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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. "
From TFA: Microsoft made the first move with the Xbox 360 three months ago, but with fewer than 700,000 units sold so far, gamers appear to be reserving judgment and waiting for Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Revolution, both expected by the end of 2006. Raise your hand if you've seen unsold 360's lying around unsold at your local retailer. This kind of misinformation leads me to question the impartiality of the whole article.
I think its safe to say that this strategy is going to be hit-or-miss. If Nintendo fails with "Blue Ocean" the Revolution (or whatever they end up calling it) will flop, simply because the market isn't there. If it does work though, Sony and Microsoft's "Red Ocean" will find themselves overfishing for a depleting market.
We think there is an untapped nostalgia market: Gamers who grew up and cut their teeth on these older games could come back.
While I am very excited about greater support for this market, what exactly has Nintendo been doing with ports going as far back as Super Mario All-Stars, if not tapping this market? Exploratory Surveying?
Demented But Determined.
The full version or the core system (without hard drive)? I wonder if thats causing the confusion- the full system being sold out, and noone being stupid enough to want the core system.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
"impassionate" means almost the exact opposite of what you mean, in general. It means to make someone impassioned (it's a verb, not an abjective). Actually, there is one definition close to what you meant there, but it's pretty rare, I think. In fact, impassionate only appears in unabridged dictionaries. impassioned is a much more common word, and does mean the opposite of what you meant.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
The DS has shown it can be about the experience. The PSP has multimedia functions and better technology and has more traditionally successful console style games. Yet the DS is in the lead, I can only assume because it offers an experience that can't be found anywhere else.
Your comment is interesting. You mention how awesome the interconnectivity of the 360 is (and you're right). But then you mention enjoying playing "indie" games for $5. With the exception of maybe Mutant Storm Reloaded and maybe Marble Blast Ultra, all the others games are about as non-HD as you can get. You don't need HD to play backgammon, or Bejeweled, or a billiards game, or any of the 1980s Midway arcade ports. You don't need an HDTV to enjoy Geometry Wars. Yet these are the games that are flourishing. Sure, they have some bells and whistles that take advantage of the hardware, but that's just that: bells and whistles. It shows there's a market for fun.
Now imagine something similar to Xbox Live Arcade, only the hardware is 1/3 the price. That could be very good.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
An amazing hardware and software platform get you nothing if you don't have the software to back it up. I've played most of the Xbox 360 titles that have been released so far, and nothing has really made me want to drop the $400 on the console. Honestly, the multimedia features are the biggest draw, but that's not saying much for a game console.
The PSP vs the DS is another excellent comparison. There is no question that the PSP is the superior piece of hardware. What does it have to offer? PS2 ports and clones, games that really aren't made to be portable. The offerings on the DS are MUCH more suited to the system and it's intended use. Hence, it is quite successful.
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".
Your analogy to the car market is a bit funny because it is right on and yet contradicts your point. I will admit that the SUV is a big market. Yet, not everybody wants a big SUV. A lot of people actually do want an economy car. Other people want sports cars. Other people want motorcycles. Have you been reading any news on General Motors? They posted record losses last year in the billion dollar range. Sales of SUVs were dismal in the second half of 2005. During the same time period, companies like Toyota and Nissan reported record sales of their mid-size cars. The demand in the market is changing.
In the same way, Nintendo is trying to target a totally different market and I think if this new controller works and they can produce fun games, they will see great success. Also, I would point out that unlike some companies, Nintendo has proven they actually can make a profit in the video game industry.
Why should I buy a Revolution when the 360 or PS3 has a better selection of games and is HD compatible?
What do you mean by a better selection? More, yeah sure they will have more, but better? I think you're assuming a lot there.
I think you should consider buying a Revolution when, like me, you've gotten a little bored of endless fps, third person shooters, sports games, and driving sims. You should buy it because, if they make a fishing game, you will cast by casting not by pressing "A." You'll swing a sword by swinging, not by pressing A. To shoot you would point and shoot, not by moving a stick and pressing A.I
Your clearly attracted to HD gaming, you mention it a lot, and I bet you're excited by it because it can make games more (photo)realistic, but understand that they way you can play a game can make it far more realistic than more pixels.
If you can't see why that, at the very least, you should consider the Rev over the PS3 & XBox, then you should re-think why you started playing games in the first place. I don't think it was to press "A" in HD.
It seems like you simply don't understand what the Blue-Ocean strategy is all about.
... Their plan in the only way they can go.
If you look at the history of the videogame market you will see one pattern emerging; that as time goes on, one of the platforms in each portion of the market eventually represents the majority of the users. Basically, you have one console everyone owns and one or two other consoles which did not even sell in the same league. Usually, the console which ends up being the market leader does not have better technical specifications and does not have more features; it usually is successful because it has the largest selection of interesting games.
