The "General Games Chat" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
From www.nintendojo.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A work friend of mine recently told me that he was thinking of buying a
gaming console. He knows I’ve been playing games for years and asked
me which one I thought he should buy. He’s 25 years old, likes sports,
racing and action games, and has never owned a home console before.
He doesn’t read video game magazines or even game reviews. The only
thing he knows about consoles is what he’s unconsciously absorbed from
commercial marketing. His question to me was, simply: "Hey Dean, do
you think I should buy a PlayStation 2 or an XBOX?"
His question didn’t surprise me, but I was curious to learn more about this
perspective of the average gamer. I asked him what he thought about the
Nintendo GameCube. His critique consisted of two points: "I wouldn’t
consider it because it doesn’t play DVDs," and "Besides, that system is
only for little kids." He didn’t need to know anything else before
unequivocally eliminating GameCube from his choice of systems.
Unlike my friend, I have been an avid gamer since the good ol’ days of
Atari and the NES. I read about and follow the progression of games, and
enjoy analyzing the trends of the market. Growing up, I was hooked on
the great classics like Pitfall 2, Contra, and Mike Tyson’s Punch Out. Sega
had a couple of winners here and there, but for years, all anyone ever
talked about in the school yards was Nintendo this, Nintendo that, and
"Does anyone know when the next Mario game is coming out?" All of us
youngsters were a buying force to be reckoned with; although I can’t
remember the exact statistic, a solid 90% of gamers were under the age
of 19. Nintendo was able to persuade us to dish out hundreds of dollars
yearly toward the worldly pursuit of princesses—courtesy of Mom and Dad.
Fast forward fifteen years later. Nintendo is getting hammered by Microsoft
and has been absolutely annihilated by Sony. Though Nintendo came into
the next generation wars as a heavy weight, they’ve been slow to catch on
as to why their "uppercut" used to be ranked #1. During the days of the
NES and Super NES, Nintendo simply made the best games that appealed
to all age demographics. Nobody came close to matching the quality of
Nintendo’s games. Sega can brag about Sonic until they’re blue in the
face, but back then, nobody but Nintendo had games as fun or as
economically successful as Mario and Zelda. These games were killer
applications that could not be found anywhere else but on a Nintendo
console.
It may have taken a few years, but I think it’s fair to say that many
developers have narrowed the quality gap between themselves and the
Big N. Let’s be honest—Mario Sunshine is great, but it’s certainly no better
than Banjo Tooie. For every runaway Nintendo hit, I can name two or three
games from other developers that are equally good—if not better. Like
Eternal Darkness, Super Smash Bros. and Mario Sunshine? Try Devil May
Cry, Tekken 4 and Grand Theft Auto on for size, then come back and tell
me exactly what “The Nintendo Difference” is supposed to refer to.
Even more important than the fact that Nintendo can no longer outperform
third-party developers is the painfully obvious notion that Nintendo no
longer appeals to a major gaming demographic. As I’m sure most of you
have already read from Nintendo’s latest press conference, only 45% of
gamers are now under the age of 18. That means the majority of people
who buy video games are old enough to be interested in silly things like
“story lines” and “plots,” and don’t really care much about cuddly cartoon
characters. What’s worse, rudimentary human psychology tells us that all
things being equal, 12 to 17 year olds are also more interested in mature
content—despite what the ESRB tries to tell mothers.
Now, because the gaming industry is so large (and expected to grow to 20
billion in the next decade), a small market share of youngsters interested
in a company’s games—ie. Nintendo—can still contribute a lot of money.
Take Apple Computers, for example. They are a profitable company with
a loyal customer base, despite a paltry 8% market share. But with this
approach, it means that Nintendo will likely never rejoin the ranks of Sony
and Microsoft, which are giving mature gamers a lot more meat on their
plates. Worse still, most gamers over 18 have jobs and don’t have to ask
their parents for money to get games. Not only are there greater numbers
of mature gamers than ever, but they will likely spend more on games
than little nine-year old Jimmy can.
