By Ronin180 on Aug 22, 2010

Nice video as usual and you make some very good points. Lets hope publishers realize that they need to advertise their games.

Also the last Game Night was one of the funnest yet.

By bob on Aug 22, 2010

i loled when the xbox got dropped

By james on Aug 22, 2010

what is he talking about niche? it sounds like he said mixed genre?

By thosewhodream on Aug 22, 2010

I still don’t understand how bad games sell well and end up with sequels.

By john on Aug 22, 2010

Audience matters. You can’t make a niche game and then expect it to sell. Games like Red Steel, Dead Space, Madworld, and The Conduit are all niche and are average in quality, not exceptional.

When we see a 90+ metacritic-rated core game on the Wii, my guess is that it will sell very well.

By Ponkotsu on Aug 22, 2010

The problem with getting a Wii game up to that rating on Metacritic is twofold, too. Third parties don’t want to commit the effort and resources to Wii development that they regularly do to HD games, more often than not losing out for it, and then there’s the problem of ‘journalists.’ This gen, we’ve routinely seen HD games being given out perfect to near perfect scores like they’re candy while they’re frequently shielded from meaningful criticism. Wii games, due to widespread open bias, suffer the problem of being nitpicked to death routinely by ‘critics’ who often don’t want to touch the Wii to begin with. We don’t have real professional journalists in gaming, let alone anyone with any kind of integrity. It’s all about picking a side and pushing an agenda, and that, this gen, is even more staunchly anti-Nintendo than ever before now that they’re beating the competition. Meanwhile, HD games that would have gotten torn apart last gen have gotten passes on that for their brandnames, hype, and graphics.

Marketing’s pretty much the biggest issue here, at any rate. Third parties need to both up the quality of their games to match their efforts on the HD consoles in both diversity and investment – and you can make an excellent Wii game for far, far less as is – and actually advertise these games. Third parties have themselves to blame above all else for any struggles on the Wii, just as they have themselves to blame for their financial struggles as a result of failing to take Nintendo platforms seriously and focusing on toxic consoles. Third parties need to get back to operating like businesses and drop the unprofessional fanatical brandname loyalty based sneering we see these days. The online gamer subculture is often openly ugly and alienating enough, and the worst thing the industry can do is try to pander to that and factionalize gamers further – this is how gamers become their own worst enemy and the market ends up as divided as it has this gen.

By calamity on Aug 22, 2010

deadspace and madworld are most certainly not average in quality

By Deriuqer Eman on Aug 22, 2010

I forget, is Mario a good game?

By Alex on Aug 22, 2010

Loving the videos still Austin, and you look cute even in hats. I wish I looked cute in hats.

This video reminded me though, I should jump in on one of these game nights again. I was there on the first one ( Mario Kart) and have not been back since. Maybe I’ll see you online this week!

By taffy on Aug 22, 2010

I remember when Dead Space: Extraction was announced as an on-rails shooter, that’s when it lost it’s chance at selling because alot of people hated the idea.

By Triskiller on Aug 22, 2010

Though I agree with you on most points, saying there are no real professional journalists in gaming is wrong.

I agree that there are a lot of bad journalists in gaming, but don’t say there aren’t any good ones. I for one am a gaming journalist, and I share your opinion on the matter that Wii games often score too low. Especially if you compare their score to some of the HD counterparts. I have often had arguments with my colleagues about the scores they give some of the games almost by default but they are reasonable people and often they do realise the error in their ways, if there is any.

The problem with gaming’s journalistic climate is that gamers often are well informed about their hobby and they can and will debate most of the things you write about if it does not fit their observations and opinion. It is not to say that journalists should succomb to these arguments this easily, but you have to keep the people that pay you, even if indirectly, happy.

I too am sometimes sickened by the way of gaming journalism, but complaining about it isn’t going to help. I am trying to be part of the solution by not being a conformist and actually doing something. Seeing as you can obviously write a good piece of tekst, maybe you should too?

I hope you understand what I’m trying to say, and judging from your previous comments you most certainly will. Your comment about journalism aside though, once again a great read.

By bob on Aug 22, 2010

but it is niche
and ea didnt market dead space

By Ponkotsu on Aug 22, 2010

It’s good to hear your perspective on this, and perhaps I should have chosen my words better to say something more to the effect of that there’s almost no real professional journalists in gaming, and that those there are tend to unfortunately get drowned out by the usual problem of popular brand fanaticism-driven narrative over reality.

