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Nintendo's New Look
Forbes has an article talking with Nintendo of America's VP of Marketing Perrin Kaplan. She talks a little bit about Nintendo's upcoming plans, and the concept of the Blue Ocean. From the article: "For us, it's all about the experience, not if the technology allows you to play your game on the high-definition formats, which are now in such a small percentage of homes. Many independent sources tell us that experiencing current high-def games on a regular TV makes it near impossible to see everything clearly. That means the majority of homes are experiencing something lesser than what they bargained for. "
Nintendo is in deep, deep trouble with the Revolution. They're like a car company saying to their customers, "You don't want a big SUV - you want our compact car with good fuel economy". While it may be true that most gamers don't have HD sets today, that's going to change in a big way in the next few years as digital TV becomes prevalent. Even the first-revision Gamecube offered 480p, and now Nintendo has abandoned that as well.
Nintendo made a number of bad decisions with the Gamecube, and it seems that they haven't learned. It's not about the "experience", it's not really even about the hardware - it's about the software. And while Nintendo is one of the best software development houses out there, they can't hold a platform alone. Why should I buy a Revolution when the 360 or PS3 has a better selection of games and is HD compatible? What's the "edge" on the Revolution? Being cheaper can't be it - Nintendo should have learned that with the Gamecube (which was $100 cheaper than the PS2 or XBOX on launch and continually stayed $50 to $100 ahead).
The 360 is an impressive hardware platform combined with an impressive software platform. Being able to plug in an iPod and play my tunes through the 5.1 system - while playing games in HD. Powering on (and turning off) the console from the controlers. Accessing music, recorded TV, and photos from my PC. Downloading indie titles for $5. The 360 brings a lot of new functionality to the table. What will the Revolution bring us? Only Nintendo knows. And that doesn't look good for the big-N.
This sounds like a solid marketing strategy for Nintendo. If they can't do HD, then their best strategy is instilling enough fear, uncertainty and doubt in potential customers that HD games won't work on their existing televisions that people opt to wait for HD systems until they have an HD television.
And since a) "gaming journalism" consists almost entirely of reprinting or reformating press releases, and b) the internet is such a poor source of definitive information that you can find people backing up or debunking almost every piece of information in existence, they'll probably succeed in scaring enough customers into believing them.
It's a wonder Call of Duty 2 for the 360 made the top 10 in sales last month, considering that the general population is under the impression that the 360 overheats, eats disks and smothers babies.