You can also expect that 55% figure to balloon in the next 20 years and
beyond. When I was a Nintendo tot, I noticed my 25-year-old cousin’s
generation never really got into video games. They still haven’t, and most
never will. My generation, on the other hand, is still playing now, and we’ll
likely still be playing when we’re 65 (what else we gonna do when we retire
and can’t get it up without Viagra?). It doesn’t take much brain power to
figure out that focusing primarily on the younger market in the coming
years would be like a robbing a coffee shop for the money in the register,
while ignoring the open bank vault right next door. Nintendo seems to be
heading towards a solution for this situation, but they’re still far from
competing with the likes of Sony and now, Microsoft.
My 20-something friend can only afford one console, and he trusted I
would give him sound advice as to which system he would enjoy the most.
I considered two factors: What games are out now, and what games are
coming down the pike. Without hesitation, I had to recommend the PS2.
It gets all the best sports games first, it has the best racing games by far,
and it has the Grand Theft Auto series—a style of game that, thanks to
Nintendo’s castrated DVD-sized media, could not be accomplished on the
Cube, even if Rockstar wanted to make it (which they don’t). Add the
disturbing fact that a phenomenal, mature-rated video game like Eternal
Darkness can’t even crack the top 30 in sales after its first month of
release, mix in the recent sale of Rare to their closest competitor and
what do you have left? Not much. Nintendo claims to be remedying this by
an “aggressive targeting of the teen and 20-something market.” Well, all
they’ve got—exclusively, that is—for my age group in the foreseeable
future is Metroid Prime, Zelda (starring a cartoon toddler), Resident Evil 0,
and 1080. Everything else is just a PS2 hand-me-down.
Get with it, Nintendo. It’s time to break open the 7 billion-dollar war chest
and start competing like you mean it—and want it. You’ve definitely got
the talent. You just need to work harder on the vision.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The guy speaks a hell of a lot of sense.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A work friend of mine recently told me that he was thinking of buying a
gaming console. He knows I’ve been playing games for years and asked
me which one I thought he should buy. He’s 25 years old, likes sports,
racing and action games, and has never owned a home console before.
He doesn’t read video game magazines or even game reviews. The only
thing he knows about consoles is what he’s unconsciously absorbed from
commercial marketing. His question to me was, simply: "Hey Dean, do
you think I should buy a PlayStation 2 or an XBOX?"
His question didn’t surprise me, but I was curious to learn more about this
perspective of the average gamer. I asked him what he thought about the
Nintendo GameCube. His critique consisted of two points: "I wouldn’t
consider it because it doesn’t play DVDs," and "Besides, that system is
only for little kids." He didn’t need to know anything else before
unequivocally eliminating GameCube from his choice of systems.
Unlike my friend, I have been an avid gamer since the good ol’ days of
Atari and the NES. I read about and follow the progression of games, and
enjoy analyzing the trends of the market. Growing up, I was hooked on
the great classics like Pitfall 2, Contra, and Mike Tyson’s Punch Out. Sega
had a couple of winners here and there, but for years, all anyone ever
talked about in the school yards was Nintendo this, Nintendo that, and
"Does anyone know when the next Mario game is coming out?" All of us
youngsters were a buying force to be reckoned with; although I can’t
remember the exact statistic, a solid 90% of gamers were under the age
of 19. Nintendo was able to persuade us to dish out hundreds of dollars
yearly toward the worldly pursuit of princesses—courtesy of Mom and Dad.
Fast forward fifteen years later. Nintendo is getting hammered by Microsoft
and has been absolutely annihilated by Sony. Though Nintendo came into
the next generation wars as a heavy weight, they’ve been slow to catch on
as to why their "uppercut" used to be ranked #1. During the days of the
NES and Super NES, Nintendo simply made the best games that appealed
to all age demographics. Nobody came close to matching the quality of
Nintendo’s games. Sega can brag about Sonic until they’re blue in the
face, but back then, nobody but Nintendo had games as fun or as
economically successful as Mario and Zelda. These games were killer
applications that could not be found anywhere else but on a Nintendo
console.
