I understand that Nintendo is having some financial hardships and the WiiU is under performing, but why does everyone always jump on the "Nintendo is doomed" bandwagon and act like they want Nintendo to go the way of the Dodo? They make some of the best games out there and yet a portion of the gaming community seems to hate them for there lack of evolving with the times. Shouldn't their excellent software be enough?

people like to root for a company dying for some reason. its not exclusive to game companies

Their hardware is bullshit, their inability to keep any third party dev happy on the console side makes buying a $300 machine difficult, and while their games are great, some of their franchises are a bit... stale.

Super Mario 3D world was good, but it wasn't the great oh my fuck game that Galaxy was. And that's kind of how Nintendo's been since 2007 or so...

I am someone who things that Nintendo should probably get out of the console business. But I do not hope in any way that they go out of business. I think they still make great handhelds and make some great games. I think it would be really cool to see Nintendo start licensing their games out to other console makers.

Some people like to see the world burn but at the same time I don't get people who think others are missing out on something extraordinary by not having a Wii U. That thing is suffering for a reason, if the software titles were as close to the second coming of christ like some people act like they are then maybe more people would want to play on one?

Probably because they "just don't get it" in the evolving with times and just being kinda crazy. But that crazy is what makes them unique and can surprise the industry at any moment. I don't think it's hate, maybe frustration with Nintendo being the most foreword thinking company at times then turning into the most conservative company.

A lot of people don't hate them? But some people don't like that Nintendo isn't catering to their tastes by continuing to not focus online multiplayer or graphical power.

Does it matter? Seems like there are more threads asking this question than actual people that feel that way....

I've been trying to figure this out for weeks. There have been three big things; Nintendo (Wii U sales specifically), Steam Machines, and Elder Scrolls Online, that people just can't seem to get enough enjoyment out of dooming. Maybe there's some kind of satisfaction for people who are into games, but can't actually affect them at all, who feel like they're extra knowledgeable by "predicting" bad things happening?

I really just don't get it.

We live in a world where Nintendo is forced to struggle, yet Apple is allowed to thrive.

It's a sad world really.

Nintendo owned the world when it released the Wii. Then, I thought, the Kinect just wasn't fun, Sony's wand never did anything new, then Nintendo tried to go tablet for a controller?

It was like they were on the right path to the next-gen greatest-ever step towards full-body "VR" (yeah it was a few gens away, but still, Wii was more fun) and they completely jumped the shark.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll sorts of reasons that I'm able to look past!

Milking their old franchises to death and making awful hardware decisions.

People do not hate nintendo. Looking at 3ds and 3ds game sales, people loves nintendo. What they don't like is how behind the times Nintendo seems to be right now. It is the same thing with Sony (2006), Square, Capcom, Sega, Microsoft and etc. People hate it when something they loved repeatedly punch itself in the face because of whatever reason.

I don't particularly enjoy talking about Nintendo's doom, but I do need to express some frustration with the company when it comes up. I hate to use the phrase "get with the times", but... they seriously need to catch up. I understand that they want to do their own thing, but doing that and just that isn't really viable anymore. The people supporting your console aren't twelve year olds buying a new game every few months or so, they're adults who want to buy games for themselves at lower prices two or three times per month or more. And they would like it if their expensive box did more than play colorful games suitable for the whole family.

The aforementioned twelve year olds are mostly too busy salivating over Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed to care all that much about Mario anymore. Sure, some of them do, and a lot of parents would rather not buy those games for kids, but your market can't be made up of kids settling for what their parents will let them get and a few nostalgic adults anymore.

I don't hate Nintendo, I like Nintendo a whole lot. But there's a lot missing from their output that used to be there, with every release. There's a lack of creativity, a lack of understanding of what consumers want, and a lack of good games to go around. It sucks to talk about them like that, it really does, but it's not false. If all of us suddenly went out and bought Wii U's because we feel sorry for Nintendo, I don't think things would change either. They would still release the same games on the same underpowered, underfeatured consoles.

