Wired.com talks about how Japan's game makers are now in the grip of girl fever - scrambling to market directly to women gamers who were once ignored. The success of the Nintendo DS seems to be the main reason, with many of the 16 million sold in Japan so far, having been snapped up by females thanks to games like Nintendogs and Brain Age.
In fact with the upcoming Mother's Day, Nintendo is advertising hard trying to get children to buy their mothers DS's. The article also talks about how there seems to be a general acceptance of female gaming, with it looking more stylish than it used to. Although there are games popular with both men and women, such as New Super Mario Bros. and Final Fantasy III, more and more games are being made specifically for the female audience or taking them into consideration.
On the subway the DS rules whereas the PSP just doesn't seem to appeal to women, with none of them seen playing with one. They are instead regarded as being for "hardcore" gamers and are less accessible compared to the DS thanks with its simple input methods and unique software.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder delivers record-breaking sales after over 10 million players ride the inchworm. The plumber and the pipe make history.
The game where you got to look after and train virtual puppies has remained in people's hearts since its original almost 15 years ago.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the first Mario 2D game in almost two decades without the New Super Mario art style, and it looks all the better for it
Am I missing something? It looks exactly the same, just higher resolution… Is this sarcasm?
Yes, you're not observant if you think it looks exactly the same. It immediately appeared different to me from the start. Mario's 3D model will always be the same, so not much difference there. However, the animation they've given the Super Mario Wonder makes it look more like a CGI Mario animation where as the New Mario Bros game looks more like typical video game animation movements
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
You really didn't notice the difference? It's really obvious, I was surprised when I first saw the trailer.
This Mario game looks great, getting a switch for this and Mario RPG. CANT WAIT, TITS JACKED.
Yeah I liked how much more emotion could be conveyed through the new style at first glance I didn't see much difference but then rewatching the trailer I'm seeing more and more animations that remind me of the Mario artwork from the manual of smb3
I hated the new super Mario bros Style. This new one seems a lot more expressive and less generic. I hope it's a good game
I prefer the 2d Mario's. Me and my girl have played them all together and mario galaxy , Mario odyssey. The 2nd player option is extremely eh
Gaming is changing vastly and has been for awhile in japapn, Its all about the portable over there now....
consoles are losing steam sept for wii.
Women, girls, grannies and grandads are all happily getting into the gaming thing, thanks largely to Nintendo's DS and Wii. Not only that but the Wii seems to be on course to OUTSELL the PS3 and 360.
Don't you see friends? While we're here flaming our respective "proper" consoles and talking about how powerful they are (let's be honest, they're both pretty much similar despite what everyone says) the casual gamers are coming along and silently taking over. We're sleepwalking into disaster, if we're gonna do something, let's get together and do it now!
The fact is that most of the readers on this site are not exactly what you'd call casual gamers and we've got to realise that, if we are already or will one day become a minority, then we'll be left with less choice as more games will be made for the majority in order to make the greatest profit.
Or I could just be wrong though, maybe having more gamers entering the market will give this industry the respect it deserves and we'll have casuals crossing over to play the likes of Oblivion, MGS and Halo, it might happen ...
Portables are the way to go in Japan... Microsoft are you listening?
set on a Wii! LOL :)