It may have taken a few years, but I think it’s fair to say that many
developers have narrowed the quality gap between themselves and the
Big N. Let’s be honest—Mario Sunshine is great, but it’s certainly no better
than Banjo Tooie. For every runaway Nintendo hit, I can name two or three
games from other developers that are equally good—if not better. Like
Eternal Darkness, Super Smash Bros. and Mario Sunshine? Try Devil May
Cry, Tekken 4 and Grand Theft Auto on for size, then come back and tell
me exactly what “The Nintendo Difference” is supposed to refer to.
Even more important than the fact that Nintendo can no longer outperform
third-party developers is the painfully obvious notion that Nintendo no
longer appeals to a major gaming demographic. As I’m sure most of you
have already read from Nintendo’s latest press conference, only 45% of
gamers are now under the age of 18. That means the majority of people
who buy video games are old enough to be interested in silly things like
“story lines” and “plots,” and don’t really care much about cuddly cartoon
characters. What’s worse, rudimentary human psychology tells us that all
things being equal, 12 to 17 year olds are also more interested in mature
content—despite what the ESRB tries to tell mothers.
Now, because the gaming industry is so large (and expected to grow to 20
billion in the next decade), a small market share of youngsters interested
in a company’s games—ie. Nintendo—can still contribute a lot of money.
Take Apple Computers, for example. They are a profitable company with
a loyal customer base, despite a paltry 8% market share. But with this
approach, it means that Nintendo will likely never rejoin the ranks of Sony
and Microsoft, which are giving mature gamers a lot more meat on their
plates. Worse still, most gamers over 18 have jobs and don’t have to ask
their parents for money to get games. Not only are there greater numbers
of mature gamers than ever, but they will likely spend more on games
than little nine-year old Jimmy can.
You can also expect that 55% figure to balloon in the next 20 years and
beyond. When I was a Nintendo tot, I noticed my 25-year-old cousin’s
generation never really got into video games. They still haven’t, and most
never will. My generation, on the other hand, is still playing now, and we’ll
likely still be playing when we’re 65 (what else we gonna do when we retire
and can’t get it up without Viagra?). It doesn’t take much brain power to
figure out that focusing primarily on the younger market in the coming
years would be like a robbing a coffee shop for the money in the register,
while ignoring the open bank vault right next door. Nintendo seems to be
heading towards a solution for this situation, but they’re still far from
competing with the likes of Sony and now, Microsoft.
My 20-something friend can only afford one console, and he trusted I
would give him sound advice as to which system he would enjoy the most.
I considered two factors: What games are out now, and what games are
coming down the pike. Without hesitation, I had to recommend the PS2.
It gets all the best sports games first, it has the best racing games by far,
and it has the Grand Theft Auto series—a style of game that, thanks to
Nintendo’s castrated DVD-sized media, could not be accomplished on the
Cube, even if Rockstar wanted to make it (which they don’t). Add the
disturbing fact that a phenomenal, mature-rated video game like Eternal
Darkness can’t even crack the top 30 in sales after its first month of
release, mix in the recent sale of Rare to their closest competitor and
what do you have left? Not much. Nintendo claims to be remedying this by
an “aggressive targeting of the teen and 20-something market.” Well, all
they’ve got—exclusively, that is—for my age group in the foreseeable
future is Metroid Prime, Zelda (starring a cartoon toddler), Resident Evil 0,
and 1080. Everything else is just a PS2 hand-me-down.
Get with it, Nintendo. It’s time to break open the 7 billion-dollar war chest
and start competing like you mean it—and want it. You’ve definitely got
the talent. You just need to work harder on the vision.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The guy speaks a hell of a lot of sense.
Page:
From www.nintendojo.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A work friend of mine recently told me that he was thinking of buying a
gaming console. He knows I’ve been playing games for years and asked
me which one I thought he should buy. He’s 25 years old, likes sports,
racing and action games, and has never owned a home console before.
He doesn’t read video game magazines or even game reviews. The only
thing he knows about consoles is what he’s unconsciously absorbed from
commercial marketing. His question to me was, simply: "Hey Dean, do
you think I should buy a PlayStation 2 or an XBOX?"
His question didn’t surprise me, but I was curious to learn more about this
perspective of the average gamer. I asked him what he thought about the
Nintendo GameCube. His critique consisted of two points: "I wouldn’t
consider it because it doesn’t play DVDs," and "Besides, that system is
only for little kids." He didn’t need to know anything else before
unequivocally eliminating GameCube from his choice of systems.