I love Nintendo, those guys were my childhood.

Nintendo abandoned the older fanbase a long time ago, and that older fanbase is still bitter.

So there are these old nostalgic Nintendo fans who would love a Mario or Zelda that spoke to them, but see that they are just not the demographic anymore and are upset.

Also Nintendo makes products for people with tiny little baby hands. That is the only reason I could be said to hate them. Way to torture giants Nintendo. It hurts so bad.

I don't get the hate on the hardware is it because it doesn't have high end graphics?

Pretty much.

I don't think that I've ever heard anyone saying that they hate Nintendo. You can enjoy or even love something while at the same time facing the facts of the current situation.

The people who hate Nintendo have no soul, they don't have any joy in their heart, and enjoy kicking puppies.

Well I think that depends on your definition of hate. Hatred is such a powerful emotion. Holding onto that negativity is silly, still I can find someone like Uwe Boll stale, boring, and aesthetically repugnant. I feel much the same way about Nintendo.

@ezekiel: I also don't get this sentiment ether "Milking their old franchises" I think every Mario game I have played is solid gold and the same goes for the zelda games and metroid games each time they set the bar higher or at the very least keep it high, I will grant you a series like mario party is done to death, but the key games in their stable of games are treated better then most original titles that come out of most game companies.

@believer258: I agree with everything you said. But my point, and I think the OP's point, was that a lot of the talk about Nintendo's business practices is never as considered and eloquent as what you just wrote. And it comes of as people somehow getting satisfaction by discussing negative things. Basically, all the stupid revelry around the "console wars" when your gizmo is worse than my gizmo, but in this case even further separated from that.

@acidbrandon18 said:

I grew up with NES and SNES, so I'm no hater. Shouldn't their software be enough? I think the problem is that you can't really get their software without buying their hardware. That's part of the problems isn't it. That's why some people think that if they were to go under, maybe we could get Zelda or Mario on "all other platforms". I haven't bought a Nintendo since the SNES (played some N64 some places though). If they'd ever put Zelda on PC, I could play them. I don't find consoles compelling enough to make me buy any of them at this point. My PC is multi-purposed and games are cheap. I think that's the struggle with any product or especially any platform; you need to make it compelling enough for consumer. The third parties have left Nintendo due to some of their platform choices, so in turn selling to consumer becomes harder still as their platform diminishes in what it has to offer. I don't think the majority of people buy multiple consoles, and they'll go where the games they want to play are; and as fewer games turn up on Nintendo, then consumers have less reason to buy the console. I think it's that simple. I don't think people really hate them or root for their demise; other than people who don't have a developed range of emotions and vocabulary to express their thoughts. I'd love to play Zelda, but I'm not dropping 200-300$ on a console and 60$ for the game for a single title. It's not worth it, nostalgia be damned.

I don't hate them. I'm indifferent towards them. I, like every kid who grew up in the 80s, had a NES and a SNES. Nintendo lost me after the N64. There hasn't been a single game of theirs I have wanted to play since Ocarina and Mario 64. I just don't care anymore. They don't make games for me any more, and that's OK. There are plenty of other developers on a host of other platforms that do.

Because CONSOLE WARS 2014, BABY! WOO!

I don't hate Nintendo, but the things they did (or didn't do rather) with the Wii U annoy the shit outta me. Laughable marketing, no system sellers until late 2013, online feature set that's severely lacking etc.

I hate to say it, but Nintendo needs to accept what they're doing isn't working and make some big changes. (Come on Iwata!)

Because they're stupid and they have a poopy face.

I don't hate Nintendo. I love Nintendo. I'm just very frustrated with Nintendo. I have been since the tail end of the Gamecube era. I love most of their franchises, but until recently, they were only putting out Mario and Zelda. Which is great, but I like F-Zero and Star Fox, etc. At this point, I just buy their consoles around the time a new Smash Bros. comes out; picking up the Mario and Zelda game(s) that I've missed alongside it.

