Main Site - Irrational Hatred of Nintendo [Serious]

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  • RobTheBuilder 14 Mar 2017 04:48:41 6,976 posts
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    I'm hoping in vain that the reddit style serious tag will be adhered to...

    I've noticed for many years the way that many many people have this almost emotional urge to hate Nintendo and criticise everything they do.

    This stretches far beyond gaming opinion, and even beyond fanboyism, and seems to extend into a realm where people react as if the company has somehow personally harmed them in some way.

    The discussion around Switch on the News and Reviews seem to have exacerbated this even more. To the extent where I've noticed anything that even slightly praises Nintendo getting negged, no matter how small or logical.

    Why is this? I have some theories, I'm interested in serious thoughts...

    1. Some younger people feel liking Nintendo makes them seem immature, so lash out
    2. Some people have grown up believing graphics power is all that matters, to the extent they can't understand anything that isn't 100% graphics focused
    3. Some people don't get fun
    4. Some people took the shovelware problem of the Wii, and the problems with the WiiU way too personally

    Other thoughts?
  • INSOMANiAC 14 Mar 2017 05:25:32 4,732 posts
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    Serious business
  • Mola_Ram 14 Mar 2017 05:31:09 26,187 posts
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    Is it worse than people who go on about Sony or Microsoft or whatever? I don't know that it's limited to Nintendo, though there does seem to be a bit of doom and gloom around them these past few years.

    Edited by Mola_Ram at 05:32:18 14-03-2017
  • Barrel_Trollz 14 Mar 2017 05:31:44 777 posts
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    People probably have also hated how they've treated YouTube content creators, or fan game creators. Even if it can be justified at times, negative event after negative event builds up.

    Maybe they also hate other decisions the company makes, like the poor build quality of the Switch and underpowered nature of it.

    It's also fun to poke fun as a group at something that's failed (WiiU). You've seen this as well with the Vita, though the little system has gained back respect in recent years, and the early "xbone" days of the Xbox One following its announcement. People like being part of a group and feeling justified.

    That's all I can think of. Your theories seem a little defensive to start out with, though. Instead of "x can't understand this" maybe try thinking about WHY they can't 'understand' it/feel the way they do.
  • Malek86 14 Mar 2017 05:55:16 12,331 posts
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    Perhaps the same could be said of all companies...
  • RobTheBuilder 14 Mar 2017 06:15:40 6,976 posts
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    Having been around on gaming forums for well over a decade, I've found it to be a consistent theme.

    I think originally it was to do with the Ps/Ps2 image of being adult gaming versus the perception of Nintendo as kid gaming.

    I agree to an extent that Nintendo have made bad decision across a number of areas that have affected their reputation among gamers - but nothing that seems to justify the consistent hate.
    For example: Microsoft and their original Xbone game issues - criticised, but never subject to this level of hate. Likewise companies like EA, Ubisoft, Konami and Acti, all of whom have done shitty things without long term repercussions.

    I have to say I've never seen the vita treated with the same negativity as WiiU or other less successful Nintendo consoles. Vita gets the dream cast treatment of a dead system with hidden gems, whereas WiiU gets treated as if it's a 32X.

    I guess my post was a little defensive, but it's a genuine question I've never found an answer to. People I see who carry out this criticism never seem to understand why they do it themselves - they just repeat every issue and say that's their reason... But to me there is clearly something deeper that drives it.

    For example: you could rationally say that Switch is the most powerful handheld system ever... But all many want to do is focus on it being an 'underpowered home system'. (And this was happening before specs had even been rumoured)
    Whereas when PSP and Vita came out, people were wowed at such a powerful portable.

    It's a fractious topic, but one I genuinely would like a serious discussion on.
  • Deleted user 14 March 2017 06:29:09
    Maybe some people just genuinely dislike Nintendo and everything they stand for. They're a toy company at heart that has refused to enter the to the death hardware race. Perhaps that makes them seem juvenile which is at odds with some people's perceptions of gaming s a 'very serious and important hobby'.

    Other people might be disappointed that one of the world's greatest developers is relatively under performing. What could they do with the latest and greatest hardware? (probably the same as they do now tbh but shinier). They also want a software only Nintendo so they don't have to buy what they perceive as under powered crap just to play their games on.

