Yeah, I doubt I'll be able to afford more than one console, but the idea of having to look in different places for the best games shouldn't be repulsive to a videogame fan.
But yes, the health of today's videogame industry and the vibrancy of so many developers are all parallel to what Miyamoto himself is pursueing: more fun and better games. I certainly don't pray to the all-might Miyamoto sensei... he's much too humble for that, and I try to learn from his humility, lol. But even though Miyamoto and others may have different ideas on what direction games can and should go in, the presence of capable third parties is a testament to not only Nintendo's success at saving the videogame industry in the 80's, but also the success of Nintendo's beliefs: Innovation can trump mediocrity and quality can trump commercialization. That so many in the industry now lay a claim to this mindset shows that Nintendo has already affected the industry in such a way that instead of wanting a uniform and dominant Nintendo, we should treasure the diversity that has resulted.
The spirit of Nintendo is..well...the spirit of fun isn't it? Fun through new experiences and quality work. There are Non-Nintendo games that have fun, so why should any Nintendo fan feel bad about having to look elsewhere for new gaming experiences?
Also, you make a convincing point about the risk-averse managers. Nintendo apparently believes that they won't need 1080p support for any games they make to succeed, but now anyone who makes revolution games will have to believe that also. Will that keep developers away, or be a non-issue? Honestly...who even knows at this point with so little known about the Rev itself? All that can be said is that this is the direction Nintendo's going in, and that as a Nintendo fan I find it highly interesting to see exactly how different they are in thinking about videogames from everyone else. In fact, I've come to respect it.
And I still highly believe that to have Nintendo with market dominance would be a bad thing for gaming. Nintendo's dominance of the 80's and 90's was coincidental, Yamauchi saw a way to make money and grabbed it. But with Yamauchi gone, Miyamoto is the heart and soul of Nintendo and he doesn't seem to care a fig about controlling the rest of the industry. Sure, he'd like to influence it, but through his games, not any edicts.
And as such, Nintendo is in no way or form an entity that can take on the mantle of what videogames are today. Videogames today are violent (something that Miyamoto eschews), sexy, niche, hardcore, casual, regurgitated and innovative, big and small, indie and corporate, cinematic and interactive, male, female, children, adult...
And Nintendo doesn't want to think of videogames like Rockstar Games, Midway, Squareenix, and others who share a myriad set of viewpoints, all of which would need to be encompassed if Nintendo was the one and only console maker. They've censored blood, sex and violence. They lack the technological knowhow to make the graphic cards and processors of the future. They've become very averse to adopting brand new technologies until they see a clear business strategy with them. They refuse to go after hardcore gamers whose tastes have been altered beyond any normal concept of "fun."
Simply put, Nintendo does not represent everyone in the videogame market, and they shouldn't. When Nintendo was king, videogames were only for children. It took another company to come in and represent the specific needs that Nintendo was ignoring.
The only industry which will benefit from Nintendo as the only console maker is an industry that has crashed, marginalized itself, lost it's direction, and that nobody believes in. While there are many worries about the future of today's videogame industry, in many ways it's more dynamic, more inclusive, and more exciting than anything Miyamoto could ever have dreamt up. And that's a good thing.
Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com
Topic: No Hi-def resolution, Nintendo's cost benefit analysis (Read 58830 times)
