform game for the N64 until Rare decided to stop being a p*ssy and created a sick, twisted, controversial game instead. This once loveable, sweet, wholesome squirrel now had a completely different, badass attitude. Instead of a cute animated squirrel what you got was violence, profanity, alcoholism, and scatological humor. And the result was one hell of a game. The story was great: Cute cartoon squirrel gets drunk and wanders off in a drunken stupor trying to get home to his hot girlfriend. Instead of getting sex, he winds up in a series of strange drunken escapades. The game sold well, and if it hadn't been for the fact that the game debuted at the very end of the N64's hayday it would have sold even better. Til' this day, I still consider Conker to be one of the best games for the N64, up there with the original Smash Brothers and Goldeneye. If the Wii had a kickass game like Conker's (using the motion control of the Wiimote for weapons/grenades/magic spells/etc.) I think we'd have the next best selling game on the Wii. Unfortunately, Conker is now property of Microsoft since acquiring Rare. But a similar game could be created for Nintendo using different characters (either new characters or ones from existing franchises).
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