    Other people love trolling and starting arguments. Seems to work well in the Wii U and Switch forums. Then there's the people who are just assholes and think because it's the internet it's ok to act like a dick and say anything they want.
  • Tonka 14 Mar 2017 06:34:43 31,979 posts
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    It's envy.

    Nintendo is the oldest, most decorated, console maker out there. They have survived where others have failed. Newcomers to our hobby are attracted by the shiny lights of late entrants like SONY or MS but in their guts they know they are just mucking about with the offspring of an offspring (remember, PC gaming is where it's really at).

    Seeing as a lot of gamers are thin skinned young males they have to defend their choice of conslol to the end, but as they know that theirs have no history to speak of, that MS and SONY wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Nintendo, they have to go for personal attacks instead.

    The fact remains
    Nintendo === Original
    The rest, mere derivatives

    That doesn't mean the derivatives aren't any good or that that Nintendo are faultless. It just sets the stage for the, oh so important, pissing contest that adolescence devolves into.
  • Deleted user 14 March 2017 06:39:06
    Most of it stems from ecosse being a bellend.
  • Deleted user 14 March 2017 06:42:47
    @dirtbox ITS TIME
  • mothercruncher 14 Mar 2017 06:44:59 19,474 posts
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    Not the perfect brand ambassador, true.
  • RobTheBuilder 14 Mar 2017 06:47:49 6,976 posts
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    null wrote:
    Most of it stems from ecosse being a bellend.
    At the risk of de-legitimising my own [serious] tag... this made me laugh out loud.
  • nickthegun 14 Mar 2017 06:50:19 87,711 posts
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    Theres a while generation of gamers who have grown up with Nintendo being shit.

    They haven't grown up with the NES, SNES or N64, they have come up with a company who continually do stupid things, over promise and consistently fail to deliver, so without the benefit of the rose tinted glasses the middle aged bedwetters wear, which see threads like this created and shit like Mario Run getting an 'essential', they see Nintendo for what they are.

    Not a company made of magic unicorns but a regressive bunch of twats who's sole saving grace is managing to plop out a stone cold classic every six months.

    But, more generally, people give Nintendo grief because it's an easy button to press because it leads to threads like this and ecosse going crazy.

    Edited by nickthegun at 06:51:16 14-03-2017
  • RobTheBuilder 14 Mar 2017 06:58:50 6,976 posts
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    I'd say making some of the best games ever on a continuous basis is a pretty decent saving grace.

    I agree they've made some pretty weird decisions, but I feel like this goes way beyond that - perhaps the easy button press is accurate. Hence why I wanted to make this a serious discussion rather than a stupid free for all insult festival.
  • Decks 14 Mar 2017 06:59:01 31,013 posts
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    I wish no ill on Nintendo. Only it's fans. Also they really should go multiplatform as it's hardware is universally awful.
  • AwesomeWells 14 Mar 2017 06:59:19 1,119 posts
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    RobTheBuilder wrote:
    3. Some people don't get fun
    Seriously?
  • nickthegun 14 Mar 2017 07:08:05 87,711 posts
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    RobTheBuilder wrote:
    I'd say making some of the best games ever on a continuous basis is a pretty decent saving grace.
    Not when you are trying to support an entire console, single handedly.
  • Zomoniac 14 Mar 2017 07:08:39 10,628 posts
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    RobTheBuilder wrote:
    I agree to an extent that Nintendo have made bad decision across a number of areas that have affected their reputation among gamers - but nothing that seems to justify the consistent hate.
    For example: Microsoft and their original Xbone game issues - criticised, but never subject to this level of hate. Likewise companies like EA, Ubisoft, Konami and Acti, all of whom have done shitty things without long term repercussions.
    I think you're misremembering a lot of that. The Xbox One fiasco was met with far more vitriol than anything the Switch has been subjected to. Likewise Sony's 2005 E3 showing. In an instant Sony had gone from having a console with sales of more than double their competitors' combined to seeing all their customers jump ship and lagging heavily in the first few years of next gen.

    Likewise, after MS had won all those people over in the wake of Sony's fuck up, they went and did their XO reveal and E3 2013 which went down so badly that they found themselves losing at a 2:1 ratio against Sony despite having been most people's main platform for the last 8 years. The Switch 'hate' barely registers in comparison.

