Mario All Grown Up?

Reggie Fils-Aime, frequent spokesperson for Nintendo, has a piece extolling the way in which Nintendo will disrupt the videogaming market with the release of the Revolution. His editorial uses the movie industry as a comparison, and likens the systems of Sony and Microsoft to 'flops'. From the article: "Nintendo's counterpunch is disruption. We've determined that the videogame market is ripe for revival--and we're looking to make it happen by reaching out to the millions of players still on the sidelines, including those over the age of 35. Early moves have been promising. Nintendogs, a game that allows people to train virtual puppies, has doubled the typical percentage of female purchasers, selling 1.5 million copies in about four months. Not bad, given that Nintendo DS hardware is in 4 million hands." Yeah, it's just more advertising claptrap, but the levels of hyperbole they're reaching is sort of breathtaking to behold.

Comments

Yah

[SmallFurryCreature]

Wow, that was indeed a load of crap. Nintendogz did well therefore the PS3 is a flop. WTF?

Nobody disputes that Nintendo owns the handheld. It has done so for a long time and at the moment the PSP seems to be a good second runner but not replacing the DS. If anything I think the PSP is increasing the market or perhaps people just have both it certainly is not distracting from the DS sales.

But so what? The gameboy always sold well. It was the 'main' consoles that Nintendo has been having troubles with. So this is like saying, Pokemon GB/GBA sold well so the Playstation 1/2 were a flop.

Oh and then comes the old sales pitch. Simple. Yes, we are going to reach that part of the market that is to dumb to figure out a lightswitch. Someone should really tell marketing people that there will always be people who claim X is to complex and they will buy X the moment it reaches their level of understanding. Problem is you can't. As long as their are people who are confused by revolving doors or even those who push when it says pull you will have people who can't figure out X.

Marketing to them is stupid. Why? Because you are insulting the intelligence of everyone else. Don't believe me? How many of you actually like using dumbed down products with zero options to confuse you? Oh don't get me wrong. They are nice at first, when you are still new and unsure of what to do. And then you move on and want more.

Part of the fun for me in playing a game is learning to play it. I think it is true with any type of game. The basics are simple but as you move on it becomes more and more complex. You can play chess just fine without knowing the more obscure rules like that move where you can switch the king and towers BUT the game will become deeper and more challenging as you learn more.

Same with other games. Say a FPS. A game with no stances is simpler as it saves 1-2 or even 3 buttons to learn BUT having the option makes the game deeper and more challenging.

Oh and as for nintendogz attracting females to play and that being the road to success. Sorry but if women were the road to success the PC would be the top console. The Sims and similar games are dominated by women.

I am not a woman but if I were I would be insulted by this piece. It is effectively saying that women find current games to complex. Taste or a hint they lack the mental capabilities to deal with 12 buttons and 2 joysticks?

The revolutions success and for that matter the success of all consoles will depend on wether it can reach that 'must buy' state. Usually because it is the console that has the 'must buy' game. Will it? So far Nintendo seems very reluctant to actually show games. Or at least I haven't seen any 'must buy' titles announced yet.

Simple is another way to say dumbed down. Sure there will be players who moan about the good old days when you had all you need was a joystick with 2 buttons but frankly if they were a real market we would have games that meet their needs. We don't. Or rather we do. Old games.

Serious Sam was a move to 'old fashioned' gameplay in the FPS genre. It sold well. Apparently not well enough however as it got only a sequell but no clones. Yes it was hailed as a grand return to the good old days, and then people returned to their complex soldier sims with a hundred buttons that are what we expect today.

Nintendo Revolution may be trying to pull a Apple 1 mouse button move. Even Apple nowadays sells a power mouse with an insane amount of buttons. Simple is good, until you learned it and want more. Fisher Price makes a bright and easy cassette player but I don't see it in to many hifi setups.