Recently I was on a night zapping surprised by a flashy Nintendo-advertising, which the roguish plumber Mario through the image frolicked. The mustachioed Nintendo icon hopte happily from planet to planet, and I rubbed my eyes. I swore to myself that I this advertisement is already long knew… And indeed, it was advertising for Mario Galaxy for Wii; the Nintendo hit at the end of 2007.
It is telling that Nintendo on tv advertises with the gamehit a year ago. It says something about the demand for core Nintendo gamers’ , this autumn. Thanks to the introduction of the Wii and the DS Lite Nintendo has a completely new audience is tapped. Newcomers, families, young gamers and homemakers – they have fun with Wii Sports or stand giggling to hupsen on the Balance Board from WiiFit. It was and is a brilliant move by Nintendo and when it comes to hardware sales, let the Japanese giant Microsoft and Sony still laughing behind him. But the faithful supporters, the Nintendo apostles that the company for years to follow and play anything the company releases, this year in the cold. For them, Nintendo has a dramatic autumn line-up.
Could the avid gamer and the seasoned Nintendo player last year that started with Mario Galaxy and Metroid, this year is the cry with the cap on. Now, come not with titles like Wii Music and Animal Crossing; the Nintendo fan in denial spits may be that he is this games ‘fantastic!’, but his heart is crying. A small ray of hope is still there, with the highly entertaining game Wario: The Shake Dimension. The coin-hungry cute bad guy can hold his own in this stunning 2D adventure, but the game is not of the caliber of Metroid, Zelda or Mario. Wario is, how annoying, a B-star from the Nintendo stable, and that’s where we have this year.
And then Wii Music. I think there are enough gamers that it’s quite a nice game, but it is a very non-committal zwiep-there-but-at-los-and-make-music-title. With the knowledge that Rock Band, Guitar Hero: World Tour and Boogie for the Wii are available, you have in my view three muziekgames that many times more fun than Wii Music.
In the framework of a special Gameweek, I was asked a number of columns to write for the website of radio station 3FM. One of them consisted of a personal top ten with najaarstoppers. There was not a single Nintendo title between and there, I was shocked very much. Last year I saw how Nintendo its wings in the width of the water, but I was still at home with Zelda on the DS and Mario on the Wii. This year, the Wii there is a little bit quiet, while my Xbox 360 and PS3 work overtime.
Hopefully 2009 will be a better year for the Wii gamer who wants more than partygames and familyfun. But maybe the Wii, and only have a partygames and familyfun-console. I hope I am not, of course, but Nintendo will from a commercial point of view his strategy, however, does not change. I stay there so that the Japanese empire, a part of the audience in the Christmas and Christmas season very hard in the let. And that is a gross scandal!