"When they go into the store the choice is between 'Made Up Name' 360, 'Made Up Name' 3, and 'Made Up Name'. At least the Playstation gives some indication of what it might do."
"I want a PlayStation."
"Do you want a PlayStation 1, a PlayStation 2, or a PlayStation 3?"
"I don't know, I just want a PlayStation."
"I think picking a real word would have worked much better for them."
Vacation. They have the time and the money to cross oceans on their vacations, while most of us can't afford to cross an ocean to vacation in the 50th State.
"Why do they all buy American products over their own?"
We have "products?" You seem to be confusing the US with China.
"I'm guessing that your parents didn't buy the computer in order to play the card games"
Actually... they haven't gone through with it yet, but my mother is threatening to get her own laptop solely for Spider. They didn't want me to upgrade their Windows Me desktop to 2000 because 2000 didn't have Spider; Spider was the reason why they waited until XP.
The computers are used for email, yes, but that's maybe only 10% of the time they're on it, with the other 90% being Spider.
"Do you think that unless you owned the Game Boy they would have ever purchased one?"
If they were introduced to Tetris some other way (quite plausible, considering the free time my father has in his line of work), then yes.
"And I didn't state that people over 25 don't change. They generally stick with the hobbies they have."
It can be done in a similar way to using a GBA as a controller on your Game Boy Player. We already know the Wii will have wireless capabilities, so you rig a hypothetical DS Player to transmit what the DS would interpret as a "single-card download play" and you use your DS as the controller.
That, or you use the Wii remote as the stylus, pointing it at the screen in the place where you'd want the stylus to be.
"After the age of 25 or so, people generally get their hobbies set."
My parents are currently Spider Solitaire addicts. I don't think they played it before their 50's. I personally don't like the game, but even if I did, I don't live with them any more and wasn't the one that introduced it to them.
The last time they were hooked on a non-PC video game was Tetris for "my" Game Boy, in their 40's (which is around the same age they took up scuba diving for the first time, currently their favorite hobby). I didn't really introduce them to Tetris and I certainly grew tired of it before they did.
If Nintendo makes a console that is simple, intuitive and approachable enough, the "old" people will buy it.
(Really, the comment of "people over the age of 25 don't change" makes me wonder how old you are.)
Then the question becomes "Why are they going into the store to begin with?" If they're going to be buying something for their kids/spouse/whatever, then perhaps they'll simply look at name/price, but what Nintendo wants is for peoples' parents/girlfriends to go into video game stores and buy something for themselves, and odds are they won't do that until they see it in action and see for themselves how fun (and easy) playing games is.
And for those shoppers, a nice, short, monosyllabic and still unambiguous name will help with the shopping experience. Having to remember generation numbers can make asking a store employee for a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 as complicated as trying to ask for a custom-built PC for those kinds of shoppers.
"why not just dust of the old snes or nes in your closet and play them now?"
My shelf space and TV inputs are overtaxed as it is without digging old consoles and the cartridges to play them with out of storage. Besides, that'd add more wear and tear on my Preciouss.
For the old games that I don't already own (Crystalis comes to mind), I don't feel like dealing with eBay sellers and eBay prices.
It looks just like the insanity they're trying to push with the PSP: a small camera pointed at the handheld's screen. Yes, there are DS games I'd be interested in seeing on a television, but this is not the way I would do it.
"Is there a market out there full of people who want to use their portable devices in the least portable way possible?"
If the DS's (or GBA's) main selling point to you is "portable," then no. If it's "good games," however, then yes, there is always a market to play those good games on a television.
"Good games" is why I have a GBA Player attatched to my GameCube, and why I'm worried about not seeing a GBA slot on the Wii.
Oh, I fully accept the kiddy aspects of my Magical Purple Lunchbox of Joy (aka GameCube). Real adults actually like being kids again. The denial aspect is instead for the competition, which is actually marketed to teenagers, i. e. mental juveniles that are trying hard to look more "mature" and "adult."
If you're buying video games to support your personal image, aside from being a lost cause, it suggests you're not all that interested in games to begin with.
Why would you? When was the last time Nintendo bought large sums of dollars? More importantly, how does this affect Nintendo more than Sony, another company traded in yen?
Yeah, except I don't give a flying fuck about pirating games or running Linux on my freakin' video game console, I'd just like to see console games that require a hard drive (*cough* FFXI *cough*) come over to the Wii.
And, no, hackability does not sell consoles. Ever. If anything, hackability is what killed the Dreamcast.
