April 30, 2012 by

The original XBOX was an interesting machine. A lot of people didn't know how it would do in the already crowded VG market, especially against the giants Nintendo and Sony. But Microsoft had a trick up their sleeve, and this trick came in the form of Halo. It basically saved the XBOX all by itself. Nintendo needs a game for the next generation that can do the same thing as Halo.

It could be argued that Nintendo already has franchises that are far more successful then Halo, and that's absolutely right - New super Mario Bros. sold 25 million copies. But they appeal to a completely different demographic; Nintendo's problem is that they don't have any games that appeal to the "COD" crowd. Your first reaction to that would be "good!" But that isn't good, not at all. Simply because it would appeal to a similar demographic doesn't mean the game would be bad, it simply means that it would appeal to a similar demographic. Kind of like, you know, Halo.

Nintendo did try this before with Metroid Prime. While it was absolutely successful in it's own right, let's face it; the series has a niche fanbase. Something about Prime didn't resonate with Halo players, be it the lack of Multiplayer, the excessive exploration, or even the fact that the main character was a girl; I get the impression most guys want to play as guys.

Whatever the reason, Prime didn't take off the way Halo did, though it did manage to get a few sequels that sold pretty well. I think Nintendo needs to try again for the Wii U, though, because of the reception of the Wii. Here in America, the XBOX360 is known as the "cool console", and a big part of that is Halo. Wii, of course, is known as the "casual console", and if Nintendo wants to grab the XBOX's image and take some of it's sales, they're gonna need an IP that can do that. Right now, they don't have one.

In my opinion, there are two studios that should make Nintendo's next big thing. the first one is, of course, Retro Studios. With their extensive experience with the Prime games, tweaking the experience and adding significant Multiplayer options could be just the thing the Wii U needs to get itself off the ground with the core audience.

On the other hand, if Retro is working on something else (like they probably are), then there's another option Nintendo could follow: High Voltage Software. They made The Conduit, by the way. If given a lot of support by Nintendo, they could get out of smaller stuff like The Grinder and make something huge, like Halo. There's tons of potential here, and if fully revealed, then it could be just the thing to get the Wii U moving.

Nintendo needs their own Halo. Let's hope they make one.

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