Miyamoto: Games are too long

[neorichieb1971]

Its all in the shareholders hands now.

Since gaming went mainstream, its all about profits for those shareholders who may or may not have any games at all.

Miyamoto can sing all he wants, but the fact is that marketing, sequels and violence sells to the masses. Even EA carry more weight in the industry now than Nintendo. Nintendo are only a major force in the industry because they own 90% of the handheld market. Without that Gamecube would never of happened.

[Andi]

Why have more when you can have less. I'd rather quit because I'm tired of playing, rather than because there is nothing left for me to do.

Do you reguarly walk out of movies before they're over? You can always replay a game if you wish.

Why replay when you don't have to? Instead of replaying, why not just have more content. The more game play I can get for my dollar, the better.

[llabnip]

I agree that games need to be shorter.

I'm coming at things a bit differently (as usual). I prefer really classic games - games that generally have no end and progress is measured in score (discounting continues). These games generally had no end point... unless the score algorithm causes the game to freeze when you hit something like 999999.

For example, I just got Sega Ages - Memorial Vol 1 for the Saturn... games like Up-N-Down, Pengo and Flicky still hold amazing gameplay. There is just a repeating set of levels with an ever increasing challenge. To me, the best of those kinds of games are amazingly addictive. Fortunately even some modern shooters offer infinite loops beyond the first... so those fall into the same category as the classic arcade games of old.

Then again, I do like the occasional RPG... but that's because I love the story driven genre as a good break from the arcade titles (the battle systems often very repetitive in any given good RPG so it's story, characters, lush and colorful 2D graphics and lots of music and sound effects that make an RPG for me). I don't mind if an RPG is long (with a definitive ending), so long as it remains engaging...

[FatCobra]

I respect Miyamoto-san, but nowadays I think he has gone loopy because things aren't the way he wanted them to be.

I used to be such a Nintendo fanboy too. Hell, I've even bashed Sega and thought Mario could kick Sonic's ass. But after the N64, I lost faith in them. After all, who the hell still uses cartridges when everyone is using CDs. I was also a big RPG fan, so the lack of RPGs on the N64 was a major disappointment. So I bought a Playstation and lost the fanboy mentality. I still love Nintendo, but I think they don't carry the weight they used to 10-20 years ago.

[PaCrappa]

Its all in the shareholders hands now.

Since gaming went mainstream, its all about profits for those shareholders who may or may not have any games at all.

Miyamoto can sing all he wants, but the fact is that marketing, sequels and violence sells to the masses. Even EA carry more weight in the industry now than Nintendo. Nintendo are only a major force in the industry because they own 90% of the handheld market. Without that Gamecube would never of happened.

I like how people always make Nintendo out to be just one lucky cunthair away from failure. Like they lucked into Gameboy money and have no idea what they're doing. And then the Gamecube fell from the sky because of all that good luck. And somehow, by sheer luck I suppose, they managed to make money off the thing and now, luckily, they get to stagger into the next generation in which they will surely fail in the eyes of internet goers. Whilst, luckily, making hundreds of millions of dollars yet carrying no weight in the industry.

Pa

[SheSaidDutch]

Nintendo need 3rd party support

From the lack of 3rd party titles we're had the N64 and Gamecube

I bought my gamecube 2 years ago and still only have 3 games for it, I also haven't touched the cube in nearly that much time. MO

[sethsez]

Miyamoto can sing all he wants, but the fact is that marketing, sequels and violence sells to the masses.

People also want good games, and Nintendo hasn't been providing them like they used to. Super Mario Sunshine was a letdown, as was Wind Waker. Metroid Prime was great, but Echoes was terrible (on the GBA, Zero Mission was good and Fusion was mediocre). F-Zero GX was fun but lacked a lot of what made F-Zero special, in my opinion. Then there's Nintendo's constant whoring of Mario, and the fact that the marquee entries into Nintendo's two biggest series, Mario and Zelda, were both rushed out the door (and Sunshine wound up being one of the buggiest games in Nintendo's history).

These days, Nintendo releases average to above-average games, but nothing spectacular. Instead of Miyamoto bitching about where other companies are taking the industry, maybe he should look inward at the rushed, formulaic games they've been turning out. People expect more from Nintendo.

