Nintendo's Problem With Presentation

Let me start out by saying that no matter what I say, Nintendo is a great developer. It has been a problem among all Nintendo fans, especially fansites, are showing so much negativity toward Nintendo, it just appears that we are reverse-fanboys (those who hate a company). This isn't the case, but we can't help but see that the Big N has been making many mistakes. And unfortunatly, presentation is one of them.
Now, when I say presentation, what I mean is the non-playable parts of the game. It's not only the menu, but the artwork, story, music and so forth.
Nintendo just tries to stick with what they know, how to make a great game. Unfortunatly, in a day and age where one can do much more with videogames, Nintendo far too often sticks with a focus on the gameplay mechanics, even to an extend which backfires on it.
The best example I can give is The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. The graphics are great, realistic in the sense that the world suspends your belief and let's you emerse yourself into it. But then, the text boxes appear. It just takes you out of the game.
Nintendo, in response to critics who disliked the decision not to include voice-dialog in the upcomming Zelda: Twilight Princess, said having text is the last vestage of having the player's imagination imput into the game. Now, this worked when there was limited technology in games, when developers couldn't articlulate the action on-screen. But today, we can get just as good animation as Pixar uses in their full-lenth movies.
But the major problem with Nintendo is that of being "kiddy".
What makes kiddiness a problem? It's that players don't like it when something makes them feel dumb. Not only does it not make us feel cool, but the opposite.
The Gamecube itself, or even it's lineup as a whole, is rather neutral between being "kiddy" or "mature". Other parties, like Capcom or Retro Studios, don't seem to have this problem. Resident Evil is actually appropriate in content and presentation for it's rating, and Metriod doesn't avoid the grittiness that one would expect.
Nintendo has always tried to present itself as a family friendly developer. The problem isn't the goal, there's plenty of examples of success in this arena. Pixar has been one of the best movie studio because they make movies and shorts that appeal to both adults and kids.
The problem is the means in which Nintendo this. They try to go for the "common denominator", but fail to realize what really is the common part of the two denominators.
While Yoshi's Island's theme seems kiddy, it was actually appropriate (since it was showing Mario and Luigi as babies). But continuing the artistic theme for Yoshi's Story and Yoshi Topsy Turvy (even the name is a problem) doesn't help.
This has been a problem for many other artists. George Lucas has been hammered at least twice in the Star Wars Saga (as it's named now), first with the Ewoks then with Jar Jar Binks. While I'm guessing most Star Wars fans have since forgiven Lucas for the former (mostly because he showed that he could do worse), they probably won't ever forgive him for the latter. The reason is that it (Jar Jar) was put in almost soley with kids in mind, and fails to entertain adults at all (which takes away from the movie).
The problem may also stem with the cultural difference. Nintendo is a Japanese company. As PlanetGamecube put out several years ago (here: http://www.planetgamecube.com/editorials.cfm?action=profile&id=130), Nintendo is almost too focused on the Japanese market, often puting in policies that actually hinder them. What kind of presentation works in Japan sometimes doesn't work here.
But Nintendo of America (NOA) has shown that itself doesn't help with presentation. In the past, NOA had a censorship policy (see: http://www.filibustercartoons.com/Nintendo.php) where if a third party doesn't abide by it, the game doesn't get published. Since then, NOA seems to have taken to the right direction (mostly with Retro Studios), but still has to fight HQ in Japan for many things.
Is there a bright spot with Nintendo in this matter? Actually, yes.
The most appearent thing is Reggie. In his presentation made just before E3 2004, he showed that he could make Nintendo actually look cool. If Reggie can get through the obsticle that is Nintendo HQ, then we would start to see Nintendo actually improve in the area of presentation. Remember, Reggie was the one who first put up I Love the 70's while he worked at VH1.
Fans could also be an answer. While it is unknown if the graphical look in Twilight Princess is a case of the chicken or the egg, it does look like a good sign. We also may have to see if the addition for Twilight Princess' delay is for voice or not. But either way, Nintendo knows that it can't lose fans in a time where it is losing market share.
Presentation is something that Nintendo will have to make a call on. We still enjoy the games, but we need to also enjoy the game in it's entirety. One of the major reasons that Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is still the best game ever made is because the story is good. Having such a good presentation in this game shows exactly what Nintendo is capable of, but we have to see if Nintendo is willing to have the same kind of focus in future games.