Nintendo
April 30th, 2008 emilywitt
I still remember everything about the NES that was in my house during my childhood. It was hooked up to the TV in my parent’s room and I used to sneak in when I could to play. We only had 3 games: Super Mario 3, Duck Hunt, and Paperboy. Duck Hunt was my favorite, but our gun controller never seemed to want to work. My mom, my dad, and I would get together at least once a week and play together, one of the only times that my family ever really bonded over something. I also remember the day that the NES died and my dad went and bought the SNES, it just was not the same.
I think the reason that there are so many products such as t-shirts and other apparel that features the original Nintendo system is because everybody who had that system in their house has some sort of emotional connection with it. For me, it reminds me of a time where my family was able to enjoy something together.
I also think that this is the same reason why the Wii has become very popular. I can play a PS2 or an Xbox game by myself, but when I play solo on my friend’s Wii, it just does not have the same effect as playing with others. It’s the simple things in Nintendo’s game design that makes them no fun unless you have a competitor. Take for instance Wii Sports, those games are just not as fun unless you have somebody to play tennis against or to bowl against. I think that there is a draw to try and bring people together through video games, and in my opinion, Nintendo has done a great job in creating games and systems that truly draw people together.
Entry Filed under: Game Log
2 Comments
1. scify_rd | May 2nd, 2008 at 11:46 am
I don’t know that I would say that all of the games on the Wii are no fun without other people; indeed, there are plenty of games that are meant to be played solo. Interestingly, most of these solo games fall into the “Hardcore” gamer category, such as Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and No More Heroes. I do think you’re general point about Nintendo aiming to make the Wii primarily a group play console is true, however. There is simply something about playing a game with other people around, whether they are actually playing as well or simply watching you play and providing an audience, that makes a game much more fun; after all, it is much more fun if your friends see the awesome move that you pull off during a gaming session rather than having to explain it to them the next day. And it’s always more fun to play against your friends than just the computer because, no matter how sophisticated enemies have gotten, they aren’t real, and you can’t talk to them (well, you can, but you most likely won’t get a response. If you do, you need to put down the controller and cut back on the LSD). As for the marketing, Nintendo, of all of the major console publishers come and gone (Magnivox, Atari, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and now Microsoft) has always had the strongest fan base. There is something to their games, all of them, that makes you want more. Look at Link and Mario. Two of the most iconic figures in video games, and they have outlasted every other video game mascot that has existed. Sonic, with all of his attitude, has nothing on the plump Italian plumber with the awesome ‘stache.
2. mstarkey | May 5th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
It’s interesting to see how Nintendo has evolved over the years, but still it is marketing towards group playing with the Wii. It seems that from the group discussions that Nintendo NES was a family system, whether it was played with parents, siblings, or cousins, in many people’s early gaming careers. The commercials for the Wii that are out now, showing diverse groups of people playing, from kindergarteners to elderly folk gathering around the Wii in the nursing home, market the system to apparently anybody. I wonder how successful the Wii will actually be with older generations. Surly there will by grandparent – grandchild videogame action going on, but how many grandparents will walk down the hall and ask their buddy in 3c if they are up for a round of Super Mario Brothers Galaxy? Are there videogames that are targeted towards older generations, not older as in rated M for violence and sexual content, but a more mature game that senior citizens would be attracted to? Another question that I thought of regarding the elderly and their opinion on videogames was the issue surrounding war games. How does a grandparent feel when they watch their grandchildren play Call of Duty or Medal of Honor? For the generation that grew up during World War II, the war is often a very sensitive subject, and many families they do not even talk about it. I know my grandparents always appreciated any interest we showed in further understanding the war, but there was always this underlying feeling that we would never truly know what their experience was like. The information gathered from a book or a documentary on the History Chanel would be different from information that a young person would understand from playing a videogame. Does the idea of “playing” soldiers on a videogame disturb those who actually did have to fight to defend our country and allies? Obviously each person’s war experience was different, and everyone came away from the war with a different outlook on it, but would the average veteran approve of our youth reenacting and glorifying the war in which many of their friends lost their lives?