Nintendo Okie

2009 has been pretty good to us Nintendo fans.  We got new Zelda and Mario games plus a new twist on two awesome Metroid titles.  Several developers like Capcom, Visceral Games, High Voltage Software, Renegade Kid and WayForward Technologies all put out some top tier games for Nintendo platforms.  Judging by the games already announced for next year, 2010 will be just as great if not better than its older sibling.  Since this is the time of year people start thinking about New Year’s resolutions, I figured I would submit a few suggestions to all video game companies out there.

You know how your DS feels really comfortable when you hold it in one hand like an open book?  The best part is how your hand doesn’t block half of the touch screen while you are playing.   Why don’t more games work like that?  Another advantage, it forces the developers to use the touch screen in new ways.  Ninja Gaiden  Dragon Sword is a perfect example of what I am talking about.  All the controls except for block are done by swiping the touch screen in certain ways.  It might sound tricky, but my hat is off to Team Ninja because it works really well.    I think games like Elite Beat Agents and Trace Memory could benefit from using the DS in book form.  So resolution suggestion number one is more DS book style.

Something I really enjoy is how developers keep a blog during development of a game I am looking forward too.  Remember the Smash Brothers Dojo?  That thing was awesome.  It had us all foaming at the mouth by the time Brawl was finally released.  It may seem like torture, but giving out details like this keeps potential customers excited.  Several companies are starting to catch on to this.  Capcom is the big one that comes to mind with Capcom-Unity.com.  There you can find all sorts of community news and developer blogs about upcoming games.  Resolution number two, build a worthwhile community around your game before release.

A big problem I have with games now-a-days is that they are so expensive.  I have found myself waiting several months after a game is released before I will buy it.  If you pay attention, games usually drop $10 to $20 three months after they are released.  I don’t mean used copies either, I mean brand new and still shrink wrapped.  This brings me to my third resolution, release more budget games.  Now I realize that making a five-star game is like making a box-office-hit movie, but that doesn’t always mean you have to burn a lot of money to get there.  Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts are both examples of fantastic game that released for $40.  Oddly enough, $40 dollars in the most I am willing to pay for a game anymore.  Very often I pass on new games because I know I will get the same experience a few months later for a much cheaper cost.  Think about it game makers, when have you ever heard someone complain about a sale or rebate?

This rolls right into my next problem with games.  Why do they all release in the last two months of the year?  I know it is the holiday season and money seems stampede like buffalo, but I can’t play fifteen games at the same time.  Nobody can.  I thought we were seeing an end to the holiday rush with big titles like Street Fighter IV and Resident Evil 5 releasing in the middle of the year.  Oh, how wrong I was.  Just in case you didn’t notice, both of those games I just mentioned are from Capcom and so is Zack & Wiki.  Anyway, 2010’s January lineup looks pretty solid but after that we will see yet another drought of game releases.  What do game players do when this happens?  We try to catch up on the release dump from the previous year.  Hopefully before the next one happens.  Guess what game studios?  We do have money all year around.  So if you were to release a new game in a month that doesn’t end in “ber” you might be surprised how many people will notice.  Resolution number 4 is release games throughout the whole year.

One last resolution, I would like to see studios stop making sloppy ports.  I realize ports are supposed to be an easy way to make a profit on a game that has already been produced.   I urge companies to invest a little time and money into ports and give customers a reason to purchase these games.  New control schemes like Okami on Wii (a Capcom game) and Metroid Prime: Trilogy are nice but I imagine they can be rather time consuming to produce.  This might defeat the purpose of the port in the first place.  The Resident Evil series (yep, Capcom again) is a good example of making a port warrant a new purchase.  Nearly every time a resident Evil game is ported, it comes with a few new weapons or a new mode for shooting zombies.  A few minor touches is all it takes.  That is your fifth and final resolution, be like Capco… I mean make a port worth the money.

Hopefully these suggestions will help game studios to think twice about how they do business.  I also hope it will help the players be wiser about speaking with their wallets.  It is getting ready to be 2010 after all.  That is the future.  We are never going to be able to make flying cars until we get this video game thing figured out.