3rd Party Spitefulness has gotten worse

[DJGameFreakTheIguana]

A user I've spoken with for a while on youtube has recently started writing articles. I've always found many of his views on video games and a few other subjects to be informative and insightful, so I wanted to share one of them with you guys, to see what you think:
http://nubiankt.wordpress.com/2012/11/11/3rd-party-spitefulness-has-gotten-worse/

x)

[NickyP]

While the guy makes some interesting points, I will always blame Nintendo first and foremost for whatever negative image they may have.

It's kind of sad, really; Nintendo's the only reason we even have a console game industry thanks to the NES. And if you think about it, despite what 90's Sega might have told you, Nintendo was always about hardcore gaming. In fact, you probably weren't a hardcore gamer without a Nintendo system.

Go ahead. Put your mind in the context of 1988-1999, and try to tell me what mainstream hardcore games existed exclusively on non-Nintendo consoles. Because aside from Sonic the Hedgehog, everything else had an equivalent game. Vectorman? Try Megaman. Phantasy Star? Final Fantasy. Golden Axe, Streets of Rage? Final Fight, Knights of the Round, and King of Dragons. The list goes on, and everything else was most likely ported to both consoles. Sure, you might name off one or two sleeper hits that became popular due to emulation/retro-used game market, but it doesn't really matter because it's after-the-fact.

Don't get me wrong. I still love the Genesis, Sega CD, and Dreamcast as much as the next guy. In fact, when I moved out for law school, the Dreamcast was the only system I took with me! And I pretty much own every system ever! But, history shows that the victor is the one left standing when the dust clears.

And look at the SNES controller. It's the grandfather for all "hardcore" controllers, like the 360 or PS3 one. Sure, Sega upped the ante with a few more buttons in the Saturn controller (and no lie, the Saturn pad has the best d-pad in history), but you can't deny the influence the SNES controller has had in every console generation after it.

So where did Nintendo go wrong? In my opinion, they stopped being a game console. Somewhere, somehow, Nintendo decided they were going to be a karaoke machine. An exercise machine. A sports simulator. And somehow, out of no where, the king of video games reduced itself to a generic arcade machine at Chuck-E-Cheese.

The Wii has good games, sure. Maybe thirty five of them, at best. But why do the rest suck? Honestly, I blame not only Nintendo's "everyone can be a gamer!" marketing strategy, but also the damn Wiimote.

That damn Wiimote.

Call me a stubborn old man (because 25 is old now!). Say that I'm just too close-minded to accept new technology. But you will never, ever, convince me that waving my hands around in the air is better than playing with a normal controller. Never.

"But NickyP," you'll say, "you can still use a Gamecube controller! Or even a Classic controller!" Sure I can. On what, twelve of the two thousand-something games made available for the system? And that's exactly my beef with Nintendo; they have it all backwards. Somewhere in the Tokyo headquarters, at some board meeting, a lunatic intern made a crazy suggestion. "Hey guys," he said, "what if, like, we made a console that is based solely on gimmicks and has limited core gameplay, as opposed to the other way around?" The room was silent. One of the directors stood up and said, "that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life." And, unfortunately for us, the CEO's of Nintendo immediately fired that guy; because everyone else was on-board with the intern's plan.

Let's be honest here. How many of you played Skyward Sword? If I put a poll up, and asked the question, "Did you like The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword?," a good 60-75% of those polled would say "Yes." But, if I had then asked, "Would Skyward Sword have been better if you could use a Gamecube/Classic Controller?," I would bank money on the fact that 95-100% of those polled would also reply "Yes." Why am I talking about Skyward Sword? Because it is the perfect example of why Nintendo is on the poop-list of gamers like me; they had recipe for what could have been a perfect game. The story and setting, while a little goofy, worked. The music is fantastic. There was character development (even for, gasp, Link!). The locales were breath taking. So why did it all go wrong? Because the biggest obstacle in playing the damn game was the way the controls were set up. Unless you had the Wiimotion Plus, Link would very often swing in the direction you didn't swing. Furthermore, the was no way to effectively attack or block CORRECTLY, unless you sat with your back straight with perfect posture; a seating position that is extremely unfavorable for a game which easily boasts a 30+ hour play time.

