Nintendo's future?

[Magnum PI]

what is this ? experimental poetry ?

 

[mckmas8808]

Hey, here was another trend: Sony systems always outsell similar Nintendo systems. But that trend was broken with the DS, so who can know what will happen next?

Oh sorry Branduil I didn't know that the DS and PSP were at the end of their lifecycles.

The last I heard the PSP was just released in Europe a couple of months back. So why say the PSP can't outsell the DS? Just why?

 

[Li Mu Bai]

Mario Party 7 =n/a
Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix =n/a
Super Mario Sunshine = 2,132,399
Mario Kart: Double Dash!! = 1,914,527
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door = 653,842
Super Mario Strikers = n/a
Mario Superstar Baseball = 164,170 (debut)
Mario Party 5 = 832,040
Mario Party 6 = 720,908
Mario Power Tennis = 427,892
Mario Party 4 = 978,258
Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour = 686,862

Somehow Powderkeg it eludes you that Nintendo simply uses Mario & the characters that inhabit his universe as simply mascots that occupy a vast array of different genres & gameplay. An instantly world-wide recognizable brand IP that garners consumer notice & ensures higher than average or mediocre sales. Disinterest? Strange that these sales aren't indicative of your statement, but directly contradict it in fact. Every one of these titles you listed between NA & JPN is well over a million+ afaik, (excluding Mario Baseball) & I just posted the north american regional numbers. Not even taking the UK, PAL, or the rest of EU into consideration.

Sequel-itis would be Splinter Cell, PoP, Burnout, J&D, Sonic, R&C, Midnight Club, Sly Cooper, etc. With the exclusion of the Mario Party games, the gameplay within the rest of the titles Mario's associated with differ drastically, & therefore cannot be labeled as rehashes by any definition of the word. (i.e they aren't all platformers like Sunshine) But you wouldn't know that because its unlikely you've even played one of the aforementioned titles.

I rather suspect it is an overload of sequels and too many similar games. I think too many people are looking for a controller to fix their disinterest after too many Mario games

Congratulations on your most ignorant troll-post yet! And it wasn't even mildly humorous.

 

[ban25]

An instantly world-wide recognizable brand IP that garners consumer notice & ensures higher than average or mediocre sales.

That's probably true and those sales figures are impressive. However, I would personally rather play as Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, or Tom Brady than Mario, Luigi, or Princess Peach. So, while they may gain some extra attention from one group of buyers, they do so at the expense of another.

 

[Powderkeg]

An instantly world-wide recognizable brand IP that garners consumer notice & ensures higher than average or mediocre sales.

So does limiting competition and limiting supplies, sometimes illegally. It's easy to sell your game when you don't allow anyone else to sell theres.

So, you can rely on recognizable brands, or you can rely on unethical supply manipulation.

I'll let you guess which the DOJ and EU convicted Nintendo of doing.

 

[PC-Engine]

That's probably true and those sales figures are impressive. However, I would personally rather play as Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, or Tom Brady than Mario, Luigi, or Princess Peach. So, while they may gain some extra attention from one group of buyers, they do so at the expense of another.

Do games with Federer, Tiger Woods, or Tom Brady sell in the millions?

 

[Powderkeg]

Do games with Federer, Tiger Woods, or Tom Brady sell in the millions?

Tiger Woods games do. Every single year.

 

[valioso]

Do games with Federer, Tiger Woods, or Tom Brady sell in the millions?

Tom Brady? you're asking if Madden sells millions every year?

 

[Magnum PI]

However, I would personally rather play as Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, or Tom Brady than Mario, Luigi, or Princess Peach.

That's you tastes and some others have different tastes. This is why having choice is great.

Behind mario and co there is far more than a character or a brand.

A tennis game with mario isn't just the standard tennis game with mario instead of federer and a colorful artwork, it's a *different* tennis game.

I play nintendo games not because I like to play as mario and co but because I like the nintendo gameplay culture. I'm not fond of the standard tennis videogame, but i can love the nintendo version of it.
I have to confess I (or the kid in me) like the mario universe too.

I understand and I totally accept that others may not like these at all, but when I read some posts here it looks like some epidermal reaction, people rejecting everything nintendo without knowing it.

 

[PC-Engine]

Tiger Woods games do. Every single year.

On Xbox?

 

[Li Mu Bai]

That's probably true and those sales figures are impressive. However, I would personally rather play as Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, or Tom Brady than Mario, Luigi, or Princess Peach. So, while they may gain some extra attention from one group of buyers, they do so at the expense of another.

Understandable ban25, but there will always be those fans that dislike strict simulation games & prefer the more arcadey world of Mario sports. For instance Madden '05 on the GC sold in excess of 400k+ copies, I believe it's simply a matter of personal preference.

 

[compres]

Thats what I was thinking, Mario "sport" games are more like arcade games, which are quite fun for my tastes.

I have to admit though, that I am quite interested in the revolution:

-Cheaper than the competition: I dont play enough to warrant a 300+ dollar investment.

-best console controller for FPS: My all time favority kind of games

-best console controller for RTS: My second all time favorite kind of game(lol)

-I miss playing zelda: Last one I played was ocarina of time, one of the best games I've ever played

-I miss metroid: Last one I played was Super Metroid(OMG my all time favorite game...) and the new metroid comes in FPS format, another plus

-It's different: yeah I dont like how I am supposed to use the same crap gamepad to play FPS, last time I tried was goldeneye on n64, and even though I had fun, its not a mouse/kb

-I can play the games I just mentioned before from the snes and n64.

Quite amazin how I fail to mention a ps1 or ps2 game in my fav. game list of all time, at least for my tastes nintendo's not doing that bad. I am after all a PC gamer, but outside PC games nintendo gets my vote.

