The Cunning Linguist: The Post e3 Hangover

[Nathan_Powell]

I think I speak for both myself and the majority of the gaming audience of this website when I sum this year's Nintendo conference at e3 with a loud, resounding 'meh'. Wii Music? Wii Sports: Resort? Animal Crossing: City Folk? If memory serves me correctly, wasn't Animal Crossing: WW originally marketed as a casual game? Please, it's bold to follow up possibly Nintendo's hardest hitting lineup (the combination of MP3, SSBB & SMG - all within 12 months) with, at the risk of sounding unpopular, a less then stellar offering - at least in the eyes of us core gamers. It is perhaps the equivalent of asking for a feast and receiving a famine.

To say that e3 was a complete, utter disappointment would be very unfair, as there were some diamonds in amongst the rough. Wii Motion Plus looks incredibly promising, that and we know that the Zelda and Mario team are hard at work, and that there is a Pikmin in development. However, my main concern of 2008 and early 2009, is what is going to keep the dust from collecting on my Wii?

Gone are the days when you could be guarenteed earth shattering announcements at e3, it seems as if the industry is now much more comfortable holding their own individual, private events, for, in my opinion, two reasons. Firstly, they have much greater control over the content that they are revealing, as well as the demonstrations they are allowing the press to trial and secondly, so they are not lost in the clutter of e3 - as this is their own private event the focus is entirely on them.

e3 was once the most exciting week of the gaming calender. Who could forget holding onto the edge of your seat for the next exciting tidbit of information regarding Twilight Princess, which if memory serves me, that teasing spanned three years. Fast forward to 2008, where we are treated to Cammie Dunaway (who perhaps unfairly took more criticism then she deserved) telling stories of her misadventures of snowboarding, and her resulting broken wrist. Was it totally necessary to devote over ten minutes of conference time to this story and the announcement of the corresponding game? Add to this Iwata;s constant 'rubbing it in', that Nintendo is currently rolling in cash - we get this, we heard it at last year's presentation, as well as every chance Nintendo has had to brag since then. Has Nintendo lost sight of what e3 is all about - the core gamers? I would have a very hard time believing anyone who told me that a casual gamer watched or read about e3 - let alone had any knowledge that it even existed.

Perhaps our time of holding a stranglehold on the gaming industry is over. Are our days as core gamers numbered? Are we forced to wait until the next installment of Smash Bros? Or are you forced, as I am, into playing a 12 year old game such as Super Mario RPG (not a comment on the quality of the game, more a comment on the availability of more 2008 appropriate games). Is it fair that I have a $399 piece of 'ground breaking' game playing technology in my loungeroom, and yet the only game that interests me at the moment is a game from 1996? Or is it all too much effort to prepare a game that doesn't consist of 60+ mini games?

Wasn't Wii Sports and Mario Kart Wii a 'bridge title' - a term that Nintendo as of late is all too affectionately throwing around. Don't feel unintelligent for stopping and trying to force through the PR spin. Put simply these are titles that are meant to take non-gamers (or casual gamers) and make them either fall in love with gaming again, or make them so in love with gaming that they are prepared to cut their teeth on more filling titles such as Mario or Zelda.

So in my rather cynical view of 'bridge titles', and our understanding - more Nintendo's force feeding of statistics, that new non-gamers are picking up the Wii - at a rate faster then Nintendo themselves can manufacture, why would they not be manufacturing core-games in anticipation of these casual-gamers becoming core-gamers?

My prediction, the drought isn't over yet. We were promised that the Wii would not suffer from the same drought that the Gamecube did, but as all NSW residents know, a few good storms (of which im referring to MP3, SSBB & SMG) don't come close to ending a drought, and after this e3 the chances of any other storms are well off into the distance.

The Cunning Linguist,
Nathan Powell

[squeegie]

Bridging Titles: Nintendo couldn't have worded a genre of games any more poorly.

What does 'Bridging Title' mean to the average gamer? It represents nothing of it's actual content or possible game-play, at least in the same way a RTS, RPG or FPS do.

What Bridging Title comes down to is a marketing term, pure and simple. Does anyone get exited to hear that Nintendo is brining out a new... Bridging Title? Of course not. You can't be a fan of a Bridging Title, because it's not a game type. It describes it's broader market appeal than a core game, because, to put it bluntly, the game would have been dumbed down to an extent.

This in tun molds a full blown core game into something that may appeal to a broader audience because some part of it's control scheme has been shown to be 'accessible'. Meaning softened and less feature rich generally.

This in and of itself isn't bad, that's great that more people will be playing games, yay. But do I, the core gamer, get excited a game has been rated as a bridging title? Why would I? It's certainly not a word designating that the title has been improved somehow.

It's plane and simple marketing speak.

