Me voy a permitir resaltar algunas cosas del texto y además opinar al respecto. Allá vamos:
Creo que no se puede empezar un artículo de mejor forma, ya dejando claro cuál es el contenido del mismo. Aquí Matt, aún mostrando cláramente su respeto y admiración por Shigeru Miyamoto, lo coloca totalmente en su sitio actual, sitio al que él ha permitido llegar.In New Super Mario Bros. Wii's multiplayer mode, you can play as icons Mario, Luigi or two versions of sideshow character Toad. So when famed Nintendo designer and development leader Shigeru Miyamoto is asked prior to the game's release why Princess Peach wasn't included as a playable character instead, he pauses and says that it would've been nice, but that the physique of Toad more closely resembles that of Mario. "And if one of the four had a dress, we'd have to come up with a special programming to handle how the skirt is handled in gameplay," he jokes.
I know the legendary producer -- a man responsible for many of my favorite games across two decades -- is just kidding about Peach's dress, but it's the first part of his comment that strikes me as interesting and even a little disturbing. He just told a room full of reporters that the only reason gamers must play as multi-colored versions of Toad instead of Peach or other beloved Mushroom Kingdom characters is because Toad has the same body shape as Mario and it was simply easier for Nintendo to recycle him.
Para resumirlo dice que en el New Super Mario Wii podemos jugar con mario, Luigi y 2 Toad, pero no con un icono importante como Peach. A la pregunta de por qué no han incluido a Peach como personaje jugable, Miyamoto decía que como Toad tiene una física parecida a la de Mario no tenían que hacer ningún esfuerzo, pero si ponían a Peach tenían que hacer una "programación especial" (¿.....?). Increible ejemplo de "tocarse las pelotas", y encima se jactan de ello.
Aquí Matt califica todo esto directamente como "vagos". Y además recuerda que Nintendo no es una compañía con dos hombres en un garage programando juegos después de acostar a los niños, sino una corporación con miles de millones de dólares y cientos y cientos de empleados.With all due respect to Miyamoto, a proven gaming genius and innovator, that's just lazy. Either that, or Nintendo has gone off the deep end in its dogged pursuit of the business bottom line. This is not a two-man garage developer which works on games after its kids go to bed. It's a multi-billion dollar corporation with thousands of employees, many of whom have helped shape the very industry as we know it. A cash behemoth with unrivaled game-making experience. That it might even ponder recycling a character for one its most beloved and lucrative franchises so that it might save time, money, or whatever, seems ludicrous. That it actually did so is unbelievable.
Además muestra cómo el juego en Wii se ve prácticamente igual que el de Nintendo DS
Aquí hace memoria de qué es Wii y por qué Nintendo decidió apostar por un sistema de esta índole. Pero también hace incapié que existen muchos jugadores que valoran el audio y el vídeo, y que esto para ellos es un guantazo en la cara.Let's travel backward. The Wii remote is an outstanding piece of technology that has transformed the way many of us play games and Nintendo deserves full credit for having the foresight to disengage itself from the system wars and try something completely new. Obviously, the choice paid off. I covered the Big N through the evolution of N64, GameCube and finally Wii and I remember all the decisions and comments made by the company's executive staff. Wii exists today because Nintendo is brilliant, but also because the company saw rising development costs, time and resources and didn't want any part of it. Smart business move. But for players who do value cutting-edge graphics and audio -- there are millions of us, by the way; we're not a niche, as six million copies sold of Modern Warfare 2 in November show -- it's a slap in the face and a clear case of the bottom line taking precedence.
Además pone a Wii Music como ejemplo de lo que es un vergonzoso ejemplo de qué es ahorrar esfuerzo y dinero en temas técnicos.
