Online review aggregation site Metacritic has compared the 2012 releases from the major games publishers. Nintendo were second in 2011, but slipped to fourth in 2012. Electronic Arts who were previously in fourth position have risen to first and are followed behind by Microsoft. Sony have taken the third pace, and Nintendo are now sitting in fourth. The average Metascore for Nintendo is 71.2. The best original title on Nintendo platforms during 2012 was the brilliant Xenoblade Chronicles. You can read the findings here.
Thanks, Nick
Hello?
Nintendo needs to go all out with the Wii U….no more playing games…no more one Zelda..one Metroid…one DK…..8 Mario’ games….. We need 3 Zeldas..2 new..1 remake……….2 metroids….A 3d platformer FPS and 2d platformer …
Im sick of everyone bashing the WII U..I’m kinda getting nervous here with all this ps4/xbox720 rumors…I DO NOT WANT 3 consoles nor two…I WANT ONE with NINTENDO’s IP’s and all the top 3rd party games….
Ive been with Nintendo since the old school NES days…..the NES had all 3rd party support and IP’s….why can’t the have a library like that anymore?????
So much YEEEEESSSSSS. I know games take a while to make. But at this point, I really don’t give a crap. Nintendo’s known for YEARS about their situation. They know people don’t take them seriously, they know their third party support sucked. They know we’re tired of being thrown under the bus. They knew Sony and Microsoft were gonna release their consoles after the Wii U. They knew some of the specs for the Wii U kinda suck. And hopefully they KNOW that they need more advertisements.
I’m sick of seeing bad news on this site. Sure, Nintendo has WW and Zelda HD and Lego City and Pikmin 3 and whatever you guys are going to KEEP LISTING over and over and over again, but people are getting sick of the same IPs. And Mario is more rehashed than Call of Duty.
Just because you make new IP’s, doesn’t mean your any better of a developer. New IP’s are nice to have, but if they all suck or are nothing special, then what’s the point? People keep braging about Sony making new IP’s, but only a select few were even relevant this gen, Uncharted, Risistance, Infamous, & LBP being examples.
I agree. But with more entries in a franchise, the franchise begins to lose its specialness and “magic.” How long can they keep making Zeldas before people start to feel like they’re getting repetitive? It’s happened to Mario already. Nintendo might last this generation with their normal IPs, and I love them, don’t get me wrong, but eventually they’re going to need something new that will grab everyone’s attention.
You do realise Sony is already trying to milk some of their new IP’s do you? 3 Uncharteds & 3 Resistances in one generation. The thing with Nintendo, aside from the NSMB series is that most of the franchises they have never feel saturated or state because
1. They only come once or twice a generation.
2. They keep reinventing themselves, you can’t say SMG 1&2 are the same as SMS. You can’t say Skyward Sword is the same Twilight Princess. Sure, they’re built from the same blueprints, but they introduce plenty of new stuff to make them fresh.
I’m not even talking about Sony lol.
And I know they only come once or twice a generation, and I’m personally not sick of them, but I can tell you that some people are. And I’m just concerned with how much longer they can “reinvent” themselves before they run out of original material that keeps the game true to itself.
I used Sony as an example to show that Nintendo isn’t the only one who supposedly “Milks”. However, I do see what your saying & in a context, I agree. I would like to see a big new IP from Nintendo (Spesificaly EAD) with Miyamoto involved. It would certainly help.
Instead of making so many 2D Mario games, they should make more 3D Marios. That way, people wouldn’t get sp tired of the 2D games. After all, people are psyched for a 3D Mario on the Wii U, but they could care less for another one in 2D.
NSMBU is strictly to hold us over until a 3D Mario is made. 2D Mario games are the easiest games to make, so Nintendo’s strategy is its better to have a 2D Mario today than no 2D or 3D mario today.
3D Mario games can take YEARS to be made, 2D Mario games can be made in under a year.
I rather have a 2D Mario today, than NO MARIO for a year or two.
