22nd September 2003, 2:00 PM
Quote:When I said that the Gameboy was targeted towards kids you tried to deny that.
Not really, I said the main audience is clearly kids but there is definitely a older market there too. Not by any means anywhere near as big as the kids' market, but it does exist.
Quote:Waitaminute... this entire time you've been disagreeing with me on that, and now you're turning around? Wha?
Only on some things. Nintendo clearly has a LOT of work to do to fix their marketing, public image, and system design issues... but they are in a better situation here than they were for the GC or N64, by far... with the N64 they had a chance but blew it, but with the Cube it was just too little too late. With this new generation of portables they haven't fallen behind yet... so they still have a chance. Yes, they could get too arrogant, delay it a year, and release a vastly underpowered system that the third parties will ignore... but at this point I think Nintendo has learned its lesson, or at least it's learned some lessons.
Quote:Look at how long it took them to decide to release Fire Emblem, a decidedly more mature Nintendo RPG.
Good point, but at least they finally released it, something they never did on the NES or SNES...
Quote:That was the number one problem, certainly, but the whole DVD thing certainly didn't help them. It did prevent piracy but it also put them behind Sony and MS.
I don't think Nintendo cares much that they are in last, so it wasn't a bad move at all...
Quote:During the last few years of the SNES, Nintendo was definitely far ahead of Sega and anyone else, if I remember correctly. The Genesis was the SNES' only competition and Sega really alienated a lot of their fans with the Sega CD and 32X.
It wasn't that dramatic. The Genesis won decisively in the early years in the US... it was only in the last years of the 16 bit generation that Nintendo caught them, and even then they barely pulled off a victory from what I remember... Nintendo did win worldwide, but that was mostly because of how badly the Genesis failed in Japan.
Quote:But bigger than the PlayStation name? Hmm, I don't think so.
But much bigger than Gamecube. And among children, its probably almost as big as Playstation...
Quote:No no, that's not what I meant. The PlayStation brand itself wasn't popular until FF VII came out, which is why the PS2 sold like mad at launch even though it didn't have one single AAA title available. The PlayStation name today is even more popular than 'Nintendo' was back in the 80's and early 90's. Sony is going to sell PSPs based off the name alone, and I'm certain that they'll have at least one system seller available at or around the time it comes out. All they really need is a new FF or GTA to make everyone want one.
Sure, it'll sell a lot of systems, but while Nintendo is down in the overall market they aren't out. And there IS a point to the thing that the PSP isn't aiming at GB owners much... it is some, but not a lot. At least not for quite some time after its release... not with the much older average-gamer focus and mass-market approach...
Yes, the Playstation name will win it many converts. True. And it might do quite well because of that name, sure... but you just rule out Nintendo more than you should.