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Nintendo Could Base Comeback On Improving Peoples' Health
Nerval's Lobster writes: "It's no secret that Nintendo faces significant challenges: revenues are down, rival platforms such as Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4 are attracting a lot of buzz, and iOS and Android have made significant inroads into mobile gaming. Rather than double down on its core business, however, Nintendo reportedly sees its salvation in new, nongaming segments such as... monitoring your health? 'We have now redefined entertainment to mean making it fun for people to improve the quality of their lives,' Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata told a company strategy meeting, according to The Wall Street Journal. But he refused to part with more detail about Nintendo's plans, except to claim that whatever's in the works isn't a wearable device along the lines of Nike's FuelBand or the FitBit, and it isn't an iteration of the Wii Balance Board, an accessory that measures the user's weight and center of balance while playing games."
Juuuust before they went out of business.
It urges you to go out for a walk and then turns itself off.
Nintendo released Wii Fit about five years ago, Walk With Me for the DS about four years ago, the 3DS with a step counter three years ago, were discussing a Wii pulse reader until two years ago, and just last year released a new version of Wii Fit that incorporates an upgraded version of Walk With Me.
I know that's a bit much to go over but you've been so spectacularly counterfactual that I have to wonder if you just hid away from gaming entirely for the last half decade to have drawn the conclusion that it was "the latest bandwagon" for the company.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Exit the console market and focus on its strength, handhelds. Milk Mario, Zelda, and Pokémon for all they are worth, and people will buy the handhelds for the games. Assuming they make a profit on hardware they are golden. And for the love of God, don't listen to the morons telling them to port their games to iPhones or Android
Tells you to get your fat ass off the couch.
Nintendo's management seems incapable of admitting that their current situation is the direct result of them seeing if they can make a human ouroboros by shoving their heads so far up their asses they're nibbling on their stomach lining. Their hardware is woefully underpowered, they are not embracing small developers even remotely as well as their competition and no one wants to admit the obvious. They didn't have to release the Wii U when they did. They could easily have afforded to release a new console around last Christmas with similar specs to the XBone PS4. They could have even released one that was a bit weaker, but broke even and gotten third party support by waving most of the licensing costs for the first two years for anyone willing to make a game for their system. Heck they could have create a Nintendo quality Ouya-like system and turned the console market on its head.
But Nintendo did what Nintendo does. They pretended that their brand is still so strong that they can do what they've always done and ignore the fact that Microsoft opened half of the seals of the video game apocalypse by creating the XBox which is a steady progression from gaming toy to a powerful, dedicated and cheap entertainment PC that is open to developers. The fact that Super Mario World 3D sold so poorly when it came out should have been an indicator to Nintendo that they need to clean house and hire people who seem to actually understand what is going on in the market today. This isn't 1992. Nintendo faces real competition with much stronger backing than Sega ever could have brought to bear.
Obviously they've had fitness stuff out. The wii was pretty much based on it so this is basically saying hey that worked lets do it again. But with the new bandwagon of smartwatches, app intergration and all those latest buzzy things. Thanks anyway though.
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Lie about what you eat to unlock achievements.
It's flat lining.
It's like you're accusing a tomato company of jumping on the ketchup bandwagon. They were going to be releasing ketchup this year anyway!
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Yeah right. The xbox... the console that still can't beat Sony.
Nintendo made a very simple mistake with the Wii U and it had nothing to do with hardware or names or marketing.
THEY FORGOT TO MAKE GAMES FOR IT.
The same thing happened with the 3DS and Sony did the same with the Vita. Consoles don't sell themselves, games sell consoles pure and simple.
I will ONLY consider buying a console if there is a game(s) that is worth it. Fire Emblem Awakening made me buy a 3DS, Last Story a Wii. THEN when I made the purchase, I am more likely to buy other games "Attack of Friday Monsters" but I am hardly going to buy a console in the hope that their one day might be a game I can use it for.
Nintendo realized it with the 3DS and hustled ass to get some decent games out AND a decent variet. Go to metacritic's top 25 for each platform and count NOT how many good games there are that YOU like but how many there are that someone you know might like. Fantastic for FPS lovers if a consoles top 25 games are FPS BUT it means everyone who isn't crazy about them, isn't going to touch the console.
Even for Nintendo, it ain't enough to just have a mario and zelda title to sell, that just sells to its core audience. It ALSO needs to sell to FPS fan, the strategy fan, the story RPG fan etc etc. Nintendo and for that matter the rest keep forgetting it. Microsoft forgot the jrpg market with the original xbox and payed with by not selling at all in Japan. The Vita has its fans but if you check the top games, variety is NOT its strong suit.
