Oh boy, another armchair analyst that thinks they can run Nintendo.
"Nintendo's finances, consumer base and developer interest have been swirling down the drain of gaming obscurity. And nothing the company behind Mario showed at E3 2014 will change that."
The Wii U is now profitable, and Wii U sales are on the up after Mario Kart 8. It's now outsold the PS4 in Japan for almost a month.
"Example one: Amiibo. There's a difference between fashionably late and tragically late — and Nintendo's Amiibo interactive toy line is the latter."
What makes you think it's too late? If marketed right, this could be huge for Nintendo. Did you mention that you can buy one Amiibo and use it across multiple games, but with Skylanders, you have to keep buying new ones each time a new game comes out?
"Even more worrisome are the games Nintendo is attaching to the platform. Outside of "Super Smash Bros." and "Mario Party," other titles Nintendo is pairing with the figurines include "Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker" and "Yoshi's Woolly World.""
Why is this worrisome? Oh, and it's coming to Mario Kart 8 and various other games Nintendo hasn't announced yet.
"But the third-party aspect of the equation will be woefully deficient, and Nintendo did nothing at E3 2014 to indicate it was breaking that cycle. Out of the 13 games that the company announced, only three — "Bayonetta 2," "Fantasy Life" and "Xenoblade Chronicles X" — are being developed by other companies. (Nintendo will offer smaller third-party titles, such as "Shovel Knight," via the Nintendo eShop.)"
You didn't mention Bayonetta 1, Devil's Third, developed by Valhalla, and Hyrule Warriors, which Nintendo is collaborating with Tecmo Koei for.
""Xenoblade Chronicles X" is among the few Wii games announced at E3 that will not be produced by Nintendo."
I had no idea that X was coming to the Wii.
""Xenoblade Chronicles X," with its giant mecha battles, should do decent numbers with the Wii U crowd, as will the role-playing game "Fantasy Life," with its cutesy art style and simple controls. As for "Bayonetta 2," its stylish violence and sometimes nearly nude female protagonist don't really fit in on a family-friendly console."
Bayonetta 2's already doing pretty well on the Amazon sales charts in Japan.
"In another huge red flag, the majority of these new games aren't slated until 2015. So in the meantime, Nintendo hopes the Amiibo platform will be successful enough to keep the ship floating until the New Year. Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket."
Yep, it's not like there are any games coming to the Wii U this year, right?
"So at E3 2014, we had our "Mario Kart," a "Legend of Zelda" announcement, "Smash Bros." and even more "Pokemon." A number of new intellectual properties debuted, but with the exception of "Splatoon," all of them revolved around an established character in the Nintendo universe."
I'm fairly sure Mario Kart 8 wasn't shown off at E3, as it had been out for 2 weeks. And what's wrong with having new IPs based off of already established characters? If that's how Nintendo makes their money and if it's what the fans want, then what's the problem? Oh, and I think you're forgetting a little game called "Project S.T.E.A.M.".
"There's "Yoshi's Wooly World," a spiritual sequel to "Kirby's Epic Yarn," which itself looked an awful lot like Sony's "Little Big Planet." For "Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker," Nintendo took a segment from "Super Mario 3D World" and broke it out into a full-fledged game. Since Yoshi is pulling yarn duty, Kirby will star in "Kirby and the Rainbow Curse."
Psst, Nintendo! Hey, listen! I'm going to need you to create some more original titles that don't use an established Nintendo character. Please, and thank you."
Yoshi's Woolly World looks nothing like Little Big Planet. The only similarity they have is that they're both platformers. And again - Splattoon and Project S.T.E.A.M.. Nintendo isn't like Sony where they just pull new IPs out of their asses and they sell like shit. They like to fall back on their older, successful franchises BECAUSE THEY KNOW THAT THAT'S WHERE THEIR MONEY WILL COME FROM.
"Why? Because, according to Fils-Aime, broadcasting your gaming prowess to other gaming fans simply isn't fun."
Stop twisting his words. He meant that it was more fun to actually PLAY games than to stream them. The Wii U is a GAMES console, after all.
"More than anything, Nintendo needs to soften its stance on mobile games. Instead of releasing toothless mobile Web portals to existing titles or using apps to tether mobile devices to Nintendo 3DS, the company should do what legions of fans having been begging it to do: make mobile games. As it stands, releasing lame companion apps is not enough to convince gamers to plunk down money on another console featuring more of the same."
I can't believe this notion hasn't died yet. What "fans" have been begging Nintendo to make games for mobiles? The same fans who have bought over 41 million 3DSes worldwide? Sorry to burst your bubble, but Nintendo is NOT and will NEVER go mobile.
"Nintendo could be seen as the Apple of the video game industry. The company has never been afraid to march to the beat of its own drum, exerting an iron grip on its properties and taking calculated risks. When the formula works, you get masterpieces such as "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" and the original Wii. When it fails, you end up with the disastrous "Superman 64" and the struggling Wii U."
What the hell? Superman 64 wasn't even developed nor pubished by Nintendo!
"In the past decade, Nintendo has achieved dizzying heights with the Wii. It’s also sunk to shocking lows, reporting a $457 million loss in May 2014, that’s becoming a disturbing recurring theme."
Again, the Wii U is now profitable and they're enjoying high sales of games such as Mario Kart 8, so they should be returning to normal profits soon. Plus, most of that loss came from them building a new headquarters. And you know what is disturbing and recurring? The fact that the Xbox division is costing Microsoft $2 billion dollars a year, and shareholders want it axed. The fact that Sony has lost billions of dollars over the last few years and have had to sell headquarters, sell other divisions and lay off staff just to stay afloat. Yet where are all your articles talking about that, saying what Microsoft and Sony need to do to turn their fortunes around?
This is such a stupid and narrow-minded article. It's articles like these that claim to want Nintendo to succeed, yet spread such blatant misinformation about them that people are tricked into thinking they are the ones in trouble. Yet in reality, they look like the ones most likely to make it into the 9th gen.