Aquí habla sobre qué cómo enfoca Nintendo las cosas actualmente, diseñando los juegos para ser ser divertidos como objetivo principal y el resto es secundario. Y ponen como ejemplo directo a Wii Sport. Dicen que es un juego con un aspesto limpio, pero que es muy genérico y arcaico. Dice que Nintendo se ahorró todo el gasto de dinero, tiempo y energía en el tema técnico porque como sabían que tenían un "best-seller" e iban a vender igual, para qué gastar tiempo y dinero en el producto. Patetico (esto último lo digo yo).We all praise Nintendo for returning gameplay and not graphical pop to the forefront. Since their conception, games have been designed to be fun first and everything else second. Nintendo seems to realize that more than any other developer in the world, which is why some of its presentational shortcomings are usually overshadowed by welcomed over-compensations in control and design. But make no mistake: Wii Sports is also the product of Nintendo's bottom line and, yes, even laziness to some degree. The developer could have achieved a simple, accessible visual style with lots of added detail and effects, but it chose not to. Wii Sports dons a crisp, clean look, but is otherwise decidedly generic, static, and frankly, archaic. Nintendo spent less time, energy and money on the graphics because it had a winning hook to fall back on, which was of course the new motion controls. Why, though, should innovation come at the expense of presentation? Because it's easier and cheaper.
Expend less energy, cut costs and somehow make more money anyway. Sadly, save for only a few epic hardcore titles like the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Mario Galaxy, this mantra of sorts has been the Nintendo way through Wii's lifecycle. I wish it weren't so, but I can point to a dozen examples, from actual games to outdated models that the firm clings to only (so far as I can tell) because it remains reluctant to change.
Además se lamenta de que no hayan más Twilight Princess y Super Mario Galaxy, juegos trabajados y de genial factura técnica.
Aquí habla del Wii Play, una colección de mini-juegos totalmente simple, que es un mero tutorial de cómo manejar el Wii-Mote (me alegra ver que Matt opina igual que yo respecto al Wii-Play), y de cómo se lo ha montado de bien Nintendo para que sea el juego más vendido de la generación.There's Wii Play. It doesn't host a single experience that isn't playable for free and probably better as an iPhone app. It's a collection of lazily constructed mini-games, some of which aren't even enjoyable -- a simple technical demo of the Wii remote. And Nintendo struck gold with the title because it packaged it with a controller. It is the best-selling "game" this generation.
Don't even get me started on Wii Music, a game that so easy that it not only nearly plays itself, but houses a soundtrack full of public domain songs (because they're free for Nintendo to license) and MIDI-style music (because it's easier and cheaper to produce than orchestrated songs). The bottom line might as well have its own logo on the box.
What about more traditional software like, say, Animal Crossing: City Folk? The series has long been a fan favorite for its relatively non-linear, free-form gameplay. When Nintendo first announced that it was working on a new Animal Crossing game, Wii owners like me automatically imagined the possibilities. A much grander city to explore. Online play. Perhaps Nintendo would even create some kind of epic massively multiplayer experience. Nope. City Folk shipped as an all-too-familiar cross between the previously released GameCube and DS efforts. No real innovations. No presentational leaps despite Wii's added horsepower. Still fun but certainly aged and undeniably lazy.
Habla del Wii Music y como son de vagos en Nintendo que la música del juego es MIDI. Lamentable (esto también lo digo yo).
Y del Animal Crossing de Wii que, cuando lo anunciaron pensaron en un mundo totalmente abierto, explotado, etc, y luego se encuentran con un port directo del juego de Nintendo DS. Además repite reiteradamente la palabra "vagos".
Aquí comenta la forma fácil de hacer dinero que tiene Nintendo, re-sacando juegos ya existentes en Gamecube símplemente cambiándoles el control, control que además es malo en casi todos los casos. Y que durante ese periodo de tiempo que ha versioneado esos juegos, únicamente ha sacado 5 juegos nuevos para Wii, que son el Animal Crossing, el New Mario Bros, el Wii Music, el Wii Fit Plus y el Wii Sport Resort.It gets worse. Imagine an entire series of games re-purposed with tacked on Wii controls. Requires minimal effort on Nintendo's part and it's easy money. Cue the New Play Control! games. Pikmin, Pikmin 2, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Mario Power Tennis, Chibi Robo and even Metroid Prime 1 and 2 in worldwide territories. Some of these games -- like DK Jungle Beat and Mario Power Tennis -- are actually worse on Wii. In less than one year, Nintendo has shipped seven of these games, three of which it ported internally. In the same period, the company has developed only five new games for Wii: Animal Crossing, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Wii Music, Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort.
Termina poniendo el ejemplo del Mario Tennis de Gamecube y su penoso control en la versión para Wii.
Y bueno, termina el artículo diciendo cosas con una coherencia total y una realidad pasmosa, llenas de sentido, y añorando a Zelda Twilight Princess.
Ésta sí era una Nintendo de verdad...
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