Nintendo: Games Still Not Socially Acceptable Enough

[10BIT]

If you've got a negative opinion of the Wii, just remember that it's being used to make the world better accept videogames.

But that's why they hate it. These people enjoy being seen as social outcasts by playing games and hate the idea of it being considered normal.

Don't say it! Somebody might hear you! Then you know what will happen, right? RIGHT?!

Spoiler: My body is ready

Actually I don't. May be in for a pleasant surprise.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

To some extent, I respect Nintendo for broadening peoples view on entertainment mediums. While they do cash in on it obscenely, they have done good things.

However, just like you have people who think TV is the root of all incompetence, you will always have people who think games are the cause of obesity or games are the reason kids are getting more violent. It comes with the territory of a relatively young medium.

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

They're getting there gradually at least. Years ago, writing for video games was pretty much deemed the academic equivalent of smashing your head on the keyboard and just running with the result. Nowadays you have games like Heavy Rain which can even challenge films in their storytelling. Good storytelling doesn't necessarily equate to social acceptance, but eh, many of the things that are perfectly 'socially acceptable' are completely mindless in my eyes, at least I can get some degree of sophistication out of games.

*Sips tea, pinky extended*

It doesn't bother me, I'm constantly around people who either have no problem with games or are highly enthusiastic about them. These strange, primitive other people are not part of the world I associate myself with.

 

[oktalist]

Maybe they would be more acceptable if Nintendo's promotional material didn't look like 90s children's cartoons (see the picture in the OP).

 

[Delusibeta]

The problem is most wii owners don't view the wii as a video game console or it's games as "video games." Which means the more nintendo and such attempt to reach non-gamers, the less likely non-gamers are to even view nintendo products as video games.

Now, we always knew video games as they currently exist are transitory, at best. But we hoped they'd transition to more complex, more interactive, more engaging, more inventive products. Instead ninendo is hoping to move in the exact opposite direction. Which means nintendo's (and anyone who follow's) days are numbered.

Considering pretty much everyone, especially Sony and Microsoft, is following Nintendo's lead, by that arguement then you should buy a gaming PC before everyone stops making games for consoles.

 

[Electrogecko]

if they mean by the usual surveys through club nintendo...they aren't trustworthy I do those things for coins to buy stuff...I dont pay attention.

survey=poll=most unreliable way to get data in the world.

Why would half the people filling out polls at Club N be neutral toward or not like videogames?
I doubt that was their method. I believe this survey was exclusive to Japan, which means that the results worldwide, or in the U.S, would be even more unfavorable for videogames.

 

[V8 Ninja]

Meh. At least Nintendo is sticking to their goal.

 

[Proteus214]

As long as video games are:

-expensive (ie: not publicly available for free use)
-frowned upon in academic settings
-encouraging an idle lifestyle

they will never be socially acceptable.

You mean like MP3 players?

Oh wait..

I was referring to the medium itself, not the technology behind it.

 

[RvLeshrac]

The problem is most wii owners don't view the wii as a video game console or it's games as "video games." Which means the more nintendo and such attempt to reach non-gamers, the less likely non-gamers are to even view nintendo products as video games.

What do they view them as then? Radishes? I think you're getting the idea of video games as a 733T/hardcore/nerd type of entertainment confused with video games. And if that view dies, so much the better.

Now, we always knew video games as they currently exist are transitory, at best. But we hoped they'd transition to more complex, more interactive, more engaging, more inventive products. Instead ninendo is hoping to move in the exact opposite direction. Which means nintendo's (and anyone who follow's) days are numbered.

Yes, because anybody who goes to the market rather than waiting for the market to come to them is obviously going to fail... oh wait...

They view it as "wii." Completely independent of and having no similarities to any other products. While "video games" are seedy lame things that turn geeks into murderers.

Which means the non-gamer video game market is a dead end likely to completely replace all currently existing models.

We went through that form of product-blindness before, in the Atari age. Back then, you bought an "Atari" to play games, and a Commodore Home Computer if you wanted to do srs bsnss. "Why buy just a 'video game'?" and all that.

So, yes, someone might think it "cute" to state the obvious, but "people don't see the Wii as 'video games'" isn't the same as saying "people don't see the TV dinner as food." They aren't making some elitist value-judgement that the Wii isn't a video game console, but rather literally don't think it is a video game console.

*edit*

Oh, and "those that go to the market," when that market has the mind and attention span of a ham sandwich, instead of innovating and providing for their core market, go the way of Atari. Atari didn't die of a "crash" they had no control over, Atari died because there was a massive glut of crap produced when they thought the non-core market would buy crap. End-result being that the non-core market said 'we barely play this anyway,' and the core market said 'we're not buying this because this is crap.'

 

[Macgyvercas]

Nintendo needs to go back to being socially acceptable to all gamers again before they can worry about the outside market.

This.

And the first step is to can the motion controls.

Although I will be picking up Skyward Sword even if it doesn't have a classic control option, simply because I love Zelda so much.

 

[PapaGamer]

Increasing social acceptance of video games will come as the population ages and the true casual game market expands. Nintendo is not going to be the company that pushes this market, they are still a traditional gaming company. People play Facebook games and games on their iPods/iPads/Droids for exactly the reasons those games are disparaged...they have simplistic controls, they do not waste time on story or motivation and they are drop-in/drop-out to be played whenever convenient. And there are hardcore gamers in that market (just Google Farmville wikis to see how deep into these games some people get).

Nintendo is blowing all this smoke about their 3D gimmick and their retro game remakes that are being set to flood the market because they still have this idea there's lots of people out there who would be willing to spend hours at a time working through a game when, in fact, most of the people who want to do that are already doing that. There just aren't that many hardcore wannabees left in the population for Nintendo to exploit.