Unlike my friend, I have been an avid gamer since the good ol’ days of
Atari and the NES. I read about and follow the progression of games, and
enjoy analyzing the trends of the market. Growing up, I was hooked on
the great classics like Pitfall 2, Contra, and Mike Tyson’s Punch Out. Sega
had a couple of winners here and there, but for years, all anyone ever
talked about in the school yards was Nintendo this, Nintendo that, and
"Does anyone know when the next Mario game is coming out?" All of us
youngsters were a buying force to be reckoned with; although I can’t
remember the exact statistic, a solid 90% of gamers were under the age
of 19. Nintendo was able to persuade us to dish out hundreds of dollars
yearly toward the worldly pursuit of princesses—courtesy of Mom and Dad.
Fast forward fifteen years later. Nintendo is getting hammered by Microsoft
and has been absolutely annihilated by Sony. Though Nintendo came into
the next generation wars as a heavy weight, they’ve been slow to catch on
as to why their "uppercut" used to be ranked #1. During the days of the
NES and Super NES, Nintendo simply made the best games that appealed
to all age demographics. Nobody came close to matching the quality of
Nintendo’s games. Sega can brag about Sonic until they’re blue in the
face, but back then, nobody but Nintendo had games as fun or as
economically successful as Mario and Zelda. These games were killer
applications that could not be found anywhere else but on a Nintendo
console.
It may have taken a few years, but I think it’s fair to say that many
developers have narrowed the quality gap between themselves and the
Big N. Let’s be honest—Mario Sunshine is great, but it’s certainly no better
than Banjo Tooie. For every runaway Nintendo hit, I can name two or three
games from other developers that are equally good—if not better. Like
Eternal Darkness, Super Smash Bros. and Mario Sunshine? Try Devil May
Cry, Tekken 4 and Grand Theft Auto on for size, then come back and tell
me exactly what “The Nintendo Difference” is supposed to refer to.
Even more important than the fact that Nintendo can no longer outperform
third-party developers is the painfully obvious notion that Nintendo no
longer appeals to a major gaming demographic. As I’m sure most of you
have already read from Nintendo’s latest press conference, only 45% of
gamers are now under the age of 18. That means the majority of people
who buy video games are old enough to be interested in silly things like
“story lines” and “plots,” and don’t really care much about cuddly cartoon
characters. What’s worse, rudimentary human psychology tells us that all
things being equal, 12 to 17 year olds are also more interested in mature
content—despite what the ESRB tries to tell mothers.
Now, because the gaming industry is so large (and expected to grow to 20
billion in the next decade), a small market share of youngsters interested
in a company’s games—ie. Nintendo—can still contribute a lot of money.
Take Apple Computers, for example. They are a profitable company with
a loyal customer base, despite a paltry 8% market share. But with this
approach, it means that Nintendo will likely never rejoin the ranks of Sony
and Microsoft, which are giving mature gamers a lot more meat on their
plates. Worse still, most gamers over 18 have jobs and don’t have to ask
their parents for money to get games. Not only are there greater numbers
of mature gamers than ever, but they will likely spend more on games
than little nine-year old Jimmy can.
You can also expect that 55% figure to balloon in the next 20 years and
beyond. When I was a Nintendo tot, I noticed my 25-year-old cousin’s
generation never really got into video games. They still haven’t, and most
never will. My generation, on the other hand, is still playing now, and we’ll
likely still be playing when we’re 65 (what else we gonna do when we retire
and can’t get it up without Viagra?). It doesn’t take much brain power to
figure out that focusing primarily on the younger market in the coming
years would be like a robbing a coffee shop for the money in the register,
while ignoring the open bank vault right next door. Nintendo seems to be
heading towards a solution for this situation, but they’re still far from
competing with the likes of Sony and now, Microsoft.
My 20-something friend can only afford one console, and he trusted I
would give him sound advice as to which system he would enjoy the most.
I considered two factors: What games are out now, and what games are
coming down the pike. Without hesitation, I had to recommend the PS2.
