Nintendo Revolution - Already Beaten

[hi_resurrection]

Here is a letter I sent to Edge magazine.

 

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I want to offer a piece of advice to Nintendo about the generational hardware race they feel the need to constantly enter into. Give it up. Their refusal to do so smacks of a desperate company determined not to admit defeat. “Sony don’t understand games like we do, how can they beat us next time around”. Well it’s a certainty. Deal with it with the clever business decisions you were renowned for in the 90’s, not the stubbornness that has defined you in the 2000’s. I predicted Sega should quit hardware to concentrate on multi-platform software support before others in the industry thought it was even a possibility (before the Dreamcast was even released). That is what you would expect of a smartly run business. Did Nintendo truly believe the Gamecube wasn’t going to follow the Dreamcast’s footsteps? The whole world knows what’s going to happen with the Revolution, except for Nintendo that is.

 

Nintendo simply cannot compete on their old terms anymore and are just throwing money away due to their own arrogance. Money that could be used to help them dominate a different sector of the industry, one where they do have an advantage over their rivals. Proof of this wasting of money and company resources comes from the fact that almost they’re entire software focus over the last three years has been to churn out reissues of old titles with ‘subtle changes’ and ‘additional features’, in a foolish attempt to recreate past glories instead of venturing forth and creating new ones. With the GBA, they tried to get me to buy all the SNES games I already own, which didn’t work, now they think an extra screen will convince me to buy my library of N64 titles all over again. Don’t have enough money to produce the innovative, original software you were previously known for? Ditch the line of stubbornly developed hardware releases that hardly anybody buys then. As of now, Nintendo games sell solely to an elite group of Nintendo fans who purchase the hardware specifically to play their games (myself included), and the minority of others who buy the machine, for reasons known only to them, over Nintendo’s far more dominant rivals. If Nintendo developed a new Mario or Zelda for the PlayStation 3 they would be selling to the world. And there aren’t many people who wouldn’t take them seriously then. All I know is; I’ve used my Gamecube far less than my other 2 last-generation machines and I suspect the same is true for every one else who owns all three. It serves Nintendo right that their arse is going to get kicked in two different markets this time around. Maybe that’s what it’s going to take to wake them up.

 

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And here's some more;

 

I started to lose respect for Nintendo when they dished off development of big titles to nobodies like Leftfield Studios and they are still doing it to this day. I don’t see any justification for why they don’t have time to work on Metroid or F-Zero themselves. They’ve passed the Star Fox brand off twice to two different companies. Do two new Zelda’s [and even those are little more than remakes] take up all of their individual teams’ time? Just how many people work at Nintendo?

 

They can’t even afford to compete in technical specs so they don’t make a big thing of them. Sony and Microsoft’s resources and R&D will beat them every time. The reason Nintendo haven’t let on about the Revolutions’ specs isn’t because they are going to shock us with PS3 beating technology, but because they are embarrassed to reveal them, so they fill their announcements up with garbage about onboard emulators and try to convince themselves that a nice, small case is enough to warrant people to purchase the tiny piece of junk. Just because they could compete technically in two eras (NES and SNES) doesn’t mean anything. The industry was child’s play back then. Now it’s serious business and Fisher Price are trying to be Intel.

 

The Gamecube’s absurd pad. Again, due to Nintendo’s stubborn refusal to accept other people’s successful ideas. It only works for games Nintendo themselves have designed. You can’t play Tony Hawk’s, Resident Evil, Timesplitters or Soul Calibur on it properly. Typical of Nintendo to say; sod the third party games. They yet again shot themselves in the foot.

 

Then again, Nintendo would never just settle on more ‘generic’ designs that everyone knows will work. Because that is like admitting that Sony were right. Four facia buttons in a diamond pattern, 2 symmetrically aligned triggers on the top, two analogue sticks, and a D-Pad big enough to allow fireballs. No. Instead they make a crazy monstrosity that’s ‘different’ just to justify their existence in the hardware marketplace. Using cartridges, which was commercial suicide just because Sony and Sega were trying to prove that disc based media was the future. So what now? “let’s have tiny discs just to be quirky”…even though they only could hold a third as much data that a DVD format allowed. With the size of the upcoming Revolution, that we are assured will be “even smaller than the prototype when it is launched”, they’ll have a hard time trying to fit a DVD disc in it. All of these stubborn decisions only prove that Sony have had better ideas right from the PlayStation’s first announcement. They just can’t admit this, hence endless hardware releases, when they know they are going to get f_ckd over again and again.