Nintendo ALWAYS comes out with new IP’s, but if they don’t sell well, they won’t remake them.
“Nintendo needs to go all out with the Wii U….no more playing games…”
No more playing games? But isn’t that the whole point?! To play games! =p
(I know what you meant)
Ah, you beat me to it xD
Ha! =p
I meant to say that…….
Nice :) 2012 was a transitional period for Nintendo. 4th is amazing considering they barely published a note worth Wii game and just a few great 3DS games…
This year should be better , but 2014 will be when they hit their stride with the Wiiu.
This year looks set to be a scorcher for 3DS and the Wiiu will get better with the arrival of games like Pikmin , Wonderfull 101 etc.
I love Nintendo and all, and I understand sometimes why they take those awkward decisions… but I agree, they should just cut the crap and be more aggressive this generation. Competition sometimes requires no mercy and taking larger risks, and keeping up. They have been the longest in the industry and its just not fair that they take so much hate/indifference from the press and the people but sometimes they have themselves to blame for it.
You can do it Ninty, let’s go number one.
Heheh, you said no more playing games… What are you trying to do, put Big N outta business? ;-)
When Nintendo go all out, third parties complain that they can’t sell their games because Nintendo games are taking all the attention.
When Nintendo don’t go all out, third parties complain that there are no Nintendo games to create momentum and thus there are less people to buy their late ports.
This must be your first Nintendo console if you think they are going to get ALL of the multiplats.. Just not possible.
Most of the people that are prone to buy multiplatform games, usually buy Microsoft or Sony consoles… Nintendo has the stigma of only Nintendo games sell on Nintendo… This is why ALOT of devs shy away from it.
The sales numbers for the Wii U are VERY impressive 2.6 million in under 2 months is more than double the PS3 did in its first 2 months. But look at the sales of the multiplat games on the Wii U. Black OPS 2 did sell ok, with over 100,000 units moved. Now take Mass Effect 3, a fantastic game, but only moved some 30,000 units, that’s probably not enough to make the port profitable…. Compare that to Super Mario U and Nintendoland, where both of them clocked 2 million in sales a peice. See where this is going?
If we want multiplats, we have to figure out how to convince fellow Wii U owners to buy them. If they don’t do well, they won’t be made.
Publishers don’t know how to assess sales properly. The reason why these multiplats are not selling is because people already own the game on another system, or have already played the game at friends house, so of course its going to sell poorly, but the publisher doesn’t pay attention to that.
The real test is how these multiplat games sell when released at the exact same time as the Wii U version. So far we haven’t seen one game to do a simultaneous release yet…. Aliens: Colonial Marines? Nope we have to wait a month and a half to get our hands on it after the otheer console versions get it, so its hard to say if this will sell well on the Wii U. I know I’m purchasing it DAY ONE (that was my Rayman Legends money)
well stupid anyway , xenoblade wasn’t first released in 2012
Not surprising, aside from Kid Icarus, Ninrendo haven’t released anything big. EA unrightful deserves that place, but their developers do, so.
Lmao at Capcom getting number 5 with Okami HD, a ps2 game, pretty much sums them up in a nutshell.
I wouldn’t even consider kid Icarus to be big. It had very mixed reviews. The last big games from Nintendo came out in 2011 with mk7,sm3dl and skyward sword. Lets just hope 2013 will put them back on top. It started well with fire emblem although nintendos release schedule looks pretty shitty.
not a sequel for 25 years isn’t big enough for you? mixed reviews were only for the controls, and weren’t that bad, i loved them.
I personally put Kid Icarus Uprising as one of my favourite from 2012, it just had mixed reviews because of the controls, which i didnt have a problem with, it just had a learning curve.
Yeah the controls were meh. But the game itself, the deep multiplayer/weopon customization, and the story made it worth playing. I would rate it a straight 9/10
I didn’t personal have a problem with them. It took a while to get used to them, and it had been like 2-3 years since i used a handheld so my hand were killing me because i wasnt used to holding something that small like that xD
I mean im left handed and i used the stylus in my right hand, so i technically didnt even play it in the most comfortable way i could, and i still thought they were fine.