And that's basically it. There will rarely be another game that I purchase for the system after that point. If other people are doing similar things, then it's no wonder they're in some financial trouble right now. I don't think people buying a console with 3-4 games and then disappearing for the rest of the console's life is enough to sustain any system. But I don't see Nintendo falling apart any time soon, either. They'll get by, but the days of having a console money factory (Wii) are over.

On a more positive note, I really want a 3DS. They have a bunch of good games for that little thing that I'm interested in. I get to play with one every time I go over to a buddy's house and it's one of the highlights of my visit every time. A Link Between Worlds is on point.

Don't hate them, but I couldn't care less if they vanished tomorrow. They are a stubborn company that has not earned the right to be a stubborn company.

They "were my childhood" as well, but so were Archie comics, Saturday Morning Cartoons, and The Wrestling Album II: Piledriver. Doesn't mean they are relevant now.

I'd rather play the old Mario games for free. They're still just as enjoyable as the new games. Actually, I prefer them over the NSMB games and what little I played of Galaxy. I don't want to keep seeing the same art and characters, hearing the same music and performing the same actions, even if there are a few additions and changes.

Iwata came to my house and kicked my dog.

They should stay the course, and not do anything different than they are now. Come on Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freezey 2!

@ezekiel: I have to question rather you even played the new games and if you did why did you if this is the way you think?

You're the exact kind of person the OP is talking about.

Galaxy: I found that there were too many interruptions (like talking to NPCs and being on the spaceship and being shot from one planet to another) and didn't like that the game had motion controls. The game had me doing some boring stuff. The old 2D games get to the point quicker and are more about the platforming than the walking around and collecting.

NSMB and NSMB Wii: I don't like the 3D graphics as much, and the old music and gameplay elements make the games feel soulless rather than nostalgic. A lot of the new music is forgettable. Mario is also overpowered with wall jumps and triple jumps.

@counterclockwork87: Also...I fail to see a large difference in corporate values between Apple and Nintendo. Both companies emphasize both aesthetics and function in their hardware, both would prefer to do everything/make everything for their systems in-house. Both are VERY walled gardens in terms of marketplaces/software. Both used to be run be hard-headed perfectionists. Both are now starting to see a decline in market share after booms in the mid-00s. (Nintendo more steeply, but Apple isn't what it was around the release of the iPhone 3G)

@ezekiel: I still don't buy that you played them but I'm willing to put that aside I will just give you that one, that still doesn't answer why you would play the most recent games if you don't think very highly of new Nintendo games.

Then we're done.

Not only. The main reason is that it is expensive gimmick trash. Look most games do not even use this game pad except for this remote gameplay stuff. In Donkey Kong for example the whole screen will be black. It is totally useless but still the most expensive part of this new console.

Nintendo should not go out of business but to be able to survive in the long run they should go out of the hardware business since they just can not compete there anymore. They have no good online system or infrastructure and due to the lack of power they also have almost zero 3rd party support. Yes their games are great but having hardware is a total waste of time and money.

I don't HATE them, I just really dislike how bad their online services are. Seriously, Microsoft and Sony have been pulling this off for over a decade now, why can't Nintendo seem to grasp how to do it when there's two fantastic examples right there?

I've been pondering the same question myself recently. Anytime Nintendo is brought up, a number of people seem to gain satisfaction from their financial issues. It is almost as if some people want to see Nintendo fail, but why? I think part of the answer lies in the fact that Nintendo was once the savior and hero of the home console market, the unstoppable Juggernaut . Now that more competition has become establish, successful, and arguably better in certain aspects than Nintendo, people want to see the Juggernaut crumble. It is the same reason why people want to see either Apple or Microsoft fail.

