Super Smash Bros FUBAR–Why I’m Laughing At Big N.
No, really. I’m laughing myself stupid at the boys and girls of the Mushroom Kingdom on Earth, because somehow, they botched the single biggest launch they’ve had in months.
Let’s face it. The Wii has not been big on titles in the last several months, especially ones that weren’t mass collections of party games. I’m hard pressed to think of more than ten, while competing systems like the Xbox 360 and the PS3 have had a couple dozen each. Thus, everybody and his mother was waiting for the latest coming of Super Smash Bros Melee, and the fact that a goodish number of folks who finally got copies…oh, this is just too good…
According to Big N’s central hive-mind, the double-layer Smash Bros disc can only be read by a thoroughly clean disc drive lens. Nor will it, apparently, work if you have a Wiikey.
Naturally, lots of Big N’s fans are suitably pissed off, and I would be too if the single biggest game, arguably, the system had seen to date were out, I got a copy, and just as soon as I slap it in it just plain doesn’t work.
Of course, Big N is taking steps, offering thorough system cleanings and suchlike to help out its beleaguered fans, but after a long wait, the last thing players want is MORE WAITING. I’m reminded of the whole Red Ring incident from Xbox–I got red ringed about four months ago–and if Big N handles it with the same care and skill as Microsoft did, then I’ll bet the Wii fans will be forgiving.
And while you’re without your game, folks, you can always come play Wii trivia on Kwanzoo!
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Nintendo usually puts a great deal of effort into fixing their mistakes, unlike Msoft and the rest. I do not approve of your anti-Nintendo tone, young man.
Clearly you have not been on the receiving end of a red ringing. Had you have been, you’d have discovered the effort Microsoft put into fixing its mistakes. Besides…this was too big a launch for Nintendo to bungle, and sure enough, it was indeed bungled. And my anti-Nintendo tone is with good reason. I grew UP with Big N, and frankly, they never grew up with ME. When they can start putting out deep RPGs and hard-core action games instead of packs of party games, then maybe I’ll reconsider.
Nintendo has always catered to the family market. You can criticize the style of their games as much as you like, as long as you realize that it’s deliberate and that’s their market - and that they come out with incredibly high quality games, even if they are rated E. And they have always been the kings of the handheld console.
I heard horror stories about the red ring. No, I don’t have a 360, nor would my sole experience indicate much about Microsoft’s overall attitude towards the whole thing. In general they haven’t been too concerned with product quality or with making consumers happy, but now that it’s all said and done, they handled the red ring pretty well. I just see no reason to believe that Nintendo won’t be as good or better at handling the situation, given how quickly and creatively they reacted to the Wiimote-throwing problem.
Using terms like “The Big N” and “hive-mind” makes it sound like Nintendo is basically Big Brother, as opposed to those friendly down-home folks over at Sony.
Now, I might give you “hive mind” as being somewhat antagonistic–which I have a right to be being as I find their product line distasteful since it’s not geared toward my interests in any way–but it’s not just me that calls Big N “Big N”. That’s been on for years–even NOA employees used to call themselves Big N. And while we’re at it, I don’t see how Microsoft didn’t take care of its gamers–other than the now-infamous red ring phenomenon I don’t remember them having a lot of hardware issues. Though I should say, in the interests of fairness, I LIKE the Wii’s hardware concept. I don’t like, however, what they’re doing with it and I think that may well be a post at some point.