What I di is turned on the face button controls to lok around on ground batles, and in ir I would just use the touch screen since it let’s you use both schemes at the same time.
The controlls were refreshing and excellent once you got used to them . But narrow minded twits can’t adapt from the ecsbocs controller so that ruled them out. The game was a handheld Masterpiece with unusual but great controlls that seemed to deter some.
The game is a 9.5/10 all day long.
“…aside from Kid Icarus, Ninrendo haven’t released anything big.”
So I guess you haven’t tried out Fire Emblem Awakening yet? It’s actually pretty nice and calculative in gameplay and definitely lives up to the 91 it has from Metacritic. But I’m guessing you don’t like strategy games and will most likely reply “well I don’t like strategy games all that much so I don’t count that,” right?
Well if Fire Emblem Awakening actually got released in 2012 then yeah, its not even out here in Europe, but again, this score is based on 1. The score and 2. The amount of games that have that score. 2 games from Nintendo would never put it that high.
I mentioned fire emblem. It is a great game.
I know that you as a European sees that Xenoblade was not a 2012 game, but the American’s did get it this year so they see it as a 2012 game.
Well Japan see’s Xenoblade as a 2010 game, and Fire Emblem as a 2012 game, so.
I still think Xenoblade is amazing but again, Kid Icarus and Xenoblade, and a few 3DS titles wouldnt put Nintendo anywhere above 4.
Kid icarus is such a great game! If nintendo can make more games with fresh ideas like this. They can’t lose. You are right they haven’t released much yet. But with what nintendo has said abount unanounced games I have a feeling we are in for a wave of great 1st party games.
Thia was me. Forgot to login! XD
Who takes Metacritic seriously? Metacritic shouldn’t be the pivot of a yes or no when trying/puchasing a game, only your opinion counts.
…..you’re fucking stupid.
Do you actually know what Metacritic is?
Actually, stupidity would be not realising that metacritic exists because opinions on games differ so wildly that an aggregate score can be useful in gauging the general reception of a game.
This only reinforces the fact that your personal enjoyment of a game will most likely be different from the average, especially in a game that has split opinion (like ZombiU for instance – trash to some, saviour of survival horror to others). Thus basing your decision to buy a game based on its metacritic score is generally a bad idea. By all means use metacritic as a useful hub to find reviews, but it’s still best to try a game for yourself or try to read reviews by writers who share your taste in games.
Stupidity would he knowing all this yet still calling someone else stupid for not treating metacritic as the definitive last word on a game.
Erm, if he actually had a brain, he if didn’t know what Metacritic was, he’d at least ask or find out before blindly calling bullshit on it and being a fanboy.
Metacritic is, most of the time, the be all end all on judging a game, but there’s bias here and there, Metroid Prime 1 certainly shouldnt be higher than 2 or 3, the mechanics, design, layout ect is just superior in the other 2 games, but yet still, its higher than them, same goes for Ocarina of Time, Mario Galaxy fully deserve being in the place it is though, it excels over all the previous 3D games (2D Mario is almost a different genre, same with Metroid and Zelda)
Metroid prime 2 is the worst one. Let me explain. I thought being stuck in a health sapping dark world half the time was annoying. But its still one of the best games I’ve ever played. Metroid prime 3 is a borderline masterpiece , but did it have the same impact Metroid prime 1 had ? no.
My review for the 3 games would be Prime 1 – 10/10 , Prime 2 – 9.5/10 Prime 3 – 9.6/10
All three games are three of my best games EVER. But number 1 remains the most important and the one that started off the greatest gaming trilogy ever.