Seriously though, if your buy/don't buy decision revolves around the name of the console (as opposed to the games, or even just shiney specs), then you're not the target audience. You don't broaden the game-buying audience by being all 1337, you instead make it approachable by people who are currently put off by exactly that kind of attitude.
If they were trying to be badass and edgy, they'd probably call it "Xbox" or something.
Why are you looking for validation of your masculinity in your video game purchases to begin with?
"The Playstation brand has been keeping Sony afloat for a few years now."
Huh? I think you got that backwards. Sony makes money from CDs and movies and maybe some other home electronics, SCEA has historically been a bottomless pit Sony shovels money into, much like the Xbox for Microsoft.
"This was causing by the extra investments and the USD taking a dive in value."
And the value of the United States Dollar affects a corporation traded in Japanese Yen in what way?
"Microsoft while a rich company does not have limitless funding."
Yeah, except that Europeans tend to be more productive per hour than Americans. Our only saving grace keeping us ahead in the per-year game is the number of hours we put in, but it's been suggested that the lengthy hours are actually hurting our per-hour productivity.
Nah, this would be like Enterprise covering the whole, I dunno... Earth-Romulus War maybe? I doubt they'll pull time-travelling crap in the pilot episode and instad get to the juicy bits of the backstory that people want to hear about.
"because that is what enterprise customers have requested,"
Enterprise customers as in "large organizations who want to manage their own software and security policies," or "large organizations that want to install backdoor apps on their customers' PCs without their knowledge?" Do these "enterprise cusomters" include Claria and Sony?
Before you mod me troll, consider: why isn't Microsoft simply releasing an "enterprise" version with the deactivated firewall while maintaining full security settings on the "retail" version? If they can sell multiple copies of XP that may or may not seek activation depending on the customer, they can do this.
Slashdot Mirror
"So you're expecting children who - let's face it, are the primary market for Nintendo"
Do you have numbers to back up this assertion of yours?
"Who do you think Nintendo is making games for anyway? A diminishing core of die-hard "Nintendo 4 Life" players such as you?"
Whoever the games are made for, they're buying it enough to keep Nintendo comfortably in the black.
"When they go into the store the choice is between 'Made Up Name' 360, 'Made Up Name' 3, and 'Made Up Name'. At least the Playstation gives some indication of what it might do."
"I want a PlayStation."
"Do you want a PlayStation 1, a PlayStation 2, or a PlayStation 3?"
"I don't know, I just want a PlayStation."
"I think picking a real word would have worked much better for them."
Like "iPod?"
"Then why do they all come here?"
Vacation. They have the time and the money to cross oceans on their vacations, while most of us can't afford to cross an ocean to vacation in the 50th State.
"Why do they all buy American products over their own?"
We have "products?" You seem to be confusing the US with China.
"Why are their products not as good?"
They have "products?"
"I'm guessing that your parents didn't buy the computer in order to play the card games"
Actually... they haven't gone through with it yet, but my mother is threatening to get her own laptop solely for Spider. They didn't want me to upgrade their Windows Me desktop to 2000 because 2000 didn't have Spider; Spider was the reason why they waited until XP.
The computers are used for email, yes, but that's maybe only 10% of the time they're on it, with the other 90% being Spider.
"Do you think that unless you owned the Game Boy they would have ever purchased one?"
If they were introduced to Tetris some other way (quite plausible, considering the free time my father has in his line of work), then yes.
"And I didn't state that people over 25 don't change. They generally stick with the hobbies they have."
So only 99.999% of them don't change?
It can be done in a similar way to using a GBA as a controller on your Game Boy Player. We already know the Wii will have wireless capabilities, so you rig a hypothetical DS Player to transmit what the DS would interpret as a "single-card download play" and you use your DS as the controller.
That, or you use the Wii remote as the stylus, pointing it at the screen in the place where you'd want the stylus to be.
"After the age of 25 or so, people generally get their hobbies set."
My parents are currently Spider Solitaire addicts. I don't think they played it before their 50's. I personally don't like the game, but even if I did, I don't live with them any more and wasn't the one that introduced it to them.
The last time they were hooked on a non-PC video game was Tetris for "my" Game Boy, in their 40's (which is around the same age they took up scuba diving for the first time, currently their favorite hobby). I didn't really introduce them to Tetris and I certainly grew tired of it before they did.
If Nintendo makes a console that is simple, intuitive and approachable enough, the "old" people will buy it.
