Topics

101

Nintendo Gaming / Failed Quotes That Predicted Nintendo's Failure

« on: January 28, 2009, 12:01:08 PM »

Between the years 2002-2006 it seemed to many people that Nintendo was doomed to fail as a hardware developer and would become a 3rd party developer just like Sega. Now we all know that not only is that not the case, but Nintendo is actually doing the exact opposite of those predictions and is now the market leader. If anything, it is now Sony who is in danger of being driven out of the hardware arena.

So I just thought it would be fun if we had a thread where we could post all those failed predictions by Sony and others about how Nintendo had failed, and then we could point at those quotes and laugh at them. 

Here are some I could find on Google to help get the ball rolling:

“I think obviously our competition, the handheld devices from Nintendo and specifically in the case of the DS, we really feel like they’re appealing to the same audience that Game Boy has always appealed to. And if you look at the adoption rate of the DS over the first 17 months, not only does it trail the PSP but it also trails their other platforms… They’re potentially losing some of their core audience and they’re not really expanding beyond that and we think we’re expanding into a completely new audience as we did with PlayStation. And we’ll do just what we did on PlayStation; we’ll dip down to the younger consumer eventually and we’ll ultimately appeal to that vastly Earth wide audience we carved out with the original PlayStation.” - Sony Computer Entertainment America’s Executive VP Jack Tretton

I wonder what Mr. Tretton would say now that the DS is consistently outselling every other piece of hardware (sometimes even all the 3 Playstations combined!). Come on, did he seriously believe that the DS was such a failure when he said that? How in the hell did he manage to become the Executive VP??? With him in charge, I guess we shouldn't be surprised Sony is in the shape its in now.

"The idea of a handheld rivalry with Nintendo is an irrelevance. Those formats don't appear in our planning. It's not a fair comparison; not fair on them, I should stress. That sounds arrogant, maybe, but it's the truth." - Phil Harrison

Arrogance? Truth? *shakes head*

"With the DS, it's fair to say that Nintendo stepped out of the technical race and went for a feature differentiation with the touch screen. But I fear that it won't have a lasting impact beyond that of a gimmick - so the long-lasting appeal of the platform is at peril as a direct result of that."

That was by Phil Harrison again.

"We don't care,"

Ken Kutaragi, when asked what he thought about competition from the 360 and Wii.

And here is one of my favorite failed predictions:

By 2011, though, the Yankee Group report predicts that Sony will have sold 30 million PlayStation 3s, controlling 44 percent of the market, compared with an estimated 27 million Xbox 360 units, which would account for 40 percent of the market.

Nintendo is expected to stay in third place with 11 million Wiis sold, claiming 16 percent of the console buying market.

It is only 2009 and the Wii has already sold over 3 times as much as Yankee Group predicted they would by 2011. I wonder how much money Sony paid them to come out with this report, lol. I hope whoever came up with the report was fired.


If anyone has any more quotes about Nintendo's "failure", please post them here so we can have a few good laughs about how wrong those predictions were. 

102

General Gaming / Sony axes 16,000 jobs and shuts down plants

« on: December 09, 2008, 07:45:19 PM »

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article5311385.ece

Sony is to slash more than 16,000 permanent and part-time jobs from its worldwide electronics division and raise prices for its gadgets in the face of dwindling consumer spending.

The draconian restructuring scheme, which will also see Sony shedding an unspecified number of “unprofitable or non-core” divisions from its sprawling portfolio, is the biggest of its sort announced in Asia since the financial crisis took hold of the world economy.

It is, however expected to set the tone for similar moves by Sony’s domestic and regional rivals, and even the likes of Samsung and LG, which have been less damaged by currency -related carnage.

I think it is very possible that Sony may soon decide to get out of the video gaming business. The PS3 is costing them badly, and with the economy being as bad as it is they may have to either sell the Playstation line to another company (perhaps Microsoft), or perhaps spin it off into a new entity.

103

Nintendo Gaming / Was Sonic's new Werewolf game partly inspired by Luigi's Mansion?

« on: December 06, 2008, 04:20:29 AM »

I haven't actually played the game (yet), but I just watched a video for it on the Nintendo Channel on my Wii, and one of the first things that sprung to my mind when I watched the computer animated video set inside a haunted mansion with ghosts was how similar it was to Luigi's Mansion.

