Topic: NDS: a big confusing mistake?

[Gamebasher]

Yeah, the PSP is toast!  

[Chode2234]

Everyone I talk to already refers to it as the Gameboy DS, which I tell them that its not 'really' a gameboy and then they look at me even more confused then before.  

Nintendo presents such a confusing image, I consider myself a big fan of their products and I can't even keep track of how they view themselves and how they want us to view them...

[Jale]

No, its a plate for toast. You can fit so many pieces across the face of it.

I think that Nintendo have a quite whimsical image because they don't care about thier image. They are all about the games.

[Chode2234]

I don't get that from them, it seems to me like they don't know who they are, they to me just seem to be in a state of confusion.  Where as Sony and MS seem to be very confidant in there direction and postion in the market.  

If it is all about the games, then tell me that as a consumer, from there image (whimsical at best) one can not help but wonder if the company is even competent.  Thats not who I want my console provider to be....  Who are you?, is probably a question better directed back at Nintendo from us.

[Blackknight131]

Actually, I would disagree with that...
Nintendo seems to be projecting themselves very clearly. Think about it, what have they always been pimping on us for the last few years? Games, games, games, specifically different and fresh ways to play them. Simplicity and fun, in a wide range of content. They go so far as to design this DS, which obviously contains some fairly radical (for the handheld gaming market) capabilities - capabilities that quite honestly have yet to be proven to be revolutionary and fun for gaming (cant wait for the details on real games! Castlevaniaaaaaa!! ^ ^).
Speaking of Revolution, go back and watch their E3 press conference....Satoru Iwata clearly has stated the direction he wishes to lead the company: new ways to play games, fun intuitive games and new hardware if need be that will support that. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. Odama. The next Mario party. Zelda Four Swords. Those are examples of fresh content Nintendo is spinning now, to speak for what they may dream up in the future.  

No, I dont think the question is whether or not Nintendo is having an identity crisis....its whether or not they are right in believing that the video game market (us, and everyone else) will ultimately buy it...because if the DS fails and the Revolution falls short....  =(

Go Nintendo.

-Blackknight131
 

[Gamebasher]

Like I have said before, I say again:

Nintendo must advertise the NDS handheld, and in those adverts show people why it is so much better than the usual coming on the PSP. Sony´s darn good at advertising, and to make things look stylish through it. Nintendo must make clear why their machine is more fun, and just as stylish as the PSP! For instance, they could show how the WiFi functionality makes it fun to have friends far away, playing with them. Or to demonstrate how easily people can link up with oneanother and go multiplayer entirely wireless! But most important of all is - the games! The absolutely best and most entertaining games only must be shown, and one way to find out which ones they are, is through sitting people from a large segment of the gaming population down with the DS games and test the "fun yield factor" with each, until you have a clear score for each which will tell which ones are the clear winners. Then use those in the tv-ads, and bang! there you go! People who see them will beg, steal, borrow the money to get an NDS and get to play!

Then I don´t see how they could ever fail! I trust that the NDS will take Nintendo quite far, but perhaps not right away. People will have to get used to it first, and that´s why I think it is very important that NDS tv-ads are kept running regularly! In the past, Nintendo has been very poor at communicating by itself through the media for lack of proper advertising. Doing it right this time, should ensure that people will indeed see who they are!  

[- NintendoFan -]

To tell you the truth, I can see Nintendo advertising the he!l out of the DS. It just seems like they would and seems like something that can easily be done.

[Chode2234]

Yeah I hear direction from Iwata about what he wants to do with the company, but I have yet to see that transfer to the commercials or into the public's perception of what Nintendo is.  You probably read all his comments, interviews, and minutes from his board meetings but most people don't and that is why they don't have a good reason to stick with Nintendo.

Thanks, blackknight, for the intelligent conversation on the matter, it is refreshing, and you're right that is the bigger more important question that there percieved identity, but my thought is that they need to let people who aren't on these boards everyday know whats going on and why they should buy a cube, a DS, a revolution and a 1000 games to go with them...

