Slashdot Mirror
Rumormongering - Apple Could Buy Nintendo?
An anonymous reader writes "CNET wonders if 'Apple is about to frag the gaming community with a revelation that could shake Microsoft to its core: Apple will buy Nintendo. What could be more quintessentially left-field Apple behaviour than buying out the U.S.'s number three games console manufacturer?' The article goes on to compare the companies, saying 'both have followings whose brand dedication verges on the religiously devout' and design styles that are so similar that 'the Nintendo DS Lite practically looks like Jonathan Ive built it.' The writer says an Apple and Nintendo merger will 'penetrate the mainstream consumer market with Macintosh computers'. The possible outcome of a merger would be a console based around the Mac Mini. As for whether Apple have the cash to pull it off: 'Cisco was rumoured to be looking at a purchase of Nintendo earlier in the year, so the idea of Nintendo being bought is not outlandish in itself. Apple's market cap is $51.7bn (Nintendo's is $23.1bn)'"
That is quite possibly the stupidest sentence I've ever read.
I certainly hope that Apple doesn't buy nintendo (even if they could) because the reason nintendo are great is because the concentrate on games, games, games. No failed computer / pda / music player / whatever for them. They just concentrate on what they're good at.
Any dillution of that fervour would be sad.
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
yeah right... i dont think nintendo will let themselves depart from being strictly a gaming company. that is their identity.
Nintendo would rather go out of business then be bought by another entity.
Give it up. Noone is ever going to buy nintendo.
so the idea of Nintendo being bought is not outlandish in itself
Yeah it is. You think that a Japanese company with that much tradition would sell out at all, much less to an American company?
Apple's successes lean heavily on not straying too far from their core market competencies - useable devices that people want.
Gaming has *never* been one of Apple's core competencies, and Apple has a knack for changing things around when they buy something.
The only way that a merger with Nintendo would work, is if they leave Nintendo the hell alone - and that won't happen.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
Wait, wasn't sony buying apple? No wait. Disney was buying apple. No, crap. Pixar is buying disney. No that's not it. Microsoft bought apple back in '95! No, that's not right.
I'm so confused.
I like both Apple and Nintendo. But I'm not sure if I could get used to an Apple logo on a GameCube or Wii, or my game console color limited to black or white. Of course, if it would help Apple get more game titles for the Mac, that would be a good thing.
i wish you could mod articles down... but you cant... so these kinds of stupid articles reach the front page of slashdot. i am getting more and more tired of stuipd articles showing up on the front page... anyone else agree?
This seems to come up time and time again about "Company X will buy out Nintendo." As interesting as this always sounds, it will NEVER happen. Nintendo will never sell out. Especially not to a relatively young American company like Apple. Yeah, I'm sure they're no more of a fan of Microsoft than the rest of us, but that doesn't mean they will surrender to Apple.
Apple and Nintendo are both good at what they do. Apple buying Nintendo is likely to dilute one of the two companies, without making either better. The other issue, is while they are both successful at what they do they have very different work cultures. I'd rather things be left as they are in this case.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
...Apple might buy Apple
The sooner you fall behind, the more time you have to catch up.
They wouldn't have enough after the Wii is released. Nintendo would never sell right now, they would be foolish to. Here they are on the verge of possibly breaking out of that #3 spot into #2, or even #1. This article is completely speculative, and ignorant. If the Nintendo Wii does as well as we all think it will (and most of us are gamers), then maybe Nintendo would be the one with enough money to buy Mac!
Ok, that was a bit of an exageration, but since we all seem to be saying outlandish things...
Go ahead and call me unreliable; reliable is just a synonym for predictable.
Is stuff like this news? If so, I could go blog about how Disney could buy McDonalds, or how Toyota plans on purchasing Vivid Video.
Even if this were a serious issue, which it isn't, I somehow don't see Japan's pride and joy Nintendo selling to an American company for anything, even if it is Apple.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
This makes a lot of sense - even if just speculation and rumor. After all, how many of us played our first home video games on an apple?
I remember hours and hours wasted on my Franklin (an Apple IIe clone) computer playing "Flight Simulator"!
I remember banging my head against the wall trying to figure out how to get those lines to show up on the ground. When I realized it was impossible I fantasized about the day when computers would be powerful enough to render some kind of wireframe terrain!
How awesome would that be!
My Computer Music Tutorial Videos
This is one of the silliest things I've read all week.
Yes, the very profitable Nintendo is going to sell themselves to the maker of the Pippin. That would be a brilliant move!
I have no problem with apple products and I admit I own an iPod just like everyone else, but if Apple were to release a mac-mini based game console (lets call it the iWii) the price of the PS3 wouldn't sound so bad.
apple could buy /., too, for its new sleek, stylish look
About once a year some dip comes up with this same brilliant theory. Nevermind that Nintendo is strongly Japanese to the point of damaging their own global potential, but why would Nintendo surrender to what is in essence Microsoft with better IOEs?
- buy Nintendo?
- buy a fertilizer factory in Peru?
- go into the soft drinks business?
- open an on-line strip-joint and call it iBoobs?
- start shipping marvellously good-looking military hardware?
It's all open for speculation — 'cause in this game, there are no rules, and nobody really gives a fuck anyway!Wouldn't this seriously confuse all of the Mac zealots that came out recently to support the "Apple are too good for gaming" article? Perhaps the groupthink would take over, it never happened, doubleplusungood.
People that believe in their opinions don't post AC.
Even the writer doesn't appear to have any confidence in the idea.
What is -with- all these merger suggestions? "Company X should by company Y!" It smells to high heaven of stock manipulation by the article writers. I bet, with disclosure, that each time one of these articles is published, that the author has some sort of vested financial interest in one or both of the companies.