I mean, damnit. Listen. I play my Wii all the time. All the time. Aside from handheld consoles, the Wii easily dominates playtime in my household. But do you know why? It's not because of Wii games. It's not even because of Gamecube games. No, it's because of the Homebrew Channel. Yeah, that's right, my Wii would be collecting dust; I probably would have sold it on eBay! But no, I still play my Wii on a regular basis (at least, as regular as it can get when you're in law school). And this would've never happened, had it not been for the Homebrew Channel. This thought is more depressing than it is ironic.

So yeah. Third party developers suddenly became evil and/or incompetent, there's no doubt about that. Sonic Team lost it's mind somewhere around 2002, Capcom has no soul, and EA/Activision/Infinity Ward/Koei/Ubisoft can't make a new game without first hitting Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V on their keyboards. Sure. But Nintendo ruined themselves. And on that note, I am 100% unsold on the Wii-U and their ridiculous gamepad. I'll only buy one when it either A) gets a Homebrew Channel, or B) has better support for, I don't know, a normal controller.

[DJGameFreakTheIguana]

A few things I gotta touch on Nickster:

In fact, you probably weren't a hardcore gamer without a Nintendo system.

I was a very hardcore gamer without it, and all I had was the Genesis with many of the games that it's characters are now featured in Sega Brawlers. My first new console wasn't until the N64, but the fact remains I was hardcore gaming way before that. 

Go ahead. Put your mind in the context of 1988-1999, and try to tell me what mainstream hardcore games existed exclusively on non-Nintendo consoles. Because aside from Sonic the Hedgehog, everything else had an equivalent game. Vectorman? Try Megaman. Phantasy Star? Final Fantasy. Golden Axe, Streets of Rage? Final Fight, Knights of the Round, and King of Dragons. The list goes on, and everything else was most likely ported to both consoles.

That's almost a fact with all gaming usually.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

The user is very hateful of this title, and these two links show why. First, a very funny music video that got a non-fan like me, who's only played 4 swords, to play Link to the past(on my wii via HBC):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhBUTjcP9a8

The second link(both passed to me by the same guy), is a VERY long article about why Aonuma shouldn't have been hired for the Zelda series, and again, being a non-fan of the series, I understood the points clearly:
https://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2011/07/14/aonuma-should-never-have-been-hired-by-nintendo/

On another note, I was really baffled last year when the Zelda series took the first spot in Video game Hall of Fame at the Video game awards last year. How the hell did Link beat Mario and Sonic to that spot, as well as more deserving franchises(KOF is more deserving at this point, lol)?

I agree on pretty much all else you said man. 

EDIT:
Forgot this:

Sonic Team lost it's mind somewhere around 2002

My guy has a theory about that. Apparently there's is, or was, two branches of Sega: Sega of America and Sega of Japan. I've heard from him and other sources that there was a conflict between them, which may have resulted in Sonic X-Treme for Sega Saturn getting canceled. SoA went on to make Sonic Adventure 1, 2, and Shadow, while SoJ made Heroes and every game since shadow. I like all the main 3D titles on major consoles, but I'm aware the quality went up and down between games, and the way they are now is of because of SoJ(and rabid fanboy, including unprofessional reviewers), but I also heard they fired SoA(the game branch maybe? dunno exactly who). There's also the theory of Sammy taking over Sega from behind the scenes and having them make games according to what they want. Nether of us can find more info on that, but here's the guys view on the Japanese side of gaming development: http://nubiankt.wordpress.com/2012/11/09/the-japanese-dont-seem-to-care-about-the-west-anymore/

In my own view of sonic, I really don't feel that good, not just about the latest 3 games, although generations and Sonic 4 EP2 are ok to me, but the fanbase as well. I don't need to write more about that since I already did Saturday:
http://fav.me/d5lex90
http://fav.me/d5lfm3l

x)

[NickyP]

I was a very hardcore gamer without it, and all I had was the Genesis with many of the games that it's characters are now featured in Sega Brawlers. My first new console wasn't until the N64, but the fact remains I was hardcore gaming way before that. 

We're just gonna have to agree to disagree on that one.  After all, our Nintendo Vs Sega debate is what ended up having the ShoutBox removed! Remember that?

You have to give me credit though. I anticipated this would happen, and that's why I put the word "probably" in that sentence! 

