01-11-2005, 06:37 PM | #201 |
Tea Time!
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 8,905
|
bout' fu*king time. Welcome to the club JameO.
On another note.... Nintendo and EA are sleeping with each other again. Now Nintendo's going to let them use the almight Super Punch Out in their new Boxing game (forget the name, don't care to remember). I'm getting royally pissed. Nintendo keeps handing them gold piece after gold piece. It's getting old fast. It dosen't seem to increse sales, and it just seems to downgrade the image of Ninty's franchises. Bah, no point ranting. Not going to do anything... On another note, Sony's begun building hype in the US for the PSP. I saw an ad for it at the movie theatre a while ago. Nintendo's going to be in trouble soon. This is going to be a messy year.
__________________
|
01-12-2005, 01:06 AM | #202 |
Foot Elite
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Angel Land
Posts: 4,150
|
Come on Ninty... Pokemon DS... MMORPG... You know you wanna... >_>.
Really though, it'd pry be best to wait till Sony's hype machine's reaching full gear, then go "POKEMON MMORPG FREE ONLINE PLAY OMGOMG!" all over everything. TV, print, instore ads, movies, at Pokemon TCG events.... it'd be CRAZY. |
01-12-2005, 01:33 AM | #203 |
Tea Time!
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 8,905
|
Okay, I've always believed that Steven Kent was a wise man, but he went too far this time. This article bounces all over the place. He makes osme good points and then crosses himself up.
LONG ASS POST. You've been warned _____________________________ Steve Kent's 7 rules for fixing Nintendo ---------------------------------------------------------------- "In this generation of console wars, GameCube came in third. Game Boy Advance is obsolete. The initials DS may be short for ‘Definitely Struggling’ instead of ‘Dual Screen’ if Sony launches PlayStation Portable (PSP) at a reasonable price next year. Nintendo, the company that re-launched and re-defined the video game business, has been battered in the console business and looks like it might be ripe for wreckage in handhelds. The Situation: As Microsoft entered the console wars, a lot of people asked, “Can the market support three competitors?” The answer seems to be, “Yes, but the guy who comes in last always dies.” In 1986, Atari tried to compete with newcomers Nintendo and Sega. It didn’t work and Atari wisely chose to sit out the 16-bit generation before committing corporate hari-kari in the form of Jaguar. In 1989, Sega and NEC started the 16-bit generation with Genesis and TurboGrafx. Nintendo entered two years later, knocked NEC out of the way; and the U.S. market never saw another NEC console again. Sony did the same thing to Sega in the next generation. Sega Saturn came in third place—not including 3DO and Jaguar. Sega did come back with Dreamcast, but no company that has come in third has survived the next generation. 4 In the current market, Nintendo has come in third place. Could Nintendo follow in the steps of Sega, 3DO, and Atari and go software only? With its many great franchises, Nintendo would be quite the hit as a third-party publisher. Only, isn’t that what people said about Sega? The truth is that the Atari of today bears almost no relationship to the Atari of the eighties. The Atari of old was cut in half. Both halves have been sold and resold. The company currently known as Atari is really a French company called Infogrames. After a long fight, 3DO ceased to exist. Sega, the company that once boasted it would supplant Electronic Arts as the number one independent publisher, never lives up to its potential. Without hardware to support, former console makers seem to give up their competitive drive. So is Nintendo going to go the way of Sega and Atari? The short answer is, ‘No.’,” says John Taylor, managing director and analyst for Arcadia Investment Corp. “Sega made a bunch of missteps. Sega had to deal with 32X, Sega CD, and a bunch of peripherals that confused consumers, ate up resources, and distracted management.” Granted, Nintendo has not released anything as notorious 32X, though Virtual Boy came close. On the other hand, with Game Boy Advance SP (Nintendo of America plans to discontinue the original GBA) and DS running side-by-side, the company does have two systems confusing consumers, eating resources, and distracting management. And this muddle appropriately happens as Sony prepares to launch PSP. “On the console side, it’s harder to imagine where Nintendo fits in now than it was 12 months ago,” says Taylor. When asked, the clerk at a GameStop store in Hawaii said that his store had sold out of PlayStation 2 and Xbox. “We still have GameCubes in stock.” Asked why he still had GameCubes, he stated that it was fine for a certain audience. “Xbox and PlayStation 2 are better for 15- to 30-year-olds. Most of the people who come here are between 15 and 30.” The clerk said that DS was ‘awesome, but hard to find.’ “We only get six in per week.” He suggested that I reserve a PSP, though he could not say what the price would be. Calls to game stores in Washington, New York, and California produce similar results—though the clerks are seldom as friendly. So this is the situation. Nintendo has been marginalized in the console business. It will shortly face a most significant challenge its portable business. Nintendo needs to make some fundamental changes. The following are steps Nintendo must take to prosper over the next 18 months: 1. Abandon the ‘belle of the ball’ mentality. Nintendo needs to abandon its former “star of the show” mentality and start acting like a company that knows it’s in trouble. The good news is that the Kyoto-giant has greatly improved one of its biggest weaknesses—third-party relations. The bad news is that Nintendo’s console sales are so low that even though they feel welcomed, many publishers are not sure they want to jump on board with Nintendo. “Nintendo has done a better job of working with third-party publishers,” says Taylor. “The third parties aren’t worried about the business model so much as they are about the GameCube’s market potential.” In other words, fewer people own GameCube, and those people seem to buy less software than PlayStation 2 and Xbox owners. Part of the problem is that Nintendo has abandoned the principles of service that made it such a force. Nintendo is notably more harsh than Microsoft or Sony in its handling of smaller publications and fan sites. Right now, Nintendo needs to cultivate allies and advocates. In a society filled with opinion leaders, i.e. the Internet, Nintendo must court influential fans. Along this same line, Nintendo needs to acknowledge the competition. Nintendo executives say that DS and PSP were made for different audiences. The truth is that when customers walk into Wall-Mart or GameStop with $200, they are going to compare DS and PSP and choose one over the other. And these annual shortages… what’s with that? Nintendo has a shortage of DS units. Do they think that is chic? They had similar shortages after the launches of GameCube, N64, and Super NES. You would learn how to manage inventory by now. There is no logical reason for Nintendo to waste this window of time before the launch of PSP. Yet here we are. With PSP supposedly launching in three months, Nintendo is excitedly telling the press how they cannot keep up with demand for DS. Why in the world are GameStop and Electronics Boutique stores, arguably the most influential chains in gaming, only receiving six DS units per week? They should be saturated with DS systems. The Nintendo of old, the one that sold approximately 100 million NESs, simply tried harder. In the early days, NCL president Hiroshi Yamauchi personally courted third-party publishers. Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa met with store owners in New York and promised to buy back unsold merchandise and helped set up a few store displays. In order to regain market share, Nintendo needs to return to its former Avis mentality. It needs to try harder. 2. Forget the bottom line. In 1990, Nintendo and the NES owned 93 percent of the U.S. console business. In 1994, the hottest year for 16-bit, the Super NES commanded approximately 48 percent of the U.S. market and ruled in Japan. By the end of the N64 generation, Nintendo was down to 33 percent of the American console market. With GameCube, Nintendo is down to approximately 15 percent. That is a nearly steady drop of 50 percent from one generation to the next. The typical Nintendo response to this is something along the line of their console business always remaining profitable. It’s a good and persuasive response. Even as Sony strangled Nintendo in all three world markets in the last year of the original PlayStation, Nintendo managed to make money with N64 while Sony leaked like a sieve. The problem is that if Nintendo’s share of the market keeps getting smaller, the next generation will not be profitable. There is another danger, too—people perceiving Nintendo as a company that does not care about its customers. Granted, companies are only out for themselves, but that does not mean they need to come across that way. A few years back, Nintendo defined ‘connectivity’ as meaning, “You buy a $150-console, a $99-portable, a $10-cable, a $49-console game, and a $29-portable cartridge.” That definition of ‘connectivity’ sounded awfully self-serving.
