Nintendo’s Failure to Communicate with its Fans at E3
By Chris on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 11:46 AM PST In Game Companies, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Gamer Life, Games, Nintendo, Nintendo, Nintendo, Portable
There’s no denying that last week’s E3 showing by Nintendo was a disappointment for hardcore fans who love Mario, Zelda, and company. Even one of the long awaited announcements, Animal Crossing for Wii, had a disappointing showing between its apparent lack of innovation and graphics that look identical to the DS and GameCube versions of AC.
Stephen Totilo of MTV Multiplayer had an interesting take on the situation. Earlier this week, he wrote, “It was not the mocked stage presentation of Wii Music that prompted my skepticism about Nintendo last week. It was something else, something less flashy but more pervasive.
“Several times throughout the week, I witnessed the company, its most ardent fans and the E3 press fail to communicate with each other. These misunderstandings — these wrong answers to right questions and right answers to wrong ones — were not always Nintendo’s fault. But the fissures are real and must certainly be a concern to company and fans alike.”
He raises a number of interesting points throughout his piece, including how you can understand Reggie Fils-Aime’s disbelief that fans are disappointed with Nintendo. Totilo wrote, “He thought Nintendo fans were feeling good about Nintendo. If I were him, I’d say: How could you Nintendo fans dare to complain? Nintendo has supplied the new Mario, Zelda and Metroid already. The ultimate Nintendo gamer’s game — Smash Brothers — was just released a few months ago during a traditionally slow period. Your complaint should only be that Nintendo pleased your requests too swiftly.”
His full article can be read over at MTV Multiplayer, but let me excerpt one last thing, which I find to be the most frustrating news about Animal Crossing City Folk to date:
At a Nintendo developer’s conference, one reporter asked Nintendo developers if Animal Crossing City Folk for the Wii would avoid the programming problem of Animal Crossing DS and not disconnect a group of online friends just because one friend lost a connection. Another reporter asked if Wii Animal Crossing would reverse its seasons for players whose region-coded Wiis are located in the southern hemisphere.
No and no, the game’s producer Katsuya Eguchi said.
Wow. Really, Nintendo? I can’t fathom why they aren’t striving to fix these design problems. As much as they might annoy the hardcore, don’t they present as much of a problem to casual gamers who might try to play the game?