You wouldn't make a VCR that can only play SciFi movies would you?
Quality games and a nice variety of them. That is all Nintendo needs. Can they do it? Don't know.
Only if they've had a few tomato based condoments out in the past now they plan to base their future on a ketchup with their twist on it, yeah.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
And I'm sure you think Obama is a Kenyan Muslim and 9/11 was an inside job etc etc. Dumb ass
Wii Fit was one of the biggest successes of the original Wii. There were literally lines. So I don't see that it's so unusual that Nintendo think it'll be one of (emphasis: one of) their future product growth areas.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Obama is a Botswanan Methodist, dumb ass.
we've learned nothing at all yet? http://rt.com/news/monkeys-customized-mutation-study-435/
Keyword; was. It was part of a fad and a novel way to use the tech in the living room. Sure, loads and loads of people bought it, some of them probably still use it but I wonder how many they sell now. It's not hard to pick up a second hand one for dirt cheap because once people used it a few times they got bored of them. If they do go for it good luck to them, but imho focusing on being a fitness technology company or whatever isn't going to save them and if it does it will be a way that is no longer relevant in gaming.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
They need to take on Nike Fuel, maybe a quadriped version with a VMU style interface that plays classic gameboy games.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G...
When I here the Wii balance board mentioned, that is what I think of.
Nintendo seems intent on being dragged kicking and screaming into the modern gaming age. They don't seem to put out any hardware that doesn't produce huge margins (which is why their consoles always seem to trail in technical performance). It feels like the Sega story, Nintendo needs to make sure they don't put out a Dreamcast at the wrong time (and I say this as a Dreamcast lover, still have mine in my office.) I think there's space for three console manufacturers in the market, but at this point they're pretty going to need to put out somewhat comparable products. Putting out another low-powered Wii that people flocked to, played for two weeks, and then let collect dust? Yeah, that's not going to work this time.
They need to make it more sciencey otherwise no one will believe Dr Sonic :)
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
Nintendo's problem is and always has been they put the bare minimum spec hardware in their devices, make a big fanfare of some gimmick, charge an arm and a leg for it and hope they can coast far enough for the next gimmick to show up. It even works on occasion such as with the Wii. The problem is it didn't this time around. Perhaps people are suffering from gimmick fatigure or once bitten twice shy. Just as bad for them is their appalling relationship with 3rd party publishers. Goodwill and faith is non-existent. The Wii's market share dwarfed the other consoles but it didn't translate to game sales (except for Nintendo). There were repeated stories of high quality, lauded titles simply not selling even when they did on other consoles. So 3rd parties just aimed lower and churned out shovelware. For the Wii U, there was at least platform parity so theoretically costs could be shared with the 360 and PS3, but parity is fast disappearing as the XB1/PS4 take over. And hardware sales have been so dire that even with parity it's not worth the effort of porting. Hence we see one publisher after another shelve plans for the platform. The only way I see Nintendo reinvigorating the Wii U is if they slash the price and also target markets like China where they might make some in roads. Meanwhile they need to cosy up to the 3rd parties and stop treating them like shit. Otherwise their outlook is pretty clear - they'll end up like SEGA with no hardware at all and will have to produce games on any platform. This might not be a bad thing either.
Playing online accompanied with drug addicts are very dangerous for your kids. Not only predators are around. Having a system that monitors the healthy of the players could effectively create a safer environment not only for the player itself, but to help others players to avoid certain types of personality. It's easy to detect what is going on in the mind of a drug addict looking into it's eyes, or watching it's anger behavior in certain hours of the day caused by abstinence. But it's hard because some addicts can use drugs everyday and some eventually. Thus, the behavior change all the time, what could be useful for healthy players notice some of the lack of skills. I am in favor of a video-game connected into my blood. Maybe it could help to improve my life too, like keeping my kidney clean. :)
Why not stop pissing your existing customers by removing features from Wii? Does Nintendo really think, that people will buy their next console when they are forced to stop using their existing ones? Backward compatibility with Gamecube is also a must for many of us who like to play Donkey Konga at parties.
and profitable. Nintendo making things like VR based fitness arcade centers or interactive rehabilitation training methods using all their gaming hardware and software expertise is not a difficult thing to imagine. Let alone education. There is so much they could do without being the cheesy shit that are most edutertainment games. If they are willing to take risks and develop their own medical devices they could, but they could also partner with Japanese medical equipment start-ups(or even sony, as they also make medical equipment).
But ignoring the core problems, in particular with the home console divisions, is far from ideal. If want to ignore their home console problems, might as well go third party.