    Funny you mention Acti too. You want to see hate towards a game company, go read the YouTube comments on that first CoD:IW trailer.
  • Deleted user 14 March 2017 07:14:02
    Decks wrote:
    I wish no ill on Nintendo. Only it's fans. Also they really should go multiplatform as it's hardware is universally awful.
    ALL HAIL NEW DIRTBOX
  • RobTheBuilder 14 Mar 2017 07:19:28 6,976 posts
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    The thing about multi platform though is that they are only able to make such great games because they have profitable platforms to fund longer development.

    Stick Nintendo on other platforms and suddenly they'd be forced to make games more quickly and with less polish - they'd end up like Sega.

    I suppose you may be right on the initial hate regarding Xbox one, but that hasn't sustained. Whereas it seems like any decision Nintendo has ever made is still criticised...

    I maintain from experience, if Switch was called PSP2... People would be going on about Sony making the most powerful portable console ever instead of criticising it for not being an $800 portable PS4
  • nickthegun 14 Mar 2017 07:23:08 87,711 posts
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    That's true. If the relatively mild criticism the switch has got upsets you this much, imagine being a proper Xbox fan during the Xbone launch.

    MS took some *proper* shit and the main thread was literally dozens of people slating them and baihu for weeks on end. It was kind of a bloodbath and they have reaped the whirlwind of that so, yeah, MS took their punches, don't worry about that.
  • nickthegun 14 Mar 2017 07:24:26 87,711 posts
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    No, people would be laughing about how Sony will dump the system after 12 months, just like PSVR.
  • Zomoniac 14 Mar 2017 07:25:08 10,628 posts
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    They expected us to smile.
  • Rogueywon 14 Mar 2017 07:34:48 12,387 posts
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    I think Nintendo fans are just the most defensive/zealous. I thought that:

    3. Some people don't get fun
    ... was pretty telling. Nintendo don't have a monopoly on fun and not everybody finds their games fun. I've not found a Nintendo game fun since Smash Bros Brawl on the Wii. Confession - I've bought every 3d Zelda game since Wind Waker on the Cube (including 3DS/Wii-U remakes), determined each time to "click with" the series, and have yet to finish one. I really tried to knuckle down to the Twilight Princess remake and made it further than I'd ever made it in one before, but it still slid onto my Pile of Shame somewhere around what I'm told is the half-way point. I just get bored with them and, frankly, don't find them fun.

    I don't think Nintendo get any more criticism, proportionate to their cock-ups, than the other console makers. Sony were generally getting slated around the time the PS3 launched. MS took their knocks more recently over the XB1. But Nintendo fans just take any criticism of Nintendo more personally and the threads go toxic more quickly as a result.
  • Deleted user 14 March 2017 07:42:33
    Post deleted
  • monkman76 14 Mar 2017 08:18:04 18,987 posts
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    nickthegun wrote:
    They haven't grown up with the NES, SNES or N64, they have come up with a company who continually do stupid things, over promise and consistently fail to deliver, so without the benefit of the rose tinted glasses the middle aged bedwetters wear, which see threads like this created and shit like Mario Run getting an 'essential', they see Nintendo for whatthey are.
    So much this. I'm 40, but my first Nintendo console was the Wii U, so I can play the likes of Wind Waker HD without the ludicrous nostalgia baggage and be genuinely astounded that someone could rate that Essential in space year 2015 or whenever it came out.

    Overrated stuff earns backlash, nothing new there.
  • Armoured_Bear 14 Mar 2017 08:26:09 31,233 posts
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    It's not just youngsters, look at Cappy.
  • neilka 14 Mar 2017 08:26:24 24,021 posts
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    Reggie ran over my wife. He wasn't even in a car at the time.
  • Tonka 14 Mar 2017 08:30:45 31,979 posts
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    monkman76 wrote:
    So much this. I'm 40, but my first Nintendo console was the Wii U, so I can play the likes of Wind Waker HD without the ludicrous nostalgia baggage and be genuinely astounded that someone could rate that Essential in space year 2015 or whenever it came out.

    "I bought a game I didn't like therefore Nintendo are bad" is not even close to a valid argument. Try to construct one where you leave your personal preferences out.

    I bet you can't. Because as I said, conslol gaming as it exists today was invented by Nintendo. All the games and controllers you like are derivatives of the mighty N.
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