At some point, I'm not exactly sure when, American gaming media decided to hate Nintendo and wish death upon the company. If I had to guess, I'd say it was midway through the Gamecube's run. It somehow became the cool thing to do. If you want to be part of the cool gamers crowd, you have to hate Nintendo.
This type of thinking, in my opinion, is anti-gaming. If you love gaming, and all that it stands for, you shouldn't hate any console manufacturer, especially Nintendo. They've been changing things up since the NES days. Of the 3 major console developers, Nintendo is the only company who's controllers are all noticeably different from the previous console. SEGA used to do the same thing when they were in the console business, because this was a good thing. changing up the controller introduces new ways to play and new ways to interact with your games. How dare the media hate the Wii, but tried their hardest to hype Kinect and Move? How dare they complain about Nintendo milking franchises, but turn a blind eye to the fact that there are more Halo and Uncharted games last gen than main series Mario games? Why is it Nintendo they target?
At first I believed it to be simply because they are a Japanese company. Maybe that argument would hold water, if the American media wasn't kissing Playstation's ass almost as much as Xbox's. They only answer I ever get from Nintendo haters is the same repeated uninformed nonsense such as "They're for kids." "Nintendo doesn't make hardcore games." or "I'm sick of Mario and Pokemon." They couldn't be more wrong. Despite the Wii's image last gen, it was home to the three most over the top mature titles and even a game that was almost banned. If they're sick of Mario, don't buy it. Nintendo makes loads of other franchises. They even showed of a new JRPG code named "X" at E3, and there are several rumors floating around about Shigeru Miyamoto revealing a new game soon, and Nintendo obtaining the rights to Baten Kaitos. Yet, it seems like no matter what they do, American media hates them. This is not the case in their homeland of Japan. Pick up any magazine like Famitsu, and you see high review scores, positive Nintendo articles, and praise for DragonQuest X, which is Nintendo exclusive.
So Why the hate here? What Did Nintendo do to America? Even The Wii and the Wii U's image is warped into something that they're not here in the US. It's shocking how few people know any game that I mention when they ask me what do I play on the Wii. They expect me to say Wii fit, Wii sports, and Mario, but instead are baffled when I name The Conduit, Red Steel 2, Monster Hunter Tri, No More Heroes, Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World, The Last Story, Xenoblade, and games of that nature. The Wii U seems to be Nintendo's best shot at regaining the respect of the American media, and With games like Watch Dogs, Bayonetta 2, Deus Ex, and the ever so popular Call of Duty, Its seems they have a fair shot. With America already trying to claim the Wii U as a failure, will it even have a chance to get out of the Hater's bracket? Only time will tell.