"Don't worry about the problems you have in mathematics, I assure you mine are much greater." - Einstein c.1919
Please, no! After the incredible sticker shock of the XBox 360, followed by the news that the PS3 wasn't going to be any better, I was poised to snag the Wii just to stick it in the eye of the other console manufacturers. "See? Half the cost of your previous systems! Nyah!"
If Apple were to by Nintendo, the Wii will double in price overnight, and likely catch fire if left on a carpet. Woe betide me!
(Joking. Mostly.)
Man, must be a SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW news day for C-Net for them to bother posting this random crap. The author goes from a wild speculation, into Apple's supposed "gaming history," then tells us that Apple might be able to raise the capital to cover such a deal. He never bothers to actually analyze any kind of trend in Apple's behavior toward such a grab for the gaming market, nor does he suggest anywhere that Nintendo might be a little opposed to the deal. Oh, wait, Apple tried making a gaming console once right? That means they're just itching to get into the market! Brilliant!
What a brain-dead piece of writing. I feel dumber for having read that.
SRSLY.
I've had the displeasure of having dealt with Apple on games since the System 6 days.
Microsoft -> Security
Linux -> User Interface
Apple -> Games
I've seen other game developers run screaming from meetings with Apple game people. Apple can't even handle getting a decent OpenGL driver for their systems. I could go on all day describing what a nightmare it is to work with Apple on game development.
The only rational there can be for Apple buying Nintendo would be from some sort of desire to drive Nintendo into the ground.
This sounds familiar.
What is it people in the tech industry don't understand about Nintendo?
Nintendo is a 117 year old company. The analogy I used last time when someone mentioned Microsoft is still apt - this is the equivalent of a 15 year old kid coming over and saying "here's $500, can I buy your house?"
For 113 years of its life, Nintendo was a family owned business. It only passed the reigns on to someone not in the Yamauchi family when Hiroshi Yamauchi named Satoru Iwata his successor, and it's not like the Yamauchi family just up and sold all of their shares.
You can't buy a company if they're not willing to sell the shares.
First of all, what good would Apple gain by buying Nintendo. The author said that Apple would think about building a console based on the Mac Mini. Why would Apple need Nintendo to do this?
Second of all, what good would Nintendo gain by being bought by Apple. Nintendo is on the brink of releasing a console that is predicted to very well. Why would they give all this up just because the two companies share a similair design scheme and following?
The math just doesn't add up...
No, I don't think Apple will be giving out any Mario mustache rides anytime soon.
I'm waiting for the Apple-Nintendo-DHL merger so I can focus all my fanboyism at one entity.
Cringeley may as well have written that. Not gonna happen.
one of apple's biggest weaknesses to the mainstream user today, as i see it, is its perceived lack of games. i posted about this on Digg a few weeks ago, that perhaps Apple is working on first party games in order to dispell this perception. absorbing Nintendo would go a REALLY long way towards changing these perceptions.
and anyway, Microsoft and Apple have been too buddy-buddy lately, with all those copies of XP being sold to run on Macintels. It just doesn't set right with me... this move would place them back at each other's throats, where Apple and Microsoft belong. (competition leads to innovation)
iWii Pro EXTREME
MacDS
MacGameBoy
marioTunes
Super Smash Garageband
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Ives
Metroid Nano
Bonjour Pokemon
NintenPods
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
I hope it happens, because I want an iWii!
I'd expect Apple to buy Sun first. Sun would be less expensive to buy, and would come with some crown jewels (Java, Solaris, Workstations) that would fit in nicely with Apple's platform and OS strategy.
Buying Nintendo wouldn't make any sense, as Apple has indicated litle desire to get involved in the games market.
I want to work for CNET or some similar company as a hypothetical business analyst. I want to get paid to show up for work stoned, sit down, and write random stories about how big companies could hypothetically buy each other, or release new product lines, or exit entire markets, based on nothing more than my being to stoned to write something worthwhile. Then I'll want my boss to try and pass my garbage writing off as news, and later complain when the old media, politicians, and the general public refuse to take online journalism seriously.
I can't believe that they actually pay people to write that shit. What's worth, I can't believe how many bloggers and link aggregators keep linking to them.
Some random analyst gets some random idea, manages to print it in a paper, and Slashdot feels the need to echo it? Why? Dunno. Hey, here's one. I heard Apple is going to buy Intel. Maybe that will make my Intel stock go up.
From the above Wiki article:
Costing US$599 on launch, and touted as a cheap computer, the system, in reality, was commonly identified as a video-game console. As such, its price was considered too expensive in comparison to its contemporaries.
Wait....Haven't I seen this before?
Whoa-ho-ho! My dumbassatron just flew off the scale! Lord almighty, I think we might have a winner - STUPIDEST ARTICLE EVER!!!
There is so much idiocy packed into this one article that I don't know where to begin. The writer of this article doesn't just say stupid things, he speaks an entire language comprised of stupid. To say the very least, this is dumbassery of the highest order. Moderate article down.
You don't need the sic for that, it's correct in the UK. Apparently they feel a singular company is plural because it's made up of individuals; this is patently silly since it's a singular company. If you talk about a conglomerate, you'd say "the such and such group" - you're talking about the group, which is still singular. That's the whole point! Then again, they can't spell Aluminum either.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I think the article looses further credibility by citing the rumous of Cisco buying Nintendo. That is like Boeing buying Disney - I am sure people can come up with synergies in that combination..
Rumours are fun.
Remember that Steve Jobs is a majority shareholder in Disney. This means access to content!! Remember that Apple is a 'serious computer company' and is not interested in games. Buying Nintendo would allow it to access to a less serious market without diluting the Apple brand. Lets not forget the iPod & ITMS. Imagine being able to connect your iPod to your Wii console, or playing videos (and photo slideshows) on your Wii. Best wait until WWDC and see if a PVR capability becomes available on Macs.
