bryus

bitnard

I've died on a few. No shame in admitting it. I'm not the gamer I once was :p

DCSimian

Cheddabake

agustin2489

RobTheBuilder

Jenstar

L_K_M

Canadian Impostor

Later I recieved galaxy from her parents, natch, and when we got home with that little number I was elated when she suggested we get a few things out of the way so we could sit down and play, what I call, the "real" Mario.

She was controlling Mario and she asked me where I was, I explained how everything worked and she seemed disappointed that I wasn't going to be Luigi running alongside her or something.

That night we got about 6 stars and she hasn't played since. I keep bugging her to play with me again, but she actually feels that its too complicated.

"Its wierd, you just run around on little planets", she says. It's like she wants 2D platformers on the TV again.

I don't think she's seen me play it since then either, she works late some nights and now I have night classes so there's not a lot of time. Its just a shame because we'll be sitting there quietly watching a TV show and I'll just glance at the SMG box, conveniently placed in the front of the DVD rack, and think about the teamwork and interaction we could have by playing a game together.

*sigh*

Ptolemy

KM91

wideawakewesley

You know, Stay Puff Marshmallow Man analogy

Ultrasinc

Irenicus-the one and only

She doesn't play games either but she liked watching me play smg, while she collected star bits and shot random things with them... think the secondary player feature which alot of reviews seem to have slated, was wayyyy underrated. Don't think many of them realise the appeal to gamers other half's/spectator's tendency to want to back seat drive by pointing out stuff on the screen....

charsuipau

Zero2007

Nintendo's certainly nailed their marketing though. Non-gamers have to be told that it's okay for them to play games now. Because they're that stupid.

V1L3

残心

Elrinth

Something that looks pretty, the first thing she said about it was how good it looked, but with no real point other than driving around.

I told her that you can do that in Burnout all you want and you can even get a cruiser. She dismissed it and then I suggested Desert Bus.

She knew what it was, I was amazed.

Mr_Fuzzypaws

Toasticus

Well, IMDB does have credits for video game entries. I'm not how complete they are for more obscure titles (or in general), but they definitely have the artists from Mass Effect listed, at least.

SuperMaxZero

I think it'd be really cool if you guys started playing up the names of composers and lead artists of the games you report on, like saying, "Here's a batch of new screenshots from Metal Marios of War, featuring the work of lead artist John Public." It might help encourage people to see those roles as being important and noteworthy, like how most people already consider the role of lead designer to be. It'd be especially cool if you started having interviews with artistic leads and composers.

It's kind of shameful to realize I don't know the names of the lead artists responsible for Okami, Resident Evil 4, Gears of War, Bioshock, or Team Fortress 2. These are people worth following. And, unfortunately, there is no IMDB equivalent for games, making the process of looking up credits for a game a big pain in the ass.

Toasticus

Firstly - yes, the Wii marketing is all based around showing it off as this "everyone can play, it's a social activity" thing as opposed to a solitary nerdcore devotion. So? When, exactly, did ANY game or system try to sell itself as "you'll play this all alone in lieu of human interaction?" Never, unless it was being ironic. Intellivision pitched itself as a kind of home computer ("I can do homework with it, honest Ma!") The NES was a toy robot that also played games on the TV. Hell, little more than a decade ago Sega was telling us with a straight face that owning the mother-system of a sneaker-wearing blue cartoon hedgehog was evidence that you were EPOCHS more "badass" than the fans of a cartoon plumber. Are you telling me that you're just figuring out NOW that mainstream media game-marketing is lame?

Secondly, if anything the Wii is RE-geeking the game scene by virtue of it's existance, not the other way around - at least from my vantage point. Someone brought up the (brilliant) Penny Arcade strips about the MTV-style marketing of the Playstation era being the begining of the end for the golden age of gaming as a for-nerds-by-nerds realm. Good callback... except it doesn't really fit here. Post-Playstation, gaming has gotten progressively LESS "nerdy" even though the games got more impenetrable and insular: 'straight' sports retreads, generic "realistic" war FPS, etc. became the order of the day, whereas during the NES/MS/Genesis/SNES/N64 era(s) the kind of out-there geek-gasm weirdness that's now so refreshing in "No More Heroes" or "Bioshock" was utterly commonplace.

