Last year, things weren't going too well for the videogame industry. Hit by the recession, people were losing money and jobs were lost. Nintendo legend and cheeky imp Shigeru Miyamoto has blamed the games, claiming that 2009's products simply weren't fun enough to sell in droves.
"I think any entertainment products are less susceptible to changes in the economy," explains Mario's dad. "The fact that in 2009 we were not able to sell more than we did in 2008 was simply that in comparison, we were not able to produce fun-enough products. There are always ups and downs in this business. As long as we create unique and unprecedented experiences with video games, there should be nothing to worry about.
"Some may call 2008 the peak year for the current generation of video games. But there is always the opportunity to further expand video-game entertainment, and invite more people to enjoy playing. There is no fixed demand for entertainment in general, and video games are not an exception. As long as we can create something new, which can offer some unprecedented experience, there is always demand we can create."
2009 certainly wasn't swamped with hits like 2008 and 2007 had been, but part of that was thanks to publishers postponing all their products to avoid the holidays. You can't sell too many games in a year when you delay them all until the next.
Nintendo's gaming guru on the recession, innovation and the Wii [The Economist]
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
8:20 AM on 03.25.2010
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SFIV
Dawn of War 2
Killzone 2
Resident Evil 5
Assault on Dark Athena
BlazBlue
Arkham Asylum
Red Faction: G
Demon's Souls
Uncharted 2
and Borderlands, along with many others, were NOT FUN AT ALL /sarcasm.
Miyamoto you crazy!
Man, what 2009 where you in? I'm still playing catch up with the great games from 2009. And the strong start of 2010 isn't helping matters.
I can see where Miyamoto might be coming from assuming he's only talking about Nintendo. Aside from NSMB Wii, what else did they even have? At best, a repackage of Metroid.
Exactly. Wasn't 2009 the year that actually had people complaining that there were too many hits?
If you don't have a job, then you don't have money. You can't waste the money you don't have on games.
SF4. That is all.
That being said, I doubt that gaming is recession-proof, but it is resilient. Gambling learned the same lesson in the last few years.
2010 WIN!
Uncharted 2, God of War Collection, Killzone 2, Batman AA, Ratched & Clank: ACIT, etc., etc.
And going into Q1 2010, I can barely find time to play all the games...
He's got to be talking about the Wii alone b/c the PS3 has never had a better year. I"m sure the 360 is the same.
2010 is shaping up to be pretty disappointing, for me personally. Aside from Tatsunoko vs Capcom, 3D Dot Game Hero and ModNation Racers, there's really nothing that interests me.
I believe you are living in the different universe if you though ODST or AC2 was fun..
Personally, I thought a lot of 2009 games were great & 2010 has already been great.
So when he says that 2009 was a shit year for games, I look at the pile of gaming awesome that I haven't even been able to play yet because I've yet to work through the stack of other awesome games & tell him to STFU. Then I get smacked down by Nintendo fanboys. Same as any other day, really.
You really have no idea what you're talking about do you? Just the fact that you called NSMB Wii nothing more than a glorified DS remake proved that. Next time you decide to bash a game, please play it first.
On topic, I won't deny that 2009 was a slow year for Nintendo. I know for a fact that I didn't buy that many games. Well, enough to keep the thing from collecting dust (as so many Wii owners claim to happen) anyway. But looking at 2010, I think this'll be a much better year for Nintendo. I hope so anyways.
Reel off as many lists of Teen/18+ glossy shooters, racers and action titles as you like. They are great games, but by no means a universal definition of fun.
Indeed, and fun comes in different forms and in different places. Despite the recession, I sampled plenty of fine games on all formats last year, yes some by Nintendo too. Couldn't tell it was a recession year at all.