Ugh, again, people judging “impact” rather than how good the game actually is. Metroid Prime 1 has the most bullshit structure ever, the whole game is backtracking, and there were enough times where id look on the map, see a door i couldnt access before, get there, and there another fucking thing stoppin me from getting there. MP2 made it simpler by keeping it between 4 areas you go to one at a time with a couple of backtracking segments, but i do agree the Dark World is a little overwhelming, but its unique in its own right.
MP3 though fixed ever issue and then some. People say it was “linear”, but in reality, it isnt, it just doesnt make you backtrack through bullshit, so instead the entire game is progression, and 100% of your time is spent doing something you want to do. I would be like playing Shadow of the Colossus but every time you took out a Colossus, you had to ride all the way back to shire, just to leave again straight after, instead of it just teleporting you there after each one, or Zelda game where you beat the boss then have to walk back out the dungeon instead of just teleoprting out, that what half of Metroid Prime 1 is, pointless backtracking bullshit. I have other issues like respawning every enemy when you walk out a door, and making EVERY enemy, especially space pirates or the spirit chozo fuckers constantly a significant battle that you HAVE to do, just than just an enemy, that doesnt fuck with the games pacing, a problem Metroid Prime 3 didnt have.
To be honest, I kinda agree. If I’m on the fence of whether to get a game or not, I’ll take a look on Metacritic/GameRankings (the latter is my preferred choice), and if the reviews are good, I’ll get it and if not, I’ll get it another time.
Butthurt. I bet if Nintendo was at the top you would be singing Metacritic’s praises.
Agreed! As much as I like Nintendo, if it isn’t in the first place everything else is bullshit for them.
Are you serious?! EA 1st place?? Screw this industry. This totally fucked up.
That ain’t right
When EA takes first on Metacritic, gamers everywhere shrugged their collective shoulders.
So many games get up or down voted to death by overzealous fantards on MC that it’s not really reliable anymore.
Take DmC, for instance. Metacritic scores for that were all over the place.
None of them changed the fact that it didn’t hit sales expectations.
Players will always vote with their wallet when it comes to determining worth.
I do admit that sometimes a metacritic score is bullshit, but you can normally tell when it is, if the user score and reviewer score as roughly the same its legit, otherwise its bias in some way, like DMC was on 0.3 or something because you little bitch white hair Dante fanboys, its ridiculous.
Then again, you get games like Halo 4 that a blatantly bias on both sides -.-
I did not like halo 4 and that thing is looking at me right now.
It’s not that i thought it was a bad game, it’s just it was literally THE SAME FUCKING GAME AGAIN, all the way since Halo 3, they’ve done NOTHING to change the series, just very small and minor changes here and there.
I understand, its kind ofhard to change the series gameplay wise now. The old fans like me HATE it whenevr they alter the gameplay since all it ends up doing is take away the skil, so we the hardcore halo players get angry whenever there is to much change . But then there is the average halo player who probably plays just for fun(you) and wants big change. 343 is stuck trying to cater to both sides and imagine how tough that must beas a brand new developer. I do have hope thoughas 343 stated that they made many mistakes with halo 4 and hope to fix these problems in their next halo game. I hope, along with you tha they do change up the gameplay a little. But it is hard to inovate more with the fps genre, especialy a game like halo tht already does so much.
Oh god sory for my spelling and overall bad english, this new phone’s keyboard is hard to type with.
Thats the problem with the industry, too many people are fine leaving thing the way they are.
ok I agre it wasn’t exactly the most inovative game ever. But it does deserve its metacritic score. The score isn’t for originality. Itsabout how much fun you havewith the game. And the reviewers were mostly unbiased. Can’t say the same for every user review, but most seemed truthful,except for the obvious “halo rulez 10/10” or “gaylo sux, 0/10)
Let the trolling commence.
Nintendo is one of the best company’s out there to develop games. I can tell you right now, Xenoblade out did Mass Effect 3 10x
The game felt more complete and has a better story. Mass Effect was great, but it has so many holes, glitches, pointless DLC, and a horrible conclusion. Yet, it manages to get 1st place with EA.. Nintendo and Xenoblade are the best in my book.
