What's Eating at Nintendo?

[Six]

People, for the love of videogames, don't believe the Sony hype again. Judge it on its actual merits when, ya know, it actually exists.

Uh. That'll happen.

It's silly to think that the PSP will sell at anything more than $199 and even that is pushing it. People will buy it at any price, but that's same people who bought the Jaguar, 3D0 and N-Gage.

You don't think Nintendo analyzed the Walkman before they put out Game Boy? To see what it did right and why it sold? Of course they did. And do you seriously think Sony has no idea that customers like long battery life and whatever? Uhh... of course they do. They invented the fucking industry. If you think that Sony doesn't know how it has to be done... you're the one who's clueless.

Ever see the Sony PDA market? Battery life sucks, proprietary formats estrange accessories (Memory Stick , "Compact Flash" slot, audio drivers), strange, akward, "new" form factors (UX70), lack of support for old (4-6 months) units blah blah blah. I should know, I own one (err, two).

And the MiniDisc is still a *huge* success .

Sony isn't flawless. If the PSP is an inexpensive product with good software support and features consumers want then they have a chance.

Oh, and I still cringe at playing *any* 3D games on a portable screen.

[Captain Vegetable]

Is their a potential for a good and sucessful system? Yeah. But so far the PSP is nothing but a few specs, and the GBA is the best selling videogame system on the planet with tens of millions of owners and a catalogue of over a thousand games and counting. Doesn't take a genius to figure out who has the upper hand.

I've heard this before. Wait a minute:

Is their a potential for a good and sucessful system? Yeah. But so far the PlayStation is nothing but a few specs, and the SNES is the best selling videogame system on the planet with tens of millions of owners and a catalogue of over a thousand games and counting. Doesn't take a genius to figure out who has the upper hand.

Nintendo sure won't be the one with the upper hand if they continue with this arrogant mind-set.

[Drewbacca]

I think the big mistake about Nintendo is that they're only trying to couple up with the big publishers and may alienate the smaller companies who bring the niche games to the market that make breakout hits.

Grand Theft Auto, The Sims, Medal of Honor and Battlefeild were all gambles way back when. But you have to take a few risks to make money. I guess they want to be safe, but all the franchises they want are known to be PS2 based franchises (like Tony Hawk).

Too little, too late.

Quite frankly Lucas I dont think many gamers give a shit about the PSP's movie and mp3 playback features. I know I dont... Im looking forward to the PSP for the hopes that it will move handheld gaming beyond the staleness and funk that Nintendo has turned it into.

I disagree with your assessment of older games, because pressing A to jump then is still as good as pressing A to jump now (and whatever else with the control scheme).

However, the thing about the PSP's MP3 abilities and movie playing abilities is that you're paying for them. They're pushing it as a media device. If you don't care about them, why do you have to pay for them. How about a gaming device that's secure and in good working order before adding these other abilities I'll have to dish out another 100 - 150 smackaroo's for.

(that's right, I busted out the word smackaroo's for this reply)

[Kinopio]

Grand Theft Auto, The Sims, Medal of Honor and Battlefeild were all gambles way back when. But you have to take a few risks to make money. I guess they want to be safe, but all the franchises they want are known to be PS2 based franchises (like Tony Hawk).

I don't see how The Sims or Medal of honor are "gambles" or "risks". they had Will Wright and Steven Spielburg's names attached to them.

I've heard this before. Wait a minute:



Nintendo sure won't be the one with the upper hand if they continue with this arrogant mind-set.

Sometimes it ok to be arrogant. remember when sony, over 2 years ago, declared the console wars over?

[ChaoofNee]

What was the PS2 going up against though? A dying N64? Sony completely fucked up the PS2 launch, but it didn't matter, because it had no competition.

I swear, if Sony put a PlayStation logo on a toaster and said that it'd burn your toast in 83 dimensions at the rate of 1.21 jigga-watts per milligraminasecond, it'd sell like mad.
...and it would probably break within 6 months. Good ol' reliable Sony.
As it stands now, though, I don't know how any judgments of the PSP and its eventual competition against Nintendo can be made without solid specs, or even somewhat of a launch-game list...
All I know is that I'm not excited. Like all (both) Sony systems thus far, I'm definitely going to wait it out. After a year or so, if tradition continues, the first generation of shit-tastic hardware will be broken already, and new models released. By then, there should also be a decent bit of software to judge the damn thing off of besides a Fantatechdemo-type game, Tekken 6.4, Random Realistic Racing Game, and so on.
...man I can't wait 'til this cold is gone and I can stop taking NyQuil.

[Diff-chan]

Sometimes it ok to be arrogant. remember when sony, over 2 years ago, declared the console wars over?

It was at the 2002 E3... and yes, at that time, the console war was over. It still is.

[James]

A note on the Gamecube style- I like it. Whenever it's time to shuffle my consoles around, whether it's from a bit of rewiring behind the tv or moving house, like I had to do a couple of times in the last two years, the Gamecube is the easiest to deal with. Grab handle, go, simple as that. The cube shape also made it a lot easier to find space for, even with the curved handle.

Purple is a good color, it adds a bit of life to the near monotone of greys and blacks under my black-cased tv. If it wasn't for the white Dreamcast and purple cube, my entertainment center would be a light-eating black hole.

It's like people liking yellow for cars, because yellow is faster. The standard black cases with totally soulless designs seem sleek until you realize you've just robbed your room of any personality at all. The problem is that most people don't think like that, or worse don't think at all.

Keeping in mind that I know that most people don't think like this, and marketing to me is a great way to lose huge chunks of cash, I think the visual style of the Gamecube is lively, while the PS2 is sleek but dead. X-box is just a black jumble with green highlights.

James

[Keres]

I've heard this before. Wait a minute:

Is their a potential for a good and sucessful system? Yeah. But so far the PlayStation is nothing but a few specs, and the SNES is the best selling videogame system on the planet with tens of millions of owners and a catalogue of over a thousand games and counting. Doesn't take a genius to figure out who has the upper hand.

Nintendo sure won't be the one with the upper hand if they continue with this arrogant mind-set.

It isn't really fair to diffisionx Nintendo's mindset from almost 10 years ago and assume it's Nintendo's current attitude.

I don't think I've seen any videogame company yet promote their competition.

[Captain Vegetable]

It isn't really fair to diffisionx Nintendo's mindset from almost 10 years ago and assume it's Nintendo's current attitude.

Nice use of "diffusionx."

I'm not assuming. I'm making an observation. Have you read some of the things Nintendo has said in the face of the PSP? Their attitude has, remarkablely, remained the same. And like I said, all it's going to buy them is second place.

Sometimes it ok to be arrogant. remember when sony, over 2 years ago, declared the console wars over?

Yes, sometimes it is OK to be arrogant, like when you've outsold the closest competitor 5 to 1, or when you know there's no way in Hell for other hardware producers to even come close to the saturation level you've reached worldwide. In other words, it's OK to be arrogant after you've proven yourself and your product against any and all competition.

Never has this been the case with Nintendo. They always look down their nose at prospective competition before they've even compeeted, and, again, all it's gotten them is second place.

[Mzo]

All I know is that I'm not excited. Like all (both) Sony systems thus far, I'm definitely going to wait it out. After a year or so, if tradition continues, the first generation of shit-tastic hardware will be broken already, and new models released. By then, there should also be a decent bit of software to judge the damn thing off of

That's all I want: you show me some great games, I'll buy your system.

And I agree with James about the Cube's design. I really don't see a problem with it.