Personally Apple should buy Sun (or vis-versa). Sun has a lot to offer, but needs someone like Jobs to give it a will to live and produce some interesting products with all that technology they have.
Someone please mod this to 11....this is never going to happen...
"Nobody owns the fucking words man." - James Dean
This makes as much since as Apple buying Maytag. Nintendo first off I seriously doubt would sell, much less to a non gaming comapny. Apple is so notoriuolsy anti-gamer Nintendo would go no where near them. Even if most of the stock holders wanted them to. I'm sure the big wigs control enough of the stock to stop such a huge blunder anyway. Nintendos and Apples just don't mix! Normally I like even the kinda bumb articles on slashdot if not just for dicussion value but this one is just plain silly.
WTF?
will be called Nipple
But a Wiipod would be *so* usable. You could just twirl your Wiipod clockwise to go to the next track and counter to go back again. As you are jogging the volume would go up and down slightly since up/down motions would naturally be for volume control; this would add a nice 'organic' effect to the music. You could even get two, attach one to each foot, and play DDR without a mat.
Never since the day that cholocate fell into penut butter has there been such a great convergence!!! This is a gold mine, I'm caching out my 401k to buy stock in Apple *and* Nintendo today!
and personally I don't think it should ever be.
Remember this thing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pippin
Microsot if better than Apple on this for many reasons. When people were bashing the Xbox and saying Microsoft had no business entering the game market, I thought pretty stupid, because MS has put a lot of work into developing tools used to develop enhanced graphics games. DirectX (while it is proprietary though) is by far a better api for developing games than OpenGL.
With so many years of high quality, and highly detailed games working on the Windows platform, I don't know why so many people bashed the Xbox before it was released.
However the same does not apply for Apple, while for a short time, Apple was able to support some good quality games, it has lagged far behind in utilities needed to game quality as good as what you get on Windows.
I for one think that Apple moving to the game industry is a bad. While it definatley would help them gain some market share, I think they are too inexperienced to try and spend the amount of money it would require for them to advance in the gaming industry.
ZONK you are a stupid cunt! Why would you even bother ticking off this story? You are a waste of carbon and your stories a waste of electricity.
Nintendo is rethinking things - the Wii controller. Nintendo is competing in a difficult field with weaker graphics and CPU hardware. Nintendo will come up with selling neat games that will fit the 10-20 year old market very well. Apple is ruining the hearing of a generation. Apple is converting people who previously used their minds into iDIOTs. -Brett
For 113 years of its life, Nintendo was a family owned business.
Family run. Dangit. I should read through stuff multiple times.
Obviously they've been public for a long time, although they've been executing stock buybacks for the past few years, so they're "kinda sorta" public.
If CNET can fabricate wacky speculative rumors, so I can I!
Muwahahahaha!
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
Listen, I don't want to say too much, but Apple may be buying DaimlerChrysler.
Sounds crazy - crazy enough to be true! Also it makes perfect sense. DaimlerChrysler has been bleeding money for a while, mainly because of its stodgy management. Apple understands that a charismatic, forward-thinking leader is just the shot in the arm the company needs to become profitable again. And it also makes perfect sense from Apple's point of view - they're primarily a hardware company, after all.
#DeleteChrome
http://www.macobserver.com/columns/hiddendimension s/2006/20060605.shtml
We see Apple port Brick to the console. Now THAT would be a gaming breakthrough.
A decibel - a RELATIONSHIP between two values of POWER http://arts.ucsc.edu/EMS/Music/tech_background/TE-
was about the mac mini based console,like... nintendo is not stupid to launch a 600 dollar console that cant make X-box 360 looks like a atari VCS,and this is not the focus of nintendo anyway,she's trying to get the casual public
This has been a rumor so long that every company out has been rumored to be buying Nintendo. There was a time when a hostile takeover of the Nintendo stock was possible. However, when EA was on a shopping spree, Nintendo made sure to buy back enough stock to make this impossible by EA. So now the only way to buy Nintendo is with their blessing, and as pointed out by many, that is not going to happen. I guess the few game programmers they hired under the iTunes divisions will have to make dew, to make the iPod games.
In what universe is Apple known for stability?
If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
Apple to buy Infinium's Phantom Console Technology, 3D Realms
Duke Nukem Forever Will be Exclusive to New Gaming System
"Its a me, Steve Jobs."
The question is, who is more enjoyable to play a gravity defying fat plumber or a man in jeans and a black turtleneck?
And this new market monster would be known as NintenDisneyPixApple.
Do you see what I did there?
I am really frustrated with the lack of games for Macs. I fianally got a decent home computer, a dual G4, with a good graphics card are a ton of memory that would be great for games, but am having trouble finding a good selection of games. The local CompUSA has only first person shooters for Macs and no strategy games. I miss playing C&C on my old pre-pentium Windows95 but can't find anything similar for Mac OS X.
I think this might be an interesting partnership, if it were to actually formulate into something substantial. Nintendo has lost its footing, recently, in the gaming market and would have nothing to lose with making a deal with Apple. I mean, Sega was swallowed up with the release of Microsoft and Sony's systems and now that M.S. has released its next gen system with Sony soon to follow ... where is Nintendo? Yes, their new system does look amazing, but I wonder if they will be able to take back a piece of the market that they once dominated with it.
Time will tell!
Ugh...
Forgetting that such a takeover would a) represent a substantial shift in Apple's "core" (pun) strategy, b) would likely "stifle" the home-grown creativity that Nintendo appears to take extreme pride in ("Put an ipod click wheel on the Wii-mote and we'll talk!") and c) cross-ocean mergers of this sort are difficult, let's speculate needlessly given these STUNNING pieces of evidence:
1) Apple and Nintendo are 'underdogs'.
2) They both appear to be technologically distinct from their competitors
3) They both have had a lot of media coverage lately
4) They both make portable devices using white plastic.
