What's Eating at Nintendo?

[johnk_]

just to put things into perspective,



there's another portable that can play ports of PS1 games.
Of course there are plenty of differences, but until sony can cough up some screenshots or prove that their specs aren't a lie, i'm not biting.

it's not too much to ask, is it?

[Mzo]

Simple, I enjoyed Zoop and found it to be quite fun. The same goes for WrestleMania: the Arcade Game, which I enjoyed quite a bit as it was the first wrestling game to give Shawn Michaels a super kick. They were my first PSX games and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed them.

Stoofoo, no one else cares about those games.

Destin and diffx, I hope you don't expect others to read your little novels and comment on them.

I say we look back on this a year after the PSP has been out, and kick whoever was wrong in the ass.

[MVS]

While I don't agree with Ammadeau, If we were all like you this place would be the most unhappy place on the planet.

Dude, so wrong.

If everyone was like me we'd obviously all get along and have the same opinion on everything. There would be no arguements, we'd all be me.

It would make for some good 13 on 13 wolfenstien games, I'll tell you that much.

[sleeve]

Ease up on the STFUs, please.

Jeremy has the right to like whatever shitty games he wants. No need to flame him for it.

[Saint of Killers]

Quite simply, Nintendo is damning themselves by not offering their fans the opportunity to play their favourite titles online.

Nintendo is screwing themselves, but it has nothing to do with online play. I have sold a ton of systems to people and never has anyone asked me, "Can I play this console online?" 95% of the console playing public doesn't give a shit about playing online.

[Drewbacca]

image is everything to teens. If it's not cool why would they buy it? To be made fun of by their friends and peers?

It's petty but high school is stupid like that.

It's definitely a factor. More mature games helps carve that image.

Nintendo themselves and Yamauchi's legacy are what is slowly, but surely, eroding Nintendo.

Quite simply, Nintendo is damning themselves by not offering their fans the opportunity to play their favourite titles online. Instead, they offer the connectivity bullshit as a way to pad their pockets with more of your hard earned money. Now I know many of you will be quick to stick the online less than 5% of the gaming population figure in my face, but to that I ask, who cares?

Nintendo lost a lot of customers because of greed. The N64 was a machine for greed. They wanted as much profits as possible, so they stuck to cart-based, when clearly the market had moved towards CD-based media. Most of the userbase of the N64 was built up at the start because of Mario 64, Goldeneye, and the assumption that the Castlevanias, Metal Gears, and Final Fantasies of the industry would appear on the N64. Once FF7 was announced as a Sony exclusive, and the introduction of the classic third party titles, and new titles like Resident Evil were announced, the N64 began to lose steam. Many of the Nintendo fans looked at what Sony was offering and purchased a PS1. I know, I was one of them. When these same fans saw what Sony had to offer in the PS2, namely DVD, and the continuation of most of the big-name series, they purchased a PS2 and never looked back. Then there is the diehards like myself, who still had faith the Nintendo could deliver. Unfortunately though, Nintendo's flagship titles have seemed rushed, they refuse to give the fans what they truly want, like online playable titles, and the connectivity feature being rammed down our throats is making even the stalwart Nintendo fans dissillusioned with the company. Now, not to say it's all bad, as the GCN is home to three of the best games this generation, in Metroid Prime, F-Zero GX, and Viewtiful Joe.

Yamauchi's legacy is the key factor in the continued failure of Nintendo. Those that say the PSP has no chance against the GBA, simply are living in a dreamworld. PSP will steal a massive chunk of the market from Nintendo. Third-party games on the GBA fail to sell very well, and on top of that the licensing fees that Nintendo charges developers for the games and carts, adds up to huge royalties for Nintendo, and less profit for the publishers. This alone will cause a great number of publishers to 'jump ship' as it were, and even if Nintendo tries to counter by offering extremely low rates to compensate, the publishers will still leave.

Put yourself in their shoes. For example, let's say you were with a phone company for twenty years, and they are charging you $50 per month. Then a company comes in and says that they'll only charge you $20 per month. You call up your phone company and tell them that someone else is offering you a savings of $30 per month and the company tells you that they'll match it. Will you remain with your current provider? Human nature shows that you'll feel used for and will still cancel and move over to the new provider. This is how the publishers will feel towards Nintendo. Added to the fact that Pokemon is truly the only really big seller on the system, and the choice becomes obvious to publishers and developers alike.

Now, I'm not saying it's total doom and gloom for Nintendo. In fact, it's truly far from it. We need to give Iwata a chance to prove himself with his own system design and features. He's working from Yamauchi's vision, but he has managed to successfuly launch a mature-looking GBASP, gain a Metal Gear title exclusively to the Cube, has started Nintendo Tokyo to deliver mature titles, and has a very good relationship with Okamoto that might bring him over to the Nintendo fold. They really have to offer what the competitors offer, but they have to be honest, to themselves and to their fans. They aren't the industry leaders anymore, so they need to offer better games and ideas in order to climb up the ranks again. I think Nintendo will be around for a long while, but if they continue to piss in the face of what the fans really want, they're just going to continue to lose market share.

All of this is pretty obvious and common sense. But you word it like the PSP has already won. Their chances are good, but they're not set in stone. Nintendo will probably counter the PSPs launch with their own contraption. The only thing I'm worried about with the discs of PSP is that they may skip.

Does anybody know anything about this?

[Jeremy]

That's a valid concern, but since no one has actually played a PSP, I doubt anyone really know the answer. Although this is pretty obvious and common sense.

[Spike]

All of this is pretty obvious and common sense. But you word it like the PSP has already won. Their chances are good, but they're not set in stone. Nintendo will probably counter the PSPs launch with their own contraption. The only thing I'm worried about with the discs of PSP is that they may skip.

Does anybody know anything about this?

I'm sorry if it sounded like I was actually inferring that the PSP had already won. Far from it in fact. Nintendo has all the advantages in the portable market that Sony holds in the home market. Do I think Sony will rule the portable market? Absolutely not. Not a chance in hell. If they focus on the portable market, in order to achieve dominance, they will be sacrificing their focus on the home market. Sony wants the industry standard settop box, and they won't risk losing any sales in that regard.

[Drewbacca]

The new concept looks cool, but I think Nintendo's new GBASP beats it, hands down.

(form wise, I'd like 4 face buttons)

[Changeling]

Anyone who says that Sony just "got lucky" is a goddamn retard. They made a great system, they made it easy to program for, they made it at a price point that people liked, and they worked their asses off to get games on it that people wanted to play. It wasn't Sony's fault that Sega launched Saturn with bullshit ports of Daytona USA and Virtua Fighter, but it is Sony's fault that the PSX was launched with killer versions of Tekken and Ridge Racer.

You don't just get lucky for... 8 years in a row, dude. Especially not in the corporate world (there's nothing more ruthless than that shit). Sure, Sony capitalized on the other company's mistakes, but that's business.

You don't get lucky in business. You see what the other guy is doing wrong and you capitalize on it and take advantage. That ain't fucking luck, that's skill.



By wanting to release more systems and enter a new market?
i'd try to respond to your post and your insults, but I look at your pic and I don't. I'll take the high road and avoid picking on retards. "dude"

The lot of you are fucking clueless.