One thing that bothers me is that, while the WiiU is not selling well, the 3DS is selling like crazy, including hardware and software. The only reason I can see them not making good money are internal management/administrative problems. Another is thing is that you don't need to have the absolute majority of the market to be profitable. They know that first hand from the N64 and Gamecube eras. Seeing all this negativity and lack of confidence coming from inside the company would be really bad if I were a shareholder. I'm much more bothered by this than the bad revenues.
Business analysts are to economy what the feet people are to camwhoring sites.
Sorry Nintendo, that's a miss.
When the Wii came out, people who were not typical gamers embraced it because they saw it was a way to have fun and stay active. However, the novelty wore off and most of the people who bought them at that point have not done much with them since. I don't see another round of trying to tap into the same market as going anywhere at all for them, this time around.
Indeed, speculation on Japanese forums is that this is just the addition of some pads that measure body fat to the balance board. Most bathroom scales in Japan already have them so it was actually kind of odd that the balance board could measure weight but not body fat when it came out. It's just a logical evolution following a fell trodden path.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
See today's Kotaku article: http://kotaku.com/nintendo-confirms-it-will-make-stuff-and-maybe-games-1512052047?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Facebook&utm_source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow
The Wii Balance Board was one of their top sellers, so the health angle makes sense. It's not like they would lack a market for that.
See, the problem with this is that we know the mario and zelda games are largely worth it - worth "lapping it up."
So shut the hell up, you damn fanboy. All that CoD and GTA isn't good for your brain, you know.
Nintendo needs some fresh blood in the upper ranks of management. These guys are still trying to wring more money out of 20-30 year old stories, characters, and technology. The Pokemon-Mario crowd has outgrown Nintendo, and those that are left are insufficient to support an entire gaming platform. I think they're incredibly myopic at this point. It's time to dump the whole Japan-themed everything if they want to continue to be able to sell to the world.
I don't respond to AC's.
... since the N64 era. The won the lottery with the Wii but the Wii was a one shot deal selling to non-gamers and the Wii U proved that by it's hard failing. Nintendo since the N64 era has been making stupid decisions regarding it's hardware which allowed other companies to come in and take their market share.
Nintendo needs to buy Withings and similar startups then.
Indeed, speculation on Japanese forums is that this is just the addition of some pads that measure body fat to the balance board. Most bathroom scales in Japan already have them so it was actually kind of odd that the balance board could measure weight but not body fat when it came out. It's just a logical evolution following a fell trodden path.
Bioelectrical impedance isn't a reliable enough measure of body fat for home use really (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioelectrical_impedance_analysis) - and if your bathroom scales do it just as well (or badly) it wouldn't add much to the Wii fit for the cost and hassle of adding it. I'd guess it only measures weight because it has the sensors to measure center of gravity.
Nothing has given me a better work out then running on that old NES track matt and the one I own is still function. The best part is, when you get tired or can't run fast enough you get on your knees and start smacking the pad with your hands for that extra boost. It's been 20 years now but I'm sure I'll finally beat cheetah this time!
So is it a bandwagon or a past fad?
Jesus saves and takes half damage.
Sure, throw into the garbage the profitable console from Nintendo. Genius! It's evident you're not aware the struggling console from Nintendo is the Wii U. The portable 3DS is chugging alone more than fine.
http://www.mariowiki.com/Dr._Mario_%28game%29
I seem to recall a few friends of mine that purchased Wii Fit and that balance board. The balance board was used the day they unwrapped it and now while the wii fit sits in the closet the balance board continues to sit under the TV where it has sat since the day it was unwrapped.
So now Nintendo's strategy is to push Wii Fit again? Is their market the elderly in retirement homes?
Well.. i guess their next move is to release yet another version of Mario...
They were clearly arguing it was a past fad, I'm not sure why you asked.
I had to look that up to see what it actually meant. One of those phrase ones hears but does not really take seriously.
(idiomatic, gambling) To double one's wager. [quotations ]
(idiomatic, by extension) To double or significantly increase a risk, investment, or other commitment. [quotations ]
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/double_down
I'd like to see them incorporate diet management into Wii Fit.
Like scan the barcodes of everything you eat when you buy it and have it figure out the calories consumed by those products. thereby figuring out how much exercise to burn it off.
Downvoted?! Not only are they lacking in Fiber, apparently they're also lacking in Humour.
i for one think nintendo is doing fine and once it's first party titles are out will turn around their wii u sales.
all this talk of making games for mobile would really hurt nintendo in the long run.
nonetheless, nintendo would be an interesting value acquisition by apple.
they could release nintendo exclusives into iOS.
shit, apple could even just sign an exclusivity contract with nintendo and hand them $5B to only release their games on iOS (in addition to their own hardware) for the next 5 yrs.
