X-Box: $-1,000,000,000 a year

[Paco]

Since when is expanding the market to include more non-gamers a bad idea? On the contrary, that's the best thing any company could do for this industry... it's not healthy to have such a focus on a comparitively small demographic, and Nintendo's trying to exploit that. Given that Sony and MS are just doing more of the same, I'd say Nintendo is the only one with a chance to change that... and they certainly could, at least in some places. How successful they are at it in the US depends fully on things we don't know... games, marketing, when it launches, etc...

It's not a bad idea, but having a controller like they do (non-conventional) they've isolated themselves away from more traditional games. Sony has proven what the mass market wants, and Nintendo just seems to [stubbornly] ignore it.

It's not like Nintendo has failed in the US, you know... they've done okay. Maybe not as well as we would have liked, but okay. It is far from the dire situation you seem to be suggesting. Third? They'd tell you they're second, because they (rightly) count handhelds. :)

They are third in the U.S., and they've been selling half of what Xbox has for over a year or so. It's not dire, and I didn't suggest it was, but it does signal them settling more into a niche market. They'll always be around because they are Nintendo, but they've made decisions that alienate them from the current mass market. Perhaps the Revolution will bring in an entirely new consumer crowd (this is what they are hoping), but I don't know.

Saying "this console counts and this one doesn't" is absurd.

If you look at their console, the Gamecube, then compare it with their handhelds, GBA and DS, then there are two very different pictures. Their handhelds enjoy alot of success with nearly every handheld developer on board, but their console is third world wide in terms of sales and continues to lose developer support.

Now, if you were to look at total hardware sold then you would think Nintendo should have every developer on board. That's not the case, and that's because the Gamecube is in third place relative to other consoles. The GBA, on the other hand, continues to sell quite well, and the DS has enjoyed alot of success so more developers are jumping on board.

Handhelds/Portables != Consoles.

It's not just about the US and Japan you know. You also have to factor in how horribly Nintendo does in PAL regions (with how well Microsoft has done in Austrailia/New Zealand and how abysmally badly Nintendo has done there), for good reasons like 'PAL usually gets Nintendo stuff way late'... Nintendo is doing well in the US when you compare it to how they've done in Austrailia! (and really, they've done okay in the US... not well enough, but okay.)

And yeah, I've heard several million as the difference too, but that's out of a larger number...

Okay.

I was looking at the past four years and what they've done so far, and extrapolating from there. I highly doubt that their whole philosophy is going to change overnight to a Nintendo-style "profit comes first" one.

What do you think their philosophy is, exactly?

I think you're thinking in extremes, please don't. You can't ignore the different decisions Microsoft has made concerning the hardware because it would be ignoring the facts. I've already outlined two ways they've cut costs (they own the hardware (no royalties due), and they are making the consumer pay for the HD), two of their biggest headaches concerning the Xbox and that financial fiasco. Let's not forget XNA to help developers along, encouraging them to develop for Xbox 360 and Windows Vista.

Yeah, Microsoft wants money. They've done alot to get attention, and it looks to me like they're getting it.

You do know that you can play all GB, GBC, and GBA games on a television, right? Makes that definition of "console" kind of useless from your perspective... :)

I do know that because I have a GBA player for my GC. It's an add-on to play games from their handheld on their console.

Anyway, "niche"? I just don't get why people think this... their whole philosophy is heading in the opposite direction, and the success of the DS based on this concept shows how it can work. "Niche"? Not even close.

They've long appealed to a Nintendo crowd with their Mario and Pokemon sequels left and right. The DS and Revolution are a step to appealing to a new crowd, but it has yet to be proven just how successful (mainstream) it can get.

As they said... you release the games everyone can love, and you also release the games your base of hardcore gamers will love (such as Nintendogs and Advance Wars DS). You do both, and hold on to both groups of customers. You don't assume that the hardcore will ONLY buy your console, but you assume they'll get it for the games you make for it. Which many will, of course. Gamecube? They tried to do this, kinda, but didn't really... having a big "A" button to "simplify the controller" didn't exactly work (and never would, given how it's not really much of a change worth mentioning). So this time they tried a much better idea... 'how about we change the controller as we know it again? (while still having something to keep the hardcore gamers happy)'. :)

Nintendogs and Advandce Wars are relatively new, and I hope it signals Nintendo's willingness to stop whoring Mario and Pokemon all over the place, and to stop relying on their mega IPs like Zelda and Metroid (which we only see every other year or so). You can't bring in a new crowd without new ideas, characters, and concepts. Not everyone likes Mario, you know.