It gets all the best sports games first, it has the best racing games by far,
and it has the Grand Theft Auto series—a style of game that, thanks to
Nintendo’s castrated DVD-sized media, could not be accomplished on the
Cube, even if Rockstar wanted to make it (which they don’t). Add the
disturbing fact that a phenomenal, mature-rated video game like Eternal
Darkness can’t even crack the top 30 in sales after its first month of
release, mix in the recent sale of Rare to their closest competitor and
what do you have left? Not much. Nintendo claims to be remedying this by
an “aggressive targeting of the teen and 20-something market.” Well, all
they’ve got—exclusively, that is—for my age group in the foreseeable
future is Metroid Prime, Zelda (starring a cartoon toddler), Resident Evil 0,
and 1080. Everything else is just a PS2 hand-me-down.
Get with it, Nintendo. It’s time to break open the 7 billion-dollar war chest
and start competing like you mean it—and want it. You’ve definitely got
the talent. You just need to work harder on the vision.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The guy speaks a hell of a lot of sense.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A work friend of mine recently told me that he was thinking of buying a
gaming console. He knows I’ve been playing games for years and asked
me which one I thought he should buy. He’s 25 years old, likes sports,
racing and action games, and has never owned a home console before.
He doesn’t read video game magazines or even game reviews. The only
thing he knows about consoles is what he’s unconsciously absorbed from
commercial marketing. His question to me was, simply: "Hey Dean, do
you think I should buy a PlayStation 2 or an XBOX?"
His question didn’t surprise me, but I was curious to learn more about this
perspective of the average gamer. I asked him what he thought about the
Nintendo GameCube. His critique consisted of two points: "I wouldn’t
consider it because it doesn’t play DVDs," and "Besides, that system is
only for little kids." He didn’t need to know anything else before
unequivocally eliminating GameCube from his choice of systems.
Unlike my friend, I have been an avid gamer since the good ol’ days of
Atari and the NES. I read about and follow the progression of games, and
enjoy analyzing the trends of the market. Growing up, I was hooked on
the great classics like Pitfall 2, Contra, and Mike Tyson’s Punch Out. Sega
had a couple of winners here and there, but for years, all anyone ever
talked about in the school yards was Nintendo this, Nintendo that, and
"Does anyone know when the next Mario game is coming out?" All of us
youngsters were a buying force to be reckoned with; although I can’t
remember the exact statistic, a solid 90% of gamers were under the age
of 19. Nintendo was able to persuade us to dish out hundreds of dollars
yearly toward the worldly pursuit of princesses—courtesy of Mom and Dad.
Fast forward fifteen years later. Nintendo is getting hammered by Microsoft
and has been absolutely annihilated by Sony. Though Nintendo came into
the next generation wars as a heavy weight, they’ve been slow to catch on
as to why their "uppercut" used to be ranked #1. During the days of the
NES and Super NES, Nintendo simply made the best games that appealed
to all age demographics. Nobody came close to matching the quality of
Nintendo’s games. Sega can brag about Sonic until they’re blue in the
face, but back then, nobody but Nintendo had games as fun or as
economically successful as Mario and Zelda. These games were killer
applications that could not be found anywhere else but on a Nintendo
console.
It may have taken a few years, but I think it’s fair to say that many
developers have narrowed the quality gap between themselves and the
Big N. Let’s be honest—Mario Sunshine is great, but it’s certainly no better
than Banjo Tooie. For every runaway Nintendo hit, I can name two or three
games from other developers that are equally good—if not better. Like
Eternal Darkness, Super Smash Bros. and Mario Sunshine? Try Devil May
Cry, Tekken 4 and Grand Theft Auto on for size, then come back and tell
me exactly what “The Nintendo Difference” is supposed to refer to.
Even more important than the fact that Nintendo can no longer outperform
third-party developers is the painfully obvious notion that Nintendo no
longer appeals to a major gaming demographic. As I’m sure most of you
have already read from Nintendo’s latest press conference, only 45% of
gamers are now under the age of 18. That means the majority of people
who buy video games are old enough to be interested in silly things like
“story lines” and “plots,” and don’t really care much about cuddly cartoon
characters. What’s worse, rudimentary human psychology tells us that all
things being equal, 12 to 17 year olds are also more interested in mature
content—despite what the ESRB tries to tell mothers.
