Irate Gamers II
Are you happy?
...yes?
::Calmly stands up and slaps you across the face::
Are you happy? Yeah, I didn't think so. You! Yeah, you! The one whos happy and he knows it... I suggest you stop clapping your hands! I know where you live!
A wise monkey once took a look through the US Patent & Trademark Office website search and came upon this...
Word Mark:
DELAY
Goods and Services:
Video Games
Mark Drawing Code:
The various forms of the word delay: delay, delays, delayed, delaying
Serial Number:
987654321
Filing Date:
November 5, 2001
Published for Opposition:
All your base are belong to us!
Owner (APPLICANT):
Nintendo of America
PO Box 97086
Redmond, WA 98073-9786
Type of Mark:
TRADEMARK
Live/Dead Indicator:
LIVE and in action
Humor aside.
So far not a single Nintendo published GameCube title has achieved its original set release date. Does Nintendo have some sort of Release Date Fabrication Facility where it manufactures these release dates that it is incapable of meeting? Or are they just completely hell-bent on making sure that their games will under no circumstances hit the market on the day that they were originally intended to?
Now you might assume Luigis Mansion and WaveRace: Blue Storm were on time. Don't be so quick to jump to that conclusion. Think about this: The Nintendo GameCube was originally set for launch on November 5, 2001. However, a last minute delay moved the release of the console and its launch software to November 18, 2001.
"What about Super Smash Bros. Melee and Pikmin?" you ask, your throat tightening with worry. And as well you should be, since both were released on December 3rd, nearly a month postponement from their original launch title status. Next up, we have Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside 2002. Surprise! The title missed launch by nearly two months, finally delivered on January 14th.
Presently we have Rares StarFox Adventures and Silicon Knights Eternal Darkness in the proverbial development oven. Is it done yet? Nope. The silicon appears to be a bit rare. Nintendo better turn the heat up...and turn it up soon. A four-month drought of Nintendo published software has already commenced.
Fans Lament
StarFox Adventures and Eternal Darkness are the software titles the word delay was created for. Both titles have received numerous setbacks, from their early days on the Nintendo 64 to their infancy on the GameCube. For example, both games were scheduled for the hardware launch. Of course, neither made it. Shortly thereafter, Eternal Darkness was scheduled for a December 3rd release alongside Pikmin and SSBMelee. Again, the game saw the white light, but refused to approach it. Once more, Eternal Darkness was set to hit stores in early February. Its now early March, folks, and Eternal Darkness has received a new market date of June 24th. Also, StarFox Adventures will miss its former March release date and will now debut on June 10th. Remember, though, that these are Nintendos release dates. Hint: Reliable is not a word commonly used to describe them.
Directly connected to the faulty release dates are the studios behind the games. Let's take a quick look at the happenings within Nintendos second party developers.
Last year IGN informed the public of multiple lay-offs within the Austin, Texas-based Retro Studios. This was, of course, hand-in-hand with the cancellation of three major projects at the development house. Nintendos higher-ups put a halt to the development of games at Retro Studios that were almost assuredly heading down the pipe, such as RavenBlade.
Bewildered in regards as to why Rare hasn't shown anything on Donkey Kong Racing or Kameo? Don't be. The most probable scenario is that Nintendo gave out the commands to concentrate more resources into one game -- namely StarFox -- instead of spreading the talent thin.
A year ago, the most recently acquired second party, Silicon Knights, was busy at work porting its psychological thriller, Eternal Darkness, while also preparing a former PSX title for GameCube release in the form of Too Human. The companys focus, however, shortly thereafter shifted to Eternal Darkness; Too Human is now not expected until Q2 2003 at the earliest -- and even that is likely to slip.
Now, the most recent of all news is the word of Left Field's departure. Earlier this year, Left Field officially left the Nintendo family in hopes of success as a third party. Reportedly, Left Fields contract with Nintendo expired, and both companies didnt reach an agreement on a renewal. Its thought that Nintendo made a decision to dispose of the unnecessary baggage.
So, what the hell does all of this mean? Simple. Nintendos most recent release dates are questionable. In fact, not only are they questionable but they are not worthy of trust. Rigid in its dubious use of release dates, Nintendo throws out a thirty-second video and a few screens, which is, needless to say, a less than satisfactory supplement for the game itself. Yet fans are quick to forgive.
