I am a customer...

stealth toilet

Moderator
And I do not agree with this at all.

I have been saying this for some time, but customers are not interested in grand games with higher-quality graphics and sound and epic stories.

- February 2004; Hiroshi Yamauchi


I was just reading a brief history of Nintendo statements at IGN, and this quote stuck out like a sore thumb. As a customer of Nintendo, and I want specifically better graphics, better sound, and epic stories. That is almost exactly what I'm looking for in a videogame. To hear Yamauchi say this just tells me that his philosophy about videogaming differentiates greatly from mine, and if this fundamental belief is completely opposite, it just makes it that much harder for me to get excited of the Revolution. I think this guy needs to actually talk to a couple customers before he says something like this.
 
stealth toilet said:
And I do not agree with this at all.




I was just reading a brief history of Nintendo statements at IGN, and this quote stuck out like a sore thumb. As a customer of Nintendo, and I want specifically better graphics, better sound, and epic stories. That is almost exactly what I'm looking for in a videogame. To hear Yamauchi say this just tells me that his philosophy about videogaming differentiates greatly from mine, and if this fundamental belief is completely opposite, it just makes it that much harder for me to get excited of the Revolution. I think this guy needs to actually talk to a couple customers before he says something like this.
wow... that is definitely an odd quote.

that guy made a statement "against" what Nintendo is all about.
.. higher quality games.

NOW, they did say that graphics aren't everything... and they strive for a great story line.....
They should strive to make EVERY aspect of the game good.



†B†V† :hat
 
Well, the way Nintendo are going graphic-wise isn't too bad anyway. They're above Sony, very close to Microsoft. I dunno how the Revolution will compare, but hopefully it'll be the same pattern.

Graphics don't really mean a thing to me though, so i'm ok with Nintendo's approach.
 
Retro Hero said:
Well, the way Nintendo are going graphic-wise isn't too bad anyway. They're above Sony, very close to Microsoft. I dunno how the Revolution will compare, but hopefully it'll be the same pattern.

Graphics don't really mean a thing to me though, so i'm ok with Nintendo's approach.
This is not a Nintendo fanboy comment... but yet, technically the Xbox SUPPOSIVELY can handle better graphics... but they haven't show it... plus their colors are darker.

I believe this is a big reason Msoft is changing over to ATI on their next system.

The Gamecube rivals the best graphics to date, and I haven't seen anything on the Xbox that has really impressed me (meaning a little more than the Gamecube).

Nintendo has always looked good. I doubt they'll ever give that up. CRAP... look how awesome the water in Mario Sunshine was.
Mario sunshine is a piece of art.

I think they meant they are not going to concentrate on that .

†B†V† :hat
 
I like epic stories, but usually only in small doses.

I don't want every game to be as epic as Wind Waker or Tales of Symphonia or Halo (single player), because those are time consuming games. This is not to say that they aren't worth it, but still, these games are not games to be taken lightly.

It's nice to have something that's more pick-up-and-play every once in a while. When I get overwhelmed by the epicness of games like I mentioned above, I like being able to break it up by playing something like Katamari Damacy, Burnout 3, Wario Ware, etc.

If Nintendo can give me that balance for the Revolution, I will be happy.

As for graphics, I still play NES games, so...not as big a deal. Especially since I seem to be the weirdo who loves cel-shading over anything else and not that many games are cel-shaded. The problem with graphics being able to be as good as they are is that some games focus exclusively on graphics and forget about the gameplay. It's like they think, "Hey, if we make this pretty, no one will notice that it sucks." I'd rather have decent graphics and awesome gameplay than awesome graphics and gameplay that's only decent. And I think that's what Nintendo was getting at with many of their statements about how we have reached the graphic limits (we haven't, obviously). There's only so far you can go with graphics before people notice that the gameplay still sucks.
 
That's a pretty bold statement there Neph, but I guess time will tell...