That is NOT good reporting and serves no other purpose than to distract! ZONK (ugh) and whoever spent an hour or so putting the Apple logo in Mario's hands on the link should be ashamed
What would the new company name be? Aptendo? No, no... Nipple? Hey - that would sell...
I don't think many realise how much money Nintendo has and makes.
I remember when MS wanted to get into the console market they looked at Nintendo and found they couldn't afford them.
What chance does Apple have?
It would probably be easier for Nintendo to buy Apple.
Ummm... yea, and nobody uses macs in Japan?!
--- Nothing To See Here ---
But there are certain interesting synergies.....
.)
Future game consoles are targeting HDTV, not regular TV. This means TVs that you can use as a monitor.
Mac Minis make nice DVD/DiVX/whatever else consoles. (Front Row, etc .
Now, imagine a Nintendo System that utilized OS X, played all the next-gen Nintendo games, had a built-in wifi connection/hard drive, and could run OS X applicaions. IMHO, these would be great selling points, and this is the direction that Sony and Microsoft's multimedia center efforts are going.
For their part, Apple has the FrontRow type media center interface down pat. And Nintendo has the solidly designed console down pat. Mix the internals together, and the combined cost of production for a Wii+Mac Mini is probably less than a PS3, and potentially similar to an Xbox360.
WhiteWolf666 an exBush supporter. All you new-school,compassionate,save the children Republicans can rot in hell
In other news, Steve's mom could be watching TV right now. Proof? Well we all know Steve's mom likes TV and I heard she isn't working today, so she has nothing to do. Her car has a flat tire, so she is stuck at home. She doesn't like computers, so she probably won't be online. Therefore she has to be watching TV.
(Wow, speculation is fun and easy. A lot more so than actually going out and getting facts. You can make up a story and be done for the day by 10am.)
Excuse me? The DS alone is outselling the 360, and it's on the verge of passing the original Xbox in all time sales. That's just *one* of Nintendo's three consoles on the market right now. In the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube realm they came in third in the US, but pick another stat, any other stat, and they're either #2, or #1. Total console sales? #2, but damned close to #1. Profit (even if you leave out the handhelds)? #2. Not only is Microsoft number three, but they are a distant number three. We're talking astronomical distance.
Was this article written to start flame wars or something?
..annoyance of the /. UI; not only is the text a headache-inducing shade of Sans Serif (many complaints already on that score), but also there appears to be an overlooked consequence of styling the LI & UL entities - people using them normally in comments and them looking absolutely shite. The grey corner lines make no design sense whatsoever looking at them as they are in this post. I'm (mildly) sorry to be posting OT as A/C.
Even if Apple did buy Nintendo--which I think is extremely doubtful--I don't think it would benefit either company to combine their branding at all. Nintendo does games and Apple, as Slashdot has discussed ad nauseum, doesn't. Who is supposed to benefit from diluting two strong brand names?
If this does come to pass, will Nintendo cereal be replaced by Apple Jacks?
for those who don't remember
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
Nintendo+Intel+Apple=NIpple?
I wonder what the controller would look like.
Ben & Jerry's buys Harley Davidson...
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
What could be more quintessentially left-field McDonald's behaviour than buying out the US's number two fast food conglomeration?'. The article goes on to compare the companies, saying 'both have followings whose brand dedication verges on the religiously devout' and malnutrition levels that are so similar that 'the Whopper with cheese makes me feel like Ronald McDonald made it'. The writer says a McDonalds and Yum! Brands Inc. merger will 'penetrate the mainstream consumer market with grease laden filth'. The possible outcome of a merger would be a taco burger based around the Quarter Pounder. As for whether McDonalds have the cash to pull it off: 'Someone at Cisco was rumoured to be looking at a purchase of KFC during lunch, so the idea of Yum! Brands Inc being bought is not outlandish in itself. McDonald's market cap is $31.7bn (Yum Brand Inc's is $14.1bn)'"
POKE 36879,8
I'm sorry but I don't own a Mac because I can't afford them. If they buy out Nintendo then we are just going to have another overpriced gamming system that a large number of people won't buy due to price being so high. I'd like to see Nintendo stay lower priced than the other consoles as I don't want to spend $500 + a game system.
Without even analyzing the strategy here... Does anyone here know anything about just how often American companies, or any foreign companies, are able to acquire Japanese ones? I'm inclined to think that it's quite rare. Not only that, but given the Nintendo history which some posters have enlightened us about in this thread, it seems like Nintendo would be on the difficult side of the Japanese spectrum, let alone the overall.
I think anyone that has ever submitted a perfectly good verifiable story here only to see it rejected within minutes must be pulling their hair out when they see incredibly idle speculative obvious bullshit like this on the front page.
And they wonder how digg grew so fast...
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
Short Answer: No!
Long Answer: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Does it hurt to pull something like that out of your ass?
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
So what? Honestly, does that make a difference, especially now that they are publically traded?
Nintendo was a card game company for a great many of those years. Things change.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
Think of what this would do to the launch prices of future Nintendo consoles if it were to happen. Think we'd see the Nintendo "Uss" (the successor to the Wii, fun with pronouns) around $200 is Apple were in the drivers seat?
No way in hell. Regardless of their similar religious followings, these companies have way different cultures. I'm not just talking about Japanese and American. I'm speaking more as of what the culture is within each of these companies.
Let's also not forget Apple caters to a high-end market. Granted they have products that are aimed toward some middle ground, but the fact is Apple still has an exclusiveist aire to it. Nintendo presently aims for utilizing low-priced, efficient, time-proven technology. We see this in products such as the Wii and DS.
Hmm, Nintendo's releasing a new console this year.
Oh look, it's all white and shiny.
Hey, Apple makes white and shiny things...
OMG! Apple is going to buy out Nintendo! *hurries off to write an article*
Funny you should say that considering how much better the iPod is doing in
Japan than any of its Japanese-manufactured competitors.
