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A fine line to be number 1

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thecubedcanuck:
After reading these boards for over a year, and seeing how everyone wants Nintendo to regain the number 1 position in the console race, I pose a few questions and give a few thoughts.

First of all, what was it that lost Nintendo the number 1 spot in the first place?
Was it refusing to go the CD format, or was it a bigger issue?

May here seem to want to 2 very differant things from what I have seen.
Everyone wants Nintendo to make new and innovative games and at the same time keep the old favorites alive and kicking while remaing true to their roots.
Can this be done? Can they be innovative and keep the feel of the past glory in these games?

Now one has to consider what it will really to tkae to overthrow a really powerful king in Sony.
Sony is succesfull because it appeals to the masses, this cannot be argued.
Can Nintendo appeal to the masses, while pleasing the difficult to please Nintendo loyalist?
How can they do both?
It seems to me like it it is a double edged sword. To overthrow the king one must first emulate the king at the same time convincing people that they will the same but better.

I am not sure how this can be done.
Will Zelda be a start, I really dont think so.
Metroid could have been, but needs more pushing still.

I  am looking for some real objective feedback here, not the standard "if people were smart they would just buy Nintendo" rhetoric.
How do you get a sony fanboy to take a look, and even more important, how do you make him like what he see's?

Thanks

ShanD:
I think their biggest, and best buisness strategy is being ignored as of now. Letting the 3rd parties take over franchises. So, while the 3rd parties make games true to the roots, Nintendo can work on the new and innotive games that Nintendo was saying that were coming out this year.

Mingesium:
The real problem is third party support. Nintendo lost a lot of third party support when they went with carts. The GameCube fixed that problem with the GameCube. The problem now is third party software isn't selling well compared to PS2 and XBox. The competition from Nintendo software are hurting third parties. The solution is to get a huge userbase to support first and third party games. I think that Nintendo is on the right track. Software sells systems. I expect more people to buy the GameCube these year because of Zelda, Mario Kart, etc.

Handing out franchises is a great way to help third parties and it frees up EAD to create new franchises. So far we haven't see those new franchises and I hope that they will be revealed at E3.

WhoDey:
Sometimes I wonder if Nintendo even really cares about being #1. What I mean is that while they'd love to be have the top selling console (who wouldn't), they aren't going to sacrifice money in order to make a run to get there. Most of us aren't business majors and yet we can see all kinds of things Nintendo has and is doing wrong if their main objective were to have the #1 console. Things such as not marketing enough, not matching competitors prices with software (players' choice titles), not blitzing the press enough like Sony and Microsoft do with future titles, and not keeping top companies (Rare) are a few examples. Nintendo specializes in this and has to forcast what each move will result in so maybe these aren't mistakes at all.

I think Nintendo is quite content with where they are now. Although they aren't #1, they are major players in the industry. They pretty much have a monopoly over a profitable handheld market and apparently are profitable with the GC. Their software sells extremely well. So while overtaking Sony would be great, it may not really be a goal. While we cringe when EA announces they will not support the GC with most of their sports titles, Nintendo is surely disappointed, but not to the point of doing anything about it. I think they are quite satisfied.

thecubedcanuck:

Quote
So while overtaking Sony would be great, it may not really be a goal
--- End quote ---


thats a good point, I honestly never once looked at it from that angle.

However I do find that train of thought disturbing. To not want to be the best at your givin field seems like a death wish.
Eventually that attitude would only further there competiters lead.

As for the handheld market.
I hate to see what will happen when Sony releases a handheld. From my personal buisiness experience, I would think that SOny having the Number 1 console would steal a lot of GBA users. Users would want their handheld to match there console especially is the handheld and console will link up, which it no doubt will.
This is a big reason why Nintendo has to see the importance of the console position because one day it will hughly affect there other and most profitable market.

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