Nintendo's Uncertain future.

I love how they're always stressing that they want to prolong support on the current gen, then proceed to talk about how much work they're putting behind the DS and say nothing about what GC projects are in the works.

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"My predecessor was a genius at sensing what people want, but I want to take a more scientific approach to read customer needs."

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He just pinpointed what Nintendo's been doing wrong. People rarely know what the hell they want. You do have to sense what will actually interest them.

It reminds me of the Poochie episode of the Simpsons... the network executives formed a focus group of kids to measure their interests and proceeded to ruin a show the kids liked already by adding a character that was based on what the kids "wanted".

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Originally Posted by Kano On The Phone

Anyone who's shocked at the fact that everyone at Nintendo is dangerously out of touch needs to pay attention more.

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Out of touch perhaps but I think delusional is more appropriate.

I've got the BEST idea on what people want for the GC.

NINTENDO PUZZLE COLLECTION!!!

Damn, why the fuck haven't Nintendo released this, yet they are releasing Wario Ware GC, which is just a GBA port???

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Originally Posted by Roufuss

Pokemon is BEGGING for the MMORPG treatment, so fuck you Nintendo.

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Agreed. An online Pokemon would be so fucking sweet.

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Agreed. An online Pokemon would be so fucking sweet.

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As long as they made the combat closer to Shining Force.

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Originally Posted by Mamoscott

Less than 5% of Xbox owners utilizing the service is quite popular? And who are these idiots that are frequently paying money for Xbox Live? You get free trials for almost every Live-enabled game these days, and a lot of people are still on their free year of service for buying the kit.

I know it's cool to hate on Nintendo for not going online as soon as possible, but neither Microsoft nor Sony has proven that Nintendo's position in this regard is a stupid one.

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Live has 750,000 subscribers, not people using the free trial. The trial can only be used once, no matter how many online games you buy with the cards, and there is no free year. You buy the kit the same way you buy the renewal card and pay for the whole year.

While it's not a whole lot compared to the actual user base, it's a hell of a lot more than the amount of people using their GBAs as controllers. Add in that there are over 1.5 million people playing their PS2 online, and it hardly gives him evidence to suggest that connectivity is a better route.

And let's not forget that Sony is, at this exact moment, pulling is $3-$4 million a month from EverQuest. Just because Nintendo can't figure out how to make money online doesn't mean its impossible.

But hey, this is the same horse shit Nintendo has been spewing for years. But it's a nice encapsulation.

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Originally Posted by Mamoscott

I know it's cool to hate on Nintendo for not going online as soon as possible, but neither Microsoft nor Sony has proven that Nintendo's position in this regard is a stupid one.

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It most definitely is a stupid position.

There is a growing amount of GC gamers (I know of quite the few) who aren't 12 anymore. They have lives to live. They can't always go to each other's houses to play games, even when they plan on doing so, so connectivity is out of the question. What is the solution? Online. Simple as that.

So what if there is no money-making business model yet? That's not to say it isn't out there, waiting to be implemented. Why couldn't Nintendo at least try to create a working model themselves, instead of waiting for someone else to figure it out? What ever happened to Nintendo forging ahead of their peers? It's not like they don't have the money. Hell, Sega didn't and they still attempted.

At the very least, this whole situation shows me that Microsoft and Sony really are trying to cater to EVERY gamer out there. Not every gamer wants to or can afford to go online. But there are many who do. Nintendo's refusal to budge on this issue seems very backwards-looking instead of forwards.

It is inevitable: Online gaming IS the future. They need to stop fighting it, stop thinking they can push back the moving freight train that is online gaming; it's not going away.

There are so many games that could have benefitted the online treatment. Many have already been mentioned: MK:DD, F-Zero, Animal Crossing (come on, that game was absolutely made for online) and of all games Nintendo should have done this with, Pokemon. They would make an absolute KILLING if they just make a MMORPG in the style of the Handheld games. Everyone knows this, everyone secretly (and some not so secretly) wishes for this. Nintendo does nothing about this.

What Nintendo is doing is equal to them telling their gamers: "We don't like your kind around here. If you want online, go to Sony or Microsoft." They are literally giving their competition a hand and sending all their potential customers into other, greener pastures. At the very least, they are creating bad blood between them and their most dedicated fanbase, since they refuse to give them what they want.

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Originally Posted by Melf

Live has 750,000 subscribers, not people using the free trial. The trial can only be used once, no matter how many online games you buy with the cards, and there is no free year. You buy the kit the same way you buy the renewal card and pay for the whole year.

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What about all the people who subscribed before Microsoft raised the price of the starter kit? Maybe it wasn't a free year, but it's still a drastically discounted one (that MS has to pay for). Haven't you noticed that the number of Live subscribers has pretty much leveled off since the price hike of the starter kit? If tons of people are ready and willing to pay for online play (like NoFace claimed), then why isn't that willingness translating to additional subscribers?

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Originally Posted by Melf

While it's not a whole lot compared to the actual user base, it's a hell of a lot more than the amount of people using their GBAs as controllers. Add in that there are over 1.5 million people playing their PS2 online, and it hardly gives him evidence to suggest that connectivity is a better route.

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Requiring people to use GBA's as controllers does not cost Nintendo any extra money, it's only required for one game (a Square one), and it is completely irrelevant to the popularity of online play in this generation of consoles.

Yes, there are a "whopping" 1.5 million people playing their PS2 online, which is an even smaller percentage of the PS2's overall userbase than Xbox Live has of the Xbox's overall userbase. What does that tell you?

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Originally Posted by Melf

While it's not a whole lot compared to the actual user base, it's a hell of a lot more than the amount of people using their GBAs as controllers.

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I am not quite sure that is true. Considering how many people bought FF:CC, the user base would be similar.

As far as Nintendo and online is concerned, I really have no I dea what they are thinking. The best I could think of is the percentage of people being able to play online versus play through connectivity. However, if they could enable LAN based gameplay, online gaming should be just as easy.