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My thoughts on E3 and console gaming. Part 1: Nintendo |
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Alright, so I've all been checking the blogs and G4 for every bit of information for the past week, and here are my opinions on E3 and the console wars. I'll post in 4 parts in this continuing series:
1. Wii 2. Playstation 3 3. Xbox 360 4. Multiplatform & The Final Verdict Nintendo: "We are no longer the Nintendo you once knew"  Sony: "Here's some cool stuff... and some other stuff. So many screens"  Microsoft: "Mii too, mii too. And oh, we have some great games coming"  So e3 was pretty lackluster in general this year for a host of reasons. I have been waiting to go 'next gen' based on how e3 was going to turn out... oh well... If you wanted to pick out winners and losers I guess it depends on who we are talking about. Are we talking about gamers or companies? The Wii Yes, the Wii is winning in terms of units sold, but where was Mario, Kid Icarus or Zelda? Nintendo is taking a completely different strategy this generation (or is it?). They defined the industry back in the 80's, and now they are trying to do one thing... Make games mainstream again. More specifically, make Nintendo mainstream again. Back in the NES days... Nintendo was a household name, to this day people still refer to games as "playing Nintendo." This isn't because of the N64 or the Gamecube... it's because of the NES, and later the SNES. The NES was new and novel. That's Nintendo's position now... its new and novel to have a Wii.  "Wii love the Power glove too" Mainstream Appeal. Yesterday I was having a lunch meeting, and the subject of the wii came up... to my amazement, all of my coworkers (about 9 in all) had either some experience with the wii, or owned one. These types of conversations are happening all over the world. Nintendo is mainstream again. The Wii has become the next furby, tai bo, elmo, and NES all wrapped up into one. It's not winning because of games, but because of peripherals... The Wii has won mainstream success, but can it continue to entertain gamers? E3 did not answer that question. Only time will tell. I've heard some quotes saying that Nintendo decided to concentrate on casual for e3, and then hardcore for some of the other shows... but who knows. This post was a bit short because Nintendo's offerings were so lackluster this year... MS & Sony had much stronger offerings (kinda). Come back next time for my thoughts on Sony's showing at e3, and then in part three for the 360. Part 4 will deal with the some multiplatform games, and The Final Verdict. This is evyrew signing out. |
 Comments (Total Comments: 4) |
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JMEPO
- 07-19-2008, 07:29 PM
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I want the old Nintendo back...
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franky1029
- 07-20-2008, 02:24 AM
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Yeah, E3 was a huge disappointment to me. The only really awesome thing I saw was the FFXIII announcement for the 360. But as for Nintendo, I don't feel like they have ditched the hardcore gamer; Their biggest IPs have already made waves on the Wii. But I do wish 3rd parties made better games. And apparently, you can't blame that solely on Nintendo.
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Chronis
- 07-20-2008, 08:25 PM
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I don't see anything wrong with Nintendo wanting to make the Wii and their name mainstream and talked about. I do have a problem with how they are doing it. Liek you said, they are doing it all with peripherials, not games. During the NES days, people played Super Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda, Metroid, even non Nintendo games like Bubble Bobble and Mega Man. I think Nintendo really needs to find the perfect balance of making good games that are easy enough for the casual fans but good enough for the hadrcore fans. Or add difficulty levels. Nintendo might be a household name once again, but the fanbase they are catering towards still don't know about Mario outside of their first experiences with him.
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Sparta
- 07-26-2008, 07:02 PM
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You guys have to realize, they said the mario and zelda teams are working hard right now, and they don't have anything to show as of now, and usually don't until closer to completion. So understand where they are coming from.
This is a press conference, so they showed the things the press would love to talk about, the Wii peripherals. It makes them the most money. Why wouldn't they show it? Yes, I would have loved announcements and footage of mario, zelda, kid icarus, ect, but we know it's coming, we just need to wait and enjoy the games and items we have now. It took me a few days to realize and appreciate their strategy. But I understand now. Yes, nintendo was a great gaming system back in the day, but gaming is changing, just as everything else in the world. It's becoming more, and more crowds are flocking to them. They must please all crowds or else they lose money. Some of you might want to take economics if you can if you don't get it. They must catch the casual and the hardcore, they know the hardcore love nintendo and they are making us our batch. But they wanted to capture the casual more this time around. E3 is a press conference more than a gaming convention anymore, so don't be to surprised. I think they're doing fine, sales show it even. Wii's far fro ma failure, it's kicking the 360's and ps3's ass, it has to be doing something right.  Just be patient, play some games that don't have mario or zelda slapped on the titles, they're actually quite good! Nintendo is here to stay, and they have changed a bit, but have only evolved into a more mature and user friendly system. |
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