Topic: Prepare for the future...

[UncleBob]

Prepare for the future...

...by returning to your past.

And thus my idea for the Revolution's marketing campaign begins.

Think about Mall tours (and places like Wal*Mart, etc) where Nintendo not only shows off the new Revolution but also holds tournaments on classic NES, SNES and Nintendo 64 games - like Mario Kart, Tetris, etc.  The trick is, Nintendo must provide classic controllers for these matches.

This would be a great way to get the older crowd back into the gaming market.  I say this because today I brought my SNES to work to play some people against Super Mario Kart (and I sucked, badly...) and there was an older lady in the break room who said "You should have brought Tetris!  I would have played then!" to which another older lady replied with "Yeah, I love Tetris, I'd beat you at that." which ended up with three of the ladys talking about different games they used to play on their kids' NESs....

It was fun.

[wandering]

Might be a good idea, like, a year into the rev's life. Until then, selling the new controller will be much more important, imho.

[animecyberrat]

I somehow geta  feeling thsat the virtual console could over shadow the remote and be the *real* reason people buy a rev, sof ar thats why I want one.

[wandering]

That's why you want one because the virtual console is the only rev feature that's really concrete right now. That's also why marketing shouldn't focus too much energy on it: the virtual console is an easy sell. Getting peolple to use and understand the controller will be the harder but more vital task.

[UncleBob]

Exactly - The Older games will attract the Older Gamers to the exhibit - and while they're there, it will give Nintendo a chance to try to sell the new controller to them.

[wandering]

I suppose that makes sense. It could be dangerous to split focus too much, though.

[ShyGuy]

"Marty, Marty, we've got to go back!"
"Back, back, Doc what are you talking about?"
"Back to the future!"

[Artimus]

I actually die a little when I read these slogan threads. It hurts that bad.

[UncleBob]

Awww... But I liked mine.

[Ian Sane]

"I somehow geta feeling thsat the virtual console could over shadow the remote and be the *real* reason people buy a rev"

That probably wouldn't be very good.  If too many people just use the thing as a retro machine possibly not enough of them would buy new games.  I assume that new game sales is where the real money is.

[Caliban]

Obviously Ian, aren't you a smart fellow.

[nemo_83]

1.21 Jigawatts!

[Sir_Stabbalot]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
"I somehow geta feeling thsat the virtual console could over shadow the remote and be the *real* reason people buy a rev"

That probably wouldn't be very good.  If too many people just use the thing as a retro machine possibly not enough of them would buy new games.  I assume that new game sales is where the real money is.

Actually, downloads are almost 100% profit. Because they only need to pay for the servers, they don't need to actually construct and ship the cartriges/discs. Still, I doubt the games won't sell well as long as they're well thought out and not 100% sparkling innovation.

But then again, when has a third party game been well thought out?

[nemo_83]

check out the video i linked to of a gyro remote in action on quake  

[KDR_11k]

That's Quake 3, not Quake.

[animecyberrat]

Im not the only one, most people that I knwo who missed out on GC are considering a rev because of the virtual console, and then once they get the system they might try the new games.


I am still skeptical of the controller and have my doubts about wether or not I will want to play new games with it. I am perectly happy playing my SNES and Genesis right now much more than even my GC so for me its easy to imaging JUST getting old games and being happy with a new game here and there.


Also the more systems they sell, no matter what the motivation is, equals larger userbase. More peole playing the system means more chances to sell games, even new games. Even though I have it on my NEs I am really looking forward to pl;aying Duck Hunt on the rev, hopefully they FINALY update it with newer graphics and new gameplay but I will be happy with the original game as it was for a while.  

[Talon]

Quote
Originally posted by: animecyberrat
I am perectly happy playing my SNES and Genesis right now much more than even my GC so for me its easy to imaging JUST getting old games and being happy with a new game here and there.

This is why Nintendo should downplay the virtual console.  If people buy a revolution for the sole purpose of playing retro games its going to cannilbalize Revolution game sales.  At E3 Nintendo needs to have their guns blazing convincing us why we should buy a Revolution over a PS3 or X360 and while the virtual console is a key factor it should be played down.  Nintendo just needs to remind the general public that feature exists but thats about it. I want to know why I have had to wait over a year to find out what makes the revolution so revolutionary? I want to know why I should give up conventional ways of playing games in favour of the revolution remote?  I want to know what kind of games Nintendo has cooking up!

At this point in time Nintendo has really been pushing the virtual console card I think its time they give it a rest and lay the rest of their hand on the table.

[animecyberrat]

thats my point, so far I am just not sure if I will get into the new revolution way of playing, so I see the virtual consoel as the only JUSTIFICATION for me to get a Rev right away. I am seriously considering a 360 because its starting to get games I want to play and I am familiar with. Nintendo NEEDs to make the new games fun I agree but if they want to get people to buy thier system the VC is a good way to get their foot in the door.  

[Ian Sane]

"Also the more systems they sell, no matter what the motivation is, equals larger userbase. More peole playing the system means more chances to sell games, even new games."

That would probably initially attract third parties but then after all their new games sold like crap because everyone's just using the Rev as a SNES they would likely likely scale back and maybe even abandon support.  A high userbase will attract support but the games still actually have to sell in order for that support to stay.  Plus Nintendo has to make sure people buy their new games too so that they make a profit off of those titles.

[wandering]

I don't think there's very much chance of virtual console games cannibalizing rev game sales. They're old games. Old games that people have already played, take a short time to complete, and most importantly, don't utilize the rev's amazing new controller. Backwards compatability has never really hurt a system before (see: gameboy, playstation)

One of the things that might happen, though, is that Nintendo might grab ahold of the used-only gamers and market. You know, people who only buy last gen systems and games because of price issues. If the rev and downloads are cheap enough, those people might switch to just using the rev... which will be pure profit for Nintendo.

[Ian Sane]

"Backwards compatability has never really hurt a system before (see: gameboy, playstation)"

This is a little different though.  The GBA is backwards compatible but these days it's pretty hard to find new GBC or GB games for sale.  Playstation titles are harder to find now too.  There are a lot of old games out there but most of them require some effort from the consumer to find used.

The download system benefits from the fact that it's much easier to find games and those games are always available for purchase.  There's no Ebay searching or anything like that required.  So it would be much easier to buy a Rev and just play old games you missed out on then to buy a GBA or Playstation and search for used games.

[wandering]

You can walk into Target and find dvds of 10 year old movies. Does that hurt sales of new releases? Not really.