Even now, the PS3 and 360 are both aiming squarely at the Playstation-era "new gamers" that P.A. was railing about in that series: The varsity-goon Madden-o-philes and the FPS-addict fratboys, while the geek-gamer set gets, what, exactly? "Keep waiting for Final Fantasy" from Sony, while MS offers "It's called Halo. It's another pretend-your-in-the-army macho-chest-thumper dealie, but this one's in SPACE! You dorks like space, right?"

Nintendo, meanwhile... yeah, they've got the moms and the retirees in the crosshairs with the ads and the marketing focus. But what are they actually SELLING this crop of "new gamers?" Whats the design theme, the overriding "tone" of the product? Five word description: "Walt Disney Goes To Akihabara" - in other words the same out-there, PURE-geek and nerd-to-the-core outlandishness that's been their bread and butter since Miyamoto first decided to send his plumber to a fight turtles in a Mushroom Kingdom.

moviebob

Benjo

Avinash_Tyagi

Later, she got frustrated at Sora's poor jumping and quit. It was progress though, definite progress!

ReidP

Scum2k1

Because I have a feeling that if all husbands could get their wives to convert, we'd be well on our way to world domination.

Just a thought :D

Durandel

My point might be best rephrased by having my imaginary person say, "I don't like music." If someone said that, I hope our collective jaws would DROP. If someone makes a sweeping statement about an entire artform or craft, they're either doing it wrong, not trying, or haven't found the right stuff.

Shevek

The Wii isn't actually hurting hardcore sales. If people want to play The Orange Box, Oblivion, Mass Effect, or any big-huge-giant-engrossing game, they buy a 360 or PS3.

And the thing is that the Wii really introduces a lot of people to gaming, as we have read here. Not only that, but it introduces the masses to gaming and lets them know that it isn't the big cesspool that the mass media makes it out to be.

The Wii isn't stealing any money from the hardcore market. The hardcore developers make games for hardcore consoles, to appease to their audience. A good developer won't sacrifice gameplay for money.

The ones that do, well, there's an expression for that.
"And nothing of value was lost."

RPharazonius

Ninja-Z

Xeneizes

Sorry for the tangent, everyone!

Cathaoir

DarkLuigi

Brian Crecente

Keegs79

I wish my bf was interested in something gaming, he doesn't care about games AT ALL!!! So damn annoying :o(

valhum

LovelyPeach

Heh heh. Allriiiight.

Robotube

jaymac

However, I really don't understand when people say SMG isn't even a good game, or "it suxX0rz lololol." I don't care what your individual tastes are, Mario Galaxy is an objectively great game. I really don't think anyone with an open mind can rate it anywhere below "pretty fun." We all have different tastes, but there IS objectivity in every form of media as well.

Spiffyness

Also, your wife doesn't like games? HOW DO YOU LIVE!? I kid, I kid.

y2kenjination

I come on here every single day, multiple times a day, probably once an hour. Just because I don't post often, doesn't mean I don't read the articles and comments.

mywhitenoise

Commas go inside of quotation marks.

username3

NoraHF

The only game she ever got into was Animal Crossing, and she really got into it. Every fish, every bug that she could get (and she wouldn't play with the clock), she spent a lot of time in that little village.

Thinking about the upcoming Wii version makes me more than a little nervous.

Islandkiwi

KingGorilla

neobooper

I mean, you look at how many titles Nintendo is putting out, and even though it might not seem like much it's still a ton of projects for one person to be involved with. Your average game designer only works on one game every two to three years! It's simply impossible for Miyamoto to take a particularly hands-on approach to directing every Nintendo game that gets released, so giving him supreme credit on every Nintendo game is a gross misappropriation of praise. If Miyamoto were put in charge of an average team of developers working on a new IP with an average development schedule, I doubt we'd see results nearly as impressive. In lieu of crediting lead development members, I'd prefer people just say "Nintendo," as in, "Nintendo really did a great job with SMG."

Again, I believe that Shiggy is wildly talented, and probably the single person most responsible for Nintendo's success, but that doesn't mean he's responsible for all of Nintendo's success. Let's give some props to the other talent working for The House that Mario Built.

Toasticus

kaichamp17

crewwolfy

she normally just ignores/gets annoyed at the amount of time i take up with the tv and on the 360 and wii. but she got really involved in not only playing shotgun to help me beat mario galaxy, but started her own file and is now mad that i gave back my review copy.

she's still insisting that it be the next game i buy! thank you miyamoto! thank you!

PGGB

AgainstOne

thaKingRocka

Shiryu

CyberSkull

Postscript:

And I'm not sure that the Wii represents the greatest (r)evolution in the form or is the most accessible system, but it definitely advertises as such. I think one hand washes the other; if one person starts with Wii Sports, they might move to another. And one day buy a REAL gaming machine!