But how many people played Mass Effect, and how many played Xenoblade?
Xenoblade sold very good for GS exclusive. As for ME. I don’t know, probably within the 1mill range? All of people got it. But it’s the quality and experience that matter. Xenoblade felt and played like a better game.
Sorry! *a lot of people got it*
Typing on iPhone sucks lol
Errr, noooo, Mass Effect sure as hell sold ALOT more than Xenoblade.
but was mass effect exclusive to gamestop?
But i do agree that Xenoblade is a better game, and Mass Effect 3 shouldnt be rated that high, but in the end, this 2012 chart is based on the amount of quality games by each developer, EA had Mass Effect, Kingdoms of Amalur, NFS, Star Wars TOLR, all their rehashed sport games (which unfortunatly if they score high for the people that buy them, thats all that matters -.-), and i think the BF3 DLC counts on top of all that, so yeah, EA doesnt deserve to “win”, but they have developers that do.
Not to diss other companies like Sony or Microsoft and their respective games. This is just my opinion. What are your guy’s favorite company and game?
Nintendo, Xenoblade (I know it is not 2012 game where I live, but according to this it is so yeah, have to go by that)
I really need to pick this up. I can’t seem to find it in any stores and can’t seem to find anywhere online that won’t charge a fortune for delivery.
I prefer nintendo, but Halo is my favorite video game series EVER! So I’m a rare breed, its usually a nintendo+sony fan, but I’m a nintendo+microsoft+a little bit of sony fan lol. Oh and another game I love is pokemon!
EA Number 1? Weren’t they already voted worst company in America recently?
Yup they sure are
That was a stupid poll that was taken by a website (who have since retracted the article) right around the time Mass Effect 3 came out. People were just pissed off over the ending of the game which really wasn’t that bad.
EA is no better or worse than the rest of the big game companies out there.
↑ Exactly! I have yet to hear a reason why EA is any worse than other big game companies. Sure, they screw up every now and then with their greedy business tactics, but what company of that size doesn’t?
Well… I’m a nintendo fan boy so it is hard for me to agree but I agree that Nintendo didn’t released a lot of great games in 2012…
Wait… Xenoblade, Pokémon black 2 and white 2, New SUPER MARIO BROS. 2, New SUPER MARIO BROS. U, Kid Icarus uprising, Nintendo land and rhythm heaven fever…
Well… Looks like Halo toped all that…
Lol Halo needs a tennis game if they want to compete :P
Yes it did, we do sadly live in an age where most gamers wants nothing more than FPS and sports titles. I know, it is stupid but hey, it’s the people’s voice so yeah… You are free to draw any conclusions you want from that.
Xenoblade is the only good game on your list. Pokémon was meh, both NSB games were rehashed bullshit, Kid Icarus had broken controls, Nintendo Land was a crap mini-game collection, Rhythm Heaven Fever had about 5 minutes of content.
It’ the truth, if you don’t like it, cry me a river Bitchtendo boy.
I agree with most of what you said, except for Kid Icarus. Sure, a lot of people didn’t like the control scheme, but you can’t declare that that makes the game bad. It had good graphics, dialogue & voicing, story, and replayability (and personally, I enjoyed the controls AND the “chaotic multiplayer” but I can understand how others didn’t).
Compared to the game that the person said topped it all of those titles alone appears as god’s reincarnation. Just saying.
If you couldn’t find a way to comfortably control Kid Icarus Uprising, then you’re a Grade A certified retard, and your opinion is biased and unreliable as fuck.
Yeah because your opinion is the one and only true opinion
Stop being a fucking shithead and grow up
Well I think black 2 and white 2 are better than black and white and I think black and white are 10/10… I played 310 hours on it… But I only have 130 hours on my black 2…
rhythm heaven… Me and my brother managed to get 100hours out of it.
