News is that Nintendo want to appeal to more of a “core” market with their next console, set to be announced at next weeks E3 in Los Angeles.
Sorry, what “core” gamers? You mean like “hardcore” or is this another element of pigeon holing? It’s not the first time we’ve heard Nintendo say this, they used the phrase at last years E3 and if memory serves me correctly, they also used it at the previous one. They’ve used the term to announce titles such as Sin & Punishment 2, and yet the belief is that somehow the Wii (and DS) are for “casual” gamers, I’m not entirely sure where that comes from, was the Ps2 deemed as such because it had so much shovelware? No, it wasn’t. So why the Wii and DS? Because the presumably have a lack of “core/hardcore” games, no the reason is because those consoles lack a certain amount of games that are currently being hoovered up by the masses, those being online multiplayer based first person shooters. The best titles to own on Nintendo platforms are generally the same sorts of games that have generally always been the best sorts of games to own on Nintendo platforms, namely those designed and developed by Nintendo, with a few exceptions from the likes of Capcom and more recently the madness of a genius like Suda51.
How are games like Super Mario Galaxy/Mario Galaxy 2, Mario Kart Wii, New Super Mario Bros Wii, Monster Hunter Tri, Donkey Kong Country Returns, No More Heroes, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and the aforementioned Sin & Punishment 2 any less “hardcore” than Call of Duty: Black Ops, Halo: Reach, Mass Effect or my personal current addictions, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together or Frozen Synapse? They’re really not, admittedly most of them aren’t far off what we were playing last generation and in some cases the generation before that, but most of the games I listed that were regarded as “core” titles are very similar to games that PC games (and console gamers for that matter) have also been playing for years.
What about on the other side of the coin, why is the Wii considered Casual for having Just Dance, when the XBox 360 has Dance Central and Sony have been producing games in the Sing It series since the middle of the PlayStation 2′s lifespan? Why is it okay for “core” gamers to accept and adore Rock Band but not accept any of those titles? It’s hypocrisy really, bought on by a need to feel better than somebody else or belong to a certain group of people and is fueled by marketing types that are pretty much telling you how you should behave if you want to belong to a certain group.
Maybe its the fact I’m turning 27 that makes me feel like this, maybe its that because I’ve grown up with videogames I feel comfortable with them being a part of my life and am happy to see people playing a wide variety of games on various platforms. Prior to the two of us coming together, my fiance dabbled in whatever games came her way, be it platformers bought for her brother on their PlayStation or sinking hours into The Sims, she had cravings for Zelda: Majora’s Mask from what she’s told me, but the pricing of Nintendo’s cartridges at the time meant she never got to play it.
Why don’t we try and pigeonhole her? She’s a big fan of Fantasy based Western RPG’s like Oblivion, Dragon Age and Lord of the Rings Online, to name only 3, she had a mild addiction to playing Rainbow Six (Black Arrow on the original XBox and Vegas 1 on the 360) but she also finds alot of enjoyment in what has been deemed “casual” titles like Farmville (she enjoyed it enough that she talked me into starting a farm to help her out and I must admit for a while I enjoyed it, but soon grew bored of doing the same thing all the time, as did she). In short, most people look at something and immediately think its not for them because it doesn’t really fit in with things they’ve already established is to their liking, they’ll take a risk from time to time, but only if someone they know has somehow deemed it okay to do so, i.e. its a security thing amongst their peers/community.
Fuck that, embrace all you see, try it once, it won’t hurt. I used to be almost afraid of food, I stuck to frozen products that I already knew I liked because I’d always eaten them. Frozen pizza, frozen pork sausages (only pork), frozen joints of meat etc, obviously I cooked them. As I became more comfortable with myself (and I genuinely think moving away from my home town may have helped with that) I started to experiment more, now if I go to Subway I ask for olives and peppers if I have a Steak and Cheese sub, it may not seem like a big deal to you, but it is to me. In our food cupboards we have jars full of pulses that we soak (not the jars, the pulses… duh) and mix in with foods, nothing beats adding chick pea’s to a curry or lentils to a pot roast! If I can help it, I’ll cook with Scotch Bonnet Peppers, Ginger, Lime or various other things which add flavours and scents to my food.
And I’m the same with my media consumption, something like Frozen Synapse would have probably passed me by completely if I’d only gotten properly into videogames with this generation, although obviously I can’t say that for definate. But what I’m really trying to say is that we limit what we expose ourselves too much (and by that I’m not encouraging anyone to go outside and expose themselves publicly, thats illegal) and its about time we shed labels and just enjoyed what people are trying to offer us!
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