[Capt Spaz]

Bridging Titles are games designed solely to shut everyone up for a while. They're brought out while they have no decent software to offer, and keep us occupied for long enough for them to cook something up. The only problem is, that in that time, they can't think of anything, and so bring out another one, and another one, and so on.

Bridging Titles, simply put, are pacifiers for hard-core gamers.

[S2333]

Nintendo chose E3 to showcase casual titles because the conference is so big it attracts the worlds media.
They need to tell casual gamers to get excited about upcoming games and only hardcore gamers know about gamer days.
That's why I think they showed off all those casual titles.

[Gus the Crocodile]

Bridging Titles: Nintendo couldn't have worded a genre of games any more poorly.

What does 'Bridging Title' mean to the average gamer? It represents nothing of it's actual content or possible game-play, at least in the same way a RTS, RPG or FPS do.

I think you're being completely unreasonable. What does the fact that I have brown hair tell you about my character? Nothing. Does that mean we shouldn't have a term for brown hair? No, it means we shouldn't use it to describe my character. So since nobody is using the phrase "bridging title" to make gameplay descriptions (at least, not that I can see), what exactly is your complaint?

Similarly, not every term has to be something we can "get excited about". You probably don't get excited about the fact that Mario Kart is multiplayer, but I doubt you're going to tell me how stupid the term "multiplayer" is because of that..

Stop thinking in terms of exclusive genres that everything has to fit neatly into. Something can be a bridging title and a FPS, just as I can have brown hair and blue eyes. They are non-exclusive descriptions of different attributes, and the use of one doesn't mean the other stops being true.

[Kabal Scorpion]

Nintendo went into massive damage control when they said there would a steady flow of quality software 6 months following the Wii's launch, ulnike the GC. Yet they call WarioWare, WiiSports and Mario Party 8 titles that are supposed to help that. Now we get an entire year and a half of many people finding absolutely nothing appealing in Nintendo's upcoming line-up after Smash Bros, and before Q4 2009.

'bridging title' is a just a PR euphemism for 'compromised gameplay'. Not quite 'dumbed down' but compromised - to get rid of the little things like 'skill' to allow casual gamers to win easier. That's all it is. It doesn't matter what genre you're talking about, a bridged game features gameplay compromised from being as deep and complicated that the core love and are used to.

Notice how I haven't bagged the term? It's not neccessarily a bad thing, but can be something that is very annoying and frustrating for loyal fans of a franchise - the fact that Mario Kart Wii is meant for my 'mum' can play, but all she wants is a holiday and a clean house. Yet the hardcore have to put up with omissions and changes to not suit them, but people otherwise uninterested in gaming.

[squeegie]

I think you're being completely unreasonable. What does the fact that I have brown hair tell you about my character? Nothing. Does that mean we shouldn't have a term for brown hair? No, it means we shouldn't use it to describe my character. So since nobody is using the phrase "bridging title" to make gameplay descriptions (at least, not that I can see), what exactly is your complaint?

Similarly, not every term has to be something we can "get excited about". You probably don't get excited about the fact that Mario Kart is multiplayer, but I doubt you're going to tell me how stupid the term "multiplayer" is because of that..

Stop thinking in terms of exclusive genres that everything has to fit neatly into. Something can be a bridging title and a FPS, just as I can have brown hair and blue eyes. They are non-exclusive descriptions of different attributes, and the use of one doesn't mean the other stops being true.

Perhaps I should have stated my point more clearly.

The term "Bridging Title" isn't a bad term in and of itself. But to announce a game as a bridging title at an E3 press conference is, in my opinion, nothing of note. It's a strategic term, one suited to the board room well. Nintendo have been receiving a lot of flack lately over ignoring the core gamer. It shows through their persistent responses in the media about how they aren't.

Don't come to E3, explain how you are making Mario Kart a Bridging Title and brush over any of the core games. This site is dedicated to core gamers, what other response would you expect?

Bridging Title is not an indicator of quality, it is an indicator of market appeal. Again, in a marketing meeting, this is a great thing to bring up. Do not attempt to sell discerning consumers, those who will be by far and away the biggest viewers of E3, that this is something to be excited by.

Nintendo need to look back at history and see what has made them the company with the most loyal fan base. It wasn't because of Bridging Titlesl

[Gus the Crocodile]

This site is dedicated to core gamers

I must have missed that memo. I thought it was dedicated to Nintendo gamers.

Bridging Title is not an indicator of quality, it is an indicator of market appeal.

Yes....so what? "Racing game" isn't an indicator of quality either, but I don't see you complaining that Mario Kart is one of those. Look, if you were disappointed with E3, that's fine, but "bridging titles" didn't cause that, the lack of other titles did.