Now what Blue-Ocean is all about is that when a market has too much competition you define a new market which you can thrive in; if the Revolution is successful it could define a completely seperate market (much like the Handheld market) where Nintendo can dominate.
Remember, except for DVD playback the Gamecube was a far superior piece of hardware to the PS2 (the XBox was in every way a better piece of hardware) and Nintendo produced several compelling titles for the platform (and Microsoft also had tons of good content on the XBox) and yet it never (for more than a week or so) even matched the sales of the PS2. At this point in time, Nintendo could produce a system that produced pre-rendered movie quality images, at 1080p, with every electronic device included in the system (including a toster) and sell it for $99 and they would still have problems selling more than the PS3.
Pure and Simple, if Nintendo wants to survive they need a new market
Who are the crackheads that moderated this as Interesting? The post is full of mistakes that only somebody with an anti-Nintendo agenda would write:
o n_faq
On the subject of high definition:
Shigeru Miyamoto has said, "The majority of people won't be playing our system with an HDTV, though with the Revolution, 480p resolution will be standard."
While not 720p, it's still a lot better than SD.
On the subject of console prices:
Compare the PSP to the DS. The technical specs of the PSP leave the DS in the dust, but its pricetag leaves a lot to be desired. Parents don't want to buy a PSP for $280 when they can have a DS and three games for the same price. (Sorry, Canadian prices here) This helps explain in part the popularity of the DS.
On the subject of the ON/OFF button on the controller:
Look for yourself.
On the subject of "What will Revolution bring us?"
- Innovative controller and new game genres
- Downloadable games
- Online play
Read more here: http://www.revolutionreport.com/nintendo_revoluti
You're a troll, and not even a good one.
I fail to see the FUD in this. If anything, Nintendo is very much correct in their assertions about HD. Anyone that has a non-HD television pays for the HD feature of the 360, but don't experience HD gaming. And right now, that is an overwhelming majority of households. People keep saying that Nintendo is leaving a large portion of the market behind. But in reality, it is Sony and Microsoft that expect the market to catch up to them. By the end of this next gen console, you might have 50%+ HD penetration in homes.
Now I'm the exception to the rule. I have a 360 and a nice 62" HD TV. I'll share with you my take on HD gaming. The first few hours of gaming with my 360 I accidentally played at 480p (forgot to toggle the switch on the AV cable.) Before I realized this, I was still very impressed by next gen graphics. After switching over to HD, the picture did look sharper. But it was only a minor improvement. Especially compared to all the other advances in graphics. There is so much more we should be discussing about next gen graphics besides HD, but Microsoft and Sony have managed to frame the debate around this one narrow minded issue. If anyone is throwing out FUD, it's them.
That being said, I love my 360 (even though it ate my DOA 4 save file.) And I'm sure I'll love the Revo.
the cosmos in 20 words or less: thumbuki.com
Looks like people at Nintendo have been reading this:
"Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant" (2005, Harvard Business School Publishing), by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne.
Ironically, it's also the book Ford cited when it took the knife to its belly a few weeks ago...0 6601230398
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20
Depending on the lineup, I'm probably going to get a Revolution. I'm not going to get an XBOX360 or a PS3, because they're really just more of the last generation, but I've been thinking about getting a Revolution ever since I got a DS, and saw how great that was. If they were four hundred, I wouldn't, but for two hundred or two fifty, it's well worth it.
Something that I think about when I think about the XBOX360 and the PS3 is that everything there is possible with worse graphics on the XBOX or PS2. With the NES, you could do stuff you couldn't do on the Atari. With the SNES you could have more sprites onscreen, and process more, so you could have cooler games. With the N64 you could get 3D games running, and with this generation you can finally fully enjoy 3D worlds. But this generation that's coming up on us, besides the Revolution, offers nothing we haven't seen before.
I have a unique perspective becuase i work in Redmond, WA testing the xbox 360 for a living. I have played just about every game on the market in HD and non-HD. Let me tell you that you are missing a LOT by not seeing it in HD. Many games such as Project Gotham Racing 3 is very difficult to play ona normal tv screen. The dark races are hard to see if the next turn is a left or a right. This system is made much worse when you must realize that not everyone has their optimal brightness/contrast/color ratios set. Many people turn up the brightness and contrast too high on their tv.
Games like DOA 4 as you mentioned are not as effected. You miss some of the finer tones on the skin btu the gameplay is alrgely uneffected. The game is brightly lit and there are not as many small details as in a dark racing game placed in a city.
unzip; strip; touch; finger; mount; fsck; more; yes; unmount; sleep
Digital TV != high definition.
I'm so sick of pointing that out.
"I realise this is not a very popular opinion but it's the truth, and there for needs to be said" -Bill Hicks