Time article on Nintendo

[Fox5]

"In your opinion (yes, I am interested ), what connectivity game makes best use of the feature? I see last minute gimmicks like unlocking something or some reletively cheesy game mode. The only game that seems to make serious use of it is Final Fantasy Chronicles.. and even then its just a menu system, and fans seem to be more irritated than anything that they need 4 gba's to play the game with friends."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
splinter cell had cool connectivity (remote detonator control, comstat), madden, as you mention, was usefull. animal crossing is a great example, and metroid wasn't bad.

the idea of connectivity (what i was defending) is great. it hasn't been implemented as well as it could have been, but the concept is sound and i expect it to become the norm and not to the exception.
c:

The best I could imagine it for is some kind of multiplayer mode which requires interaction between players, but also requires them to compete and thus they need to hide data from each other.(I guess four swords comes kind of close, but when you're playing on a console you shouldn't be forced to play on the handheld for a significant amount of time)
Splinter Cell's could have been done in a mini window on the screen(like MGS) or switched to full screen or something when the 1 new weapon was being used.
Madden would be useful I suppose, online play would be better.
Animal Crossing sucked as an example. Being able to design clothing sucked, that was a quick way to ruin your eyes. It was much better just to pay the 500 bell to get the far superior gamecube interface, where you can actually distinquish between two colors. The little mini game could have been done on the cube, though it did fit better on the gba, but it wasn't full featured enough to make a good mini game. The chao from sonic adventure 1 and 2 were a better usage of it, since you could load it onto the gba for a significant amount of time and keep it as a virtual pet, rather than having to pay constant attention to it and really only trying to get items(and the gba is active mode lasted longer than the vmu in standby, though not when the vmu was fully off). The ereader scanning thing could also have been done if the ereader was for gamecube and not for gba. GBA connectivity may have some cool uses, but they're hardly game selling like internet play can be.

BTW, I wouldn't really consider metroid prime dumbed down. It wasn't standard, but it closely resembled the control schemes from the zelda games, and didn't hinder the game much in my opinion. It played more like a zelda game, and the lock on feature still allowed for quick combat. Besides, I prefer mouse control to joystick, though I can see while people would say "it's an fps, give me fps controls!" Anyhow, it wasn't a dumbing down that I think hurt the game, unlike Deus Ex: IW or Kirby's Air Ride.

 

[see colon]

"Madden would be useful I suppose, online play would be better"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
just because nintendo (and/or EA in this case) don't support online play doesn't meant that the connectivity isn't cool.

"The little mini game could have been done on the cube, though it did fit better on the gba, "
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
so it's cooler on the gba with connectivity. i'd call that a plus....

"he ereader scanning thing could also have been done if the ereader was for gamecube and not for gba."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
but the ereader isn't got gc, thus making connectivity necessary. and the ability to add new things (mostly items and events in this case) is a good idea.


"GBA connectivity may have some cool uses, but they're hardly game selling like internet play can be"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
internet play and connectivity don't have to be exclusive of eachother. as i said before, the idea of connectivity is a good one, you can attack nintendo (and thier 3rd parties) execution of it but the idea is sound. just because nintendo doesn't support online play doesn't discount the fundamentals behind conectivity.
c:

 

[Fox5]

Well, the idea sucks when we wanna hear internet play and we hear connectivity.
The idea sucks when you have to buy a gameboy for every person who wants to play a game.
The idea sucks when the gameboy does nothing more than unlock something within the game.
The idea sucks when it is more cumbersome to have the gameboy than to not have it. Rebel Strike supports the gba for its multiplayer mode for issuing commands, but when you're flying, do you have the time to look at a gba screen and press a button, when wingmen are mostly useless anyhow, and the same thing can be done with nearly the same amount of secrecy on the gamecube itself?
Connectivity is fine for pokemon. It is fine for four swords or pac man. It is fine for the chao mini game, or even that little island in animal crossing. It's cool in that multiplayer mode in rayman. However, it is recieving far more attention than it should, and it makes it seem like nintendo has nothing else worth talking about.

 

[Tagrineth]

The perfect example of dumbed down is Metroid Prime, where they refused to use the industry standard FPS controls that other games on PS2 and Xbox had been using for years. It was extremely irritating not to be able to look and move at the same time.