Edit: Ok, I do see your point now, and it was silly of me to miss it before: whether or not something is a "bridging title" doesn't matter to the person playing the game. That is indeed true, and I can understand dissatisfaction with business information having any part of an entertainment event. The thing is, the E3 keynote isn't just there for entertainment. It's also watched by the press, other developers, publishers, and dare I say it, potential investors.

Nintendo need to look back at history and see what has made them the company with the most loyal fan base. It wasn't because of Bridging Titlesl

As I'm sure most on this site are aware, Nintendo's product was once cards, not videogames. I don't think they "needed" to go back to cards once they started making videogames, and I don't think they "need" to go back to whatever it is people think they've deviated from now. Seems to me that Nintendo's doing just fine without you.

[vocalninja]

As I'm sure most on this site are aware, Nintendo's product was once cards, not videogames. I don't think they "needed" to go back to cards once they started making videogames, and I don't think they "need" to go back to whatever it is people think they've deviated from now. Seems to me that Nintendo's doing just fine without you.

I think you misunderstood. No one wants Nintendo to go back to cards or love hotels.

Within games, I think it means Nintendo need to get back to making decent video games instead of tripe like wii music. Not go back to cards or love hotels.

Nintendo seem to be doing fine these days.

But core games and gamers kept them afloat the last two generations.

[Gus the Crocodile]

No, I think you misunderstood my analogy. Yes, "core games" have kept Nintendo afloat for some time, but cards kept Nintendo afloat for some time too. No doubt there were regular card buyers who were disappointed when the cards disappeared, but nevertheless, Nintendo survived. Moving on to videogames wasn't inevitably going to be a massive failure then, and moving on from "core games" (if indeed that's what they wanted to do) wouldn't be an inevitable failure now. For all we know, in a hundred years they could be a successful refrigerated transport company or a manufacturer of quality health foods.

All I'm saying here is that it would be nice if people were clear about what they mean. You might want Nintendo to make more games you like, and that's understandable. But wanting Nintendo to do something is not at all the same as Nintendo needing to do it. Unless you have some inside information on Nintendo's finances, and can link that to minutes from executive meetings on their future strategy, I'd give up trying to tell them what they need to do.

[Kabal Scorpion]

I don't think they "needed" to go back to cards once they started making videogames, and I don't think they "need" to go back to whatever it is people think they've deviated from now. Seems to me that Nintendo's doing just fine without you.

Ladies and gentlemen I present to you the biggest unfortunate truth in this thread. To hardcore Nintendo gamers this is the equivalent of a spontaneous cold bucket of water poured over one's head whole being punched in the groin and pimp-smacked to the face. Topped-off with an alarm clock because it's time for 'reality'.

Nintendo is looking for a profit at the end of the day. Nintendo is not going to advertise or push a product if it's "appeal" is meant for the hardcore, but does not accumulate sales. Alternatively, they're still pushing mums and dads to consider purchasing the Touch Generation games.

I don't want to sound a heartless bastard, as I too, am frustrated with Nintendo - "why not include difficulty settings you arrogant turd of a company?" I shout. But really, if Nintendo shows a game I have no/little interest in, I don't purchase it - the only thing saved is your hard-earned cash.

[Josem]

nintendo dont need to listen much, they are practically printing money with what they are doing

[Dimentio Delight]

I'll take that 'meh' and raise you a 'pisha'.
but yes E3 was very disappointing, except for Reggie, he was everything I expected and more.

[vocalninja]

No, I think you misunderstood my analogy. Yes, "core games" have kept Nintendo afloat for some time, but cards kept Nintendo afloat for some time too. No doubt there were regular card buyers who were disappointed when the cards disappeared, but nevertheless, Nintendo survived. Moving on to videogames wasn't inevitably going to be a massive failure then, and moving on from "core games" (if indeed that's what they wanted to do) wouldn't be an inevitable failure now. For all we know, in a hundred years they could be a successful refrigerated transport company or a manufacturer of quality health foods.

I didn't misunderstand your analogy. You weren't real clear to start off with. Is English your second language?

All I'm saying here is that it would be nice if people were clear about what they mean. You might want Nintendo to make more games you like, and that's understandable. But wanting Nintendo to do something is not at all the same as Nintendo needing to do it. Unless you have some inside information on Nintendo's finances, and can link that to minutes from executive meetings on their future strategy, I'd give up trying to tell them what they need to do.

I don't work for Nintendo. I work as a Civil Engineer designing roads in Queensland.

And thanks for the free (useless) advice. Its easy to talk sh!t on a PC.

Had you said that to my face, I'd have clean punched your teeth through your asshole :)

[Gus the Crocodile]

Yes, thus proving that you are the more reasonable one, no doubt. You must have been great on the high school debating team.

Leave out the schoolboy threats and personal attacks and stick to actual discussion, please. We aren't twelve; nobody cares how "tough" you think you are.

[I Am The Wind]

Roads are just tar and gravel? Can't be too hard to design.