The second link(both passed to me by the same guy), is a VERY long article about why Aonuma shouldn't have been hired for the Zelda series, and again, being a non-fan of the series, I understood the points clearly:
https://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2011/07/14/aonuma-should-never-have-been-hired-by-nintendo/

Eh, I'm not gonna lie, I kind of disagree with him. I get the whole "not credentialed to make video games in any way whatsoever" argument, but... Modern Zelda itself isn't really bad. I'll admit that when I saw Link riding a train in Spirit Tracks, I called BS so hard that the neighbors probably called the cops on me. But then I played it, and... I dunno, it just worked. Like, it made sense, in a way. Sure, it transformed Link's world from celtic fantasy to steampunk with swords, but it still had a way of making you like it. My beef with Zelda isn't so much the setting and such, it's the controls. My complaint with Zelda is pretty much the same with Sonic; I almost don't even care what you do with it anymore, just make it play right!

My guy has a theory about that. Apparently there's is, or was, two branches of Sega: Sega of America and Sega of Japan. I've heard from him and other sources that there was a conflict between them, which may have resulted in Sonic X-Treme for Sega Saturn getting canceled. SoA went on to make Sonic Adventure 1, 2, and Shadow, while SoJ made Heroes and every game since shadow. I like all the main 3D titles on major consoles, but I'm aware the quality went up and down between games, and the way they are now is of because of SoJ(and rabid fanboy, including unprofessional reviewers), but I also heard they fired SoA(the game branch maybe? dunno exactly who). There's also the theory of Sammy taking over Sega from behind the scenes and having them make games according to what they want. Nether of us can find more info on that, but here's the guys view on the Japanese side of gaming development: http://nubiankt.wordpress.com/2012/11/09/the-japanese-dont-seem-to-care-about-the-west-anymore/

In my own view of sonic, I really don't feel that good, not just about the latest 3 games, although generations and Sonic 4 EP2 are ok to me, but the fanbase as well. I don't need to write more about that since I already did Saturday:
http://fav.me/d5lex90
http://fav.me/d5lfm3l

x)

The only scuffle I ever heard about Sega of America & Japan was over Eggman's name... I thought that, aside from Sonic CD's soundtrack, they worked together on the games. I wouldn't be surprised though. I also thought Sonic X-Treme failed because of Yuji Naka leaving Sonic Team? ... Or was that how NiGHTS was created? Hell if I know anymore...

You know, I hated Sonic 4: Episode 1. And the Classic half of Sonic Generations was more of an insult than anything else**. But Sonic 4: Episode 2... I don't know. It's like, one step below the Sonic Advance(s), which IMO was a few steps below Genesis Sonics. I think you and I have talked this portion to death, but I'm not quite sure what would fix Sonic anymore; if he even needs fixing. I think it's Sonic Team that needs the fixing.

You know what I don't get? The New Super Mario Bros games are in 2.5D, and they play exactly like Super Mario Bros 3 on the NES. Nintendo got it right, why can't Sega? They can whine that the source code was lost, but for crying out loud, Sonic Retro reverse engineered the entirety of Sonic 1. Hell, The Taxman completely reproduced the same damn physics that EVERYONE wants! Why do they persist on merely putting duct tape on crappy engine (S4:1) to make it just mediocre (S4:2)? The skeleton of the game we've been waiting for is sitting on their desk in the form of Sonic CD 2011! Use it, damn you!

** Just thought I'd clarify this. I really liked Sonic Generations; I own both the HD and 3DS versions. And I also really enjoyed playing as Classic Sonic more than Modern Sonic. The problem is, Classic felt more like a speedier Mario than Sonic. The levels were aesthetically gorgeous and by far should be the standard for future games in the series but... Listen. When I play a Sonic game, and I'm running downhill, and I stop holding forward and instead hold down, I expect to roll. And not just any roll, a continuous roll, that gains momentum and speed the longer I roll down the hill. Do you know why I have that expectation? Because Sega named that part of the game Classic Sonic. Now what do you think my reaction was in Generations when I realized that rolling made you decelerate and stop? It sounded something like:

"Of all the [beep] [beep] [beep] in ONE GAME that Sega could have [beep] done right, they had to [beep] it all up with their [beep] lazy [beep] bull [beep]. ONE GAME, that's all I want, ONE GAME that plays like a real [beep] Sonic game!"

You should have seen the look on my face when I realized that the 3DS version was even worse; Classic Sonic played exactly like his Genesis counter part, but the level design sucked so bad that it didn't even matter.