__________________
|
01-12-2005, 01:34 AM | #204 |
Tea Time!
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 8,905
|
Part 2 (too long for one post)
_______________________ 3. Know your market and stick to it. “You could argue that Nintendo still has a defendable position with a certain demographic,” says John Taylor. Taylor sees that demographic as the youth market, but the research does not necessarily agree. Recent surveys showed that the most desirable games for fourth and fifth graders were “Halo 2” and “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.” Most 10-year-old boys want whatever games their big brothers want. What few 10-year-olds want is to look uncool. “Wario” games are not perceived as cool. The Hawaiian GameStop clerk identified PlayStation 2 and Xbox as systems with games for players ages 15 to 30. He could not come up with a target market for GameCube, even when pressed. All he would say was, “Most of our customers are between 15 and 30.” As N64 faded and GameCube launched, Nintendo sent out the message that it was not just for kids. The problem is that none of the adult games that followed, “Conker’s Bad Fur Day,” “Perfect Dark,” “Eternal Darkness,” and the “Resident Evil” series, sold well or drove hardware sales. Here, the analysts and experts disagree. Some people say that Nintendo needs to cultivate its position as the manufacturer of family-friendly video game systems. “Nintendo cannot compete with Microsoft and Sony,” said one reporter. “Nintendo is like a company.” Others say that Nintendo can indeed change its stripes. “Look at Cadillac,” says Taylor. “It used to be the car your grandfather drove in the suburbs. Now, with its change of image, Cadillac is the high-prestige car for urban drivers.” 4. Americanize, Americanize, Americanize The bottom has dropped out of the Japanese video game market. It shrank by one-third in 2001 alone. Japan, which bought the least hardware and the most software in the past, was the most profitable market in games. Now that the drop has occurred, North American is the most lucrative market. Only one Japanese company made it into the U.S. market’s top 10 games of 2003—Nintendo. Nintendo had four games in the top 10—two of which were “Pokemon.” “Cute,” “Fluffy,” and “Funny,” words that describe so many of the best Japanese games, just don’t appeal the way they used to. American audiences are into speed, action, violence. Americans like 3D adventures and first-person shooters. These are not big genres in Japan. Sports, other than soccer, are huge in the United States. Sports, other than soccer, do not sell well in Japan. Nintendo has one shooter—“Metroid Prime.” The company has abandoned sports. “Nintendo needs to develop a Western-centric development network,” says Taylor, and he is right. The problem is that with the admirable exception of Retro Studios, Nintendo seems content letting second-party partners like Rare and Silicon Knights slip away. 5. Keep doing what you do right As angry and pessimistic as some gamers have become about Nintendo, other insiders believe that Nintendo is doing many things exactly right. “Nintendo is listening to a good mixture of customers and game developers,” says Richard Doherty, research director of Envisioneering. Had Nintendo read the reviewers and bulletin boards, the Pokemon series might have died two or three years ago. It didn’t, and Pokemon “Ruby” and “Sapphire” both made it on to the NPD Group’s list of the top 10 selling games of 2003. “Fire Red” and “Leaf Green” are among the top sellers of 2004. Many reviewers complained about the cel-shaded look of the new “Zelda” game right up until the release of “Wind Waker.” Then they proclaimed it. Now Nintendo is effectively breaking the “Zelda” franchise into two separate lines with the ‘adult Link’ in games with more realistic graphics and the ‘young Link’ remaining in cartoon-like cel-shading. Despite all of the criticisms, Nintendo still manages to do many things better than any other company in the business. 