The amount of indie/small studios coming out of the woodwork is intimidating...

[Quillion]

I don't know why, but I just find the amount of these small studios to be kinda scary. I know that the 3DS and U are both getting some noted indie support, but their campaigns to get them into Smash somehow intimidates me.

Currently, we've got:

• Yacht Club with Shovel Knight
• WayForward with Shantae
• Playtonic (ex-Rare staff) with Banjo [w/Microsoft Studio's blessing] and King K. Rool
• Image & Form with Rusty
• Inti Creates with Gunvolt

So I'm not saying that I want these characters, but what's next?

If big-name corporate companies start seriously campaigning for their characters, I will truly be frightened.

 

[edde]

things only smash bros can pull off

these campaigns are like presidential campaigns, for 1 spot in a game of over 50 characters lol

man banjo kazooie/tooie and dk64 were a big part of my childhood, i would love KKR and BK in

 

[GideonSmash]

The only one I would want out of those is shovel knight because he would fit so perfectly in this game if he got a 3d model

 

[Pippin (Peregrin Took)]

I wouldn't be too worried about major companies following suit. Indie companies can get away with it in part because they are very linked to the community. It's especially noticeable since Miiverse came out and the link between dev and player is closer than ever.

Yacht Club, RCMADIAX, etc. are so small that when they send out a tweet people know it's a real person with real feelings rather than a cheap marketing technique.

 

[Twewy]

WayForward isn't exactly indie. They make a lot of games outside of Shantae/Mighty Switch Force.

 

[Quillion]

I wouldn't be too worried about major companies following suit. Indie companies can get away with it in part because they are very linked to the community. It's especially noticeable since Miiverse came out and the link between dev and player is closer than ever.

Yacht Club, RCMADIAX, etc. are so small that when they send out a tweet people know it's a real person with real feelings rather than a cheap marketing technique.

And yet Nintendo can get away with having their executives show up in a stream and talk about games and no one considers that to be cheap marketing (if anything, it's not even marketing at all since it's directed at the core fans alone).

 

[Pippin (Peregrin Took)]

And yet Nintendo can get away with having their executives show up in a stream and talk about games and no one considers that to be cheap marketing (if anything, it's not even marketing at all since it's directed at the core fans alone).

I do get what you're saying so I probably need to revise my statement. Nintendo and the indie companies seem to be doing better with the social networking maybe because they present themselves as able to be trusted more. I hate to say it's all about image but in a lot of cases it really is. If EA or the Call of Duty people did something similar, there might be some more distrust.

It's both exciting - I'm all for more transparency and relationship building - and nerve wracking at the same time.