Nintendo held their semi annual Press Summit in Seattle today, where Reggie took the helm and specified their fundamental strategies going forward with DS, GBA, GameCube, and Revolution. What he said was that Nintendo was focusing their efforts on “disruptive marketing”, the soon-to-be buzzword that means Nintendo is disrupting the market leader Sony, who “[releases their hardware with only incremental changes]”, by releasing new game types and products with new interfaces. He named Apple with its iTunes service and iPod as an example of marketing that has disrupted Sony’s former vice grip 
on portable music players with the Discman. So basically, he said “simple and straightforward” beats “more of the same”. Here come more Apple/Nintendo comparisons…
In the Q&A portion, Reggie explained that the Micro is a “shortish term” opportunity that the company will only support for anywhere between 3 months and a year. I guess you better snag one while you can. Further on he explained the marketing strategy for the Wifi Connection, showing off a rough clip of a tv spot that is set to air later this week. The Wifi dongle, he announced, will sell for $34.99. There was even a knock against Sony where he said, “I got a kick out of the latest comments on the PS3 and its frame rate. It is like 3X the rate that your eye can see a difference! I mean talk about overshooting consumer needs and creating an opportunity for a disruptor to come in and say ‘look at this different solution.’“He also revealed something i didn’t know, which was the fact that DS sales are currently exceeding PSP weekly sales in the US.
If anyone’s worried about Nintedo’s current handheld or future console situations, heed these words: don’t be. Nintendo is dead serious.
[Source: IGN]
anomaly
At this point, boasting about higher framerates is to compensate for what other areas are lacking 😛
Heed my words, NINTENDO WILL RETURN TO THE GLORY DAYS
Beskull
I think Nintendo finally saw that they were vulnerable, and now are doing what they have always done better than anyone else…create.
This is all funny to me, that we are just hearing about their strategies, but in reality Nintendo came up with these new changes in policy more than 3 years ago.
Man…I have good faith in this company and I really want them to step all over their competition.
mo
Following on from the succession of Hiroshi Yamauchi, Howard Lincoln and Peter Main, the young ‘uns are starting to prove their worth.
Glad to see the DS is outselling the PSP in the States (and wondering how things are here in the UK and the rest of Europe).
Waiting for the ‘revolution’ with guarded optimism…
Beskull
another interesting thing…Web browser for my DS? I mentioned this to my wife and she said that if they had that she would deffinately want her own DS. Then she said it again.
I think that would we rad to have and hope that someone is starting work on it now. 🙂
Michael
I’m pretty sure Nintendo has considered a web browser for the DS, and I’m sure it is possible. But, I don’t know if they’re gonna make one. I’d like it though. 😀
MisterInvisible
I played the first of the new batch of ‘next gen’ consoles last night, the XBox 360. Sure the HDTV made it look nice and sharp, but unfortunately I don’t have an HDTV set at home. I’m curious to see how it would look on a standard set.
The graphics were just slightly better than the PC games I’ve been playing on my old PC for about three years now.
I’m sure they’ll sell a ton before Xmas and Sony will sell a ton of PS3 systems when that comes out, but that will trickle off quickly. Early adopters will have to buy one to get their fix, but (much like the DS) you’ll see people who are sick of playing the same sports and FPS games wait for something more Revolutionary.
I can’t say that Nintendo will rule the next console war, but I was rather unimpressed with the XBox 360. The PS2 and first XBox took gaming to a new level. The Revolution should get us ready for the step above that.
Rollin
Yea i was at a GameStop a few days ago that had a demo unit. It usually had 3-5 ppl watching it. The thing is, ppl just know that it’s the next thing, that it’s new. In the back where all the 360 accessories were, these dudes were like “Oh da Godfatha, i gotta get dat joint”. The Godfather? How uninformed are you? Don’t worry, it aint ur fault, it’s Microsoft’s. But yea, i find it retarded that ppl are getting excited over something they know so little about. It’s another blind purchase, another PS2. Another PSP.
The Samsung plasma it has is such a decoy. It’s sharp and clear as hell, i’d love to see the reaction when some of these guys get home and plug it in into their 17″ RCA. It does look better than lower definition games on a regular tv, but the diff betwix a normal tv and an HD set is stark. Then there’s the whole Premium versus Core thing. Ppl are gonna get upset that they bought the wrong thing. Think about all those girlfriends that buy it for their boyfriends, all those moms that get it for their kids. Dudes are gonna be pissed! Then they gotta buy hundred dollar hard drives and 60 dollar games!? Hehe, too funny. But anyway, this is gonna be interesting to observe.
Wow i just noticed how off topic i was. So anyhoo, consider this. Msoft hasn’t said they will rule the next gen (from what i remember), neither has Sony (at least not directly). Guess what? Nintendo has actually said this. Jim Merrick said that they expect to be the highest selling system by 2007. So here’s the thing about that comment. 1st off, if they’re saying it, it must be surefire. 2nd, if they plan on outselling the 360 (and PS3) by the end of next year, they sure as hell aren’t gonna be launching in November. MS expects to sell about 6 mil by the end of next year. That’s not too tall an order for Nintendo to outsell. But a Summer launch is most probable. Plus they can cut off the 360 hype train early in the year, which would be fun to see. I’m positive i’ll get annoyed quick trying to figure out how ppl playing double dutch is sposed to make me want a game system.
*done*
Wait, what new level?
Anonymous
I also found Reggie’s anti-Sony jabs pretty great (and spot-on, too). So glad to see the DS outselling the PSP in the US, as it certainly deserves to, clearly being the superior system with a vastly superior software selection.
However, I don’t see why people are excited about a web browser for DS. You can only use the DS with a computer anyway (unless you’re going to McDonald’s I guess). How badly do you REALLY need to browse the web when you’re at McDonald’s? 😛 Why not just wait until you can get to a computer with a keyboard? Oh well, to each their own I guess. And I suppose it can’t HURT the DS to have a web browser available for it.
morningstarrising
Jeeze…Just what we need Nintendo to do..follow Apple. lol
A new Micro skin every 6-12 months? You heard it from Reggie’s mouth!
Way to go Nintendo in sucking money out of collector’s pockets and make eBaay dealers happy. lol
anomaly
Oh yeah, because we’re obliged to purchase every Micro skin that comes out.
NO