6. Stop with the mid-course corrections and hold to the basics What did Sony and Microsoft do that was so brilliant with the launches of their first console systems? Nothing. But even when things went wrong, they kept to their game and that made a difference. Saturn smeared PlayStation during the launch window in Japan. The following year, N64 out-launched both of them. Sony did not falter. Ken Kutaragi went right on making alliances, arranging exclusive games, and building an empire. Sony’s growth was insidious in Japan. First it was behind both Saturn and N64, then it was behind only N64, then it ruled the market. For two years after the launch of Xbox, people joked that Xbox should be called the “Halo Delivery System.” But Microsoft remained steady. Microsoft executives arranged exclusive deals with unlikely partners such as Tecmo and Ubi Soft. Games continued to look better on Xbox. More recently, Microsoft broke Sony’s stranglehold on online support from EA Sports. Sony may have sold more hardware in this generation, but Microsoft ended the generation with the chic factor. Sony has always said that it pandered to the Playboy crowd—not meaning Playboy readers, but rather suggesting that sophisticated and older demographic. Microsoft said it was going after a tech-savvy crowd. Even when Sony executives publicly berated their counterparts at Microsoft, both companies stayed the course. And Nintendo? Nintendo has bounced around. First GameCube was the safe system for kids, then it grew up and competed with Sony and Microsoft, only to become a system children and parents could trust. The same thing has happened with GBA. First GBA SP’s clamshell design was to make it more adult-friendly. Then DS materialized, and GBA SP turns out to have been a kids system all along. Nintendo needs to pick a strategy and stick to it; and in no area is that more important than in handhelds. 7. Either do Revolution right or don’t do Revolution at all In the end, Nintendo is going to need to make a stand. Executives at both Sony and Microsoft have made comments about Nintendo owning the handheld market. Now Sony has invaded that space. Microsoft may still follow. Nintendo should make its stand with Revolution. To do this, Nintendo needs to do a lot of things right from the start. First, it’s time for Nintendo to discover the Internet. In Kyoto, just like the rest of the world, people access to the Internet and for more than a game of “Phantasy Star Online.” Nintendo executives admit that not adding DVD capability to GameCube hurt them, it’s to make the same admission with the Internet. People may not use Xbox Live, but they want the option. Next, it’s time for Nintendo executives to listen to what their customers tell them. People like pretty graphics. People want the same games with better graphics. Nintendo executives say they want Revolution to be as revolutionary as DS. Fine, but make sure the graphics are hugely improved. Not everyone agrees with this. Richard Doherty compliments Nintendo for not trying to “create a super computer in a $300 game box.” This, he says, is what will separate Nintendo from Microsoft and Sony. But if Microsoft and Sony are successful, that separation may not be good. The truth is that if good old “Madden NFL” looks better and plays better on PlayStation 3 and NextBox, Maddeneers are going to buy those systems. And, for the record, “Madden NFL 2004” was the best selling game of 2003. The best of all worlds would be for Nintendo to join forces with Microsoft. Nintendo would handle Japan, Microsoft would launch in the United States. Microsoft would make the box, Nintendo would make the controller. Software would be shared. Since that is not going to happen, Nintendo needs to launch on time with good software and a strong proprietary library. If Microsoft launches in 2005, Nintendo should launch in 2005 as well. Do not pull a Dreamcast/3DO and come out too early, but do not allow the competition a one-year head start. Contrary to what former Nintendo VP Peter Main said in his final press conference, there is no benefit in coming last to the party. Finally Nintendo needs to have enough hardware at launch. Avoid shortages—real or trumped up—and fill the channel. Nintendo can still recapture much its former glory, even in this competitive marketplace. If the Red Socks can break their 50-year curse, Nintendo can break out. What Nintendo cannot do is continue to make the same old mistakes and survive." ________________________
__________________
|
01-12-2005, 01:47 AM | #205 |
Tea Time!
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 8,905
|
Almost done, I promise....
