I’ve been saying it since Wii Sports, folks. Nintendo’s incredible success with the casual gaming market will get them greedy and they’ll start to focus entirely on the casual consumer within a few years.
That’s what I said, but nobody believed me.
Well, here ladies and gentlemen, for your discerning eyes is a quote from Shigeru Miyamoto himself, saying that Nintendo is beginning to make just such a move. In an interview given to the San Jose Mercury Times, he said:
"The fact is, I don’t think there is such a wall between both audiences," Miyamoto said. "While there are indeed games designed for core and casual markets, core users are also enjoying casual gaming. It is very hard to tune the difficulty just for the core market. Even for us, we would still have difficulty finding the right balance.
"But I think the future is games that are not difficult and yet very fun to play. What I mean is that there is no point in making difficulty level the fun factor of a game. We are making Super Mario Galaxy as a new and fun experience which aims at providing a very appealing, convincing and-before all-fun experience. If we managed to do so, then I’m sure even the core gamers will find it appealing."
Oh no, he didn’t just mention the "M" word when talking about a lack of difficulty did he? He doesn’t think Mario should be difficult? Why does he think the classic Super Mario titles of yesteryear are still so beloved? Because we can’t get our jumping fix anywhere else?
If fun without difficulty is actually the winning formula, then why isn’t Crackdown a timeless classic and Mega Man lost in the annals of time?