*sigh* back to work...
This is such a myth. Maybe the Japanese are racists. Maybe their not, but ultimately what sells best there (much like anywhere else) are GOOD products. If you don't believe that, then WHY IS THE iPOD (created by an AMERICAN company) the number one MP3 in Japan? Hugely beating out Sony and the like.
He's the single largest (minority) Disney shareholder after the Pixar buyout not the majority shareholder -- that's a really big difference.
So what? Honestly, does that make a difference, especially now that they are publically traded?
Yes.
Just because they're publicly traded, do you really think that the Yamauchis and other longtime (as in, decades-long) investors in Nintendo would be willing to sell?
Do you really think that the family of those who founded a company don't place a value in their stock slightly higher than the market value?
And Microsoft is so NOT cool everybody wants Apple to kick MS in the head. And this kind of rumours spreads only because someone thinks this will hurt Redmond guys.
-Hey! that Nintento DOES look like an Apple product!
-So the smart boys at Apple are planning to buy them to shake MS!
-But they don't have the money!
-They have a lot of partners... someone is going to lend them the rest, no big deal.
-COOL!
-Hey!!! Look, that Lamborghini DOES looks like an Apple product!
---
Donde Ser Geek No Duele
Donde Ser Geek No Duele
I hope it's true, just so there's the possibility of a product called the iWii...
Flamebait? Has everyone lost their sense of humor?
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
This unfounded and speculative article is exactly the same as another "Apple could buy Nintendo" unfounded speculative article posted about 6 months ago! What the else is with these people? Wishful thinking?
The same one in which pigs are known for their flight.
If Apple merged with Nintendo they would undoubtedly create an army of super fanboys that could threaten economies and bulletin boards all over the world. The illogical brand loyalty and corporate **** sucking would ensure the success of even the shittiest of products.
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
I'm so confused.
Sheesh. The incompetence around here. IBM is buying Apple. Actually, before that happens, Apple will buy Nintendo. Then IBM will buy Sun, at which point IBM/Sun/Apple/Nintendo (iSunNipple) will buy out Disney/Pixar. From there, world domination is pretty much assured, as iNippleDix will be unstoppable.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
This article is so stupid. I assume that it's only purpose is to give us all painful flashbacks to the mid-90s, before AOL merged with Time Warner. This merger would be as useless as that one, as many have pointed out already.
Anyone have a good slashback article from the mid-90s talking about how awesome AOL/Time Warner will be?
burrocrisy
and that would be what? Ruling by jackasses? Never has a slashdot misspelling been more apropos
* Insert baseless rumour about Apple wanting to get into gaming
* Insert whacky theory of "Apple might buy Acme Corp"
* Insert weird hardware combination (or speculation that they're going to drop hardware altogether)
* Insert speculation that This Will Be the Event that Magically Gives Apple Victory over Microsoft
* Mention Dvorak somewhere
* Obfuscate and try to make it sound like it's fact rather than wild random speculation
* Sex it up / turn it into a "thesun.co.uk" sensasionalist type story
* Post it to slashdot
(???, Profit)
*yawn*
I'm an Apple fan, and even I'm getting tired to death of these headlines - I dread to think what it's like for people who really couldn't give a stuff about Apple.
This could change things for the Wii if Apple had control of Nintendo...
They would charge more for the black Wii rather than the white one. And the Dev kit would be Almuminum and "professional" looking.
I wish we could incorporate Digg style feature to mod articles down.
... A Dual Screen IPod/Console that will let you watch movies, play music, and play crappy games at the SAME TIME??? This merger would be entirely rediculous, but probably good for both companies, as they both make good QUALITY products with no regard to the end users or their wishes, such as Nintendo with older gamers, and Apple with people who want to USE THEIR COMPUTER.
The real $23.1bn question is 'Does Apple Computer want to buy Nintendo'? The $51.7bn answer is no.
As for the Gamespot rumor, there could be some truth to the game division but not to build a console or buy Nintendo. It could very well be a result of Apple aggressively seeking out more gaming market share on the PC.
\
So Nintendo's next generation console would become the iWee? Excuse me while I swallow my own vomit.
You know, because the Pipin was such a success...
The benefit of merging with Nintendo is only so that the mac mini which apple is hoping to make its way into everyones lounge room is capable of playing nintendo games.
Now Apple shouldn't need to fork out 20+ billion for this feature they should just come to some agreement that lets the Nintendo Wii games be playable on a Mac. All they need is an apple-like Wii controller and some software that lets the Mac run nintendo games.
Then bang! the mac mini is capable of becoming the centre of your digital living room that is capable of playing TV, DVD's, Internet and now even games!
This will benefit nintendo because hardware game consoles have always been a loss leader - so Im sure they will be more than happy if someone else decides to make compatible consoles as long as they still get their licensing for each game.
Nintendo is not a US Manufaturer as said at the top of the article, it is a Japaneese Manufacturer.
Yes, I realized I incorrectly spelled Wii. I suppose my brain vomited as well. Although, iWii is even more preposterous.
The fact of the matter is Nintendo is not for sale. So for that reason alone Apple couldn't buy them even if they wanted to. Microsoft, which technically has the capital to buy both companies several times over, has hinted for years they'd love to own Nintendo but it has never happened. And why you ask? Nintendo has millions in the bank, they make great games that already have a huge following, and most importantly they are a profitable company. Microsoft, or Apple for that matter, couldn't give them anything that they already don't have.
www.unofficiall.com
Nobody seems to have linked it yet; so here it is.
NOTE: this comparison is solely for humor purposes, relying more on colors and other visual similarities than actual design; its intention is not to accuse either company.
I see the partnership being beneficial for both. Combine technologies to bring more games to mac and help create a console that would blow away xbox and PS. They both make solid stuff.
Can I bum a sig?
