Nintendo’s biggest attempt at radical transparency came to an end earlier this week.
On Monday, the “Super Smash Bros. Brawl” Dojo posted its final entry. Was it worth it?
With more than 300 entries, the game’s lead developer Masahiro Sakurai covered every inch of “Brawl.” Since last May readers have been frantically checking the site every weekday updates, hoping that it would reveal a new character or stage that would be included in the game. Each new post brought gamers closer to the release of the Wii’s crowning achievement.
But now the game is out, the Dojo is nothing more than an archive of content and, in retrospect, a resounding success. (It’s likely to keep doing well, considering that the cheats page for the GameCube’s “Super Smash Bros. Melee,” has continually topped Gamespot’s most popular pages list since its release.)
At its peak, the Dojo topped out at over seven million page views in one week - which is astounding for a video game website. Those numbers, coupled with the sales of the game, prove that gamers appreciated the level of transparency.
So why isn’t Nintendo doing more stuff like this?
The Dojo was the first time that Nintendo has allowed this amount of information to be released prior to a game. The blog style format, focusing on one post each day, kept gamers coming back on a daily basis, often first thing in the morning.
The Dojo alone generated more buzz, and subsequent blog posts all over the web than Nintendo could have bought with any kind of marketing campaign. So why wasn’t there a “Mario Kart” Pit Stop? It seems like a missed opportunity for the next big “bridge” game.
Maybe it is asking too much from a company that has been very tight lipped about their upcoming projects.
Radical transparency, as new as it may be to Nintendo, isn’t that new to the games industry. Nintendo may have had the means create this type of site on such a grand scale, but they weren’t the first to do so. Jonathan Blow, creator of the time-twisting platformer, “Braid” has kept a blog as his game has gone through development for Xbox Live. Other developers such as David Jaffe, Tim Schaefer, and Clint Hocking all regularly update blogs that blur the lines between personal and professional. Think of the stigmas Nintendo would overcome if Miyamoto was added to that list.
As we all know, even keeping a personal blog is something that Nintendo frowns upon, and, when it comes to discussing upcoming projects, Nintendo is even more stringent. It’s understandable to want to keep the flow of information regarding your upcoming content controlled, but, since the Dojo was such a success, why not try and continue with that type of strategy?
Only time will tell, but here’s to hoping that Nintendo will support more of their upcoming games in a Dojo-esque manner.
April 16th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
I agree! I visited the Smash Bros. DOJO!! almost everyday in almost the whole year. It was great and very fun to read the thoughts of Sakurai, and the game is some of the best I have ever played.
April 16th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I think it would be hard for Nintendo to replicate Dojo’s success with other games. Brawl had a massive amount of content. Almost 40 characters (each with a variety of abilities to describe), a similar number of stages, 250+ songs, tons of items, not to mention all the little gameplay info. Doing this with other games could point out how little content they have comparatively.
Also, Brawls content was easy to break up into little tidbits. Can you imagine trying to break up info about a game like Mario Galaxy into similar posts? Look at the info that was released for Subspace Emmissary. That’s about all they could release for Galaxy without blowing the majority of the game.
Not that I don’t think they should be more open. Just that I don’t think this method works for most games.
April 16th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Might I add, it’s hilarious how no Xbox 360 or PS3 games have had a “dojo” of sorts like this Wii game has. It just goes to show that real gamers simply don’t give a damn about the garbage found on 360 and PS3, hence the lack of demand for such a thing, while they quite obviously care for all the superior games the Wii has.
April 16th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
I doubt if they ever do it again. Seems like they weren’t as strict with Brawl’s designer but Nintendo likes to hold those cards close to it’s chest. Kinda ironic considering they started out as a card company.
April 17th, 2008 at 7:46 am
I too checked the Dojo every day, and I loved it. Finding out something new about a game every day was really cool and kept me consistently hyped for Brawl for 11 months.
While I think that few other games have as much content as Brawl does, it doesn’t quite have to be in that format. Maybe two posts a week for Mario Kart for example. I would hope that this, coupled with the wonderful Iwata Asks articles, is the start of a more transparent Nintendo, but I know that it’s still Nintendo, and they probably won’t change.
April 17th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Let’s just keep this to be a Super Smash Bros. thing. I mean, can Nintendo really expand beyond and better than Brawl’s Dojo with any other franchise? Super Smash Bros. Clash (just my guess at the name of the 4th title) would be able to, since that’s the same franchise. But something like Mario Kart 7 or Metroid or Zelda, nah, probably not gonna feel as good.
They can always put updates up less often, but that’d take it too slow if people start to think about comparing it to Brawl…