Generation VII confirmed!

[Blockhead Pippi]

It's not the adoption that worries me. It's the possibility of gradually shifting their focus onto it fully, that the apps no longer become complimentary and become Nintendo's primary focus. The fact that they want to treat it as a "pillar" of revenue makes that all the more concerning. Iwata seemed adamant on the stance that they would just be complimentary, Kimishima sounds like he wants to take it to the next level and beyond. If we ever get to a point where Nintendo shifts their focus onto that wholly, then I'll give up altogether on Nintendo then.

 

[PurplePopplio]

Wait, where did they confirm that only Zelda will be shown at E3?

Also, it looks like Nintendo is finally creating their own info schedule. E3 shouldn't be the big one where the biggest news has to appear. I am glad that this isn't the norm anymore for Nintendo.

 

[Peachy]

Wait, where did they confirm that only Zelda will be shown at E3?

They had a press release today announcing their E3 plans. In it they stated that there would be a treehouse live stream of Zelda during their usual time that they do press conferences/digital events.

 

[Mitchman]

With no E3 coverage of other games, lack of SM info is even more baffling. Its gonna start now, sure, but if they go back to just monthly updates around the 15th I'd be shocked.

 

[Falconwing]

When will devs learn that a smash bros dojo style of updates is the best thing ever?

 

[Cainhxrst]

I'm kind of surprised they haven't dropped a trailer or press release yet. By this time next week it's possible the leaks will be out. Eh I guess there's still time for them to do something earlier in the week.

 

[PurplePopplio]

They had a press release today announcing their E3 plans. In it they stated that there would be a treehouse live stream of Zelda during their usual time that they do press conferences/digital events.

Just more secrecy...

 

[Desdar300]

They could have looked strong by being assertive and not going to E3, but this makes them look pathetic and weak in front of the competition. I honestly can't be bothered with all these bad\odd choices but I'll say this, the clock is ticking gentleman and when S\M is basically your holiday sales one would think you would want to talk about them to deviate people from all this negativity.

 

[Robo-Floatzel]

What about Nintendo adopting the mobile market is worrying? It's a completely logical business decision based on industry trends and they certainly have not slacked off on their core console and handheld pillars. If anything, having success in mobile means Nintendo is continuing to grow and develop new audiences.

It's not the adoption that worries me. It's the possibility of gradually shifting their focus onto it fully, that the apps no longer become complimentary and become Nintendo's primary focus. The fact that they want to treat it as a "pillar" of revenue makes that all the more concerning. Iwata seemed adamant on the stance that they would just be complimentary, Kimishima sounds like he wants to take it to the next level and beyond. If we ever get to a point where Nintendo shifts their focus onto that wholly, then I'll give up altogether on Nintendo then.

Agreed, I really hope Nintendo doesn't go the way Sega did and stopped making consoles altogether just to pander to the mobile game market. While Nintendo entering the mobile market has it's benefits, it also has it's costs, and one must look at both sides of the argument. The mobile market is known for being quite controversial among gamers for both being considered too casual, too cheaply made and low quality, and being more focused on sucking people's money out through mandatory micro-transactions that make the games function more like a slot machine than an actual video game. To put it simply, they would be putting quantity over quality. It also doesn't help that most mobile games are known for being extremely cheap to produce as opposed to putting millions of dollars into creating a quality game that everyone can enjoy, which would be abandoned in favor of creating something that has no replay value and people would stop playing after a few months.

This is what many people fear will happen to the Pokemon franchise given things like Shuffle and Rumble World, as well as the upcoming Pokemon Go. Nintendo has always been the kind of company that sticks to it's guns and retains to the status-quo of the gaming industry rather than relying more on trendy things that will eventually die out. If Nintendo was to abandon consoles and handhelds completely in favor of mobile devices, it would be a very suicidal move for the company.

 

[zoroarctic]

Since we have nothing else, I'll allow this conversational train for now.

What about Nintendo adopting the mobile market is worrying? It's a completely logical business decision based on industry trends and they certainly have not slacked off on their core console and handheld pillars. If anything, having success in mobile means Nintendo is continuing to grow and develop new audiences.

Let me preface this by stating I don't follow the ins and outs of the video game business, so this may not be an apples to apples comparison.

Nintendo's attempt to tap into the mobile market kind of seems like NFL's attempt to expand into Europe. Rather than continuing to maximize the lane they're already in, they seem to be trying to create a new one that a lot of people may not want to drive through. Just my $0.02. I could be totally wrong.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I'm sure that we'll still get some Sun/Moon news during E3. The Zelda Wii U will be the main focus, but I sincerely doubt that they'll do nothing else, especially when Sun/Moon are the biggest releases Nintendo has for this year.