(I'm kidding! Besides, I meant a computer, anyway.)

Shevek

Odin

So it is with gaming. Everyone plays sometimes, even though they may not call it gaming, but a lot of people have an idea in their head about video games. They just don't like it. Or they think that it isn't a hobby for them. Some of the reasons they might give:

-Video games are for kids or its silly or immature to play them. Variation: games are for boys who won't grow up and be real men
-They're too complicated, hard to play, or take up too much time
-I have better things to do, I don't have time, or I have other hobbies, etc.

As more people learn that there are all types of games and that they aren't just for little kids, frat boys, or parent's house basement-dwellers, they'll find a game for them.

Shevek

lol (inside joke for those who don't get it)

Hylian

iao_

kathartik

PaintedMidget

DARK DVNT; DARKDVNT [Xfire/Yahoo/Aim] ;Plz visit my website, k, thx.

One thing all industries based on creative elements like art, music, story need to watch for is not to let any one group or type of creative professional be totally valued above all others, it leads to disaster. See the american comics industry in the 90s for an example of what happens when a certain facet of the process gets over emphasized and celebrated, celebrity artists nearly ran the entire industry into the ground. People need to be recognized and appreciated, but only for their part of the whole and not to excess.

Oh and I'd lay off the grammar policing (you know who you are) if I were the parties in question, nobody is perfect all the time and these guys write a TON of posts on here. It's always readable, which is more than I can say for many other writers whose spelling and grammar might be more "perfect". The whole damn language is a mess anyway, and most of the "rules" that you're so into are only a couple centuries old, so get over yourselves already. Samuel Johnson you're not :)

DaiMacculate

moobaa

Reminds me when I was seeing the G4 or was it GT? anyway, they where giving story of Nintendo and they mention that it was Miyamoto who SINGLE-HANDLY brought Nintendo back...WTF?!? What about Gunpey Yokoi who made the toys that save Nintendo when they only had cards that where selling less and also who help made the NES. Hiroshi Yamauchi power to see what would sell and what wouldn't even if he never play the games himself (and of course who saw the potential in Gunpey Yokoi's designs of toys). Can't forget Minouro Arakawa and Howard Lincon's help on establishing NOA...but sadly the show only mention Miyamoto and never credited anyone else. I stop watching that 'thing' when that happen *sigh* I know Miyamoto had a lot to do with the success of Nintendo then, but he wasn't the only one that help Nintendo become what they are.

daknight

As for SMG, the boyfriend refuses play it with me anymore. He says it is too frustrating. Oh well, more Harvest Moon time for me.

Perky Peanut

The GBA (first gen) got my wife gaming - she plays allthe time on her DS,odd enough though she doesn't get on consoles very much.

sadkermit - soon to be banned for standing up to the ummm nazi.

erlik

Once they experience something they like, they start to understand otherwise.

erlik

Vegan Shinigami

King Seafoam

Dudemeister

Bernard McGraw

cokpendejo

Bernard McGraw

AllKindsOfRalph

mferrari

Kikouken

He's certainly talented, but it's not like he's wholly responsible for these games. Game design isn't what initially caught your wife's attention. Granted, once her attention was gained the gameplay made her want to learn more, and I'm sure Shiggy had some general pointers for how the art and music of the game were executed, but Miyamoto simply is not responsible for the fantastic visuals and music of the game. Those are what got your wife to sit down in the first place.

I understand the need to have "stars" in the industry, but come on now. Koji Kondo ain't a nobody!

Toasticus

I reckon that if a game has a good story that draws people in, anyone, even the game haters might get to like a game.

2SBs

I mean, take a look at the Goddamn commercials for Wii Sports, or Wii Fit, or (God-bless) the Zapper. Everybody has a facial expression that looks like they've got a wad of meth the size of my fist jammed up their asshole, and in none of those commercials is a player ever by him/herself. Even the Zapper, a decidedly singleplayer experience, has another three people of various ethnicities jumping and shouting and pointing in glee.

What was that formula Zero Punctuation cooked up? something like "combine one-dimensional gameplay and cute sounds and visuals to make the gaming equivalent of crack cocaine".