1. Abandon the ‘belle of the ball’ mentality. Yeah, act like you're in trouble and covering your ass. Good way to gain consumer support. People don't buy what looks like a sinking ship. 2. Forget the bottom line. That much I'll agree with. They have to realize they're going to have to loose some cash and invest in some REAL advertising. Movie theatres, TV, print, and everything else at once. 3. Know your market and stick to it. So he's basically saying Nintendo is for kids,a nd they should never aspire to be anything more?... If you admit you're a kid's company, then you're going to be stuck to a few rules. 1. The parental groups will then have reason to attack you for any "non family friendly" thing you do, and you'll have no way to fight because, you said it yourself "Nintendo is a kid's company". Ever heard of the rageing granny's? They're just itching for this announcement. Nintendo needs to branch out, not shrink they're market even more. Oh, and perfect Dark wasn't even on Gamecube.....neither was Conker (thanks Peanut) 4. Americanize, Americanize, Americanize Oh yes, turn yourself into your competition. Real way to define yourself. Nintendo needs to expand soe in the US, but not at the cost of what they are. They're a Japanese company. They just need to establish some better third party ties to take care of the generic stuff Americans tend to buy. They're working on that. 5. Keep doing what you do right Sooo, he just balled them out for everything they've been doing, and now tells them to keep on doing it? The man's a walking contradiction. 6. Stop with the mid-course corrections and hold to the basics They are. Gamecube has been slowly on the rise lately, and this year they're going to smear everything. They're finally getting off they're ass and giving their fans what they want. They making console exclusive FPS's for the American market, they're FINALLY giving us the Zelda we really wanted, and Mario 128 ACTUALLY exists and is coming. They're slowly changing to accomidate the demands of what the fans want, while gradually bringing in the innovation to go along with it (DS). 7. Either do Revolution right or don’t do Revolution at all How can he be saying this when no one has any idea what in the hell Revolution is? Oh, and Nintendo's not listening to their fans? See number 6. And "Up the Graphics"? Hasn't he seen the EA images? They were almost photorealistic. Steven Kent is ranting on about things that don't even make sense. yeah, the GBA is 4 years old. It kicked DS and PSP's asses combined in Japan last year (only counting Christmas sales), and it always did so to superior competatiors in the past. Know your history Kent. Jsut because it's older technology dosen't mean it is instantly dead. He writes the DS off as though it's been nothing but a failure since release. Graphical Prowess is not everything, ESPECIALLY in a handheld where the graphics aren't as easily seen. Oh, and the DS's screens may be samller, but they're a hell of a lot brighter than what people will have to run the PSP at to see it. People don't want to play a game on a console, then go play the same exact game on their handheld. They want something they can play fast, and in a hurry because they won't have much time. Oh, and that "Nintendo would work great as a third party" crap? That's what everything said about Sega. Now they're a bought out former giant that makes games like "Amazing Island". They have no spunk left. Sorry for the triple post here, but it wouldn't fit otherwise.
__________________
|
01-12-2005, 01:57 AM | #206 |
Second Gear
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: The New World
Posts: 15,422
|
That guy is just a ranting jackass. He stumbles all over the place and makes points that come nowhere close to being valid.
|
01-12-2005, 02:05 AM | #207 |
Foot Elite
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Angel Land
Posts: 4,150
|
Actually, TMB, I can see where he's comming from.
Nintendo hasn't really changed with the market. We keep hearing that "we're working on building up ______" and then they get rid of what ever was helping them do it (example, changing their kiddy image. Had Eternal Darkness been given a PROPER ad campaign, that game could have been HUGE, as it should have been). They arn't being aggressive anymore, and they're at the point where they have to be. Revolution's going to be a "put up or shut up" deal I think. Nintendo can't afford to make the same mistakes they made with the N64, and then again with the Gamecube, a third time. Hardware's going to be expensive this time around, it'll have to be. They're going to have to lose money on ads, and they're going to have to cut liscenisng fees to exactly where Sony and Microsoft have them. If Revolution fails, I strongly belive Nintendo won't have any other choice but to move solely to the handheld market. That is, if they can keep it. He makes another good point about them not being able to keep up stock of DS's. It works for a while, yes, but if they're still having these problems when the PSP hits do you really think people are going to wait to pick up a system? No. They'll grab the PSP and Metal Gear Acid. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fanboy to the end.... but it'd just be stupid to ignore the problems Nintendo has as a company. If they don't improve their buisness, we might not have Nintendo games much father after this next generation. And like I said, I'm starting to get tired of the "we're improving it" line. If it was getting improved, Gamecubes would be flying off shelves. They're not, and Nintendo really needs to figure out how to fix that. Last edited by Kid Icarus; 01-12-2005 at 02:06 AM. Reason: typo fixes |
01-12-2005, 02:11 AM | #208 |
Second Gear
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: The New World
Posts: 15,422
|
I'm really not seeing any light at the end of this tunnel. The world is just changing too much. Old Skool isn't going to last forever, nothing lasts forever. This whole gangsta-sizing of society has really brought out the "you need this to be cool" attitude in just about everything. Nintendo just isn't cool anymore, lets face it. Ludacris is singing about PS2's, 50-Cent is singing about the Xbox...Nintendo doesn't even get a line in a popular rap song. Things have to change or be swept away, and I fear more and more Nintendo is headed for that latter route.