Insanity
We have tried to tell Nintendo it needs to gather itself. Nintendo needs to shape up and do things differently. The Nintendo 64 era is not one we wish to endure again. As an old-fashioned company, Nintendos image is one that is falling behind in the times. To top it all off, the market is now more dangerous than ever. The entrance of software giant Microsoft into the videogame market turned heads last year, and continues to do so. The overbearing force of Sony also cannot by understated. In Japan especially, Sony is now synonymous with the word videogame. Remember when kids, regardless of what console they owned, told friends that they were going to "play Nintendo" after school? Those days are ancient history. This generation, two huge forces threaten to take away Nintendos livelihood, yet Nintendo is still unmoving in its age-old practices.
Or is it?
Maybe not. And maybe, if we analyze everything very carefully, we'll find that the situation is not as severe as it sounds. Read on if you wish to understand how Nintendo is addressing the delay issue stated above.
Did somebody say "internal restructuring"?
Development of a Thesis
The beast moves in strange ways sometimes. What if we were to tell you that all of these lies and broken promises are leading to something? What if we were to tell you that Nintendo hears all of our cries, and furthermore, is actually doing something behind the scenes to remedy the situation? Judging by everything we have told you thus far, it would seem highly unlikely.
But it can't be denied that something terribly strange hangs in the air around Nintendo today. Could it be that there is a tinge of deliberance? A deliberance that is causing a glimmer of justified, genuine optimism around Nintendos aura, and not just some PR "we're the best" rhetoric? A pattern has surfaced among Nintendos latest moves, folks, but it is one that is ever so subtle. To truly understand the development of our thesis, you must be prepared to immerse yourself in both fact and speculation. Both of these elements are required in our quest for the truth.
The truth in this matter, however, is still shrouded in secrecy. And chances are, it will be forever. But for people like us, that is all the more reason to try and dig further into these matters and construct some well-rounded theories. For example: We believe that the tumultuous storm for Nintendo is nearly over. We also believe that this drought was unintentional, and not well received at Nintendo. Finally, we think that the future is quite positive for Nintendo in general. Now, lets see what we can draw from this.
Fact: Retro Studios, Silicon Knights, and Rare were all, at one time, working on multiple projects. But the key word is "were". Let's run through the companies, shall we? Last year, Retro was told to drop the development of the tentatively titled RavenBlade, Car Combat, and the football simulation to instead focus its full resources on Metroid Prime. Regarding Silicon Knights, the company at one point was working on both Eternal Darkness and Too Human in unison. Now, they are focusing their strengths on Eternal Darkness solely. As for Rare, while they are likely working on multiple projects, it has been close to one year since we have last seen even a screenshot or heard of their progress. It's a safe assumption that internal resources are being devoted to StarFox Adventures. While Left Field was still in second party operation, the studio had but one title in development, NBA Courtside 2002.
Coincidence? We dont think so. If you take a close enough look, you can see that just last year, Nintendos second parties began an all your eggs in one basket approach. The likelihood of the different second parties making this decision independently is very small. So what, then, incited these happenings? What occurred, readers, is that Nintendo heard our voices. The game droughts of the N64 days were often only broken by high-quality first or second party titles. Therefore, we grew to expect those titles to have a certain level of quality, and by the end of the N64's life cycle, we demanded nothing less than the most high quality titles that money can buy. And when Nintendo saw the second party material of this generation, prior to the GameCube's launch, they saw exactly what we saw. Games that were good, but not the standard of perfection expected of this aged company. They saw this, and they compared it to what they knew our demands would be, and they did the only logical thing: they set about to fix it.
Take a look at the most recent screens of StarFox Adventures or Eternal Darkness if you need proof. Also, pay attention to the news that Metroid Prime has undergone an astonishing recovery. Of course, the change of quality for the titles could be just a result of more development time. Perhaps, however, it could be a combination of time and the new all-or-nothing second party strategy. For instance, StarFox Adventures at around this time last year looked like an N64 game on steroids. The current build, however, now shows that it is probably one of the most technologically advanced games to date. The same can be said for both Metroid Prime and Eternal Darkness. The proof is definitely in the pudding that Nintendo has been supplying.