I mean, I'm glad the strategy of appealing to the "mainstream" is working, I'm happy for Nintendo that they're probably rich enough to buy Denmark--but it disgusts me. Mainstream appeal hurts my interests in "proper" games directly--see the lack of Wii-exclusive quality games for example. I'll cling to the Xbox and the PC till they too are dragged down under by the twin monsters "approachable" and "family-friendly".

"Nowadays the cool people are playing videogames too. They could be out there having sex, with girls--why the hell do they want my hobby?" --Gabe (Penny Arcade, Duh)

P.S. I plan on buying a Wii for Smash Bros. Brawl...if only I can find one. Those Goddamned soccer moms and newlywed couples keep snapping them up like Hungry Hungry Hippos.

Gunhaver

Witzbold

TOCATL

She loved portal and Team Fortress 2 though.

She was anti-gaming prior to my play through of MGS3 partially because of stuff like Mario.

Black-Dog-Howls

I think nintendo have always made games and that engage people to watch others, back in the day my mum would sit for hours watching me play Donkey Kong on the SNES because she loved the music and the underwater levels.

Yes nintendo has that golden touch when it comes to niche and to a lesser extent cliché - you either love them or hate them and with consoles like the SNES, DS and Wii you gotta love them, don't you :D

Banned for Nothing

Snappywave

Raynre

gamadaya

Wyld

Sustenance

My brain is breaking because I forced myself to type that.

Korby

Then she revealed that she loved Mario Kart 64. Naturally I showed her Double Dash and Mario Kart DS. The next phase was RPGs: I showed her Paper Mario on the Gamecube. She played through the whole game with me.

Then I told her that the Wii was going to get a Mario Kart game. Score, she actually helped me get the console on day one.

She watched me play through Twilight Princess. The whole game. I wasn't allowed to play without her. It was awesome.

Then SMG came out. I thought it would take us our standard three to four months to play through a game.

WRONG. We played for around ten hours straight one Friday. Ten friggin' hours! It was pure bliss, mixed with bell peppers and and cheese and crackers. The next day she wakes me up early, Wii-mote in hand.

My friends, I knew that day that my battle was won. She was a gamer. <3

Legion329

My missus is big on games too, casualesque I spose but y'know.. she's clocked Puzzle Quest, not sure many girls have defeated Lord Bane before!

syl1985

My lady's not a huge gamer by any means. But she's a graphic designer, so she'll be really impressed by stuff like Bioshock's well-thought out commitment to the whole art-deco look. It's actually pretty awesome playing games with her watching (or, in the case of katamari damacy or star wars lego, participating) because she notices stuff I wouldn't. And she loves to sing in Rock Band. I'm a happy dude.

caps

cocks

gamadaya

Brian Crecente

Witzbold

mywhitenoise

Furious_Liver

Beelzebozo

I'm proud to say my GF can kick my ass in Smash Brothers. She also owns me in the Phantom Hourglass multiplayer Minigame, Mario Kart, and a few other things.

z357x

boopadoo

ColdHeat

Nintendo games do have a way with the ladies though. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what it is, but then it doesn't take a genius to figure out that there's something there that isn't in your typical FPS. If I play Halo online with some guy buddies, she will zone out or start poking me because it's "boring." Which, to watch when you're not playing, I can't really deny. Nintendo games don't seem to have that problem. Of course it's not exclusively Nintendo that manages this, but they do seem to have the most consistency.

The_PoT

But I do agree Crecente, nintendo just has that appeal for all ages, races, gender, etc.

D3Anon

homelessvagrant

DiSTiNCT

LittleBigPlaneteer

[youtube.com]

jrjoe

Tonx

I love learning about people through such interactivity.

Furious_Liver

Paviel

El-Suave

Balmung576

eternalplayer2345

SLoth_112

Know, he doesn't.

^Fixed

:D

sugardeath

Cool about turning your wife onto gaming (a bit) however.

wild_world_girl

Luziphir

Thrash16

You're fired.

goodgravy

Wierd choice of games to watch I know but..its one of the few. She also liked watching Zelda OOT and TP, as well as The Legacy of Kain series.

parad0x360

I don't know what it is about the Wii either, but that's why it's printing money! I think they're doing this to pull in a bigger crowd then to ease them into the hardcore stuff. It's working as far as I know.

LionheartAce

Not sure I'd be married if my wife weren't into gaming of some kind. Video games, RPGs, war games, board games and card games are my LIFE. Hell, we MET at a game.

KaneTaker

fishtub

@mywhitenoise: ...Sigh.

Furious_Liver

B-tray

Cloral

mossberg

jMonken

blehh

mywhitenoise