So I'm not sure I count as a new user, but I made this account when spuf died and then never used it. Just got nostalgic about old spuf and remembered this existed so decided to come give it a shot. Not sure who all is here these days and who might remember me but hello whoever is still around!
So I got a call from someone wanting to do a survey. I answer in English since I was just talking in English to someone else. The person on the phone asks if I speak Greek, as the survey is in Greek. I answer "όχι" which means no in Greek and tell them I'm not interested, again in Greek. They apologise for the inconvenience, say they are only looking for Greek speakers, and hang up.
No, I'm not obsessed. I only went to my local Comic Con wearing this and having kids stare at me all day because they couldn't work out what I was. Also I never really showed off pictures when I wrote those Daily SPUF articles, and most of the costume (apart from the weapons, helmet, boots and lighting) went in the bin once Comic Con was over.
It's made out of cardboard, foam and a shitty kids police helmet that I found in the back of my cupboard.
Only just seen this so I'm gonna write a bit about my opinions on the Smash competitive scene, about competitive gaming and 'E-Sports' in general and about the new games that Nintendo are releasing and whether it's a good thing or not that they're pushing for a competitive scene. Edit: Just read through your comment again and I realized I don't directly address a lot of stuff you talk about but fuck it I wrote all this and it's a discussion I like having so gonna leave this up xd.
I'm just gonna outline a few things first of all before I get into this. I think the Smash games are fun, but I absolutely hate the competitive Smash community who hold the game as one of the greatest competitive games ever created and actively want it to be 'E-Sports'. I think the people who are really into the scene (Melee specifically, I think Smash 4 players in general are more bearable) and extremely childish as evidenced by the fact that they refuse to use anything other than CRT TV's in a competitive environment because anything else apparently creates too much input lag (a criticism I have never seen raised by any other community around a game), the fact that high level players have specifically requested that they be automatically allowed past the pools stage, and immediately be put into top 32, 16 or 8 because they knows and everyone else knows that they are so good that the pools are simply an inconvenience (which may be true, but it's against the spirit of the FGC which Smash players consider themselves to be a part of) and due to the fact that the game is completely and utterly stale, and that the top 4 players in Melee in EVO have been comprised of 3 guys (Mango, Armada and Hungrybox) for the last 4 years that it has been regularly run. Those are my reasons for hating the game, alongside generally finding the players to be obnoxious, but all that aside I recognize that Smash has a competitive following and that it's only been really since the advent of League of Legends that companies have been actively trying to create competitive scenes in their games, and that in a lot of ways Melee is much the same as Street Fighter II in that the scene developed around the game, and not the other way round. I hate Smash competitively, I have no interest in it, and the fans actions at tournaments make me wish that it just wasn't there at all, but I recognize that the scene is there and it would be wrong to try and stifle it.
So, if Nintendo already has this scene then it seems:
A. Right to support it, and
B. Wrong to try and push other games to be competitive instead.
Well my response is (as a general principle) No, and then Yes but not simply because there is an existing scene around Smash. (Edit: I wanna point out that it does make more sense for Nintendo to support Smash than it does to support games like Arms that aren't even out yet, and despite all the points I make I understand how you think it's a bit off that Nintendo won't recognise Smash but will recognise these games which aren't out yet)
Is it right to support the Smash community?
Firstly, in relation to point A, we can assume from what you have said that Nintendo wish to have some stake in a games competitive scene or in 'E-Sports' as a whole, and Nintendo being Nintendo it seems pretty logical that the game they support is one that they have developed (this is obviously the route that most companies take, and I doubt you're going to see companies supporting games that they haven't developed, or had a hand in developing any time soon).
Nintendo want to have a stake in a competitive gaming scene and therefore Smash seems the obvious answer. Well honestly if you look at the Smash community then frankly I don't blame Nintendo for wanting nothing to do with it. Aside from the points I previously mentioned as to why I personally dislike the Smash Community, there are things that Nintendo as developers need to consider in the process of supporting a competitive scene. This could be a few things such as:
A. The visual spectacle of the game for a casual viewer - someone who doesn't play Smash may not fully comprehend all of the tech the players are putting into a match)
B. The personality of the high level players - entertaining people can prop up a boring game, just look at the recent blowup in Street Fighter V involving KBrad and Wolfkrone, a game which relative to its predecessors and competitors (eg, Guilty Gear XRD, King of Fighter XIV, and Tekken 7) is generally considered to be more boring, but which with the right players can be entertaining. If Smash had no 'cool' players, Nintendo may not like that. And;
C. In which countries the game is most popular - The King of Fighters series for example is specifically popular in South America and China, because KoF 97 and KoF 98 could be put alongside other games on one single arcade cabinet, whereas the arcade board for Street Fighter II only supported 1 game on each board. This lead to a rise in popularity in countries where arcade owners had less money, as they effectively could run 3 games for the price of 1 (the 1 being SFII). Nintendo may view the fact that the Smash Comp scene (to my knowledge, and I may be wrong) isn't as popular in Asia as a mitigating factor when determining if it's a good idea to directly put money into supporting said competitive scene, as most Fighting Games have a larger following in Asia when compared to the West.
