| Subject: Re: Inner-Board Roundtable #1 |
Author:
SamNMax
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Date Posted: 13:18:06 04/19/02 Fri
In reply to:
MODERATOR
's message, "Inner-Board Roundtable #1" on 14:06:51 04/18/02 Thu
Good thoughts here guys, and I agree with much of what's being said. I think the issue of whether GTA3 or ED would be more valuable to the Cube at this time is pretty cut-and-dry.
GTA3 brings with it an enormous amount of caché given the way that it's set the casual and hardcore gaming world on fire with its open-ended, well-crafted gameplay and raunchy subject matter. Like it or not, having this game on the Cube would be an enormous feather in Nintendo's cap and would do wonders to help erode the "kiddie" image that plagues them among casual gamers. However, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I think NCL is still a bit too conservative to aggressively pursue obtaining a franchise that promotes such values as murder, prostitution and theft.
They may not require that developers turn blood green anymore, but they know which side their bread's buttered on and would be hesitant to alienate their captive audience of children for which parents are doing a great deal of the research and purchasing. "Conker's Bad Fur Day" is a game that's much lauded by Nintendo's hardcore fanbase of gamers young and old, but I recall at the time there being several news stories about parents being outraged by Nintendo's abandonment of the core principals that made them and their games a safe buy for concerned parents. Many reacted as if Disney had just released a porno film. Nintendo has always made games for the whole family to enjoy, but in losing a great deal of the better third party developers with the various shortcomings of the N64, their happy, cartoony titles ended up dominating the landscape of the system. The effect was that they virtually pigeonholed themselves as a kids' gaming company, and happened to continue to make massive amounts of money doing it. To attempt to pull an image makeover and launch right for the more mature gamer might be a costly mistake, effectively biting the hand that feeds them.
This isn't to say that NCL doesn't have plans for winning the "mature" gaming market back, and this is where having companies like Capcom and Silicon Knights on their side comes in. On the one hand, you have Capcom's ever-popular Resident Evil series which brings horror, blood, guns and grenades to a Nintendo system wrapped in the relatively safe package of a classic (and classy) series with uniformly high production values. Even a concerned parent could admire the Resident Evil series for its movie-like qualities and ethically sound themes (killing already undead zombies being more morally sound than throwing grandmas out of cars). It's clear that Nintendo put forth a good deal of effort to get Capcom on their side (and, perhaps, some financial incentives), so we can see that Nintendo sees Capcom's adoption as a fundamental third party as a key piece in their strategy to round out their image not only as an adult-friendly system, but as a third-party developer-friendly company.
And then there's Silicon Knights with their upcoming "M"-rated adventure powerhouse Eternal Darkness. Though Silicon Knights has yet to prove themselves with a title as ambitious as ED has turned out to be, the fact that NCL is working so incredibly closely with them on the project further goes to demonstrate that they're looking to put some high-quality, best-selling "Mature" titles on their system in a big hurry (in Nintendo-years, which are kind of like inverted dog-years). This game may not have the out-of-the-box success that a port of GTA3 would, but the hype will likely build and the word will spread that ED is an epic, mature adventure that any gamer would do well to look into. Much like Resident Evil, this is a relatively "safe" Mature title. Sure, the blood will be flying and the enemies blown to pieces from time to time, but this is still a title that doesn't define itself by its mature themes. It has enough to bring to the table in terms of innovative gameplay, story and atmosphere that the violence and gore take on a peripheral role that I'm certain NCL is much more comfortable with than other titles (like GTA3) might.
So Nintendo bangs the drum slowly, building a small arsenal of "Mature"-capable developers to start reconstructing a more balanced reputation. ED may not make the splash in the gaming world that GTA3 did, but it will serve as part of a message from Nintendo to the gaming community that they mean business in the mature market and are willing to take steps to see it to fruition. Brad, I like your thought that they're going to have SK as a "factory" for more mature content.
Ultimately, in looking for comparisons to draw with Nintendo, Disney comes to mind as the clearest Doppelganger. They're also a franchise-heavy, family-oriented business that makes a great deal of their money off of children and the parents that do the buying for them. As we all know, Disney eventually opened their Touchstone divison to keep the "R" rated films safely away from their logo and brand name, and that enabled them to reach demographics that they couldn't (and wouldn't) touch with the Disney name.
Here's hoping that by working closely with devlopers like Silicon Knights, Nintendo can have it both ways. I'm fairly confident that's their ultimate goal.
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