[Chode2234]

p.s.  In terms of advertising I think they should go head to head and do comparitive adds showing directly how much more fun the ds is than the psp.  I think it would be effective to show the two directly, I hate how Nintendo beats around the bush when it comes to discussing the shortcommings of their competition.

Show us why the DS is better, thats all I ask and I will submit and buy one right away.

[Jale]

I don't think that's legal. I believe there are laws against companies slagging off other companies in their advertisments.

[Chode2234]

Only if its not truthful,  its perfectly legal to say that I have two screens on my ds, it must be twice as fun as your PSP and show the unit in the hands of some little nerdy kid with braces and then have the DS kid summon his possy to beat him down for buying one.  Well, you get the idea.....  but perhaps more sophisticated, and maybe not ....

You can make comparisons all you want in advertising as long as they are not fictitious.  Laundry soap and paper towel comercials come to mind immediately.

What do you mean by "slagging off?"

[odifiend]

The thing about laundry soap in paper towels though is they don't directly slag off (rip on, discrediting your competitor) each other unless there was a study.  More often you see their product on one side and the other guy on the other side, usually deteregent written on a box that is obviously Tide or something.  There are rarely outright swings at the competition but you see that sneaky sort of thing all the time.
The problem is while Nintendo could go the sneaky route and say, "hey, look at that single screened portable [insert propaganda here]," it would turn against them when they release Game Boy next.  Though I think Nintendo should try to bring up battery life as much as possible.

[Ian Sane]

Instead of blatantly bashing the PSP in commercials I think it would be better for Nintendo to promote how the DS experience absolutely cannot be replicated on any other videogame system.  It's sounds mighty impressive and it's true.  There are no other systems with dual screens and a touchscreen so thus DS games that make full use of the hardware cannot be played on any other system.

[Bill Aurion]

Definitely...Mudslinging is really a tactic I don't want to see Ninty use...

They should just use simple advertising that shows how the system works with a few choice games with their popular mascots...Though the system isn't the standard fare, and casual gamers have shown time and time again that they eat up generic tripe, Ninty can still sway them with adequate advertising...

[- NintendoFan -]

" Instead of blatantly bashing the PSP in commercials I think it would be better for Nintendo to promote how the DS experience absolutely cannot be replicated on any other videogame system. It's sounds mighty impressive and it's true. There are no other systems with dual screens and a touchscreen so thus DS games that make full use of the hardware cannot be played on any other system. "

I like that Idea, for two reasons, one is that it is a great one, and second it is highly realistic for Nintendo to do that. Infact they did it at E3, they should just stick it in a commerical.

[Gamebasher]

I recall how in the early Nineties, I saw a GameBoy commercial that was sooo cool. You basically saw three kids standing by the roadside and playing the GameBoy. To the extent that they forgot everything around them, including the fact the very reason why they were standing by the roadside: hitchhiking for a ride to whereever they were going next. Damning themselves for missing out on the opportunity to go with a guy in a truck, who happened to pass them by not to fast as they were playing away. That really showed the level of fun you could have with a GameBoy.

Fastforward to the present:

Hey, that´s what they should be doing with the Nintendo DS TV-commercials!!! People, out in the wild countryside, draging their newly aquired flashy NDS units out and going multiplayer with Mario 64x4 and forgetting all around them, including bypassing cars to take them further! This would show the Wireless capabilities! I would just love if one of the games had, say, the opportunity to do something with Mario, MarioKart, over the WiFi functionality!!

All Ninty´s got to do is get a little creative wit their ad-campaigns and people will start picking up DS units, faster than you can flick a swith! Zaaaap, down to the retailer and get my DS!!

 

[Jale]

Quote
Originally posted by: Chode2234
Only if its not truthful,  its perfectly legal to say that I have two screens on my ds, it must be twice as fun as your PSP and show the unit in the hands of some little nerdy kid with braces and then have the DS kid summon his possy to beat him down for buying one.  Well, you get the idea.....  but perhaps more sophisticated, and maybe not ....

You can make comparisons all you want in advertising as long as they are not fictitious.  Laundry soap and paper towel comercials come to mind immediately.