In other news, it was rumoured that 2 and 2 make 3 so the idea of 2 and 2 making 5 is not outlandish in itself.
"When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
Comment removed based on user account deletion
that the next generation nintendo controller will only have one button?
well at least it will be a really pretty button!
IMO for it's time the Newton was wicked cool and while a bit older is still pretty damn nice even by today's "standards".
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity but they've always worked for me" - HST
The article doesn't mention that the main competition for both companies is Microsoft and Sony. Both of which companies tend to treat their users as suspected pirates rather than respected customers.
Apple in the console space is very plausible. This blog was discussing the same idea last week.
Looks like CNET has bought Dvorak.
How to enable garbage collection on a system without protected memory: #define malloc() ((void *) rand())
After this, Sony is gonna start making it's own OS...
Super Mario Music Mix rocks.
Rémi
Rather than buy any game companies, apple should invest in someone who can make a quality pda that goes right along with my ipod, mac book and all the other simplfied computer experiences that I've associated with owning apple products.
Years back Microsoft tried to buy out Nintendo, back before M$ made the Xbox. Theres a story online about Shiggy laughing and saying they had no need to sell, they were profitable. Also I highly doubt a Japanese company would sell out to an American one, its just not their way of doing things.
Is Nintendo a publicly traded company? If so then there is always the possibility of a hostile takeover, though I'm not sure that would be something Apple would attempt.
The pursuit of absolute tolerance leads to the most rigorous and ludicrous intolerance. - REX MURPHY
CNet must have some kind of giant dart board for connecting the most rediculous ideas. I imagine it's 3 foot by 3 foot and has the buzzwords in various sizes. The Editor dialogue goes like this:
Editor: Bob, you got that piece for Friday yet?
Bob: Oh shit... hold on, I just have one more frag and I'm in first.
Editor: Ok, when your done with that come see me at the dart board.
{three minutes later}
Bob: Dude, I totally owned that round.
Editor: Nice!
Bob: Ok, let me get the darts. First up we got...
{tosses dart}
Editor: APPLE! Nice.
Bob: Ok, second dart...
{tosses dart}
Editor: WTF. You hit Nintendo.
Bob: Do-over.
{tosses dart again}
Editor: Jesus! Nintendo again. Ok man, you can't mess with Karma. The board has spoken.
Bob: Fuck! I'm going to have to Google up something about Apple and gaming.
{two hours later}
Editor: Got that Friday piece on Apple and Nintendo.
Bob: Oh yeah! Get this: Apple to Buy Nintendo!
Editor: Fucking brilliant... OK, I got to get back to my CTF game.
While I appreciate wild and unfounded speculation as much as the rest of the American public, I am truly sick of speculation that Apple is going to buy every other company that does something innovative. Can't Apple and Nintendo both just lead their own separate lives as independent, interesting, innovative companies?
KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell are all just brands owned by Yum Brands.
I've always found them to make bad chicken, pizza and tacos, as well as deliver bad service and slow drivethrus. I don't see how any of that changed with their acquisitions by Yum.
--
make install -not war
Executive summary: How about working with Nintendo, rather than buying them, and hey, does it have to be so soon? Also, how about working on selling Mac Pros to gamers.
Full post:
So, let me get this straight... mere months before a major product release, and one which is likely to lose money on each unit sold, they're suggesting Apple should buy Nintendo. Oh yes, that's pure genius. Don't mind me, I'll be rolling around on the floor laughing for a bit. If they want to buy an existing console manufacturer, wouldn't waiting until the next generation was well under way, make sense? So they're not in the middle of a takeover at a business critical moment?
"Consider this: the Mac Mini currently retails for not much more than the forthcoming Sony PlayStation 3 will. The Mac Mini can play high-definition video, edit music and photographs, surf the Web, word process and edit video -- things no console can currently do well, if at all."
Ah yes. Look, it's only _slightly_ more expensive than the console everyone things will die horribly from being catastrophically overpriced, and does lots of things I don't my console to do! Good thing adding a decent graphics chip will surely not further increase the cost.
"What if the Mini could also play Nintendo games? And not just play Nintendo games, but play Nintendo games specifically tailored to the strengths of the Mac Mini's hardware?"
*pause* Intel Extreme graphics... so you're thinking Tetris, then? Also, I'm sure it won't in any way be an issue if Apple buy Nintendo, then go to all the developers working on Wii games, and say "Here's a completely new dev kit, and we're now targetting a mid-2007 launch for a Mac Mini-console crossover at around $700, is that okay?". That'll work well...
Look; I think Apple gaming is a great idea, but I think buying Nintendo would be a nuts way to go about it. How about, just a thought for people, they work with Nintendo. I'm sure Nintendo would have no issue with licensing their back catalogue of games to Apple, to be sold at about the same cost as they'll be going for on the Wii. Nintendo lose money (or make insignificant amounts) on each Wii sold, so they aren't going to be bothered by a hardware sale lost here and there, and they make money from licensed games.
Other thoughts; the Mac Pros should be coming out soon. If Apple can improve availability of graphics cards for the Pro series, I imagine gamers who have been clinging to Windows boxes just for the games, will be eager to buy them, and use Boot Camp. Certainly, that's what I'm planning on doing!
The Hudson's Bay Company (the oldest corporation in North America at approx 335 years) was recently bought by an american billionare, so it isn't unheard of for old corporation to be bought by young upstarts. I completely agree though that this rumour is ludicrous.
Rumormongering is right. I can't think of a single SlashDot article with a question mark at the end of the title that was actually worth reading in the end. I still get suckered in...
Ok, Probably some will kill me for this, but the (ipod) interface, and the so hiped Wii controller just freaks me out, topi it with a buttonless mouse and I am running in the other direction. Oh wait, throw in som proprietary stuff, that only runs on windows and macs, and is a damn resource hog, and restrict the user in all ways possible to complete the horror (Itunes).
