Nintendo

Nintendo\'s approach to gaming has always been traditional and in some instances, even lagging.  The original Nintendo had set the bar for quaility and fun, giving Nintendo a highly praised reputation. Sticking to their own rules of what games are about has brought them to the present with a highly acclaimed style all their own.

Refusing to conform with the likes of competition is what many might say has held them back in the past few years, but has also given them a unique characteristic of delivering quality wholesome gaming and an edge all their own.  The best case I can think of is way back in the days of Super Nintendo, Mortal Kombat had hit the arcades by storm.  The fighting bloodfest was a craze,  it was a no brainer to bring it home.  It saw release on the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo, but to much disappointment Nintendo had opted to cut out the gore...or at least tone it down considerably.  While some complained, some others embraced...  From that point on Nintendo was considered for ,some might say, the lighthearted.  While Sega Genesis seemed to rack in a more "mature" crowd with uncensored arcade releases.  Nintendo had set itself apart.

Nintendo 64 is a big case all by itself.  Sega was releasing a new system based on a CD medium, as was the newcomer Sony.  Yet Nintendo opted to stay with cartridges, for reasons I\'m not completely sure of. looks at Blade and Eiksirf for answers The N64 was alienated as cartridges were considered by many a developer, inferior.  High cost for less storage space didn\'t win Nintendo any points.  Then Nintendo introduced it\'s "Quality over Quantity" bit.  It was hard not to see this as an excuse.  Third Party support had obviously dropped...due to the cartrigdges and the fact that Sony had a very solid system.  It looked like Nintendo dug themselves into a hole...Games were few and far between, but what was released might as well have been gold.  Alienating 3rd party developers, and ultimately many crap games, had still held that prestigous Nintendo reputation sky high.    Saturn suffered and Sony became what the Genesis had been considered...a mature gamer\'s console.  Again, Nintendo is set apart.

Here we are with the GC.  Sony and Microsoft have decided to go for an all in one entertainment box.  Delivering or at least having options to DVD movies, internet access, harddrives, etc.  Nintendo decides to deliver a games\' only console...it will have internet access, but not as a primary objective.  While it seems that Nintendo is finally opening its\' arms to 3rd parties and more mature concepts, it still focuses on Quality over Quantity and delivering a high standard gaming experience.  

Nintendo has definitely carved its\' self a niche and a personality unlike the competition.  Do you think it\'s been to their benefit?  What do you expect in future products from Nintendo?   Sony and Microsoft seem to be all about going online. Delivering content over a network and such...will/should Nintendo follow suit or take a different approach?  What approach?

I had the Genesis Mortal Kombat, and it didn\'t have any gore at all.

What I find most fascinating is that Nintendo is partly resposible for the birth of the PlayStation. Way to go!

It\'d be interesting to see through an "alternate history viewer" (<-work in progress) and see how things would\'ve worked out had Nintendo not quit collaborating with Sony in favor of Silicon Graphics...

[Living-In-Clip]

Nintendo stayed with the cartridge reason for a couple reasons.

1) Piracy. They had predicted that the cd format would be the birth of huge piracy problems. They tried to avoid it.

2) Money. They made more off of every cartridge made and sold.

3) Quality control.

I think Nintendo is eventually going to have to conform. To what status quo is still up for debate. As far as taking their console online, networking it, and bonuses such as an HDD and DVD playback aren\'t necessary... and I doubt that they will have much of a place in the consumers mind when picking up a new console. Yes, DVD playback was a major sellingpoint early on in this generation.. and still is to a digree.  That was a unique circumstance though.. since the DVD market was tettering on the edge of a boom, with many wanting to adopt but not wanting to spend the money on a standalone unit and movie makers pushing the DVD format ever harder.

The main selling point of consoles is what it\'s always been. Games. This is where Nintnedo must adapt, I think. Surviving in a niche market is one thing, but thriving is quite another. I think Sega proved that being that (with the exception of the Genesis) they were always a nitch company. A few stumbles along the way proved devistating to them as they could not recover. I don\'t think it\'s any any great wonder that Nintnedo\'s N64 was financed for nearly half it\'s life by profits made on the handheld market. There just simply weren\'t enough games and what few there were, were expensive compaired to the competition.

Nintnedo seems to be doing things right this generation by pushing more adult oriented games, while still mainting both the "family friendly" image as well as high quality standards. While it seems to be enough to sustain them, I wonder just how successful they will be with the choices they make in the comming years. In a world where to parents, every videogame console under the sun is no longer "Their Nintnedo", how much weight will brand name recognicion and a family friendly image carry for them?

