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Nintendo Comment On Alleged Problems
Thanks to GMR Magazine for their feature interviewing Nintendo executives about alleged issues with their console strategy, as "a sentiment spreading throughout the industry holds that Nintendo is marching its own way right out of the home-console business." Perrin Kaplan of Nintendo suggests there are three ways to look at her company's position: "One would be how we are doing financially, and we're clearly No. 1. Second, where are we perceptionwise, and we suffer being third there. And then the third is the actual reality of the market share, and I'd say that we're No. 2 worldwide." She also takes Xbox to task, suggesting Microsoft's console may be too adult-oriented: "They chose to pick a certain segment of the demographic, and Microsoft is having a heck of a time expanding out of that. That's their niche, the older guy."
One thing that I think hurts Nintendo tremendously is their lack of creativity lately. How many original characters have come out of them recently, ignoring throwaway Mario Party/Kart/Golf/Tennis characters like Waluigi?
I think they need to create some sort of "adult" character. The game doesn't have to have tons of blood and carjackings and other GTA stuff, just a character that doesn't look like a cartoon. There is Samus, but yet again that character is about 15 years old at this point.
You would think Nintendo could create another awesome franchise, especially after all this time. Pikmin doesn't cut it.
I'm on top of my game like I'm standin' on Xbox.
uhm, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't "older" guys (and when I say older I'm talking twenties and thirties) the ones with the most disposable income and the time to actually play games? It seems to me that Microsoft is, or is trying to at least, steal away the "Nintendo" generation. The kids who grew up playing NES and SNES. Worked with me at least. It might be a niche, but it's a hell of a niche to have cornered.
-sam
I was just here, where did I go?
What a slanted article. At every point in the article that was NOT part of the interview with Kaplan, the author writes as if it is a foregone conclusion that the most profitable games company, with the only increasing user base, is doomed.
In reality, compared to Microsoft's perpetual financial hemorrhages in this market and lack of ability to turn their single major innovation (online gaming) into a PS2-beating advantage, and compared to Sony's stagnant sales, Nintendo is smelling like roses right now. Somehow, even though Kaplan mentions the discrepancy between Nintendo's market-leading performance and their perception problem among the know-nothings, the author goes right ahead and spews the same shit. "PSP is going to be freaking awesome I tell you, Nintendo should be crapping their pants LOLOLMAORTFFOLTAMO!!l!1one!I! Purple is ghey....yeah no kidding d00d!"
I don't think we could have seen worse if Paul Thurrott were to interview Steve Jobs.
Personally, there's only one game that I see in the next year coming out for my GC that's worth buying, and that's the next Zelda. The only marquee title for GC exclusively this holiday that I know if is Mario Kart, and it's just not my speed. May be a great game, but not my thing.
Personally, I see a lot more stuff coming out for xbox this season that appeals to me. Things like Rainbow 6, Counterstrike, Deus Ex 2 (which looks AMAZING), Crimson Skies, etc. The rest of the games I see coming out that interest me, like XIII, Metal Arms, etc., are crossplatform, so they don't count.
Personally, I have a lot of games I want for each console this coming XMas, but your list simply reminds me of why I might be out of touch with the more general audience, and have been since Counterstrike and Rainbow 6 were first released for the PC. Crimson Skies looks interesting to me, and Deus Ex *might* be interesting, but CS and Rainbow6-3 not in the slightest. XIII hasn't looked remotely interesting to me since I first heard about it.
Mario Kart I will definitely buy. Then there's Pikmin 2, FF:CC (though that's definitely after XMas), and a handful of other games. Most of the games I'm looking forward to for XBox are cross-platform games, with Crimson Skies being the notable exception. Most of the games I'm looking forward to on PS2 are RPGs.
Personally, though, I don't see why people keep buying the crapload of slow-paced FPS games that have been shoveled out since R6 and CS came along, any more than I understand why people will keep buying Madden every year (though I've played either CS or R6 more times than I've played Madden). Hell, even playing Madden 2004 I didn't see why it was any better than the MS football game I bought last year (because it was cheaper than the others, got the same ratings in most mags, and I went through a short phase of wanting some sports games for tactical gameplay that was missing elsewhere).
Of course, many of my Cube titles are sequels of games from previous Nintendo consoles, and I really can't say that bothers me much. Perhaps a big part of it is simply that I skipped the last 2 of Nintendo's consoles and really missed a lot of the great gameplay from their titles. Additionally, though, they are sometimes (if not always) willing to take risks with their franchises, something not many others have done lately. Metroid Prime is definitely not the Metroid I played as a kid (but Metroid Fusion is close, and I enjoy that, as well). Super Smash Bros. is just a fun, simple game that utilizes a great selection of recognizable characters. Zelda is certainly not the same old Zelda (for better or worse).
On the other hand, Nintendo is working on original titles (which they quickly make into franchises it would seem) such as Pikmin and Animal Crossing, though how strong the characters are remains to be seen (I think the characters in Animal Crossing will probably not outlive the game or be very universally recognizable, though they are good characters as you play the game). They're also working hard with other developers to make strong 2nd party offerings (like Eternal Darkness and the stuff they're working on with Namco, including the 1st party Pac-Man (which of course is a Namco property)).
I just don't really get a lot of recognition that way from Sony. I couldn't even tell you what 1st party titles there are from Sony, it's all about which 3rd parties they have on board, and we've seen some of them branch out to other consoles recently. Frankly, I don't enjoy seeing franchises that I grew up with on the Nintendo still coming out on the PS2, since it's easily the worst of the 3 consoles. I will buy Castlevania and probably more FF games, but I will also cringe as the games get closer and closer to the limits of what the console can do (FFVIII did this for me on the PS1, as well). But it's hard to blame the developers, since Sony's got the market share, regardless of the hardware.
-PainKilleR-[CE]