Last edited by Peanut; 01-12-2005 at 02:23 AM. |
01-12-2005, 02:18 AM | #209 |
Super Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 7,449
|
I agree. Something needs to be done. Nintendo can't just sit around and wait for some miracle. They need to advertise, and appeal to the general public, even if they have to submit to the rap community. Their fan base is large, but they can't survive on that alone. They need new "recruits." If they don't do this soon, I don't see much in their future. That'll make me sad, indeed.
|
01-12-2005, 02:29 AM | #210 |
Foot Elite
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Angel Land
Posts: 4,150
|
And, once again, the day Nintendo stops making games is the day I stop playing them.
|
01-12-2005, 04:07 AM | #211 |
Tea Time!
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 8,905
|
Same here. The thought makes me depressed.
*writes editorial on subject*
__________________
|
01-12-2005, 10:17 AM | #212 |
Mad Scientist
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: 122 and an eighth
Posts: 2,129
|
I actually did hear "gamecube" in some rap song. It was no 50 cent or ludacris, but it was there!
|
01-12-2005, 07:06 PM | #213 |
Tea Time!
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 8,905
|
Last night's rant from Steven Kent stirred up some conterversy, but here's some good stuff. I won't repost the article, because he asked me not too, but you gotta read this. This one is gold.
http://gc.advancedmn.com/article.php...pg=1&comments= This man is my boss. I love my job.
__________________
|
01-12-2005, 11:30 PM | #214 |
Foot Elite
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Angel Land
Posts: 4,150
|
Update on my Mario 64 DS progress. 119 stars. All that's left is 4 from that stupid rainbow cruise level that I hate with amazing ammounts of passion, some 100 coin stars (every level after the ghost house), and the castles secret stars. Olmost there.
|
01-13-2005, 12:16 AM | #215 |
Tea Time!
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 8,905
|
Figured it out, I got the last of the mini-game rabbits, and after wandering about the castle forever, got the day-glo rabbits.
150 Stars = This game's been owned. In other news, there's news going on of financial dealings between Nintendo and Silicon Knights. IGN keeps dropping hints, and the rumor is it's a buyout ala Retro Studios. Please God let it be true. Perhaps they're finally kicking into action.
__________________
|
01-13-2005, 12:57 AM | #216 |
Foot Elite
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Angel Land
Posts: 4,150
|
If that's true, then it proves there's a god!
|
01-13-2005, 01:07 AM | #217 |
Super Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 7,449
|
Silicon Knights, eh? That sounds pretty huge. Maybe there is some hope.
|
01-13-2005, 01:07 AM | #218 |
Tea Time!
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 8,905
|
And it would prove that all out mindless rambelings aren't just hopeless dreams.
*prays*
__________________
|
01-13-2005, 01:09 AM | #219 |
Super Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 5,797
|
Nintendo should also buy Capcom and Namco. That would be more than interesting.
|
01-13-2005, 01:15 AM | #220 |
Tea Time!
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 8,905
|
No, that'd be heaven. They should start with Capcom. They have it coming.
Bah, Silicon Knights would be more than enough to make me happy.
__________________
|
|
|