I think another issue is that because so many gamers are more inclined to believe what they want to believe as opposed to what’s actually happening in the industry and market – reinforced by going to blogs that specifically cater to what they want to hear, typically “Nintendo sucks, Sony and Microsoft are winning!” – we end up with a bunch of empty flame wars and trolling online instead of meaningful debates due to a profound disconnect from reality that many gamers have as a result of their particular brand fanaticism. There were similar issues back during the Nintendo vs. Sega years, which I watched from the sidelines as a fan of both companies’ platforms, but they were nowhere near as pronounced or bitter as they are today, since we didn’t really have the internet or gaming blogs back then. I’m no fan of today’s journalism in large part because it’s all about spinning increasingly fictionalized narratives instead of sticking to the facts and actually providing some meaningful, well thought out critical analysis. And obviously, this isn’t just a problem the gaming media has – the outside mainstream television newsmedia in America these days is a pretty huge mess too, and just as we have uninformed and misinformed gamers who’re happy to be that way, we have the same kind of problems driving a lot of political discord and instability in this country since it turns into a fictionalized tug of war between two sides at all times as a result of journalists pushing for ratings and money (Much like many gaming journalists) over anything resembling integrity. Journalists fail at their job when they spread misinformation and cater to those who don’t want to actually be informed, and it’s frustrating in general to see so much of this both in gaming and the even more important outside world. Though believe me, I do appreciate efforts by the rarer individuals like yourself to maintain integrity and keep to a more objective focus on truth, even if it isn’t always what fanatics want to hear.

Perhaps, perhaps. Good thoughts. I do actually do some gaming blogging here and there on my personal site, but they’re usually just long commentary pieces a few times a year, such as around E3, while I focus on other things the rest of the year. It’s definitely nice to meet other people working to counter the problem of gaming journalism today.

I get it, no worries. Great talking.

By NekoKnight on Aug 22, 2010

Oblivious Wii owner walks into a store, “Oh look! Carnival Games! That looks like fun!” Five minutes into the game: “Man, this game is AWFUL!” I don’t know anyone who’s played Carnival Games and likes it. It’s so dang frustrating how something so awful can sell so well.

By RPGuy_AD on Aug 22, 2010

As someone who worked retail until about a month ago, let me be the first to say that there’s a ton of people who actually like Carnival Games and, dare I say it, look for similar titles.

It’s an interesting phenomenon, really. This group of people sees that they’re getting, what was it, 40 “games” in the title? So they’re a lot more forgiving of things that most gamers would descend upon like a swarm of angry hornets. Well, that and the prices tend to drop way faster to the sweet spot of $20. Because of this, the games are actually easier to sell, since stores like Wal_Mart or Target don’t have to lock them up in the electronics section (which is ALWAYS in the back if you notice), and can often shove them on an endcap at the register for an impulse buy. At the same time, if you spend $20 on a bad game, you’re only out $20. It’s not so bad to take risks in that case.

If you notice, certain “core” games that make that sweet front-of-store real estate, like de Blob (800K), Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings(~500K), Samba de Amigo (760K), and Naruto: Clash of the Ninja Revolution (950K) also sell pretty darn well.

This combination of factors plays heavily into why you see titles like Game Party (2.2M), Big Beach Sports (1.52M), and the like selling well.

By john on Aug 22, 2010

I wouldn’t say game journalists are against Nintendo. Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, Zelda Twilight Princess, and Super Smash Brothers Brawl are some of the highest rated games ever (and they all sold well too).

Game journalists write for hardcore gamers, so when games like Wii Fit or Just Dance score low, it doesn’t surprise me. Core-minded journalists are not in the mind of an expanded audience gamer.

But when a game like Red Steel 2 barely scores above average on meta-critic, that’s a sign of serious problems. Nobody is going to play Red Steel when games like Uncharted and Modern Warfare are providing much better experiences on other consoles.

The fact is, plain and simple, 3rd party developers are not making quality content on the Wii, nor do they want to. Where is Epic? Where is Valve? Infinity Ward? id software? Rockstar? Irrational Games? Bioware? Bethesda? etc. etc. etc.

Why aren’t we seeing big exclusive projects for Wii from these developers? Why has every quality developer decided to ignore the Wii like it never existed and focus all their effort on the HD consoles?

Perhaps they are too busy ‘tightening the graphix’ on their expensive game engines and can’t be bothered with silly motion controls. I don’t know. It’s just disappointing to see every good developer turn their backs on Nintendo, despite their massive success.

By Dave on Aug 22, 2010

Nice video, entertaining and funny. Keep it up man, it breaks up the website a little day to day.

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