Nintendo's shovelware management

Where exactly have I read that they've stopped doing this around the late 64/ Early Gamecube days? And why? I thought shovelware management would be a good thing for them?

I'm sorry if this sounded trollish, btw. I kind of want to know is all.

edited 10th Jun '11 6:44:52 PM by Schitzo

Because the 64 and Game Cube got so little third party support they couldn't afford to turn many people down. The hand helds did better and the Wii is too, but many developers still shun Nintendo do to their past snobbery and present tendency to give systems an Unusual User Interface.

edited 10th Jun '11 10:22:23 PM by Cider

That's a shame. Hopefully, that changes with Nintendo's bigger guns *

3DS is already getting some Ubisoft garbage, and the Wii U will only be a 'bigger gun' for maybe 2 or 3 years.

So WE SHALL SEE

I pray to bog that new rating system will at least weed out most of the crap.

New rating system?

Isn't that just for Downloadable Titles though?

The 3DS store also has a "out on retail now" catalogue. People can rate a game if they've played it for an hour (your 3DS will log your time for you)

People tend to mistake the 'Nintendo Seal Of Quality', which is now just the 'Official Nintendo Seal', as Nintendo having weeded out bad games back in 1990s. Which wasn't the case. It basically just meant 'if you put this in your NES, it won't explode'. It also meant that there were tons of content restrictions for the games that had nothing to do with the game's actual quality.

edited 11th Jun '11 11:17:26 AM by Miijhal

The original idea of "weeding out games" was less about weeding out bad games and more about market controls. Tons of bad games came out on the NES.

The reason it existed was to combat the problem Atari had of every fly by night development house churning out substandard content without even paying Atari for development kits. The tidal wave of crap was a huge factor in the market's crash in 1983. So the Seal of Quality was a sign that your game was officially sanctioned by Nintendo. Not a sign that it was a good game. And Nintendo put some crazy restrictions on development houses in the NES era, in particular, restricting the number of games they could release into the market per year. Naturally, everyone hated dealing with Nintendo. In fact, one of the reasons the Mega Drive and especially the Genesis were so competitive was because of how much Nintendo pissed off third-parties who bailed for Sega just to have more freedom of content.

True, but Nintendo did still have a shovelware policy in place back then: A company was only allowed to release a certain amount of titles per year. It was one of many draconian practices they had back then which eventually led to a big legal battle (Where Ninty got a slap on the wrist) but it wasn't all bad. If a company could prove itself to release lots of good games, a loophole meant they could just create another company front and use that to release those good games. Hence why "Ultra" published so many Konami games.

The Wii's shovelware rate is beyond absurd though.

Ninja'd!

edited 11th Jun '11 11:29:26 AM by ShirowShirow

Ok, and games like Ghost Squad and House Of The Dead 2 & 3? NOT shovelware.

Games like Petz and Carnival Games? SHOVELWARE that's obvious from a mile away.

I can't believe those have actually sold at all. I guess it's not hyperbole when they say it's the parents who know nothing about games at all buying these games. I feel so sorry for the kids...