I’ve read that Nintendo is planning on finally releasing a console capable of HDTV sometime around 2011. As a 30 year old guy who has been gaming since the Commadore and Atari, here are on my thoughts on Nintendo.

The problem with Nintendo is that they are always a generation behind. During the era of the original X Box Nintendo considered online play to be unimportant. Everyone else knew otherwise, and then Live hit. This generation they considered HD capabilities to be unimportant. Have you seen a Wii on an HDTV? A pal of mine has a 60″ HDTV, and the Wii is a woefully unpleasant experience.

With each successive generation Nintendo is playing catch up; touting features that are, as others have pointed out, five years too late.

Then there’s the problem of their games. I’m not saying that Zelda and Metroid aren’t cool, just that they’re Zelda and Metroid. I’m 30 years old now, and those games are identical to what they were when I played them as a kid on the NES. The only difference, of course, being graphics, but literally everything else about them are the same! The (annoying) music that plays when you open any chest in Zelda, or the fact that Metroid is the same formula as ever.

Nintendo refuses to take any chances with these games because they bring in money, but it’s backed them into a nasty corner that they now need to claw their way out of.

Lackluster hardware, a distinct lack of innovation in their games (controllers merely change the way you do the same’ol thing), and negative comments about hard core gamers has made me even less inclined to get the Nintendo Wii or their future products. This is coming from someone who didn’t so much as have the Nintendo 64.

They give mature gamers every reason in the world to go to the other team and stay there. Nintendo is still focused on kids. That’s who they’ve always been focused on, and I suppose if you repeat the same thing long enough then you’ll have another generation of kids to market to.

Unfortunately I can’t make this post more in depth than it is because I have to get on with the day. See you folks around.

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