Quality over quantity has always been an issue for Nintendo platforms of late (Example: N64) because frankly, there were times when the quality wasnt worth the wait. Many fans can attest to that. We now have reason, however, to believe that Nintendo feels this just as much as we do, and probably dislikes it far more because it hits them where it hurts most -- in their wallet. Looking at Shigeru Miyamotos latest interviews, you can piece together what seems to be a company that reacts to public outcry:
The writers behind Eternal Darkness are very skilled. While it was developed separately in Canada, some of our Japanese staff members are helping to finish the game now and making sure it's up to Nintendo's quality standards.
Yes, you heard correctly. Miyamoto revealed that Nintendo of Japan staff is helping in the completion of Eternal Darkness. This quote on its own began a snowball effect that forced us to thoroughly research the current news on Nintendo. Having Nintendo provide intensive physical development is something that was not (to our knowledge) done in any previous generation, especially not to the degree that is described here. We believe that this is an example of Nintendos new stance on releases. If we are right (and we think we might be), this could be one of the last times that we ever have to suffer such an enduring time for software. Additionally, Nintendo has stated its cooperative development of StarFox Adventures with Rare and Metroid Prime with Retro Studios. It seems as though Nintendo wants to set up support protocols for potential future release mishaps.
Not just that, but the release date announcements have been a bit more unexpected in the current rounds. In what normally seems like a ditch effort, Nintendo usually throws an arbitrary date out to get the public off of its back. Things have been changing, though. The last batch of release dates, mainly for StarFox and Eternal Darkness, seemed to be planned and calculated for a good deal of time. Many people, including us, spent weeks waiting for a final release date to be written in pencil -- pencil for easy future erasing. However, when the first week of February rolled by with no date, many of us began to wonder if Nintendo was beginning to take us seriously. It now seems very possible that Nintendo is listening. Last year at SpaceWorld 2001, Miyamoto used a word that we dont think was ever used by a Nintendo rep before: promise. The context in which Miyamoto used the word is in that he promised to have the next Zelda title out before the year 2002 comes to an end. Naturally, however, we filed it under L for lies -- a natural and understandable reaction. Can he truly keep his word about this ambitious statement? Nintendo is without a doubt shaping up. It just won't begin to clearly show until later this year. We believe that change is more possible than ever.
Traversing the Faults
Even for those moments Nintendo cannot come through with in-house software, the company is creating partnerships to provide a wealth of additional content during those unforeseen droughts.
For instance, the joint venture with Sega and Namco on the arcade board Triforce. Miyamoto and company assured us that in the coming months we will see the effects of this announcement in terms of software. He concluded his statements with a hint that some heavy hitters might find their way to the new arcade technology. Nintendo has basically taken us all by surprise by a) Collaborating with other big name third parties to make an efficient and affordable arcade board, and b) Securing some big games for the Triforce. Traditionally, Nintendo would make very little effort in courting third parties. Now it seems as if they are really in the market and landing some big names from quality developers.
One of the landmark deals that took the entire gaming community by storm was Capcoms exclusive deal with Nintendo for the upcoming Biohazard games. As most of you know, the Resident Evil franchise is exclusive on GameCube in the foreseeable future. This is of course a bold move for both companies involved. What if we were to tell you that other big announcements of this caliber are around the corner? Big games like Dragon Warrior and Ninja Gaiden have yet to find a home for their next installments. The chances of one of these titles finding their way to GameCube is now more probable than ever before.
Even one of Nintendos long time rivals, Sega, seems to be very friendly with the big N these days, especially in the case of Sonic Teams Yuji Naka. Shigeru Miyamoto stated on several occasions that he would like to collaborate with this president and main visionary of Sonic Team. Could Sonic and Mario be in a game together in the future? The current trends can now attest that anything is possible with the company. Nintendo once again seems to be listening to our desire for strong third party support, which is without a doubt, a bold step in the right direction.
Increased third-party support, strong attention being paid to the release schedules and quality of first and second-party titles -- is this a dream? No. It's merely the result of a company that is waking up to smell the proverbial coffee. Nintendo has stated time and time again that with the GameCube, they sought to address every mistake that was made with the N64, and after taking a long, hard look at the company's activities as of late, we'd tend to agree. Though this editorial may have started off in a rather gloomy fashion, it will end on a glorious high note from the esteemed Peter Main (E3 2001):
There has never been a better time to be a Nintendo fan.
And with that, we couldn't possibly agree more.