... maybe i am just too old for all that interface revolution ... but try to change the volume on an ipod or FF into a song while running on a treadmill... my sony walkman had no problem with- it 15 years ago .. (DD for running though)
Then again, it is my personal preference , I like buttons that can be pressed, and volume controls that are either button press or can be turned in 2 directions...
I think this marriage will bring a line of broducts, that will be very hip and "innovative" and modern, but not for me sadly.
I am an owner of an ipod and hate the interface, and while the WII looks avesome I have the feeling that it would interest me for 5 minutes which after I would retreat to my keybord/mouse and/or classic ps2 controller.
Also how it will effect prices ? Apple is expensive as hell, the Nintendos are way underpriced (compared to similar products)..
just my 2c. I like buttons and terminal screens
/System/Library/Extensions/Wiimote.kext /System/Library/Frameworks/GBAKit.framework /System/Library/CoreServices/Encodings/libSpacePir ateConverter.dylib /Developer/Applications/Utilities/RacoonSuit.app
Not to mention thisorg.slashdot.post.SignatureNotFoundException: ewg
Of course, the article was speculating on a friendly takeover anyway. I guess the thought being that Hiroshi Yamauchi (who refused his retirement pension, a quite substantial sum, because he thought Nintendo could make better use of it) might like to take the money and run.
"MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
If anything Nintendo should buy Apple and the Mac might eventually be a successful product.
However, from what I recall the HBC wasn't doing so hot when it was sold. Nintendo may not enjoy the position of dominance that they once did, but they're hardly doing poorly.
Sure, I get that (and I agree - odds are high they really don't want to). But they may not have a choice in certain circumstances. This is what "publically traded companies" are about. Anyways, it won't happen for zillions of reasons, not the least of which is: it would be stupid.
Most of the people here would be just as thrilled if Apple and Nintendo simply announced the intension to support one another somehow (i.e. iTunes for DS).
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
That sounds logical. The company is also over a hundred years old so it has a lot of family tradition on it's side. It doesn't seem likely that it would sell out so easily. Though a partnership or merger might be seen as a reasonable next step in it's evolution.
The pursuit of absolute tolerance leads to the most rigorous and ludicrous intolerance. - REX MURPHY
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=187341&cid=154 57865
Take that, C|NET.
... suck my tiny yellow balls, Mr. Jobs!
- Nintendo's CEO
Publicly traded may not mean that the majority of shares are out there ... in fact, I think for Nintendo, only a small portion of shares are "publicly traded". So in this case, no matter what the shareholders do, they can't argue against the 51% stock stake that Yamauchi (spelling!) holds in his bank vault.
Nintendo may be the #3 home console manfucturer in America, but when you take into account the handheld portion of the industry, Nintendo is far and away the #1 hardware manufacturer. *Especially* in Japan right now, where the DS alone is making up almost 75% of the weekly hardware sales.
-Moses
The same applies to Nintendo, given that the historical owners probably own more than 50% of the company anyway.
buy the third-place loser in a market of low margins, self-appointed culture police chasing around the fringes, and fritter away money in a business that is a competitor to their macs? it would take horse-sized dumb pills for apple to buy nintendo. some idiot arb or other wall street weasel must have started that rumor hoping to cash out their stocks.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Even if one were to believe that Steve Jobs wakes up one morning with the crazy idea of buying a games company - Nintendo is not for sale. It may sound trite, but this is a company still run by old-school Samurai-style Japanese executives who would sooner take a bullet than let go of the work they've put into their corporation.
Glog!
Well, both Apple and Nintendo are starting to have similar designs, but that's Nintendo trying to ride wave that Apple created with it's design team. Even though, Apple is looking for people with experiance in making games and similar, and doing something with Nintendo might not be out of the question. Nintendo has it's own ideas for the Wii and the DS, they have a number of good and great games franchises available to them. But the main problem is, the XBox 360 is a multimedia machine that allows you to view content from your PC on your TV through a network connection. It's also possible that Sony might try to do something similar with their Playstation 3.
Now consider this, iTunes is the majority in the online music distribution buisiness. It sells TV shows also for it's iPods. My best guess is that more than Apple buying out Nintendo, Apple and Nintendo might do a project to merge certain media center type functions among the console and Macs. Front row is a clean interface which could be made to be used by the Wii. Apple already has Zeroconf networking integrated in it's software and products. It's a good chance that the Wii could become something like a "Video Airport Express" for homes. Also, even though it doesn't support high resolutions, the video output of the Wii is high enough that maybe in the future Apple could set up a Movie sales system like it has done on iTunes with TV shows. At that point, I'd say that the Wii would drive Mac sales, and vice-versa.
sweet i can see it now, a one button controller!
I've thought, since the time when Nintendo was developing the Gamecube, that Apple should license Nintendo's technology. I was hoping Apple would simply start releasing Macs that could play Nintendo games natively via an embedded chipset of some sort. Heck, Panasonic did exactly this with their DVD players. This would give the Macintosh an instant library of fantastic games, and would do nothing to divert Nintendo's focus from games.
Sure, I get that (and I agree - odds are high they really don't want to). But they may not have a choice in certain circumstances.
What? They always have a choice. They own those shares, and Yamauchi is currently the majority shareholder. I think it's entirely likely that Nintendo + Yamauchi + others who would never sell have a controlling interest (that is, greater than half) in Nintendo.
There are no circumstances for publicly traded companies (short of... like, murder or something) that you can just abscond with someone's shares. They own them.
Completely. Preposterous.
will the merger rename the Wii console to:
Mac Wii, iWii, WiiWii, Wii Mac, Apple Wii, Mario Mac, Mac Mario, Pokemac, Macemon, Donkey Mac, Mac Kong?
Will the name of the new company be:
Mactendo, Appletendo, NinApple, NinMac, NinTunes, iNintendo, WiiApple, Nintendtosh, Wiisoft, Wiihard?
Will that make Nintendo games playable on Macintosh systems?
Will that allow OSX to run on the Wii?
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
The main difference between HBC and Nintendo, though, is that Nintendo's a family business - which I also said. This would be more like Wal-Mart being bought out, although even less so, as Nintendo's still very much a family business, with Yamauchi still the majority shareholder (and he only stepped down off the board of executives when he thought the company was in good hands), and Wal-Mart's only in its second generation, whereas Hiroshi Yamauchi was fourth generation. Selling out your dad's business is one thing - selling out your great-grandfather's (and grandfather's) is quite another.
The amount of nepotism in Nintendo is fairly insane: Nintendo of America was originally headed by Yamauchi's son-in-law, and in fact, before Yamauchi's grandfather stepped down, Hiroshi had him fire a bunch of relatives so his authority wouldn't be questioned. Nintendo's more like a clan than it is a corporation. You don't take it over with money. You take it over with skill (Gunpei Yokoi) and with family ties (Yamauchi, Miyamoto).
Besides, the HBC buyout wasn't really a corporate buyout. More like a "forced internal reorganization". HBC is still a corporation all by itself, and I doubt that the HBC board would've agreed to the stock buy if Zucker had planned to merge the business with something else.
There's no place I can be, since I found Serenity.
When M. Spindler was running the roost at Apple in the early 90s, he was asked what computer company he was most intimidated by. His response was Nintendo.
I'd put the whole thing into the Apple buys Disney column if it weren't for the consumer electronics direction Apple has been in the for the last 5 years or so.
Nintendo is over 100 years old, no way would they allow themselves to be bought out by an American company.
First off.. I said "may not have a choice" not "do not have a choice". I don't follow Nintendo's business so I have no idea how the stock is divided, but I'm guessing you are probably right in that the major family who started it still controls majority interest.
What I was referring to was a hostile takeover. This barely happens in Japan because of the keiretsu. So, yes, there are circumstances short of murder.... these circumstances likely don't apply here.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
Oh, you thought I meant "[they] wouldn't want to sell (the company)." I meant "[they] wouldn't want to sell (their shares)."
Sure a hostile takeover can take away a family corporation, but not if the family's maintained a majority of the shares.
For iWii
It was written and published by the British.
When have the British ever had enough scruples to let baseless rumors go untold, no matter how ridiculous or sensational? Not to mention the grandiose, hyperbolic, foolish statements of their leaders, the saber-rattling of their impotent international representatives, etc. They lack tact because they still believe themselves to be primarily relevant on the international stage, and they can't let go of past glory.
Back on-topic, every British gaming publication oversestimates the ramifications of sales and market performance in their country (often using themselves as an indicator of larger European success, which is ridiculous considering their overall disconnect from the rest of Europe). Ignorant doom and gloom about Nintendo, high praise for Sony, and optimistic question marks hanging over people's heads about Microsoft are standard article fodder for all British publications that fail to understand their real place in the industry machine. This is one of many reasons why Edge is no substitute for the late Next Generation....as good as they are at providing widespread news coverage and insider information from Western developers, etc., their skewed world view, especially about Japan's ACTUAL CONTINUING DOMINANCE AND SIGNIFICANCE, is not representative of the truth as often as not.
I'm no Nintendo fanboy, but they are a good yardstick for judging a news outlet's accuracy (just like Apple). As long as the British continue to perpetuate unfounded yet popular myths about Nintendo's (or, to a lesser extent in the U.K., Apple's) inability to effect their own successes by will of their own power, I will not trust anything written by the British. Their whole nation needs to step back and open their eyes at the world and their real place in it.
I jsut said this a few days ago... http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=187676&c id=15484714
Apple is rumored to be in talks to buy my balls.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
This is quite an old rumor, in fact before E3.
The response from Nintendo was something akin to them not even having heard the rumors, yet alone ruining their company by having anything to do with Apple.
Besides, Apple would need to practicly sell itself out of it's other markets to afford Nintendo.
I'll tell you what's really going on: Apple buying Nintendo? A ruse. Merely an excuse to finally drop the pretense that they were ever seperate companies. Apple is Nintendo. If you hadn't noticed, the Wii (iWii?) controller is actually just an iPod shuffle. And Steve Jobs? Satoru Iwata wearing a mask and a black turtleneck.
You live and learn. At least, you live.
I'm still waiting for my pony!
Ah, my bad. Cheers.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
Cisco was rumored to be looking at a purchase of Nintendo earlier in the year, so the idea of Nintendo being bought is not outlandish in itself.
So the fact that there was a similar, entirely unfounded, story earlier this year makes this new story not outlandish???????
If I make a claim similar to anything Dvorak already predicted, does that make it more sound?
Sony took too long to enter the market. Had they been reasonable from the beginning, Apple wouldn't have been able to gain such a big market share over here (note that I'm not comparing relative qualities of products here).
Apple cannot afford to have 2 failures in this important measuring of gaming prowess.
Apple would once and for all, immediately alienate half the US map with this merger.
Even though unlikely....it would be kewl to play mario on my ipod ^_^
Every other system plays music. I'd be more than happy to hook my iPod up to a Wii if ITMS somehow appears on the system. IIRC it's got a couple USB 2.0 ports and Nintendo said that we'll be able to put most proprietary media on it. Inlcuding external HDD's. I never purchased an external HDD before, but it seems like a good idea seeing as the Wii will come stock with 512MB of internal (expandable).
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
Fair point there Fanboy - it's the most risky piece of their overall brand, certainly. But, even there they've done a good job marketing to a professional crowd, and fitting it into the Creative Professional half of their branding. Nintendo just doesn't sell to that crowd; they sell to the parent buying for their kids. Apple sells to the parent buying for themselves.