(Really, the comment of "people over the age of 25 don't change" makes me wonder how old you are.)
"If someone who's never bought a system before"
Then the question becomes "Why are they going into the store to begin with?" If they're going to be buying something for their kids/spouse/whatever, then perhaps they'll simply look at name/price, but what Nintendo wants is for peoples' parents/girlfriends to go into video game stores and buy something for themselves, and odds are they won't do that until they see it in action and see for themselves how fun (and easy) playing games is.
And for those shoppers, a nice, short, monosyllabic and still unambiguous name will help with the shopping experience. Having to remember generation numbers can make asking a store employee for a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 as complicated as trying to ask for a custom-built PC for those kinds of shoppers.
"Dear Lord, Nintendo"
You repeat yourself.
"but hinders it as you look back and forth between your handheld and the television?"
Never played Zelda: Four Swords Adventure or Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles?
It looks just like the insanity they're trying to push with the PSP: a small camera pointed at the handheld's screen. Yes, there are DS games I'd be interested in seeing on a television, but this is not the way I would do it.
"Is there a market out there full of people who want to use their portable devices in the least portable way possible?"
If the DS's (or GBA's) main selling point to you is "portable," then no. If it's "good games," however, then yes, there is always a market to play those good games on a television.
"Good games" is why I have a GBA Player attatched to my GameCube, and why I'm worried about not seeing a GBA slot on the Wii.
"The more popular a console is with the masses, the more games get developed."
I don't know about you, but personally I don't want more games, I want better games.
Oh, I fully accept the kiddy aspects of my Magical Purple Lunchbox of Joy (aka GameCube). Real adults actually like being kids again. The denial aspect is instead for the competition, which is actually marketed to teenagers, i. e. mental juveniles that are trying hard to look more "mature" and "adult."
If you're buying video games to support your personal image, aside from being a lost cause, it suggests you're not all that interested in games to begin with.
"and buy 10 USD"
Why would you? When was the last time Nintendo bought large sums of dollars? More importantly, how does this affect Nintendo more than Sony, another company traded in yen?
Yeah, I can't wait for Twilight Princess to come out for the Dolphin...
Yeah, except I don't give a flying fuck about pirating games or running Linux on my freakin' video game console, I'd just like to see console games that require a hard drive (*cough* FFXI *cough*) come over to the Wii.
And, no, hackability does not sell consoles. Ever. If anything, hackability is what killed the Dreamcast.
I'd buy it even if it were called "OMG PONIES!"
Seriously though, if your buy/don't buy decision revolves around the name of the console (as opposed to the games, or even just shiney specs), then you're not the target audience. You don't broaden the game-buying audience by being all 1337, you instead make it approachable by people who are currently put off by exactly that kind of attitude.
If they were trying to be badass and edgy, they'd probably call it "Xbox" or something.
Why are you looking for validation of your masculinity in your video game purchases to begin with?
"The Playstation brand has been keeping Sony afloat for a few years now."
Huh? I think you got that backwards. Sony makes money from CDs and movies and maybe some other home electronics, SCEA has historically been a bottomless pit Sony shovels money into, much like the Xbox for Microsoft.
"This was causing by the extra investments and the USD taking a dive in value."
And the value of the United States Dollar affects a corporation traded in Japanese Yen in what way?
"Microsoft while a rich company does not have limitless funding."
And Sony does?
"Owners will have the option of equipping a small, self-contained attachment to play movies and other DVD content."
If they can attatch a DVD player, they can attatch a hard drive.
Yeah, except that Europeans tend to be more productive per hour than Americans. Our only saving grace keeping us ahead in the per-year game is the number of hours we put in, but it's been suggested that the lengthy hours are actually hurting our per-hour productivity.
The Artist Formerly Known as Sarah McLachlan?
Nah, this would be like Enterprise covering the whole, I dunno... Earth-Romulus War maybe? I doubt they'll pull time-travelling crap in the pilot episode and instad get to the juicy bits of the backstory that people want to hear about.
"because that is what enterprise customers have requested,"
Enterprise customers as in "large organizations who want to manage their own software and security policies," or "large organizations that want to install backdoor apps on their customers' PCs without their knowledge?" Do these "enterprise cusomters" include Claria and Sony?
Before you mod me troll, consider: why isn't Microsoft simply releasing an "enterprise" version with the deactivated firewall while maintaining full security settings on the "retail" version? If they can sell multiple copies of XP that may or may not seek activation depending on the customer, they can do this.
Source.