Prime didn't refuse to have standard FPS controls because they were dumbing it down... they used different controls because it seriously does play differently from your standard-fare FPS! The only times you really have to look up right the fuck now!!!!one, you can just hit L and lock onto an enemy in flight.

 

[see colon]

"Well, the idea sucks when we wanna hear internet play and we hear connectivity.
The idea sucks when you have to buy a gameboy for every person who wants to play a game.
The idea sucks when the gameboy does nothing more than unlock something within the game.
The idea sucks when it is more cumbersome to have the gameboy than to not have it. "
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
like i said, the implementation isn't perfect. but the concept is sound. you can attack the implimentaion all day if you want, it doen't change the fact that the idea is a good one. i could write a book about what sucks involving online play, but it doesn't make online play not-cool.
c:

 

[LisaJoy]

it might have some substance if the pricecut had not sent sales consistantly soaring.

 

[V3]

due to a weak yen.

Its all relative, USD is pretty weak too. In a matter of fact, some Japanese companies is blaming on strong Yen relative to weak USD for their poor earning.

 

[Kolgar]

I think the article is right on. Nintendo has some real challenges ahead of it, and if the past 10 years are any indication, the company has its head too far in the sand to effectively meet them head-on.

Nintendo's Gamecube is a niche system. People buy it to play Nintendo-made games, period. Going forward, as the market demands do-everything machines that play music and movies and surf the web and record TV shows, Nintendo's toys will be left behind. Certainly, there's less growth potential in children's toys than in "cool" consumer-electronics doodads that appeal to a much broader audience.

I don't foresee Nintendo releasing another home console after Gamecube's successor. IF they release a successor to Gamecube.

And Nintendo's portable business? I expect Sony to erode Nintendo's market share just as Sega halved Nintendo's near-monopoly in the console biz with Genesis back in the early 90s. If Sony doesn't do it, then someone else will. Competition is coming, and all it will take is one powerful competitor to wreak havoc on Nintendo's last bastion, its bread-and-butter portable business.

Why is this happening? Because Nintendo's been far too stubborn and has failed to change with the times. Blame Yamauchi. The eccentric old bird should have turned over the reins a decade ago.

And unless some minds and philosophies change at Nintendo today, the company will indeed pay dearly for it tomorrow.

Kolgar

 

[Tahir2]

The article was probably written before the results that came in late november/early december. Everyone assumed the price cut would not help Nintendo and was an act of a desparate company. Whilst to an extent Nintendo were in despair the price cuts showed something that likely blew the expectations of analysts and Nintendo themselves.

According to many experts, Nintendo's most likely route is to eventually follow Sega's lead: get out of the brutally competitive console business and focus on software.

I don't think Nintendo will ever do this.

But a rebound looks unlikely. Nintendo, which once commanded more than 70% of the console market, is now struggling just to stay in the game. As of June this year, Sony's PlayStation 2 had captured 74% of the market, leaving Nintendo's GameCube to split the scraps with console newcomer Microsoft and its Xbox at 13% apiece. The next generation of machines—which could allow Nintendo to erase perceptions that the two-year-old GameCube is inferior to the PlayStation and Xbox—is at least a year away. Rather than articulate a radical plan for the company to regain its competitiveness now, Iwata's most notable action since taking the helm has been a series of price cuts, slashing the cost of GameCube consoles by as much as 50% worldwide. While those reductions have boosted market share and promise to move more units during the crucial holiday weeks, they may well have an adverse effect on Nintendo's profits unless game-software sales rise dramatically too, as hardware is a low-margin (if not loss-making) business even in the best of times.

How are Nintendo GameCube software sales doing in relation to Sony and Microsoft? It seems to me they are competitive at this time and if the 'boost' in sales continues over to the next year the rebound has already started.

Nintendo needs to focus on making its brand name strong once more and I believe the best way to do this is to release original (not merely rehashes of old games) triple AAA quality games that appeal to the mainstream.

Nintendo are also not really being threatened in its handheld market like the article suggests. The only powerful adversary they have is the PSP and the PSP seems targetted at a different market to where the GBA stands right now.

My analysis for Nintendo is that it needs to shake off the image that it is unsucessful as this image has been unfairly been creditted to Nintendo.

The biggest failure of this generation of consoles at the moment is Xbox not GameCube - but MS are well positioned and knew this was a possibility and are dealing with it successfully, or so the perception is.

 

[Kolgar]

The price cut is a temporary fix at best. A band-aid to hide the fact that Gamecube is losing steam. What happens when Sony and Microsoft eventually lower the prices of their systems? Where has Nintendo left to go?

Kolgar

 

[Tahir2]

We do not know if the price cut is a temporary fix or not at this time so it would be foolish to dismiss it offhand.
If it is successful then the other two players will react.
And the Nintendo will react from there, either successfully or unsuccessfully.

Nintendo is far from a dead company with limited options. That is all.

 

[Kolgar]

I believe the price cut IS a temporary fix. If Gamecube had been selling well on its own merits, Nintendo wouldn't have had to stop production and cut the console's price.

Price cuts like these smell of desperation, and they rarely pave the way to future success. In this case, Nintendo hasn't yet fixed the problems that caused them to have to cut the price in the first place.

You say Nintendo will react when Sony and MS drop their prices. How? Will they go to $79? Pack in a game? They don't have much maneuvering room left, with better than a year and a half left in this generation.

Kolgar

 

[Ooh-videogames]

I belive MS Xbox holiday bundles are temporary fixes also. And there also are a sign of desperation. IMO obviously.

 

[Tahir2]

You say it IS a temporary fix. I am saying it is POSSIBLE that the price cut can affect long term sales.

How else can Nintendo react to a Sony/MS price cut? Nintendo can offer other incentives apart from further price cuts. It can advertise more affectively. Nintendo could reduce some costs to developers. Nintendo can do a few different things if it feels inclined. It can begin a push in other territories that it is not covering aggressively at this time. That is online play or something else, lower priced games? I dont know - it is not important to me. Nintendo can do nothing if it wants to. A further price cut is not the only option to boost sales.

This generation has been short lived for all three players including Sony. Market trends seem to shifting.

 

[Qroach]

V3,

Its all relative, USD is pretty weak too. In a matter of fact, some Japanese companies is blaming on strong Yen relative to weak USD for their poor earning.

Perhaps that was it, I forget. Whatever it was, Nintendo certainly doesn't have 6 billion sitting around any more.

 

[London Geezer]

Its all relative, USD is pretty weak too. In a matter of fact, some Japanese companies is blaming on strong Yen relative to weak USD for their poor earning.

Yes, the USD has been going down for (at least) the last 4 months. Steadily. So much so that the profit margins of my company have gone up (relatively) by quite a bit, only because of exchange rates

 

[ChryZ]

Yes, the USD has been going down for (at least) the last 4 months. Steadily. So much so that the profit margins of my company have gone up (relatively) by quite a bit, only because of exchange rates

Hehe, I love it ... it's great for imports. I ordered 2 days ago: Viewtiful Joe. listed with $50 and I was charged €34 for it

 

[London Geezer]

Yes, the USD has been going down for (at least) the last 4 months. Steadily. So much so that the profit margins of my company have gone up (relatively) by quite a bit, only because of exchange rates

Hehe, I love it ... it's great for imports. I ordered 2 days ago: Viewtiful Joe. listed with $50 and I was charged €34 for it

Exchange rates make for around 3-4% or our profits here, which is A LOT considering the scale of operations we have, all because the UK£ is completely thrashing the USD...
One of the reasons we shouldn't adopt the Euro as currency here in the UK (This is my personal opinion, very biased since we're making a lot of money out of this situation)

 

[Florin]

Exchange rates make for around 3-4% or our profits here, which is A LOT considering the scale of operations we have, all because the UK£ is completely thrashing the USD...
One of the reasons we shouldn't adopt the Euro as currency here in the UK (This is my personal opinion, very biased since we're making a lot of money out of this situation)

Uhm, the Euro is trashing the USD too, so what's the difference? And of course, in the end we all lose out, as European products become too expensive for US buyers.

 

[London Geezer]

Uhm, the Euro is trashing the USD too, so what's the difference? And of course, in the end we all lose out, as European products become too expensive for US buyers.

I wasn't sure about the Euro that's why... still, in the last 3 months the USD has lost 15 cents to the pound, which is a whole lot if you ask me...
Let me check the euro...
There u go, it lost 10 cents to the Euro since the beginning September.
So there... (My numbers shouldn't be off, i'm using oanda.com FXconverter, which is what i use for work)