Nintendo takes a dig at 'disposable' app store gaming

Nintendo generally takes the high road when it comes to cross-platform trash talk, so on the odd occasion when big-wigs like US boss Reggie Fils-Aime go off-script for a little digging at competitors, we can't help but want to listen in.

During an interview for GameTrailers TV, Geoff Keighley compared Nintendo's 3DS price structure with that of Apple's app store; a comparison Fils-Aime was quick to defend, saying, “I actually think that one of the biggest risks today in our industry are these inexpensive games that are candidly disposable from a consumer standpoint."

While he admitted that Angry Birds was one exception to his not-at-all-biased rule, Fils-Aime argued that the countless other cheaply priced games for mobiles are causing a headache for developers of more substantial portable titles, adding, “Angry Birds is a great piece of experience but that is one compared to thousands of other pieces of content that, for one or two dollars, I think actually create a mentality for the consumer that a piece of gaming content should only be two dollars.”

Listen, we get it - you don't want good games to be devalued by crap games. We agree that Ocarina of Time 3D should be valued higher than the iPhone's "Princess Pony - Matching Memory Pairs Game," but seriously, Nintendo, Fighting Street on the Wii Virtual Console for $8? That game is worth no more than $2, whether or not it's a piece of gaming history. 99 cents sounds about right. Maybe.

[Source: GameTrailers TV]

Feb 4, 2011

Matt Bradford wrote news and features here at GamesRadar+ until 2016. Since then he's gone on to work with the Guinness World Records, acting as writer and researcher for the annual Gamer's Edition series of books, and has worked as an editor, technical writer, and voice actor. Matt is now a freelance journalist and editor, generating copy across a multitude of industries.