Nintendo - Money, Announcements, Comeback?

Thanks to GameSpy for their new 'Sole Food column, which discusses Nintendo's recent announcements and their prospects for the future. They point out that "Despite the large number of 'Nintendo-is-doomed' articles written over the last few years, the company still has a ton of cash (around six-billion USD by most reports)", and speculate on the 'big announcement' Nintendo are promising early next year ("Initially, the buzz was that it will be announcing a new console to be released in 2005. Lately, the buzz has shifted to a new handheld announcement.") Finally, the opinion piece ends on an upbeat note: "If any company is capable of making a comeback, it's Nintendo. It has the money and the talent. It just needs to strategize better to ensure that its future consoles appeal to a broad audience."

Comments

Re:New Handheld?

[Gr33nNight]

Nintendo has been working on a true sequel to Mario 64 (called Mario 128...imagine that) for close to 3 years now. Rumor is, is that Mario Sunshine was originally suppose to be for the ill-fated 64DD added for the N64, but was retooled as a GameCube game when they realized the 64DD was toast.

Miyamoto said back in E3 that they were ready to show some clips of the game in action, but backlash from showing Zelda early taught Nintendo to not show anything until they were ready.

Re:Nintendo? Fail? Like junk mail, maybe.

[The Munger]

They sure do know how to make a decent game. I recently borrowed a GameCube of a friend (mine's a PS1). Two of the games I got with it were Super Monkey Ball and Mario Party. I'm a gamer through-and-through, but my girlfriend is not.

Enter SMB:
Girlfriend: Can we play some more SMB?
Me: Sure, but do you want to try MP?
Girlfriend: No, let's just play some more SMB.
After convincing her to play a round of MP:
Girlfriend: Hey, that was pretty fun. Let's play that again.
Me: Sweeeeeet

So after thinking about updating the PS1 for a while, after 2 days of a GameCube, GF says 'Let's get a GameCube.' Suddenly that PS2 and Xbox have just slipped out of my mind.

Sure the PS2 may have the sheer number of games, and the Xbox may be able to show off my shiny Home Theatre gear, but the GameCube has games that me and my friends want to play the most.

Now, if I could only convince her of just how good a game Metroid is...

Re:Perhaps a video player?

[Babbster]

You might be right about Japan's fascination with handheld gadgets, but a device such as you describe would stray way too far - primarily in terms of concept and price - from what the GB/GBC/GBA's core audience expects and would cost them more customers than it would attract.

Believe it or not, Nintendo knows EXACTLY what they're doing in the handheld market and are probably best served by "staying the course" in that area. While Sony's plan for the PSP is ambitious and interesting, the truth is that it's not going to sell like the GBA does unless they slice the price to the marrow (just cutting it to the bone won't be enough). People like me, who have good jobs and plenty of disposable income, will probably buy one...but most people (particularly parents) are going to see it sitting next to a Nintendo product (either GBA SP or its successor) at 50-75% of the price and just get that and use any extra cash to buy games.

Damned statistics

[Torgo's Pizza]

Buyer Demographics: Ninety-two percent of those who purchase console games are over the age of 18, and 98 percent of computer game buyers are over 18. Forty-seven percent of console game buyers and 57 percent of computer game buyers are women.

Computer Player Demographics: Fifty-eight percent of computer game players are male, while 42 percent are female. Thirty percent are under 18 years old, 29 percent are 18 to 35, and 41 percent are over 36.

Console Player Demographics: Seventy-two percent of console game players are male and 28 percent are female. Thirty-eight percent are under 18, 40 percent are 18 to 35, and 22 percent are over 36.

Types of Games Played Most Often: Console game players say that they most often play: action games (51 percent); driving/racing games (50 percent); sports games (47 percent); and role-play/adventure games (35 percent). Computer game players say they are most likely to play: puzzle/board/card games (36 percent); action games (36 percent); driving/racing games (34 percent); and sports (32 percent).

Number of Games Owned: Console game players report that they own an average of 16 games, while computer gamers report that they own about 12 titles.

Online Games: Thirty-seven percent of game players say they play games online, up from 31 percent last year and 18 percent in 1999.

Type of Game Played Most Often Online: puzzle, board, game show, trivia or card game (56 percent); action, sports, strategy or role-play game (20 percent); persistent multi-player universe (7 percent); or none of the above (7 percent).

Mobile Gaming: More than one-third (39 percent) of Americans who own consoles or computers report that they also play games on mobile devices like handheld systems, PDAs, and cell phones. Eighteen percent play games on cell phones, up from 14 percent a year ago.

Sixteen of the top 20 best selling games in 2002 were rated ?E? for everyone or ?T? for teen.