I\'m not saying that Nintnedo has to turn into Sony or Microsoft for them to succeed... but it wouldn\'t hurt for them to peek at their playbooks every once in a while. With the NGC they seem to have done just that, and have a very solid platform with which to compete. Now if only they\'d get some more damned games on it.......

LiC: (4) Loading times.

Some things weren\'t possible using discs back then, and they didn\'t want gamers to wait to play.

It sounds kinda silly, but I\'m glad they did cartridges even though it cost them a lot of 3rd-party support.

Hehe, if Square had stayed with Nintendo, they couldn\'t have afforded to make any FMV fests.

Ginko: I don\'t want to discuss this anymore, really. As you might be able to tell, I\'m a Nintendo fan and I\'ve discussed their choices and such many times over multiple forums in the past. The bottom line is that there\'s an answer for almost everything. The company made a host of mistakes in its life (many concentrated around the SNES-to-N64 transition) but if you\'re not a die-hard Nintendo fan, you\'re not going to know the details as much. Likewise for me, I couldn\'t tell ya th\' history of the PlayStation. I think that Nintendo might have some trouble in the future since consumers seem to want them to become just like Sony. With MS trying to be like Sony, and Nintendo trying to be like Sony, and Sony being like Sony.. something\'s gonna have to break!

very nice Sonyfan

Tom G:

What I meant is that one of the fatalities was altered and the blood was grey...

It\'d be interesting to see through an "alternate history viewer" (<-work in progress) and see how things would\'ve worked out had Nintendo not quit collaborating with Sony in favor of Silicon Graphics...

This has my head spinning with the possibilities...

Originally posted by Blade


Ginko: I don\'t want to discuss this anymore, really. As you might be able to tell, I\'m a Nintendo fan and I\'ve discussed their choices and such many times over multiple forums in the past.

You got something else better to do?  What\'s one more time going to hurt?

Originally posted by Living-In-Clip
Nintendo stayed with the cartridge reason for a couple reasons.

1) Piracy. They had predicted that the cd format would be the birth of huge piracy problems. They tried to avoid it.

2) Money. They made more off of every cartridge made and sold.

3) Quality control.

You forgot perhaps the main reason: Cost. I think we all remember who went to Sony and what they wanted...

Originally posted by Blade
I think that Nintendo might have some trouble in the future since consumers seem to want them to become just like Sony.

I think this would do more harm than good.  Microsoft is putting up a fight for Sony\'s market share.  They both offer similar products with similar plans...it looks like it\'s going to be a battle of who can offer the best service.  If Nintendo can seperate themselves from that, I think they would get more attention.

Only question is, where to go from here and create that differentiation?

Any thoughts?

Originally posted by Tom G
I had the Genesis Mortal Kombat, and it didn\'t have any gore at all.

Type,  abbacabb at the main title screen....that is the blood code

Ginko: Hehe, at this point I\'ve discussed it so many times that I\'m actually starting to get burnt out!

No no.. but it does get tiring to be discussions about Nintendo.. especially when most of the people in them have misconceptions about them. (such as the "Nintendo is aiming at children" argument, not accurate)

As for Nintendo trying to be the alternative.. the GBA link helps that. Their philosophy and ideals also help make them different. You can see that Nintendo is cool, but not in the "hip" sort of way that Sony tries to get across.

From what I\'ve seen, Nintendo is very laid back and doesn\'t like to use stereotypical stuff too much. Of course, now they\'re trying to be more aggressive.. but honestly, some of their marketing sounds like white people trying to rap!

[Living-In-Clip]

Originally posted by Blade
Ginko: Hehe, at this point I\'ve discussed it so many times that I\'m actually starting to get burnt out!

No no.. but it does get tiring to be discussions about Nintendo.. especially when most of the people in them have misconceptions about them. (such as the "Nintendo is aiming at children" argument, not accurate)

As for Nintendo trying to be the alternative.. the GBA link helps that. Their philosophy and ideals also help make them different. You can see that Nintendo is cool, but not in the "hip" sort of way that Sony tries to get across.

From what I\'ve seen, Nintendo is very laid back and doesn\'t like to use stereotypical stuff too much. Of course, now they\'re trying to be more aggressive.. but honestly, some of their marketing sounds like white people trying to rap!

You wouldn\'t be reffering to the classic Zelda rap would you??

So Ginko how do you like your stay at Teamxbox?  I already noticed you\'ve been accused of being a  PS2 fanboy.

LiC: Case and point! Has anybody seen the ED commercial?

It sounds so cliche! Almost like that silly Miyamoto quote on th\' GCN box.