[raiden]

Why replay when you don't have to? Instead of replaying, why not just have more content. The more game play I can get for my dollar, the better.

tell me a game you can play your whole life without resorting to replay. Well, maybe Morrowind, if your savefile doesn´t get corrupted and you don´t get bored to death after seeing the 99th cave done generic style.

Then there are those funny little shmups lasting only 20 minutes, some of which I have been playing for over 10 years. So I know for sure more content doesn not equal more longevity. It´s quality content without any artifical stretches in between that equals longevity.

Regarding Nintendo, I like their sticking to cartridges with the N64, the system had other weaknesses. The one thing I can´t stand is seeing Mario all over the place. I never really liked the character, but accepted his presence because of the great games he was in. Trying to sell mediocre games just with this character, however, doesn´t work, at least not for me.

[jp]

Its all in the shareholders hands now.

Since gaming went mainstream, its all about profits for those shareholders who may or may not have any games at all.

Miyamoto can sing all he wants, but the fact is that marketing, sequels and violence sells to the masses. Even EA carry more weight in the industry now than Nintendo. Nintendo are only a major force in the industry because they own 90% of the handheld market. Without that Gamecube would never of happened.

I like how people always make Nintendo out to be just one lucky cunthair away from failure. Like they lucked into Gameboy money and have no idea what they're doing. And then the Gamecube fell from the sky because of all that good luck. And somehow, by sheer luck I suppose, they managed to make money off the thing and now, luckily, they get to stagger into the next generation in which they will surely fail in the eyes of internet goers. Whilst, luckily, making hundreds of millions of dollars yet carrying no weight in the industry.

Pa

I agree.

If it doesn't make money, Nintendo won't do it. Nintendo made money off the Gamecube, Nintendo is making money of the DS, and I imagine Nintendo will make money off of the Revolution.

Nintendo may have the least market share, but they're at least making more money off of gaming than MS (maybe Sony? I don't know.)

[Dartagnan1083]

I agree with him. 50+ hours for an RPG is too fucking long. The stories ALWAYS suck, so who cares? Give me a good battle system, good characters, some fun stuff to find, crappy story, make it under 30 hours, and I'm happy.

I spent over 90 hours with Dark Cloud 2,
and I'm still not finished.
This is all on the same save file.
Plenty to enjoy there, even with a plotline that's horrid compared to Final Fantasy.

I'm guessing most of those 90 hours were spent leveling up your weapons?

yeah, mostly the swords.
It's really nice to have one that kills Zelmite King-Mimmics in 8 hits.
Then there's the scoop hunting, and badge gathering.
I'm supprised nobody caught my jab at Final Fantasy's plotlines.


But anyway...
There are some long games that I end up putting down to start another title. But if it's really good, I always go back.
I understand what kind of game Miyamotto wants...but after he created WIND WAKER and OoT I find it hard not to think of him as somewhat of a hypocrite.
OoT was actually one of the games I stopped playing in the middle and didn't finish untill a year later.

[Andi]

Tell me a game you can play your whole life without resorting to replay. Well, maybe Morrowind, if your savefile doesn´t get corrupted and you don´t get bored to death after seeing the 99th cave done generic style.

Then there are those funny little shmups lasting only 20 minutes, some of which I have been playing for over 10 years. So I know for sure more content doesn not equal more longevity. It´s quality content without any artifical stretches in between that equals longevity.

Quality always rules over quantity, however, a long game full of quality game play is a better value than a short game full of quality game play.

[Darkcomet72]

Miyamoto hasn't created a game since Super Mario 64.

The saddest part of all this is that Miyamoto has great potential, he just never uses it.

[sethsez]

Miyamoto hasn't created a game since Super Mario 64.

Pikmin?

[Marc]

Quality always rules over quantity, however, a long game full of quality game play is a better value than a short game full of quality game play.

Unless of course, you don't physically have the time to see the end of either. Or in my case, I'd rather see the end of the short game than abandon the long game halfway through. It's the sense of achievement ya know?

[benstylus]

I say make em shorter and cheaper.

If you want a long game, make it incremental like the dot hack games, but $20-$30 each instead of $50.

I just don't have time for 80 hour epic quests anymore...

[Kiken]

After all, who the hell still uses cartridges when everyone is using CDs.

SNK/SNK-P