Now, because the gaming industry is so large (and expected to grow to 20
billion in the next decade), a small market share of youngsters interested
in a company’s games—ie. Nintendo—can still contribute a lot of money.
Take Apple Computers, for example. They are a profitable company with
a loyal customer base, despite a paltry 8% market share. But with this
approach, it means that Nintendo will likely never rejoin the ranks of Sony
and Microsoft, which are giving mature gamers a lot more meat on their
plates. Worse still, most gamers over 18 have jobs and don’t have to ask
their parents for money to get games. Not only are there greater numbers
of mature gamers than ever, but they will likely spend more on games
than little nine-year old Jimmy can.
You can also expect that 55% figure to balloon in the next 20 years and
beyond. When I was a Nintendo tot, I noticed my 25-year-old cousin’s
generation never really got into video games. They still haven’t, and most
never will. My generation, on the other hand, is still playing now, and we’ll
likely still be playing when we’re 65 (what else we gonna do when we retire
and can’t get it up without Viagra?). It doesn’t take much brain power to
figure out that focusing primarily on the younger market in the coming
years would be like a robbing a coffee shop for the money in the register,
while ignoring the open bank vault right next door. Nintendo seems to be
heading towards a solution for this situation, but they’re still far from
competing with the likes of Sony and now, Microsoft.
My 20-something friend can only afford one console, and he trusted I
would give him sound advice as to which system he would enjoy the most.
I considered two factors: What games are out now, and what games are
coming down the pike. Without hesitation, I had to recommend the PS2.
It gets all the best sports games first, it has the best racing games by far,
and it has the Grand Theft Auto series—a style of game that, thanks to
Nintendo’s castrated DVD-sized media, could not be accomplished on the
Cube, even if Rockstar wanted to make it (which they don’t). Add the
disturbing fact that a phenomenal, mature-rated video game like Eternal
Darkness can’t even crack the top 30 in sales after its first month of
release, mix in the recent sale of Rare to their closest competitor and
what do you have left? Not much. Nintendo claims to be remedying this by
an “aggressive targeting of the teen and 20-something market.” Well, all
they’ve got—exclusively, that is—for my age group in the foreseeable
future is Metroid Prime, Zelda (starring a cartoon toddler), Resident Evil 0,
and 1080. Everything else is just a PS2 hand-me-down.
Get with it, Nintendo. It’s time to break open the 7 billion-dollar war chest
and start competing like you mean it—and want it. You’ve definitely got
the talent. You just need to work harder on the vision.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The guy speaks a hell of a lot of sense.
*Golden
He odes make a few valid points, but by the sounds of it he seems to thik that Nintendo are getting clobbered.
Blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah. Got up to where he was slagging off Nintendo and stopped. The Nintendo Difference is unrepetitive, original and innovative gameplay.
I'll try that again.
He does make a few valid points, but by the sounds of it he seems to think that Nintendo are getting clobbered.
:)
He does make a few valid points, but by the sounds of it he seems to think that Nintendo are getting clobbered.
:)
Still Maverick. Nintendo, if they really mean it, have to actualy aggressively 'take' the western markets if they want to get any further. More exclusives from companies like Capcom etc would help.
umm..Devil May Cry is absolutely nothing like Eternal Darkness, even most PS2 owners admit that Tekken 4 is crap, and GTA is a completely different game, not that it rivals Sunshine anyway.
yes.. those comparisons dont make much sense
Cyclone wrote:
> Still Maverick. Nintendo, if they really mean it, have to actualy
> aggressively 'take' the western markets if they want to get any
> further. More exclusives from companies like Capcom etc would help.
Yep, I completely agree. I've been increasingly nervous about when Nintendo are going to get their act together recently - they need an event!
> Still Maverick. Nintendo, if they really mean it, have to actualy
> aggressively 'take' the western markets if they want to get any
> further. More exclusives from companies like Capcom etc would help.
Yep, I completely agree. I've been increasingly nervous about when Nintendo are going to get their act together recently - they need an event!
AS I have just posted on the Ninty website.
Come on Nintendo!
Come on Nintendo!
Page: