Repercussions of Nintendo's Re-Branding.
Like most of my generation, my first console was purchased in the Nineties and was manufactured by a certain Japanese company known as Nintendo. As my introduction to the magical world of video games, I've always had a soft spot for Nintendo and everything that comes with it. Years and hundreds of hours of Mario, Samus, and Donkey Kong later, my love of the company has diminished, but, while I was puzzled by the Gamecube and cringed for the Wii, I've still held high hopes for the future of “hardcore” gamers with Nintendo consoles. With the announcement of 3DS details and the launch of the system looming on the horizon, though, I've been doing some thinking about Nintendo and more specifically on the question, “Why don't I want to play DS in public?”
I'd like to think that I'm a well-versed gamer: I've played my share of most genres, and I'm comfortable with my nerdy trivia knowledge of games past and present. If I play DS in public, though, I feel like I've got to show the screen to everyone around me just to try to convince them that I'm not playing one of the many movie tie-ins or kids' games that have been released for the handheld. Perhaps the very fact that my youth was punctuated by the Gameboy chime makes me think feel slightly childish while playing, and it doesn't help when games require me to pull out the stylus or blow into the mircophone. In the self-conscious world we live in, Nintendo seems to have fallen from the cool side to the less than cool side.
When you look at the sales numbers, the DS won the handheld console war with no questions asked, but while those numbers don't lie about the total sales, one has to wonder how many of those were sold to “actual” gamers. How many soccer moms and grandparents were lured in by Brain Training or Crossword DS? How many bright pink systems were sold to gradeschool-aged girls? If I had a nickle for every seven-year-old walking around with a DS, I might be a rich man. Nintendo has made millions by appealing to a new audience, but they've diluted their customer base to the point that there's no way that they can make everyone happy. The problem is that when the casual gamers don't see something interesting in the new system, they melt back into the teeming masses of non-gamers, while the unhappy hardcore will grumble as they play their Kid Icarus and assortment of remakes. Nintendo knows where the big money is, and they're going to go after it whenever they can.
It will be hard for me to pass up the 3DS when it comes out in a few months, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Nintendo is slowly but steadily moving toward the casual market, and those of us on the fringe are going to have to start moving one way or another. We'll either have to start playing those Brain Training games, or we'll have to move on to bigger and brighter things. It should be interesting to see how Nintendo will respond to Sony's announcement of the NGP, or what amounts to the PSP 2. Will Nintendo take this as the chance to win gamers back over with an experience that puts them back into competition with Sony's software support. I never though I would say this, but Nintendo has some catching up to do.
--Tom
No comments:
Post a Comment