Posts with tagged with "wii u"

Whoa. Did you know games today cost an average of $10-28 million to develop? Meanwhile something on the scale of Grand Theft Auto V is estimated to cost over $100 million by the time it's finished. That's scary. It's no wonder so many developers like Nintendo choose to play it safe by creating sequels to successful games. When development budgets are this astronomical, one failure can mean the complete destruction and demise of a company.

Maybe it's all a figment of my imagination, but much of the gaming-centric media seems to be well and truly caught in that slightly nebulous space between console "generations." It is that tug-of-war space where upcoming content for existing platforms is still widely covered, but where the tantalizing draw of Sony and Microsoft's next-generation hardware (which many believe will launch within the next 18-24 months) absorbs greater time and attention from the gaming press.

Though I personally have mixed thoughts about Microsoft's Achievements and Sony's Trophies, with the release of Nintendo's Wii U console now impending, many are wondering if Nintendo will introduce its own accomplishment-tracking system. Can you imagine a Zelda game encouraging players to "slice 10,000 blades of grass?" Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime recently mentioned to Kotaku that the achievement system on Wii U will be completely game-specific and furthermore developers won't be required to include them.

As we line up for our tickets to enter NintendoLand this Christmas, the company's most recent E3 showing may suggest it's time to accept an unnerving truth. All signs point to the fact that Nintendo no longer employs executives who can relate to or understand long-time gamers. Which shouldn't come as a surprise—after all, they've spent the past six years hiring executives and management who have an intimate understanding of casual gamers and casual tastes.

Though all we got out of Nintendo regarding karaoke during their preshow was the distinctly western-centric Sing, it's not at all hard to believe that a more Japanese-oriented implementation of karaoke could be just the ticket to trojan horse the Wii U into homes across Japan. One needs do little more than enter a karaoke box in any number of the massive buildings peppering Japanese city streets to see the resemblance between commercial karaoke gear and what the Wii U will—very shortly—be ushering into homes.