 |
| Because this is SO hard... |
This... this is unbelievable.
(NOTE: And apparently for good reason, but more on that after the article below)
Literally... I am unable to believe this.
According to the above-linked article, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, "defended the company’s strategy for making games easier by revealing the results of gamer testing that Nintendo has conducted that demonstrates gamers’ decreasing ability to do well in games."
Now, this doesn't state whether the study was done in the West or in Japan, but this is pretty depressing...
“'It may come as a shock to some of you that most gamers today cannot finish the original Super Mario Brothers game on the Famicom,' he said. 'We have conducted this test over the past few years to see how difficult we should make our games and have found that the number of people unable to finish the first level is steadily increasing.'”
WOW. Now THAT is depressing. In fact, the article goes on to say that "90% of participants couldn’t finish the level." The level that taught much of my generation how to play games in general is now too difficult for "most gamers today."
Now THIS... this is where the true shocks come in:
"He also noted that most didn’t understand basic game mechanics such as the run button, or that coins are to be collected and aren’t enemies, or the concept of a bottomless pit. About 70% died at the first enemy, and half of those died at that same spot twice. (Twice! At the hands [or lack thereof] of the first Goomba!)"
They didn't understand the RUN button? That coins "aren't enemies?" That's crazy to me. I can understand dying at the same thing at least twice... that happens to the best of us sometimes, especially if we're unfamiliar with the game... BUT NOT UNDERSTANDING THE CONCEPTS OF A RUN BUTTON AND THAT YOU HAVE TO COLLECT COINS RATHER THAN KILL THEM? Wow.
"Participants said that they wanted the game to be easier, and that Mario should perhaps start the game with a sword or a gun. Some didn’t even realize that Super Mario Bros was an actual vintage game."
Easier? It really didn't get much easier than THE FIRST LEVEL OF SMB.
Finally, Iwata had some closing words:
"'As a stockholder, you should be relieved to know that our games are easier in order to attract a wider audience,' he told the crowd. 'As a gamer, you might feel a little sad, and you should be. It is quite sad.'"
"It is quite sad."
Let those words sink in...
"It is quite sad."
Wow.
Of course, there are a lot of other things I'd LOVE finding out... the sample size, where the study took place, what the qualifications were for being a "new gamer," the age of these gamers, etc. There could be all sorts of factors that could account for what was reported.
But still... it makes one think.
I'm getting old?
(NOTE: Apparently the source of this information was a PARODY site, making this a false description of events. But still... the way games are getting easier and easier to play, it would not be a large leap to think that this was legit. I guess the real giveaway would have been the CEO of a multi-million dollar company saying that this was a sad situation. As long as they knew where the market was going, I don't think this CEO would have cared enough to call the situation "quite sad." Thanks go out to G+ readers Glen McNamee, Andreas Teufel, and Matti Rantanen for pointing this out to me.)
0 comments:
Post a Comment