I've got a couple points to make, so I'll just cut to the chase:

1. I would not consider WW epic in any way, shape, or form. The story was decent at best, it had a good idea with the "future Hyrule" thing, but it still just boiled down to fetch quests. It would have been epic had the quests been more closely tied to the plot (it started off good with the saving of your sister, but then just turned into finding triforce pieces). Plus, the graphics drew me out of the experience, plain and simple.

2. I still play and love NES games, but if I'm shelling out $300 for a new system, I want it's graphics to be far superior to that of a system I could get at a garage sale for $10. Otherwise, what's the point of buying a new one? Innovations in gameplay can come through in the controller button layout, online capabilities, etc. The main function I'm looking for in a new system is better graphics and better sound. Smaller loading times help.

3. I found the Xbox's graphics to be superior to GC's, just in general games looked a lot fuller, higher resolution, better framerate, that kind of thing. I think GC has some games that can rival the Xbox, like both Rogue Squadron's for example, but just in general the average game seems to look better on the Xbox. That's just my opinion though, I don't know nothing about the specs or anything.

Just in general I'm worried about what the Revolution is going to be. Nintendo seems to be trying to hard to "save" the industry. I like where the industry is, and I like where it's going. If Nintendo can't compete then they can't compete, don't try to cop out by saying the industry is heading in the wrong direction, and that's why their losing the console war.
 
stealth toilet said:
3. I found the Xbox's graphics to be superior to GC's, just in general games looked a lot fuller, higher resolution, better framerate, that kind of thing. I think GC has some games that can rival the Xbox, like both Rogue Squadron's for example, but just in general the average game seems to look better on the Xbox. That's just my opinion though, I don't know nothing about the specs or anything.

Just in general I'm worried about what the Revolution is going to be. Nintendo seems to be trying to hard to "save" the industry. I like where the industry is, and I like where it's going. If Nintendo can't compete then they can't compete, don't try to cop out by saying the industry is heading in the wrong direction, and that's why their losing the console war.

playing tons of Xbox games I have, I cannot agree with point 3. The only way you could get that point is because Nintendo's disc is smaller, some some FMV's are more compressed.

Also, are you sure Xbox is in #2? I haven't seen sales charts forever. Last I heard Gamecube was in #2. That was Dec 03 - March 04

†B†V† :hat
 
I don't care about their place in the market.

This is the way I see it:

1) Games I like are being made.
2) Nintendo makes money. This is important because it ensures #1 will continue.
 
The thing is, people do want better graphics, sound and more epic (or at least better quality) storylines. It's been proven in market research that I'm unwilling to search for that story-driven games are becoming more popular. Even Surper Bust-A-Move 2 has added a storyline, albeit the worst story ever, in an attempt to keep up with trends.

I'm not sure why Yamauchi appears to be against better storylines as they can help give you a greater sense of immersion, purpose and involvement. Don't you think that we accept such low quality stories in games? Would you enjoy them if they were a book? I know some of you will probably think "Games aren't books, they're both different!" but that doesn't matter. A story is a story, no matter what medium it's on. It seems that some stories in games are used merely as something to glue one piece of gameplay to the next, which sometimes they are, and sometimes it works. I guess that the genre has quite a bit to do with it too.

I think that the collaborations with the film industry could help solve this problem. I think we need more people that can actually write a decent storyline, maybe even ::gasp!:: make a mature storyline! Wouldn't that be something?

Sorry for the ill-thought out rant btw.
 
I'm not sure about collaberating with the film industry to churn out some "better" storylines. Hollywood has come up with more than it's fair share of sub-par stories. I did like where you were going with the book thing though. A lot of times when I'm reading a book I think to myself "this would make a great game, if only it was done right." and the truth of the matter is, few games are. Take The Hobbit for example, it could have been a great combination of story and gameplay elements, but instead, the story was all that set it apart from every other platform game out there. The best games are the ones that draw you in with a great story, but are also fun to play. Games like Metal Gear Solid, Perfect Dark, Eternal Darkness, all did that excellently.
 
