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"Nintendo Failing?"

Have Nintendo failed? That is the big question everyone is either asking or thinking.

I'll take you back to the nineties, when the two giants of gaming, (Nintendo and Sega) weren't at war. They produced great games at their own pace, creating certain masterpieces along the way, e.g Sonic and Mario. The two characters became mascots for the companys and were growing rich at a steady pace.
The games industry was a profitable buisness and more powerful consoles and games were 'promised'. Nintendo produced Zelda, a new franchise, which helped Nintendo significantly.

Sega ,however, was losing money. For the first time, profits were down. Just at a convienient time, a reputable, rival company steped in. Sony. Sony produced the Playstation, which hit record sales and quickly overtook the Nintendo 64 and Sega Saturn consoles.

The Playstation had the backing of many games manufacturese.g Square-Soft, Konami and THQ, to name but a few. Now, Nintendo had serious competition.

Nintendo hit back in Japan with the ever-famous Pokemon. Everyone knew about Pokemon. It was everywhere, video games, cards ,posters and T.V series. There was no escaping Pokemon.

Nintendo continued to battle but seemed to give up. After producing the amazing James Bond: Goldeneye, numerous Zelda titles, Nintendo still didn't look like they were going to win this battle.

Sega had gone bust. They were bankrupt. So it was Nintendo Vs. Sony... Games like Final Fantasy, Grand Theft Auto ect. were being released on the Playstation, but Nintendo could only churn out more sequels e.g Zelda and Pokemon, whilst the fans were happy, most people wern't.

Some people say that it was Sony's fault that Sega only produce games today, but not consoles. But was it Sony's fault, or was it that Sega could keep up the pace?


This now leads us to the present day. Nintendo have had alot of speculation about them being bankrupt. Will they have the same fate as Sega? Maybe if Nintendo went back to their glourious days when every new release was 'hyped' and 'wanted' by the public, they would be ok financially. Without a mix of other games produced by leading company's Nintendo may suffer, too many games are accused of being 'babyish'.

If more Mario and Zelda sequels/remakes come out, will Nintendo still be here in the next 10 years?

gamer2005 wrote:
> Nintendo is failing. Even the GameBoy has sold more than the Gamecube.
> The Ps2 is obviously in the lead, and the xbox is way ahead of the
> GC. Nintendo isn't failing you say???

Who cares if you're third but still making plenty of cash?

Sony and Microsoft could give away their consoles for free and still turn in a tidy profit every year from all their other areas.

Saying the Gameboy has sold more than the cube isn't really a very clever argument since the GB's been out since somthing like 1989.

You t!t

Silent-Scope wrote:
> I wish I bought a Dreamcast when it came out but I was so assured
> that it was a crap console which it wasn't.

I did, best thing I ever did. Far superior console to the first generation, not that much worse than generation 2 consoles. Plus it had VMU's and introduced the concept of playing arcade games in your living room with serious intent.

Also, in case no-one understands why the PSone outsold the N64, it was mainly attributed to - in my opinion - the game format, for the compact discs the PlayStation used were far cheaper to manufacture, hence it had much more games, and attracted more developers, wheras the cartridges of the N64, though, in my opinion, better suited to games (no scratching, no loading times) were much more expensive to develop.

And gamer2005, what do you mean 'Nintendo is failing. Even the GameBoy has sold more than the Gamecube'? In case you hadn't noticed, Ninty make the GB, so how could they be failing if one is outselling the other? Absurd.

Then you said 'The Ps2 is obviously in the lead, and the xbox is way ahead of the GC'. OK, I take you mean popularity - the PS2, your right, is more popular in the West, but Ninty are still holding ground in Japan. They're also the only console who really have a hardcore devoted fanbase, the PS2 is too much 'for the masses' and the Xbox... Well, nobody likes the Xbox :P. And saying the Xbox is way ahead of the GC is wrong. Yes, the Xbox does have a faster proccessor, better graphics, is bigger, looks worse... But remember, the GC is making progress to, it's the first console to fully interact with a handheld - the N64 had a small capability of the same sorts, but only the cartridges, not the handheld itself - and is even trying out different ideas, such as it's discs.

See, I'm not a Ninty fan. No, honestly. I was, once upon a time, I had a GB Color, N64 and nothing else. Hardcore was I. But then came a lull and I bought a DreamCast (woooh), which remains my favourite console. Having that go bust was a blow, but I bought the next best thing, the PS2, which having just been released was great. It stops there. I only have a PS2, no Xbox, no GC. I mean, I'd buy an Xbox before a GC, but only because of online play. I expect great things from the next console, proper online capabilities, continually great games...

It's just 'that time of the month' in game terms for Nintendo. They'll be back, better than ever, next time.

(I'll still buy a PS3 though.)

Ugh. Double post, sorry.

Nintendo is failing. Even the GameBoy has sold more than the Gamecube. The Ps2 is obviously in the lead, and the xbox is way ahead of the GC. Nintendo isn't failing you say???

Oh for gods sake if you look EVEN try and play the games nintendo brings out on their consoles then you'll see most of it is better than everything else if not original, brilliant.
I wish I bought a Dreamcast when it came out but I was so assured that it was a crap console which it wasn't.

If goldeneye was rereleased, every thing the same but with a couple of tweaks to the multiplayer. (ie all levels to all number of chacters, maybe bots, weapon select and a couple of other things) i would probably pay 25+ quid for it.

lalakersrule wrote:
> Talking about marketing schemes i must applaude Nintendo's attempt to
> make the public pay £15 a time for 15 year old or so games. For
> the amount it takes to buy the whole lot of them you could probably
> just buy the original console and games for much cheaper. Nice try
> though.

True but when Wireless 4-8 player Goldeneye comes out I'll happily pay 15 quid for a copy :D

Dakarus Joe wrote:
> you can only trust Sega and they're crappy marketing
> schemes to only help.

True. I remember them buying entire ad breaks to advertise something of theirs with some glowing head skull/face thing.

Totally stupid.

i would say nintendo haven't fulfilled my expectationsin this later stage.

I wuld also say it wasn't their fault initially too. They did pretty much everything right with the N64. they made pretty much the perfect console superior in everyway to the oppositions shaddily made pile of crap. Yet it was out sold by miles. True that is their fault for not marketing as well, but as a console it was genius.

This time around (and i own a Gamecube) I am of the opinion that all the consoles have been fairly shoddy this time around and that obviously sony's console has done well of the Popularity of the first. I just hope one of them make a really outstanding console next time around, that suceeds on its merits.

Cyclone wrote:
> Same with GT4 prologue. What a catastrophic waste of money that would
> be.

Luckily i got my copy for free :-D