First off I will admit that Nintendo is one of the best if not the best game developers in the world. The quantity of quality of games they develop and publish is insane. People may shout out Blizzard or Valve but in reality when one company is releasing an average of 2 games a year while the other is releasing 20, it isn't a fair comparison.
That being said about two years ago I left Nintendo and eventually found myself joining the ranks of Valve (Steam) and have really never looked back. Pretty much all the bullshit I complained about and more isn't present. Fantastic third party support, incredible graphics, a huge variety of games, benchmark online, frequent price marks, etc.
I left Nintendo because of their stupid bullshit. Not taking advantage of their innovative products, shit third party support, graphical technology from the decade prior to the last, not bringing their games over, and quite possibly the worst online implantation that has ever existed.
But being honest I'm not surprised. As much as everyone on this site like to convince themselves, Nintendo is in no way, shape, or form a game company dedicated to the core gamer. Stop hovering over that quote button, they never have been. Since the inception of their console business they have been a company that has been targeted to the family. Look at the NES days where they were such a strong watchdog for strong and edgy content. The Super Nintendo was infamous for being the "toy" and "the "family friendly" system, while its competitor the Sega Genesis was aggressively marketed for the then "core gamer". While Sony and SEGA were trying to target young adults, eliminate content editing, and jump onto the revolutionary "limitless" storage medium for deeper and more cinematic games, Nintendo stuck with the family and chose carts as their medium, and medium that greatly harmed games targeted toward the then "hardcore gamer". The Gamecube? Well first off it was fucking purple. It literally had no online what so ever. At least they tried to get some of the core gaming audience. Unfortunately it was handled horrendously.
Now the Wii is yet again Nintendo being Nintendo. They have gone backward since their Gamecube days of localizing. They have added online but its worse than even the fucking Dreamcast. And as with every generation core gamers complain about Nintendo's shittiness in appealing to them. The company is a family game company. With few exceptions like Metroid and Fire Emblem, a vast majority of their games are targeted toward children or casual playing adults. Just look at Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, Mario Party, Kirby, Warioware, Pokemon, etc. These games aren't targeted to the guy who looks on Newegg to update their rig with the lastest video card. These games aren't targeted to the guy who would spend $600 on a console. These games are targeted to Jimmy the eight year old who plays PeeWee football and gets bored after school and looks for something to do. Or its made for Stacey the 33 year old single mother who wants to relax after her two children are in bed. That's who these games are targeted at, however they also appeal to a wide group of other people (which is exactly what Nintendo wants) similar to how World of Warcraft is targets 35 year old males, but also appeals to a wide range of other people. The only difference is that with Nintendo its the opposite, its casual(ish) game that appeals to everyone including core gamers, which results in that demographic being frustrated with the company due to the fact that they aren't its primary target market.