What do you mean by "slagging off?"

Maybe that is the case in the US (if you were from the UK you would have heard the term slagging off) but in the UK the always have to say 'compared to the leading competetor' or 'brand X' but they put the other bit in small print at the bottom.

[Zach]

I think that nintys problem is that they wanna keep selling the SP, I mean if they start advertising the DS then people would start to think that the SP is gonna be be obselete soon, and will stop buying it.  Sony does not have a previous handheld so they dont have this problem.  I think nintendo has to start advertising the DS soon or else people will not realize its capabilities when it comes out.  Nintendo is probably trying to sell as many SP's as they can before the DS comes out, after all no one is gonna believe in all of this third pillar sh1t.  

[odifiend]

Who cares about the SP?  As soon as the DS comes out, I'm sure they will stop running SP ads almost entirely.  The reason the DS is the third pillar and an entirely different products is so that SP sales don't cease for right now.  I bet as soon as the DS is out Nintendo will hardly care whether any more SPs move or not.  With 20 million GBAs sold how many more units can they except to sell?
My commercial for Nintendo's DS is a teenage guy riding in the backseat of a car playing the DS.  Suddenly he screams in rage and a gameover noise is made.  Then a car passes his car and a little girl in the backseat winks at him with DS in hand.
EDIT: Zach did you mean they have to start advertising the DS soon?

[Bill Aurion]

"My commercial for Nintendo's DS is a teenage guy riding in the backseat of a car playing the DS. Suddenly he screams in rage and a gameover noise is made. Then a car passes his car and a little girl in the backseat winks at him with DS in hand."

Except I don't believe the DS works that way...The way the DS works using Wi-fi is through a hotspot...Normal multiplayer is said to take a separation distance of around 30 feet...

[odifiend]

I know how it works.  I was assuming the cars were close enough the whole time.   But making it obviously rush hour would make sure there is no confusion.

[Jale]

Could be a big traffic jam.

[Zach]

Thanks for pointing that out Odifiend, I did mean to say that Ninty needs to advertise the DS soon, well I edited it now anyway, it seems that I got the initials messed up for some reason. BTW good idea for a commercial.  

[- NintendoFan -]

"Dude, that avatar is pretty damn sweet. Is he holding his Triforce emblazoned fist up as well?"

Yes, he is. And thanks.

"I recall how in the early Nineties, I saw a GameBoy commercial that was sooo cool. You basically saw three kids standing by the roadside and playing the GameBoy. To the extent that they forgot everything around them, including the fact the very reason why they were standing by the roadside: hitchhiking for a ride to whereever they were going next. Damning themselves for missing out on the opportunity to go with a guy in a truck, who happened to pass them by not to fast as they were playing away. That really showed the level of fun you could have with a GameBoy."

I know what your saying, and I think that really need to consider reverting back to old commericals. I was looking at the Super Mario World Commerical the other day and it was all gameplay, no people in it, just the game and the announcer saying how great the game is.

Although, the new GBA commericals they have right now are a much better step in the right direction, they can get better. But I have no doubt that they are drawing a crowd from them.

[Gamebasher]

Odifiend, you are right about the future of the SP commercials. The DS will take over, once it comes out and Nintendo won´t care if people buy the SP anymore. Who would expect that people will care to buy both the SP and DS, when you can play SP games on the DS! It is very clear that the DS is to take over from the SP while we wait for the new GameBoy from Nintendo.

Nintendofan, I recall Miyamoto-san saying that the gameplay was the most important in those days, when the picture and sound was not so evolved. So with all that focus on super powered consoles on the competition side, I think that is very wrong. They spend mega-fortunes on pumping up the graphics and animations to such a level, and yet most of those games fall short on the gameplay side. Except a few, like Halo for instance. Do they think that Nintendo can´t make games like Halo? Just look at Metroid! Or Geist! Nintendo can make what they like, and the ones they don´t make, they don´t want to make. Like Grand Theft Auto, which they consider to be a dead end street (too violent):


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