 

All this sounds scathing but with good reason. The reason for hating them so much over this is clear; If they only made games for other people’s hardware then they could concentrate on what thy are good at and focus all their cash into game development. The industry would be far better if everyone could experience a new Zelda or Mario game instead of the few that forked out on the Gamecube. Nintendo would make far more money if they only made games. Look at Virtua Fighter, when it was only on the Dreamcast and in the arcade (part 3), it was like a cult game and all the PlayStation fans were automatically assuming that Tekken was the be all and end all in fighting games. After Virtua Fighter 4 came out on the PS2, a machine that almost everyone has access to (and not just gamers), Sega’s beat-em-up gets rave reviews and is well known as a Tekken rival and sells like hot cakes. And that’s just a fighting game, imagine if Mario’s latest game was released for the PS2. Millions would own a copy. Everyone has heard of Mario, everyone has heard of PlayStation, but no-one has heard of Gamecube. I wanted Sega to give up on hardware when Dreamcast was announced, they stopped making consoles after the failure of the DC and went on to create their awesome games for other consoles and have enjoyed far more success and widespread acclaim because of it. The same could (and should) be true of Nintendo if they weren’t so obsessed with trying to beat the unbeatable. Sega and Nintendo are both the best in the business at making games but simply cannot make the best consoles anymore. Sega realised that they could have more success being a publisher of their own games, so why can’t Nintendo figure this out?

[Elazul Yagami]

rather than go into detail over every point you said, i'll just say this, it's a matter of opinion, and personally i see that you're dead wrong. personally, i find the quality of games on the gamecube to be VASTLY superior to ps2 and Xbox (what games are worth the damn thing? and don't you dare say halo) quality in this case matters to me much more than quantity, and in fact, nintendo have a shitload of money, unlike sega which was facing a million financial diffculties, in fact, didn't they merge with sammy, a few years AFTER they dropped out of console development and focused on games? apparently the " focus on games and you can make more money" stance didn't work that well for them.

 

As for the whole retro gaming thing, well did it occur to you that there a zillion gamers out there that weren't around the first time those games came around? do you realize that the most popular emulated console is in fact the snes, not n64, not psx, not any of that, but An Snes emulator, that's the one that has the most games people want to play.

 

as to giving the developement to others, was the outcome bad? did metroid or starfox or even fzero suck? not they didn't, would it make you much happier if these studios were called " nintendo <studio name>" instead of just the studio name? Was it that big a deal when Rare was making the Superb donkey kong country series? What about Hal with kirby (and i think super smash brothers) does it matter that Hal and Not "Nintendo Hal" or "Hal of Nintendo" made the game? No, because in the end the outcome lives up to the standards we expect of Nintendo, so i see no harm in it.

In the end second party developers, might as well be first party ones.

 

As for market strategies in the 90's, nintendo was HATED because of it's strategies, and yet they managed to succeed, seem odd?

 

as for the GameCube being out performed by the Ps2 and Xbox, am i missing something here? I'm pretty sure specs wise, the gamecube OUTPERFORMS the ps2.... not sure about the xbox. (and that knowledge comes from an unbiased source)

 

as for the whole ps2 vs the game cube pad:

 

1- the ps2 pad is nothing more than a modificated rip off of the Snes pad, in fact in early prototypes they even had the whole ab xy thing.

2- the gamecube pad does NOT suck, in fact my hand hurts alot less playing with it than it does with the ps2 or xbox controllers (especially the fingers and thumbs) and i know ALOT of people that perfer using it while playing the games you mentioned than the alternative on another console(and they don't soley own a gamecube either, so taht's saying something)

 

 

On the Cartridge situation of the N64, They did it for a simple reason, Piracy, and in fact they succeeded in that vein, and the publisher that didn't push shoddy games actually made MORE profit from the n64 than the psx (just ask acclaim or others that flourished because of the n64).

they don't avoid a media because it's "new and fangled" they avoid it because of piracy, and that's the logical thing to do.

 

 

 

As for the whole Gamecube not being known... i'll just laugh at that.

 

edit; just added line breaks

Edited July 13, 2005 by Elazul Yagami

[Ryuken]

THE WALL OF TEXT!!!! i'm sorry but i don't like reading on the computer

[Gryph]

Here's a quick suggestion, if Nintendo pisses you off so much JUST IGNORE WHAT THEY DO. They aren't harming you in anyway. Such rabid fanboyism and hatred amazes me when its about flocking VIDEO GAMES!

