Now I don’t want to speak too soon here, but it appears that Nintendo’s business strategy is working in light of recent DS sales success. If Wii can execute on what has made the DS successful as a portable (namely games over technology), will Sony and Microsoft continue to dismiss them as a home console player? A recent Nintendo press release states: “‘Nintendo DS is the only game system available a year ago that showed growth over the same period, and it did so in overwhelming fashion, with a leap of 426 percent,’ says George Harrison, Nintendo of America’s senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. ‘What we’re seeing is realization of our promise that Nintendo will bring gaming to the masses–?whatever your taste or level of experience, we’ve got a system and a game for you.'”
Are we seeing the realization of Nintendo’s new marketing promise? Granted, I know there are still a lot of questions in the air for Wii, namely ported games, third-party use of the Wiimote, how Nintendo might address the issue of whether motion controls can be usable and effective for every type of game genre in existence either new or old, price, launch date, and the full monte of information. At what point, if ever, will MS and Sony return to publicly seeing Nintendo as a threat to their games profit business?
I think that "profit" is something that MS and Sony doesn't see in quite a while… :PAnd Nintendo is doing fine, probably even better then they have expected. A winning strategy this one, indeed.Best!!
I need to get something off my chest.I have NEVER wanted ANY TYPE of video game console / handheld / game — WHATEVER … as much as I want Wii. I realize how ridiculous I sound, but I was just thinking the other day… "Wow, out of Nintendo's 25 years of providing video games (or whatever they're at now) I have NEVER followed news on one of their products this closely.. EVER!"I mean, I thought about how last September, when they revealed the controller, I thought of all the possibilities and got REALLY excited and then I was like: "Shit, it doesn't come out for like… over a YEAR!"And now, we're within a few months!I mean, I didn't go to E3 so I don't even know what it's like to hold the remote… but I'm telling you, I am DESPERATE! A friend of mine and I will talk hours upon hours of the possibilites and just how excited we are to play this damn thing… just to TRY it, to FEEL what it's like to play something so FUN.At one point, we were like: "OMG, I wonder what the start-up video is going to be like every time you turn on the console!?"And that, my friends, is magic. I cannot freaking wait, and while I've felt strongly otherwise in past months, I don't even CARE if Nintendo only sells… 1,000 Wii's. As long as I get one! I don't care if Sony outsells it by millions or even if other companies COMPLETELY steal Nintendo's new controller. At one point, I was afraid the entire idea would flop, but — thousands of people have played with the thing, and even if there was only to be ONE good game in its entire life span, I think I would sit there and play that one game … forever.AGH! I'm such a dork!….I love you, Nintendo.
"At what point, if ever, will MS and Sony return to publicly seeing Nintendo as a threat to their games profit business?When they need Nintendo's market to survive. It's like what Mcdonalds is doing now, they have moved into Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts coffee market..what did those two do in response? Nothing, they don't see McDs as a threat. But that didn't stop them from right after Mcdonalds breakfast market. Does McDs see them as a threat? Nope….It jsut creates a market with more things for different people.So when Nintendo creates a "Casual gamer" market and Sony and MS go after that market. Will Nintendo see them as a threat? Nope. We shouldn't be worry about who see who as a threat as long as it makes the market bigger and better for more games for us to paly and sample.
If we had to use the phrase, "market threat" in terms of the relationship between the Big 3, I think Sony and Microsoft already see Nintendo as a threat as of E3 2006. Who had the biggest, longest lines? Where was everyone running to once the doors opened? Who stole the spotlight in all the big time press releases (eg TIME) pre-, during and post-E3? Who was it that both Sony and Microsoft both congratulated (because what else would they possibly say without making themselves look like blind fools) for bringing the most innovative console and being the "secondary" console (which in turn, makes it the #1 console if everyone adopts the Wii no matter where their loyalties lie)? Case in point.From what I've seen, Nintendo has already claimed the crown. We're just waiting for the public announcement.
If the Wii goes belly up. Nintendo will focus on portable gaming were it pretty much its a giant sucess with no one coming close. Look at all those nice software coming for the DS. this is turning into a Mobile Pc vompetitors not just a video game.
I sincerely doubt that Wii will go belly up. From the amount of non-gamers I've talked to who want that thing, it will sell like CRAAAAZY!I agree that I have not wanted a console/game this bad ever .. I take that back, the original NES runs pretty close.
Personally, I had as much expectations about the GameCube as I have now for the Wii…I believe MS and Sony are paying attention: if you look closely at their console strategy in the last year, they are trying to follow in Nintendo's steps (e.g., tilt-detection controller, Viva Piñata, etc.)
The book "Game Over" (shown in the graphic) is a great read, and really brings to light how shrewd Nintendo is as a company. I bought my copy on clearance at EB for $2.My favorite story is when Nintendo got sued by Universal over "Donkey Kong"; Universal's contention was that "Donkey Kong" was a ripoff of "King Kong".Not only did Nintendo NOT settle, their VP personally went to the head of Universal and told him to "go ahead and sue us". The case was subsequently thrown out by the judge.Video games are serious business to Nintendo. They make mistakes like any other company, but they don't screw around. They are in business to make money. They will be around for a long time.Sony and Microsoft will dismiss Nintendo at their own peril.
I don't think Nintendo care what Sony/Microsoft think! They make great systems and great games and continue to make money, whereas the competition are posting losses. Nintendo know what they are doing and continue to entertain us!
I personally don't care what Sony or MS think of Nintendo, all I care about is what third-party developers think about Nintendo and how they intend to support the systems I get from the latter.