Lets see if some red box forum member can share his infinite wisdom with me and explain why nintendo is bad and I am just confused...

 

[Powderkeg]

Lets see if some red box forum member can share his infinite wisdom with me and explain why nintendo is bad and I am just confused...

I don't think Nintendo games are bad at all. I just think their variety in genres and game types is very limited, and that is bad because it excludes gamers.

I would be happier if they went 3rd party because it would mean I could pick up the 3-5 games that they make that really interest me without having to buy an entire console. I also think if they don't change their games (Not get rid of the franchises, but expand to include new genres and styles as well as the tried and true) then I may get my wish.

 

[compres]

I don't think Nintendo games are bad at all. I just think their variety in genres and game types is very limited, and that is bad because it excludes gamers.

I would be happier if they went 3rd party because it would mean I could pick up the 3-5 games that they make that really interest me without having to buy an entire console. I also think if they don't change their games (Not get rid of the franchises, but expand to include new genres and styles as well as the tried and true) then I may get my wish.

Which makes sense froma gamer's point of view, but somehow they are still makin gprofit where others fail(aka MS this gen) which is quite surprising. What I mean is that somehow their bussiness model just works.

 

[PC-Engine]

SEGA went software only because they HAD to not because they WANTED to and even then it hasn't been all that successful. Nintendo doesn't NEED to go software only because they continue to make HUGE profits. Even if they HAD to go software only, it still doesn't guarantee their games will sell like they did on their own console.

 

[Powderkeg]

Which makes sense froma gamer's point of view, but somehow they are still makin gprofit where others fail(aka MS this gen) which is quite surprising. What I mean is that somehow their bussiness model just works.

Does their business model work?

NES = 62 Million users
SNES = 48 million users
N64 = 32 Million users
GCN = 19 million users

They lose 10-15 million customers every generation. If their business model works like that next generation then the Revolution will be the last Nintendo console they ever make.

 

[London Geezer]

Does their business model work?

NES = 62 Million users
SNES = 48 million users
N64 = 32 Million users
GCN = 19 million users

They lose 10-15 million customers every generation. If their business model works like that next generation then the Revolution will be the last Nintendo console they ever make.

If ultimately they make money out of it, why should they quit?

I mean, Paris Hilton makes money out of being Paris Hilton, even if everyone hates her. She doesn't stop what she's doing just because she is getting more and more hated by the public as each day goes by.

 

[fearsomepirate]

That's probably true and those sales figures are impressive. However, I would personally rather play as Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, or Tom Brady than Mario, Luigi, or Princess Peach. So, while they may gain some extra attention from one group of buyers, they do so at the expense of another.

Madden 2006 sold around 100K units on the Gamecube this time around (700K on Xbox, even though Xbox's user base isn't that much larger), but at this point, a lot of users have either abandoned the system or picked up a second console. Something tells me that PGA Kart: Double Dash! wouldn't have sold nearly as well as the similar Mario offering.

There's no magic rule forcing Nintendo to lose customers. With each console generation it's pretty easy to explain:

SNES - Serious competition from Genesis and shorter life cycle than NES. They didn't really make any mistakes; they just went from a monopoly to having one competitor. Since the market was split almost in half between SNES and Genesis, you can just say "those are the breaks" and move on.

N64 - An even shorter life cycle than SNES, which was ended by the advent of PS2 and ever-declining 3rd-party support, which again was largely due to using an expensive cartridge-based format and a bizarre Yamauchi scheme in which developers actually had to qualify to develop for N64.

GameCube (2001-2006(?)) - The hardware sold fewer units than N64, but they managed to sell more software year-on-year, retain far more 3rd-party support, and have a much more diverse library than N64. The sales were initially strong, regularly beating the more powerful, more advertised, and more "mature" Xbox, but eschewing online in 2003 in favor of a bizarre "connectivity" gimmick that required $130 of additional hardware (and sometimes another $20-$30 of additional software) to take full advantage of games released during this period sent sales into a tailspin. Though it wasn't a resounding sales success, relationships with developers like Konami and Square were repaired.

With both GCN and N64, they had almost everything they needed to be much stronger in the market than they were. One or two huge, stupid mistakes prevented that from happening in each case. With Revolution, the only possible mistake they're making is system power and HD. Hopefully, that won't outweigh the positives the console offers--Nintendo is sure banking on it.

 

[PC-Engine]

Does their business model work?

NES = 62 Million users
SNES = 48 million users
N64 = 32 Million users
GCN = 19 million users

They lose 10-15 million customers every generation. If their business model works like that next generation then the Revolution will be the last Nintendo console they ever make.

Do they make huge profits? I can give away consoles for $10 and lose a buttload of money on them so I can increase my customers installed base many times over, but I won't be in THAT *business* very long.

Not even if I'm MS.

 

[Teasy]

Does their business model work?

NES = 62 Million users
SNES = 48 million users
N64 = 32 Million users
GCN = 19 million users

They lose 10-15 million customers every generation.

As someone else mentioned there are good reasons for each drop in sales, its just silly to oversimplify it as if its some kind of downward spiral. I mean in the case of the SNES competition was really the only reason for it selling less then NES. And although competition isn't the sole reason for the other sales drops you can certainly see its effect. As I said NES had pretty much no competition while SNES had a solid competitor right through the generation in Sega. N64 had a solid competitor right through the generation in Sony and a partial competitor in Sega (Saturn started as a competitor but died before the end). GameCube had two solid competitors right throughout its life. Each generation has seen more and more competition, but now it seems that its reached a peak. I can't see a third big player entering the console market this generation and without that happening I don't see much chance of Nintendo losing marketshare.