I am a bit disappointed that we haven't gotten a Pokemon Direct announcement yet. I was hopeful we'd get one before CoroCoro leaks and there is still some time for that. The earliest leaks will come out would be five days from now, so there is still time for them to set up a Pokemon Direct. If not, at least we're that much closer to CoroCoro leaks. I'm still hoping for something really good from the issue and hopefully no more trolling kind of responses.

 

[godiego]

Let me preface this by stating I don't follow the ins and outs of the video game business, so this may not be an apples to apples comparison.

Nintendo's attempt to tap into the mobile market kind of seems like NFL's attempt to expand into Europe. Rather than continuing to maximize the lane they're already in, they seem to be trying to create a new one that a lot of people may not want to drive through. Just my $0.02. I could be totally wrong.

i don't think that'd be the best comparison. the NFL expanding into Europe is silly and illogical because American Football has never had much following outside of the US (aside from some niche-y followings in Canada, Mexico, and Japan). Nintendo branching into mobile gaming was/is an inevitability; follow the money and follow the gamers. handheld consoles are doomed to die out. historically, they've been somewhat of an anomaly that was largely dominated by Nintendo (co-dominated with Sony during the DS-PSP era) because they have a large stable of IPs that they can more or less guarantee will appear at least once on each console, thus ensuring there are decent games to buy, and thus securing sales. the ubiquitous nature of smartphones, tablets, and phablets encroaches on handheld consoles' unique niche of "play games on the go." not to mention their more practical and accessible multimedia capabilities. ultimately phones (&co) replacing dedicated handheld gaming consoles is a case of creative destruction. i do suppose it's possible for Nintendo to substantially slow it, although that would kinda require them to be a little less gimmicky in their handhelds.

 

[Fairy Type Arceus]

No just watch the info this month is perfect zygardes stats and typing and that he'll be in the game. Then nothing for E3 and no noteworthy info in Junes corcoro either.

What if their marketing plan this time is to have no marketing and keep the game a total surprise.

 

[Pepsi Perfect]

I am quite well aware of the video game crash ...

I never said that you weren't aware of them, I simply thought that they were relevant. My points about longevity, the respect of consoles despite them doing poorly business-wise, and risk taking over stagnation still stand.

As for Kimishima's statement, I will admit I was not aware of that, and I can't really tell you not to be worried about it. I personally think that Nintendo's possible decision to create good mobile games, and move some of their resources to it, was going to happen eventually; I don't think it is worrying though, because even if the games are good or whatever, I don't see why that would have to detract from their console focus. If Miyamoto's in on the efforts, how bad can they be? But I guess for this, we will just have to wait and see.

I'm not too up to speed on the NX, but I also think that they will be fine for that, because Nintendo is normally willing to spend a lot of money on marketing. Or, they could push its release date back, but I don't think anyone wants that. That's another thing we'll just have to wait for.

And I still don't think that the Wii U has been given up on. If that were the case, why bother with Zelda and Paper Mario at all? Why continue to provide wifi support? To me, it looks like they just want to, I don't know, get up to speed. But I guess we can just agree to disagree.

Agreed, I really hope Nintendo doesn't go the way Sega did ...

Sega stopped making consoles because they were broke, not to pander to a (then non existent) mobile market. While I can see the negatives regarding Nintendo's possible entrance to the mobile market, I think you're talking worst case scenarios. A best case scenario is Nintendo revolutionising the mobile market and making quality, lightweight games the norm. But I think the most likely thing is that they will keep their mobile focus separate from their console focus. There's nothing wrong with microtransactions in a mobile game, as long as they are done right. Neko Atsume is a good example of this, and I think Shuffle is okay, too, in that you're not forced to pay. Because in the case of Shuffle, it is a spin off game that is not meant to hold your attention for that long, anyway. Most people would only play it every couple of hours or once a day, even without microtransactions. As long as their main focus is on the console market, then I don't see the problem with them having the option for Shuffle and similar games.

Shuffle, Rumble World and Go are all spin off games that will never rival a real Pokemon game. That was never their purpose, and nobody expected otherwise. I think that them abandoning consoles completely is highly unlikely, because yes, it would be a very suicidal move. But they know that. So I doubt that it would happen. Their mobile games will likely be, outside of possible IP usage, largely separate. The quality of Pokemon games won't change as a result of this, anyway, because Pokemon exists largely outside of Nintendo.

If them shifting some focus to the mobile market allows them to have more resources to work on their consoles and handhelds, I'm all for it.

 

[Blockhead Pippi]

If Miyamoto's in on the efforts, how bad can they be? But I guess for this, we will just have to wait and see.