These are all valid reasons to not support a game, but I personally think that the main factor as to why Nintendo hasn't shown any interest in supporting the competitive scene for Smash is that:
D. Smash players are openly opposed to change - One of the key features found almost, if not all competitively played games in the current day is the idea of game balances and patches being applied to make the game fresh. There is direct evidence that Smash players do not like change, and it's found in Project M for Brawl. A mod released with the intention of taking Brawl, applying how Melee played TO it, and then from there balancing characters, fixing bugs and modernizing the features found in Melee to create a 'better' game. A concept which I personally like, but which from what I have read was rejected by Melee purists because they didn't want to learn more matchups as a result of re-balances, and didn't like the fact that the characters that they enjoyed playing got nerfed (from what I read one of the top 3 players I mentioned earlier dropped the game as a result of Fox's ability to enter and exit an invulnerable state being nerfed? I don't know the specifics on that one as like I say, I'm not a Smash player). This (and admittedly in combination to being a mod and therefore maybe not being seen as 'legit') lead to Project M becoming simply a side tournament at events which was just a cash grab for the good melee players, and now as I'm sure you know development had ended on Project M. Nintendo may take the view that this shows Smash fans are not willing to accept the mandatory balances that all modern 'E-Sports' have associated with them, and honestly I do not blame them for not wanting to be involved with bending over to the will of Smash players who have shown that they are honestly find supporting and regulating themselves, and playing the game in the same state that it's been in since the release date.
That's why I don't think Nintendo would want to, and why I don't think they should support Smash IF they want to be in the position where they exercise control over a game.
So, lets move on to;
Whether or not it's wrong for Nintendo to support a DIFFERENT game they make in being competitive
The word of the day is E-Sports (although really it's been the word of the last few years). E-Sports is one of the greatest things to happen to gaming from the perspective of a developer of a multiplayer game EVER. Here you have passionate players, playing your game, showcasing the intricacies of it to an audience of (potentially) millions via websites like Twitch. Everyone wants a slice of the E-Sports cake because it is probably the best way to advertise your game IF it succeeds. Riot Games notoriously lose money by running the League Championship Series, but make it back as this scene keeps League in the limelight and causes player retention, and since the LCS is run by Riot they therefore have direct control over how their game is showcased in a competitive environment. Contrast this to the opposite which is Starcraft: Brood War, which is still one of the most popular games in South Korea (which as I'm sure you know is the 'home' of E-Sports) but where KESPA hold the keys to how it is run competitively. Blizzard have no control over SC:BW to my knowledge (aside from simply distributing it) and therefore rely on KESPA to keep it relevant. If KESPA don't do SC:BW anymore then that game is realistically dead competitively.
So, those are the benefits of E-Sports, and it makes sense as to why Nintendo as one of the largest gaming companies in the world, want in.
But is it a good thing for the consumer?
I always make a distinction between E-Sports and Competitive Gaming because I think it's important to realize who has the investment in the game, and where the investment comes from. To me and many others the distinction in the two lies in who is supporting the game. In Competitive Gaming I'd argue the community supports the game. They make the events, they enter the tournaments and they are the viewers, they run the ship. They do this because they like the game and they want to play it.
In E-Sports a company (be it the devs, or people like KESPA) runs the events, they make the prize pools, and they allow the players or teams to enter based on previous merits. They invest the money so the players don't have to, and the players seem to reap the rewards of multi-million dollar prize pools. The caveat is that they have ulterior motives, primarily making money. 'E-Sports' is an investment, and PERSONALLY I think that such an investment with an intention to make money off of the backs of players and viewers takes the 'heart and soul' out of the game.
It results in people like James "2GD" Harding, veterans of competitive games like Quake being ostracized for not being 'professional'. Maybe this is just me, but I think that Video Games of all things SHOULDN'T be professional. I don't wanna see 'Sports Analysis' I want to see people like Viscant telling people like LowTierGod to wash the taste of his dick out his mouth. Because that's the community showcasing how much they care about the game. E-Sports tries to remove the personality from players, and pushes too much, in my opinion, for professionalism. If someone in the LCS does something rude, then Riot will fine their team thousands of dollars. If someone like Viscant talks shit and backs it up then they get held in high regard by the community.
If Nintendo want into E-Sports for Arms or Splatoon or whatever game they come out with than so be it, but I don't think it's a good thing, and I don't think forcing E-Sports onto a game results in the game being good (just look at Street Fighter V).
If you're a Smash player, or just a fan or supporter of the Smash scene then I think in a round about way the best thing Nintendo has done is to stay as far away as possible from the game, because I personally don't have any faith in companies to directly support their community in running a games competitive scene. And that's because I think ultimately the companies will bend to the will of sponsors or anything that is more mainstream than the games community in order to retain money and an aura of professionalism, and I think if you care about your game of choice then that's not something you should want. You say "the scene is thriving now more than ever" and I disagree with that, but if that's what you think then I believe Nintendo getting involved is a bad thing.
I'll end this by saying I don't hate E-Sports as much as I've made it out. It's cool that the best players can be millionaires as a result of their skill. But if you gave me as a player and a viewer, the choice between a tournament ending with a guy or a group of guys shaking hands with their opponents, hoisting a trophy or a cheque and uncomfortably smiling for photos on some news site OR telling their defeated opponent that they got bodied, or telling them to get good, or as Infiltration did simply saying "download complete", I'd choose the latter every time.
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