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
Why not just release a new :
- Punch Out
- Metroid
- Zelda
- Megaman
- Mario cart ?
I won't buy a WiiU without more than 1 of theses titles, and I'm SURE I'm not the only one!
I won't buy a console with only a few titles on it! (Same applies to XBoxOne & Ps4)
I'd like to see them incorporate diet management into Wii Fit.
Like scan the barcodes of everything you eat when you buy it and have it figure out the calories consumed by those products. thereby figuring out how much exercise to burn it off.
Because walking all my food over to my WiiU is so much easier than just pulling out my phone and using MyFitnessPal...?
Yes, the Balance Board was a top seller. Also, guitar controllers were a top seller for all consoles just before that. Notice how nobody is trying to make music games any more? That fad died years ago, there's no market for it any more. I think the same is true for health/fitness games. Nintendo is going back to a well they dried up some time ago. The people who bought Wii Fit and used it for six months aren't likely to get back on the wagon just because there's a new version with better graphics.
I can only see this failing and failing hard.
Nintendo is not in the Medical Devices Industry, they're in the Gaming Industry. They're trying to carve a niche out of another GIANT industry (Medicine in general) and I only see them going effectively nowhere with this. :(. Very disappointing news.
It's no coincidence that Wii Fit was successful because it appealed widely to people who are not young children.
Nintendo seems to have positioned themselves somewhere between LeapPads and the other gaming systems - a platform for kid-safe, ultra-casual gaming.
The latest console was a flop. They've been behind the curve on hardware since two (three?) console generations ago. They have no real properties that they haven't had since the 1990s.
It's hard to think of why you'd be interested in Nintendo if you were > age 10, unless you are interested in Mario or Pokemon
Makes me think of this: http://xkcd.com/189/
But monitored by some wearable computer(s), I don't know how good current technology would have for accurately sensing and represnting various body types (plenty of critism of BMI for example) but I could see how turning excercise into a sort of game could have a future. If they can, more power to them, obesity has sadly become a significant problem and excercise is a necessary tactic for reducing it.
Because the earlier argument was that Nintendo was a bunch of bandwagon jumpers that are just getting into fitness.
Jesus saves and takes half damage.
I think Nintendo as a company is inherently uncomfortable with competition. To me, they've always been like a creative but sensitive artist -- maybe a slightly condescending one (Spaceworld? WTF), which just so happens to be in the same industry as big business entities like Sony and Microsoft. When things get competitive and rough -- and this dates all the way back to Sega and the Genesis, they first try to ignore the situation, then eventually sidestep and just avoid the problem altogether. Fortunately for them, this has worked until now, due to their awesome first party franchises. As a console gamer, I've always bought other consoles (Playstation, Dreamcast, XBox, etc) but kept an eye open, eagerly waiting for their next Zelda, Mario, Metroid, etc. When they took their beatings during the N64 and Gamecube eras, it was a real love/hate thing. I loved some of their games, but I just wished that their management would just man the hell up and compete. I mean really, how about just make a powerful console, make mature games, make real partnerships with 3rd parties and encourage 3rd party games. But alas, they just avoid, sidestep and walk their own way. I remember reading articles back then which said that while Nintendo as a brand may not seem like they were "winning" but when you looked at the money they made, they were totally kicking everyones ass due to their first party games, and also maybe partially from not selling hardware at a loss like everyone else. Unfortunately this means less punishment for management when they make their weird decisions. In the past, their management has always made wacky decisions. Look at the DS -- who initially thought the 2 screen "idea" was actually smart?? I still don't -- but they had some good games on there so I bought one. If they would have just made a more powerful gameboy, it would probably have been just as successful as long as they had good games. It's really just their software which saves them. The problem now is that Wii actually sold well, so their management took encouragement, congratulated themselves, reinforcing their own wacky decisions, and then next thing you know, even more wackier wackiness. Imagine what their developers have to go through -- Management: "good job making the last game, now for the next one you have to integrate this crazy motion controller/touchscreen thing which we designed in a committee over the weekend, okthxbye!" Dev: "...?!" If the Wii would have gotten slapped down in the market, maybe they'd have a somewhat more traditional console this generation and they wouldn't be in this mess. Hopefully now that they are getting slapped down, they get some negative reinforcement, learn their lesson a bit, and come back next gen, or go the software only route. I hope so anyway, the gaming space really wouldn't be the same without the big N.
And thus, i kan reed demonstrates that they cannot, in fact, read. :P
Hid away from gaming? No, I just don't game on shitty platforms, like Nintendo.