Well, no-one's really complained about the storylines in Mario games all these years, and they've always been simple. I wouldn't want a game like that to go "epic". Nintendo games have that pick-up and play feeling that i've always loved about them.

On the other hand though, I do think games like Zelda and Metroid should have more epic storylines. Those are the 2 mature first party franchises that Nintendo have, they'd be so much greater if they had huge storylines. People want that, and the fact that Yamauchi says that they don't like it's a fact makes me wonder what planet the man is living on.
 
Retro Hero said:
Well, no-one's really complained about the storylines in Mario games all these years, and they've always been simple. I wouldn't want a game like that to go "epic". Nintendo games have that pick-up and play feeling that i've always loved about them.

I've actually seen people moaning about the storyline in Mario games mostly being based on rescuing Peach. I don't mind the storyline in Mario because it's not what I play the game for.
 
I am not sure if a larger story line would make Metroid better or not.... Zelda.... you are playing the story line... same with Metroid.

To achieve MORE of a story line..... you would have to have dialogue, FMV scenes..etc... and I am not sure if I want that in my games...

I understand people want better story lines, but there is a time and a place for them.

As for Graphics, Nintendo does a killer job with them already.... I see nothing to worry about there.
Its the 3rd party companies that do not take the time.

AND sometimes the reason you see graphics..etc.. degraded a bit on Cube versions Vrs the Xbox version is because the Xbox version is the one developers tend to develope 1st on ... then port to the other systems.

†B†V† :hat
 
Ya, but Nintendo's stated many times they believe in gameplay over graphics, and better graphics is not where the industry should be headed, and all that stuff.

And saving sages or finding triforce pieces really isn't a "story", and whatever backdrop is given to you is only given to provide some kind of pretext or reason to go through different temples. It's really not story driven at all.
 
Ya, but Nintendo's stated many times they believe in gameplay over graphics, and better graphics is not where the industry should be headed, and all that stuff.

Well, I agree on gameplay over graphics, who wouldn't? And their graphics are still more than satisfactory no matter what.

Only part which I disagree on (and highly) is the part he said about people not wanting epic storylines. That's a major bad thing to say.
 
Yes, but, as I stated earlier, if I'm gonna be purchasing a new system, I want the graphics to be better than systems I already own. Gameplay is more important, but only slightly.
 
IMO there's some games that just don't call for epic storylines.

People seem to enjoy DDR just fine and it's by no means epic.

If a game is in the kind of genre where it should be epic, then by all means, yes, go for it. I don't deny that I like rpgs with huge sweeping storylines, for example.

But something like DDR or Donkey Konga or the EyeToy, where you're just playing to have fun...I don't think those should require epic storylines or awe-inspiring graphics.

Is it so hard to believe that the two concepts could exist at once?
 
I'm fine with both ways, but Nintendo still need to add more plot to Zelda and Metroid games without losing anything in the gameplay IMO.
 
I'd like a mix of it all, even though the graphics for a console can only be so good, which I say because if you don't have a high-def TV, you can only get extremely low, crappy resolutions. You can have all the good textures you want, it'll still look bad.

As for gameplay, that should be a top priority. Epic storylines are nice for some games, but can be a burden in others (like how Morrowind is supposedly an epic RPG, yet there's not too much depth in the missions, the world is basically empty, and most of the people are wastes of memory). Not to mention that storylines are EXTREMELY hard to make (notice the bad video I made in the creative section. You don't even want to know what other ideas I wrote down, even though some are going to be made for EGA again) and take a long time.

There's no way that game companies could collaborate with the film industry because the scriptwriters are paid such high salaries that the game companies would have to increase prices for the game, or spend less money (thereby less of a game) to produce it.
 
No no, not the film industry, they suck at writing stories too. It would just be nice to have different, unique, engrossing stories in games. I don't think it would be that difficult or expensive either. I mean, games have done it before. It would be nice if it was on a more consistent basis.
 
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