 

Why should you care what Nintendo does? It's their money, their jobs, their reputation, not yours or mine.

 

Hell, if there is one console I'd love to see fail is the PS3 because Ken Kutaragi is a cocky asshole. "We want you to work more to afford the PS3 so you can say to yourself 'Wow, I really earned it.'" (that's not a direct quote but that's what he was saying). "Oh yeah, this thing is a super computer compared to XBOX 1.5 LOL." Just today they announced that they aren't going to include the router capability because it's too expensive. What happened to all that posturing that PS3 is going to be the all-in-one ultimate home entertainment device?

 

Of course, do I really care what happens to either console? No, I'm just a consumer who doesn't buy into bullshit. If enough games come out on either of the system that I want to play then I'll get it.

 

Also, Nintendo is going to market the Revolution as a budget price console which I think is the right thing to do. They realize that you don't need an extremely powerful processor or GPU for a compelling game experience. But I have to correct you on one thing.

With the size of the upcoming Revolution, that we are assured will be “even smaller than the prototype when it is launched”, they’ll have a hard time trying to fit a DVD disc in it.

Revolution discs will be 12 cm. (the size of DVD) and the system will about the size of 2 to 3 DVD cases so I don't think they'll have any trouble fitting a DVD in.

[James]

I like Nintendo Lets just see how this new console turns out. I might even buy one just to help support them.

[suvo]

^ woot , go james i second that

[supa_al]

Nintendo does not need to have a "Powerful System." Thats what the other new generation systems are for.

 

 

Let Microsoft and Sony duke it out, since they are trying to market at the same age group demographic.

 

 

Lets not also forget that if it weren't for Nintendo, Playstation would not exist; for those who know their gaming history.

 

 

 

 

 

I am a Nintendo fan, but i also like my variety.

[Ryuken]

to me, the best system is the one that can be modded easily and have lot of games to get for free, hehe. anyway i don't hate nintendo like some people do but i don't like them either since i didn't have nes or snes when i was little. but their gameboy was the best gba and ds wasn't that good gba sp was great. IF they could some how make the DS smaller or look better then that will gain them more sales like the sp. or they should come up with a new portable to fight against PSP cause that bright and big widescreen is killing the DS.

[Dooz]

to me, the best system is the one that can be modded easily and have lot of games to get for free, hehe. anyway i don't hate nintendo like some people do but i don't like them either since i didn't have nes or snes when i was little. but their gameboy was the best gba and ds wasn't that good gba sp was great. IF they could some how make the DS smaller or look better then that will gain them more sales like the sp. or they should come up with a new portable to fight against PSP cause that bright and big widescreen is killing the DS.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually, the DS and the PSP are about even when it comes to sales.

 

And any arguments this dude has about the Revolution is pretty much moot, as no one knows what makes the system up. It's all presumptions and guesses.

 

And I find it amazing that he taunts Nintendo for being innovative. When DS came out, I didn't like the idea at all. But hell, at least they're trying to make something different. Nintendo knows that we have to have something new to keep it interesting. The reason that Sony and Microsoft don't understand that is because thye are both still new to the game and haven't been making games for long.

 

All-in-all, I'm rooting for Nintendo to win this round of console wars. Why? Because they make quality products. You get what you pay for. Now we can only hope that third-party developers realize that and stop hopping the bandwagon to Sony. It'll be especially easier now that Nintendo's going to DVD's.

[Gryph]

But there is one fact you can't deny, the Revolutoin is the best looking out of the three next gen systems. No bloat, no stupid "It's based on an inhale", or George Forman grill looking.

 

But one thing does worry me, the fact that it might not support HDTV at all. In the coming years HDTV is really going to take off so not supporting it at all isn't the smartest move. But since Nintendo is aiming at a budget line, they might be factoring in that those people most probably will be the ones without HDTVs.

[Agozer]

I'm buying a GameCube as soon as I have enough money, even if it's only for 4 games. Nintendo is this the only manufacturer that has made a console simply for gamers and haven't put in a CD/DVD player, a toaster, a remote control and a microwave. [/sarcasm]

 

I respect that line of thinking.

 

 

Line breaks wouldn't have hurt that wall of rant.