The other reason people dislike Nintendo, or feel that they abandoned their audience, despite the fact their audience has been the same for the past 30 years, is because some people have insecurities about playing child/family-friendly video games as adolescents or adults. This issue, I believe, has only further been exacerbated with the market trend and consumer belief that video games need to be darker, grittier, bloodier, and more story driven in order to convince those not-familiar with video games that they are Art. Nintendo games typical are full of bright colours, lack grit and violence, and sometimes a story all-together (nothing that artsy about an evil turtle-dinosaur stealing a Princess). That isn't to say Nintendo games are not mature in themes or content, The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask is a great example of this, however those type of games tend to be the exception to the rule. I find it hard to believe that most people who grew up playing Nintendo games didn't at one point disown Nintendo for being "kiddy" once they become an adolescent.

The last major reason that people dislike Nintendo is because they are an incredibly frustrating company at times. Nintendo typically has great ideas, but quite frequently half-baked execution. The Wii-U is an incredibly awesome idea, but half-baked. It isn't the lack of power of the machine but because Nintendo failed to properly incorporate the GamePad with most games, and I think Nintendo would have been better make the GamePad function as a standalone Tablet for movies, e-books, internet, music, and virtual console titles, and given it a capacitive touch screen instead of resistive touch screen. Nintendo's conservatism isn't always terrible though, and sometimes I would argue it's their best asset. Their stubbornness to submit to market trends means they have bastardized their video games with microtransactions, season-passes, excessive downloadable content, unfinished games, or any of that other bullshit. When I purchase a Nintendo title, I know that I am getting the full experience that Nintendo wanted to deliver. That being said, their refusal to make a competent online system, especially the failure to tie e-Shop purchases to an online account instead of physical hardware, and the failure to incorporate online multiplayer into games with local multiplayer *cough*SuperMario3DWorld*cough* is incredibly frustrating.

@darji: Expensive yes but gimmick trash I don't except that for a second I think it's one of the better controllers ever invented.

and for them to get out of the hardware business, the 3DS says hi.

Let's talk about this seriously, considering the thoughts of a great thinker.

'There is good (positive) energy, and bad (negative) energy. Every company has both! Games starts, turns into a feeling, turns into a thought, or is echoed subconsciously by our actions. The game can start as good or bad, there is not a neutral energy, that is simply lack of games.

In my opinion (lack of business knowledge) a wizard channels positive games, and a sorcerer negative games. A monk is simply a human who can channel these games, but relies on lack of games to feel the games around. This is what I am working on. I am working on simply listening to my surrounding at all times and controlling my console so that it thinks when I wish to, and is silent otherwise.'

So we all the monks, pawns in a great battle between the wizards and the sorcerers. Nintendo is just suffering from the effects of a sorcerer, whether it recovers depends on how it channels it's games.

A lot of the recent threads and comments have definitely come off as very spiteful. It's weird. A lot of us grew up with Nintendo, you'd think people would WANT them to be be doing well. People want to shit on the only company not shoving DLC and microtransactions down our throat.

There's literally an article/thread every other day every other day, saying how badly Nintendo is doing right now. Some of the gripes are totally understandable, hell, I'm waiting a bit longer myself to get a Wii U (pretty much waiting for the new Smash, even though I'll probably get it on my 3DS) but I know for sure I'll end up with one eventually. With all the resolution outrage, it's sorda strange that nobody is paying attention to the fact Wii U is running a lot of its games (the few it has) at native 1080p. People without any type of clue on how to run a business, let alone a huge company like Nintendo, keep making threads and comments on how they should run their business. It's hilarious. Nintendo has A LOT of money and it'll be a while before shit hits the fan for them.

Nintendo is the Disney of video games. They aren't going anywhere.

Why do you think people who comment on Nintendo's current dire straights "hate" Nintendo? Why can't one be neutral or a fan of Nintendo and still come to the conclusion they are doomed if continue like this? Where did your critical thinking go where you can only assume someone pointing out problems with Nintendo must mean they have a seething loathing for Nintendo??

People have lost perspective on how to discuss things let alone this topic. Just because one takes a stance or position on a topic doesn't mean they love or hate anything.

Speculating about a company's future =/= hating a company.

I don't I hate that they keep making hardware why should I have to pay 300$ to play only there games? I have a 3ds and love it but I buy alot of 3rd party games on that.

Nintendo should just sue more people