New super Mario bros. 2 was rehashed and the dlc shit is to expensive and I think that multiplayer was bad but New SUPER MARIO BROS. U was really good… Levels are great… challenges are now available… My brother and me have gotten 120hours out of it so far…
Nintendo land… Most of the mini games are kinda boring. But there are really good ones… Metroid blast, Pikmin adventure, Luigi’s ghost mansion… Those are my favorite…
And I think that kid icarus’s controls are strange but you get used to it after chapter four…
310 o.O…that’s about 13 days…closest handheld i have that has a bunch of hours is FF: Tactics advance (250+ one file 1 100+ on file 2) 358/2 Days, TWEWY!!! and Re:Coded
wow microsoft is in 2nd how did that happen when they have barely any 1st party titles compared to Sony.
Metacritic is dumb!
I am more supriced by the fact that EA is so high on this list when most of their titles are complete bull.
Doesn’t GameSpot own Metacritic?
That’s why. Few high rated games = higher average compared to many games, with ratings all over the place.
It’s a flawed scale.
Why is the world trying to down Nintendo?? This is totally out of control.. somebody’s paying somebody. Cause Things are getting blown out of proportion.
Read my words well. If your good at something, people will hate you. That’s how life goes. Just like with sport athletes or teams. If your good, people and other critics will hate you. You will have people appreciate you and maybe become a fan, but others won’t. Nintendo is the best video game developer and publisher on the planet. They make games nobody can think of. They have talented teams that are good. Nintendo is the symbol of video games. And here you have people or developers hating them, because Nintendo is good at what they do, make great video games.
Man that sucks, but it’s understandable.
so…much…hate the gaming industry is crap, but for one thing i like it the more nintendo gets the more publicity they get so im happy with that.
Precisely. All publicity is good publicity.
EA?
Ikr
Once Sony and Mircosoft release their new consoles (and if the rumors on both of them are true) Nintendo should rise back up in the list. I’m not worried, just confused about how the hell did EA get the top spot.
Because they released a few high rated titles last year. Pretty good games.
I know about sony and EA but Microsoft?
Any list with EA at the top that doesn’t have “Worst” in the title is a complete joke.
Wait-wait-wait-WAIT.
Electronic Arts is FIRST?!
EA has a lot of money to throw to Metacritic
I don’t think you know how Metacritic works.
No duh…2012 was a lack luster year for Nintendo by the holiday Season Nintendo will rise again.
It takes an eternal ass to vote for an Eternal Ass.
And Microshit can fuck off, they are the main reason this industry went from having fun to stupid “hardcore” and “baby” consoles.
And no surprise there though, both american…
for once I will agree with u , how the fuck a gaming company like ea gets the first place , and how the hell a company like Microsoft gets second , Sony is understandable to be higher grade than Nintendo but Microsoft and ea ?? Complete bullshit , p.s I am not hating the consoles of microsoft I hate the company
HA!!! The fact that EA is number one makes Metacritic’s rating of gaming companies completely BULL!!
I never trust metacritic. If anything those scores tell me more about the dissonance between consumer and reviewer. And as for EA being in first, they have more annual releases which also helps inflate their score, especially their sports games.
4th place isn’t so bad.
EA reached # 1? Come on, it’s not April Fools yet .EA SUCKS! They should have been fired the day they made Shaq Fu.
Nintendo shouldn’t do anymore metroid titles that are either “gap-fillers” or prequels, thought a Metroid Prime 4 would definitely get my attention. But other than that, we need a brand-new Metroid title that can officially take the title of “Metroid 5”. Please, Nintendo. I love your gamess and all, but you act as if you do not care ATM. You may be developing the next Smash Bros and remaking Wind Maker, but what we have wanted is new titles in both the Zelda series and the Metroid series…….and maybe even a Earthbound title.
Besides, Earthbound hasn’t gotten an actual standalone game since the 90s, and Mother fans were bombed well more than once. and we haven’t seen a true “all-new” Metroid game since Metroid Fusion!