That's the one thing I'm happy about. Miyamoto has lost so much touch with modern gaming and forces gimmicks onto us that it's actually better to put him in mobile and away from consoles. =P

 

[Peachy]

Maybe mobile is a good place for Miyamoto. I love what he's done for video games, but some of the more recent projects he was involved with ( Paper Mario Sticker Star and Star Fox Zero) I'd argue didn't benefit from his tampering.

 

[zoroarctic]

i don't think that'd be the best comparison. the NFL expanding into Europe is silly and illogical because American Football has never had much following outside of the US (aside from some niche-y followings in Canada, Mexico, and Japan). Nintendo branching into mobile gaming was/is an inevitability; follow the money and follow the gamers. handheld consoles are doomed to die out. historically, they've been somewhat of an anomaly that was largely dominated by Nintendo (co-dominated with Sony during the DS-PSP era) because they have a large stable of IPs that they can more or less guarantee will appear at least once on each console, thus ensuring there are decent games to buy, and thus securing sales. the ubiquitous nature of smartphones, tablets, and phablets encroaches unique niche of "play games on the go." not to mention their more practical and accessible multimedia capabilities. ultimately phones (&co) replacing dedicated handheld gaming consoles is a case of creative destruction. i do suppose it's possible for Nintendo to substantially slow it, although that would kinda require them to be a little less gimmicky in their handhelds.

This is obviously beyond my comprehension. I'll stick to discussing what I know.

 

[firepanda]

Mobile is the sensible business decision. Nintendo isn't in the handheld market: the handheld market is kept alive by Nintendo. While handhelds are stagnant and traditional console games are a very mature market with little growth, the mobile market has displayed huge growth (although I can't speak for Japan).

The only point of contention is mobile's much less predictable. We know that parents are going to buy their kids the next Pokemon game at Christmas when they see it in the shop window. It's much harder to get parents to buy their kids a game when it's at an online store or an in-game purchase.

Despite this, considering that mobile games are very similar to handhelds, Nintendo has a stock of very strong IPs and loyal fans that will cross over with them, it makes perfect business sense. I don't like it, but it's inevitable.

 

[Hidden Mew]

No just watch the info this month is perfect zygardes stats and typing and that he'll be in the game. Then nothing for E3 and no noteworthy info in Junes corcoro either.

What if their marketing plan this time is to have no marketing and keep the game a total surprise.

That would be pretty terrible. I know there would be more people excited about Zygarde than there were for Magearna's type confirmation, but not having any solid news about the game for that long would really be frustrating. I don't think it's backfire completely. They could probably afford not saying anything about the games and Sun/Moon would still sell like hotcakes because Pokemon. Even so, I don't think withholding information for long periods of time is really the best marketing plan. Sure, you can surprise your fans more by showing less, but you do need to show them something to get them more invested in the game. I don't know if that many people would want to walk into a Pokemon game that blind to where you don't know anything about the characters, region, the starters or any of the new Pokemon. Knowing at least a little bit about the game would be a better tease than keeping the games a mystery until they come out.

In regards to the mobile discussion, I'm not too familiar with mobile games or Nintendo's financial condition, so I might not be able to add much there. As long as they don't ditch their handheld systems for mobile games or anything too huge like that, I don't mind. It does make sense to branch out there from a business perspective and there are titles that people would enjoy playing on their phones, but it personally doesn't interest me that much. I'm kind of old fashioned where still use my smartphone primarily as a phone and I use my 3DS when I want to play a video game. If they can do both mobile and handheld system games, then that would work for me.

 

[Tuoko]

I'm sure that we'll still get some Sun/Moon news during E3. The Zelda Wii U will be the main focus, but I sincerely doubt that they'll do nothing else, especially when Sun/Moon are the biggest releases Nintendo has for this year.

I am a bit disappointed that we haven't gotten a Pokemon Direct announcement yet. I was hopeful we'd get one before CoroCoro leaks and there is still some time for that. The earliest leaks will come out would be five days from now, so there is still time for them to set up a Pokemon Direct. If not, at least we're that much closer to CoroCoro leaks. I'm still hoping for something really good from the issue and hopefully no more trolling kind of responses.

E3 is Zelda only according to what we have. Aside from having Zelda being the only playable game, they're doing away with the usual live-show (Direct or Digital Event) for an all-day Zelda livestream.

Though that doesn't mean TPCi and/or Game Freak can't release a batch of information relating to Pokemon / have a Pokemon Direct in June.

No just watch the info this month is perfect zygardes stats and typing and that he'll be in the game. Then nothing for E3 and no noteworthy info in Junes corcoro either.

What if their marketing plan this time is to have no marketing and keep the game a total surprise.

I'm sure you're joking, but that reminds me. Why do some think they'll reveal the stats of a Pokemon? We only find that out ourselves when the games release. Aside from that... We already know of Zygarde Complete Forme's typing - it's Dragon/Ground.