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Nintendo DS Sales Driving Games Industry Growth
VonSnouty writes "After watching Sony and to a lesser extent Microsoft stealing market share over the past few years, the DS is seeing Nintendo producing its most bullish numbers for years. Indeed, it's just used the latest NPD figures to claim that the Nintendo DS is largely responsible for US games industry growth in 2006 so far. From the article: 'Up until the end of September, the U.S. industry overall shows revenue growth of 11 per cent when compared with the same period in 2005. Nearly all of the growth comes from the portable DS — without it, the industry would report a mere 1.6 per cent growth over the past nine months.'"
Nintendo is finally doing what everyone has been trying to do for a really long time now. And that is tap into the 'casual market'. Just last night, I saw a DS commercial of a mom hanging out in the minivan waiting for her kids to get out of class and she was play a DS. And it was a game that looked similar to Brain Age. Just a small little game that people will pick up and play with for alittle bit and then drop it until they are bored again.
The hardcore market is a static market for the most part. Of course it will grow, but when you tap into a new market, the growth is a lot more noticable.
Xbox management team: you are fired. Seriously. Just got your next-gen ass handed to you by an cheap white handheld with two buttons. Because its more fun.
You are sentenced to go play Katamari Damacy and Brain Age for two years.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
The PS2 was a relatively cheap DVD player once upon a time and that certainly encouraged some people to invest in one.
the more they over-think the plumbing the easier it is to stop up the pipe
Even people that don't know anything about video games know what "Nintendo" means, and to many people "Nintendo" means 'video games in general.' Mothers and fathers always bought their kid the new "Nintendo thing they wanted." Their kid kept wanting the new machines, so they had to be somewhat fun. Now Nintendo is targetting that person that wants a little distraction and relief during their busy day; not a complicated fighting game or a long-winded RPG, but a simple (And somewhat meaty) distraction. And it's working. My mom came home early from work because she felt a little sick, she's up in bed. When I came home, what did she have next to her? Her DS. That sounds like what I did when I was sick, I'd play games. That's cool.
Well if Nintendo keeps releasing games like club hosue games. This game will get anybody to want a ds. It ahs 42 games lieks solitaire,dominoes,poker,chess. They will continue to get the big sales if they keep making games like this :)
Okay, Stupid Question Warning:
Where is the best place to buy DS games? I feel like an idiot at EB because the section is so small and there is always a kid there I feel like I am tripping over. Online, I don't feel like Amazon's store style works well. I wish it were organized like the iTunes music store. Also, why do Nintendo's portable games seem to go out of print? The NES Classics series is a great example. Only the dreggs are left on store shelves. Also, lots of great GBA games are gone from the shelves and they are just finally releasing SOME games as Players Choice for this platform.
Windows Mobile, a Microsoft handheld platform, had touch screen games before Nintendo first sold the DS.
Though I don't like the part where they say "Making personal backups of these games is illegal, even if you don't distribute them. There is no need to make personal backups."
I think they include that in all their product. I remember reading that on my Gamecube manual and thinking "WTF!? The gall of them..." The wording could have been a little more diplomatic.
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...it's a cheap white handheld with not two, but SIX buttons (not including the start and select buttons). But I'm just being anal retentive. :)
Anyway, I wouldn't say that Nintendo is dominating the Xbox using the DS, since they're two dramatically different systems, appealing to dramatically different markets, to play dramatically different games. The innovation of the DS helps a lot as well, since the 360 is just a bunch of the same stuff we've already seen for a number of years, only shinier.
It'll be interesting to see how the Wii stacks up to this thing in the coming months, when considering those same reasons: the Wii and 360 will be like apples and oranges.
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It's refreshing to see that the market is gradually starting to lean more toward innovation rather than raw graphics power. The PSP is a really nifty-looking little system, but its games are predominantly all the same stuff we've already seen, just handheld. The Xbox 360 can put out some impressive graphical effects, but all they do is make all the same games we've already played more shiny.
The DS is admittedly very underpowered when benchmarked next to the PSP, but it would be like comparing apples and oranges (as Nintendo intended). They're going for innovation, originality, and fresh approaches to an otherwise stagnant market. The Wii will be very much the same way; not as graphically impressive as the PS3 or 360, but definitely the most unique and possibly most desireable.
I know a number of people who, five years ago, would have said "f*ck Nintendo, I'm getting an Xbox" because the Xbox could put out so much more raw power, and was less prone to suffering from censorship. These people, now, are realizing that graphics are starting to reach a point where they really don't make that much of a difference, and nudity/blood/violence/profanity aren't really what make games great. They are expressing an interest in the Wii because it just looks like the most fun top play, as a major departure from all the same old gameplay we've already seen.
In the end, what all of this comes down to is that superior graphics or more adult themes don't make games great. Being enjoyable, memorable, and somehow unique are what separate the great from the bland. And in the case of the Wii and DS, there are and will be a lot of potential with the bold new directions they're facing.
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She didn't like Gridmaster, either, while I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's probably due to her farsightedness - the puzzles in the books are much larger than is possible on the DS.
I agree with you about not liking clauses, but for what it's worth, a friend of mine got a couple of Gamecube discs that his kids had mangled (and one he'd lost) replaced by NoA (he had previously registered them on their website). If they're gonna be really good about replcing discs no questions asked, I don't really mind clauses like that quite as much.