My relationship with Nintendo has been strange in recent years. Although the Big N (who invented that nickname, anyway?) Has marked my childhood and I was conditioned to see the SNES, forever, as the best console produced by the human race, my critical stance in relation to certain decisions of the company gave me appearance of the Nintendo hater.
Maybe that's why so many friends on Twitter have gone to give me the "good news" for the first time in over thirty years, Nintendo has seen advertising injury.
And what damage: Nintendo has lost more than half a billion dollars. It is a considerable loss, not to hegemony was maintained by the company in recent years (remember when the DS and Wii were essentially licenses to print money?) The situation was more complicated.
It is easy to see the downfall of Nintendo. The Wii has not aged well (and no longer has a monopoly in the business of motion capture), and I think the artifice of the DS touch screen that has lost a bit almost magical appeal when a good portion of the world's population now has technology touch screen in his pants pocket.
Furthermore, the list entries for both consoles have stunted more. While PS3 and Xbox 360 are given titles like Gears of War 3, Skyrim and Modern Warfare 3, the Wii has titles like this one:
Say there with sincerity, you even know this game came out last year? You had at least heard of the Conduit 1 (which is called The Conduit, actually)? Do you have a friend who said something like "can not wait to get home and play online with 2 Conduit staff college"?
At this stage of the game, virtually anyone who ever wanted a Wii or a DS already has. This, coupled with a collection of games very poor compared to what competitors offer, the Wii has almost completely irrelevant on the eve of his sixth birthday (while there are many reasons to get the other consoles).
And this was not the only problem. Nintendo started the new generation of laptops with the left foot and was forced to cut the price of 3DS hastily. The maneuver prevented apocalyptic prophecy for my new laptop, but it meant that Nintendo essentially sell the 3DS below cost price.
It is an unprecedented turnaround, since Nintendo has a history of complete domination in the notebook. See the company losing money on a successor to the DS is hard to believe. 3DS sell below cost price was a risky strategy, but is the cost of expanding the installed base of 3DS, a move that certainly is worth in the future.
But what future? Firstly, Nintendo needs to attract more partners. This business of selling the console only be based on Mario, Zelda and Metroid is no longer going so well (at least not dying in a console like the Wii). No exclusive franchise from Nintendo would at this late date, what makes Modern Warfare 3 for Xbox 360 or PS3, for example. The Wii is a console which is squeezed until only the bagasse left over, and this seems similar WiiU come the other to the point of care. Tell me honestly: is there anyone reading this column you are looking forward to the release of WiiU? I fear that there are many readers in this demographic.
But we must not forget that Nintendo was the one who saved all the industry of the islands after the legendary crash of 1983. If a company is able to reverse the defeat of this magnitude, according to the historical record I put my chips on Nintendo. I have a slight feeling that, as the defeat of the Nintendo GameCube took a new direction that has proven extremely successful (at least the first five years of life of the Wii), the decline in current platform will give the lesson needed for the same mistakes are not repeated.
Perhaps it will manifest itself as a robust online mode with WiiU or greater incentive to third parties, or the return of focus ... hardcore? In other words, everything that its competitors specialize?
Tell me if there would not be exciting to see the Big N back to the top of the podium in the race of the islands, as in past?
Maybe that's why so many friends on Twitter have gone to give me the "good news" for the first time in over thirty years, Nintendo has seen advertising injury.
And what damage: Nintendo has lost more than half a billion dollars. It is a considerable loss, not to hegemony was maintained by the company in recent years (remember when the DS and Wii were essentially licenses to print money?) The situation was more complicated.
It is easy to see the downfall of Nintendo. The Wii has not aged well (and no longer has a monopoly in the business of motion capture), and I think the artifice of the DS touch screen that has lost a bit almost magical appeal when a good portion of the world's population now has technology touch screen in his pants pocket.
Furthermore, the list entries for both consoles have stunted more. While PS3 and Xbox 360 are given titles like Gears of War 3, Skyrim and Modern Warfare 3, the Wii has titles like this one:
Say there with sincerity, you even know this game came out last year? You had at least heard of the Conduit 1 (which is called The Conduit, actually)? Do you have a friend who said something like "can not wait to get home and play online with 2 Conduit staff college"?
At this stage of the game, virtually anyone who ever wanted a Wii or a DS already has. This, coupled with a collection of games very poor compared to what competitors offer, the Wii has almost completely irrelevant on the eve of his sixth birthday (while there are many reasons to get the other consoles).
And this was not the only problem. Nintendo started the new generation of laptops with the left foot and was forced to cut the price of 3DS hastily. The maneuver prevented apocalyptic prophecy for my new laptop, but it meant that Nintendo essentially sell the 3DS below cost price.
It is an unprecedented turnaround, since Nintendo has a history of complete domination in the notebook. See the company losing money on a successor to the DS is hard to believe. 3DS sell below cost price was a risky strategy, but is the cost of expanding the installed base of 3DS, a move that certainly is worth in the future.
But what future? Firstly, Nintendo needs to attract more partners. This business of selling the console only be based on Mario, Zelda and Metroid is no longer going so well (at least not dying in a console like the Wii). No exclusive franchise from Nintendo would at this late date, what makes Modern Warfare 3 for Xbox 360 or PS3, for example. The Wii is a console which is squeezed until only the bagasse left over, and this seems similar WiiU come the other to the point of care. Tell me honestly: is there anyone reading this column you are looking forward to the release of WiiU? I fear that there are many readers in this demographic.
But we must not forget that Nintendo was the one who saved all the industry of the islands after the legendary crash of 1983. If a company is able to reverse the defeat of this magnitude, according to the historical record I put my chips on Nintendo. I have a slight feeling that, as the defeat of the Nintendo GameCube took a new direction that has proven extremely successful (at least the first five years of life of the Wii), the decline in current platform will give the lesson needed for the same mistakes are not repeated.
Perhaps it will manifest itself as a robust online mode with WiiU or greater incentive to third parties, or the return of focus ... hardcore? In other words, everything that its competitors specialize?
Tell me if there would not be exciting to see the Big N back to the top of the podium in the race of the islands, as in past?
