27th January 2005, 12:20 AM
Quote:If something is supposed to be 'revolutionary', or even just a major selling point, it has to work with more than a handful of games in three years. Didn't the GBA/GC wire come out in 2002? And there are how many successful games to show for it? Does it even average to two per year for the revolutionary item?
The bongos... I'm sorry, that's going to be another one that no one will remember in five years.
The bongos will be remembered for doing what they were meant to: Bringing music games to Gamecube. Oh, and an innovative platformer... it's not like this is a console-shaping addon, any more than the dance pad is for PS2 or X-Box...
Oh, and as for success, as I said by that standard the Zapper fails. Yes, connectivity does too, and the E-Reader, and probably the Virtual Boy (given that overall it managed to get about 15 released games)... but I would use more than just that as the standards. Really, what matters is if it accomplished what Nintendo wanted of it and if it was a good addon. Connectivity clearly failed Nintendo's expectations, because those expectations were unrealistic, but it was a good addon that had some pretty good games, so I wouldn't call it a total failure... not when good products were released that used it! Very few addons are truly TOTALLY worthless -- even the Virtual Boy had a couple of good games...
Yes, connectivity took a long time to get going and never really succeeded. The public just never 'got' the idea... I think that it could have worked fine if Nintendo had presented it as an alternative method of playing these games, though, with the main one online... sure, it might not be hugely more successful, but it probably never could have been much more successful than it was... okay, it could have been a bit more successful. But it never could have achieved Nintendo's goal of making people forget about online play.
I mean, can you imagine how many units FSA could have sold if it was online?
Quote:You misunderstand. Most ideas have a good chance at succeeding. But some don't. I knew the E-Reader wouldn't, because it was too flawed. I remember saying so when it first came out, especially after I heard that some games would require it to unlock everything. It was a scam. Doomed.
As for the rest, of COURSE it's only mentionable in retrospect. That's why I'm saying it now. Nintendo would always think they had a chance to succeed, the problem lies in how often they do not take that chance. How often they misread the market (I bet E-Reader did quite a bit better in Japan). Everyone sees better in retrospect. I'm not trying to say that in every case, I could have told you beforehand that they were doomed.
Nintendo doesn't really make ANYTHING with the Western market in mind, except perhaps the new Metroid games... understand that and their business decisions make a LOT more sense... and most of the things we are discussing don't look as bad. The Virtual Boy does, but yeah, I'd bet the E-Reader did better there... I know card-scan games have done well there before. NOA probably had no choice but to release it knowing it probably wouldn't catch on. Connectivity? I don't know. Perhaps, but I don't know how it did there... but the point is that it's not so much misreading the market as it is trying to read a market that does not exist here in the US and basing their business decisions upon that. Yes, once in a while it is just a plain bad idea from any angle, like the Virtual Boy, (and, we'd say from our perspective, the E-Reader) but not often.
Quote:Yes, because unlike the connector, the Zapper was free. If I get a peripheral for free, I am far less discriminating on how it measured up. Connectivity, on the other hand, requires a substantial investment. You have to have both GBA and GC, and in some cases, copies of certain games for both machines PLUS the wire. To say nothing of the incessant hype about connectivity from Nintendo. So yes, my standards and expectations for it are going to be far greater.
What Nintendo really should have done is just put a screen in their controller like the Dreamcast had... :)
Quote:Seriously, if so many forum-goers realized that the E-Reader and connectivity were stupid then so should have Nintendo. This is just one example of how out of touch they are with the market in some respects. Sad, but true.
I don't think they even try to understand public opinion anymore... remember all those comments about them knowing what people want more than people know themselves?