Deals in Heels

So yesterday, at a Nintendo press conference in Japan, Nintendo decided to announce the release date for the WiiU, but nobody ended up giving a shit about that because they also announced that Bayonetta 2 is in production, exclusivley for the WiiU.

Now I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of the original Bayonetta game, if you’re reading this because you're a Nintendo fanboy then you probably won’t have as it was only released on the 360 and PS3, and if you’re a 360 or PS3 fanboy, you’re probably gobbing in your cereal as we speak, or at least that’s the impression given by the internet, which is collectively up in arms about the decision, even going so far as to start a petition. Yeah, like one of those ever got anything done...

The sad thing is though, that this has nothing to do with consumers fighting the mistreatment they face at the hands of a large corporation. It’s just a bunch of people, with a false sense of entitlement, moaning and bitching on the internet. And you wonder why people think CoD causes post office shootings?

Let me lay it out another way, Nintendo is in an extremely competitive environment, and quite frankly is losing out because most developers don’t want to commit to their half arsed attempt at a gaming system. Being less powerful cpu-wise may have been advantageous for the Gameboy and SNES against their competitors, but it’s a business strategy that’s no longer working for Nintendo. Everyone also seems to know the solution to this problem, because you’ve been moaning and bitching about it on the internet for the past 10 years. Nintendo can’t rely on it’s stock of 1st and 2nd party games, they’re just not enough; they need the innovation and big name brands of 3rd party developers. Which is now the exact same thing people are riling against.

Still Would

I get that you don’t like the WiiU, or may have already made up your mind about it, but don’t start going ballistic when they get an exclusive you want to play. I mean, I don’t like black liquorice, but I don’t send the firm round to kick the shit out of Bertie Bassett, I just don’t buy the stuff. A measured reaction I think you’ll agree. On top of that, surely you’ve experienced the disappointment of a game being 360 or PS3 exclusive, so you already know if you want to play something, sometimes you have to fork out a larger investment for a new console. Unless you convinced mummy to get you a 360, and daddy to get you a PS3, and then later that day at an awkward christmas lunch they realised you were the reason they got divorced all along... but that’ll have to wait for another time.

The fact of the matter is, if you want the benefits of a competitive capitalist industry, with price wars, and exclusive content, and big name titles, and companies constantly trying to woo you, it’s not because they’re on your side, or you’re on their team... it’s because they want your money! It’s no more true in this instance, and you shouldn’t feel angry or entitled because for once it’s not been the PS3 or 360 on the receiving end of a rather good business deal. I still don’t think I’ll be buying a WiiU, not unless they show a more rounded library of games, but if this is the attitude Nintendo now have, and this is only the start of them coming out fighting, then I say it can only be a good thing for the currently stagnant console market.

At the end of the day though, I think everyone’s learnt a valuable lesson here, and it’s that the hot one’s are always bitches on the inside... always.