And I'm not saying that's a bad thing or anything, because Luigi's mansion was a cool game and a great thing to emulate. But am I right? Since I've never played the game I'm not sure if the game is anything like that video or not, but the video sure reminded me of it.  And another thing it reminded me a little bit of was Caspar the friendly ghost.

Anyone else see what I mean?

104

Nintendo Gaming / I predict a Wii price drop will come after the holidays

« on: November 23, 2008, 01:58:01 AM »

Anyone else agree with my prediction? The Wii is over 2 years old now, and all through that time its price tag of $249.99 has not changed, even though the PS3 and 360 have seen massive cuts over the same period. This is an amazing accomplishment for Nintendo, who had major problems getting the GC to sell, and had to cut its price early and repeatedly. But it also made sense for Nintendo not to drop the price, because of the unheard of prolonged shortage that was in effect and is only now coming to an end.

I checked on Amazon a few weeks ago, and for the first time ever I was able to see Wiis in stock and available for sale from Amazon rather than from scalpers at an inflated price. We are also beginning to see Wiis staying on store shelves more often, so I think it is safe to say that the shortage is finally at an end. And so now that the shortage is at last out of the way, Nintendo can now begin considering dropping the price.

I predict they won't drop the price until after the Holidays, because demand is naturally going to be very high this time of year, and the shortage may rear its ugly head again for the next two months, but after that things are going to settle down again and most people who were willing to spend $249 for a Wii will probably already have done so at that point, so I predict sometime between mid-January and March Nintendo is probably going to cut the price of the Wii down to (hopefully) $199, and they might also consider new colors for the console, or even bundling more stuff with it in order to boost sales.

I also think at some point they are going to come up with a revision to the Wii hardware, and I predict this "Wiivision" will have a beefed up internal memory, because people like to bitch about that. So instead of 512 mb like it is now, they may quadruple that to 2gb or go even higher. They may also finally include the ability to play DVD movies, and maybe even find a way to have the sensor bar built into the console so you don't need the sensor bar to be a separate component.

I also think at some point Nintendo is probably going to drop the GC controller and memory card ports. They are going to do that to save money on the hardware costs, and also to discourage people from owning and playing GC games, which they are no longer seeing any profit from. Everyone at this point who ever owned a GC has probably already upgraded to the Wii, so it makes no sense for them to keep this ability.

Instead, they will probably release "Wiimakes" of all the best selling GC games, to make them work with the Wii-mote so people will be forced to repurchase them all over again and no longer rely on backwards compatibility to play them.

Anyways, these are some of my predictions for what Nintendo is going to be doing next year. Do you guys think my predictions will end up being correct? And if not, how do you think things will be?

105

Nintendo Gaming / Could the Nunchuku functionality have been merged into the Wiimote?

« on: July 09, 2008, 11:07:27 PM »

As I was playing on my Wii awhile back I was wondering if there was really a need to make the Nunchuk thing as a separate component, because couldn't Nintendo have just added an analog stick and another two buttons onto the Wii-mote and accomplished the exact same thing?

I think it would be possible to swing a remote and move an analog stick on that independently, just so long as it was positioned in a convenient spot. The only thing you would miss out on with this is the limited motion input that the Nunchuk provides, but the way I see it for something like a boxing game or whatever else you'd need two things, you should have just been able to link two Wiimoted together, and that would also be great for a drumming game or something too.

106

Nintendo Gaming / Do you still love your Gamecube?

« on: June 07, 2008, 09:21:46 PM »

I've had my Wii for nearly a year now, and I got a lot of play out of it the last few months, but right now I've been catching up on a backlog of GC games that has built up over the last few years. See, I got a ton of GC games used and clearanced for peanuts and never got around to playing them all, but now I've played and beat Luigi's Mansion, and Bloodrayne for the very first time, and I'm also well into some James Bond EA game right now, and also dabbled a bit with Pikmin. 

Even though the Gamecube is officially dead, there are still plenty of games for it I have never played, and these games can be had for just a few dollars. Now its like every single day is christmas! Thank you Nintendo! I don't care what anyone else says, the GC is an extremely underrated system and it's library actually still kicks the ass of the PS3 and Wii at this time (I'm not sure about the 360, though).

107

Nintendo Gaming / Will the next Zelda game be an FPS?

« on: May 15, 2008, 03:40:16 AM »

I just skimmed through some article where Miyamoto talked about Link's Crossbow training and he said it is actually "FPS training" and he revealed he is a big fan of the FPS genre. Alright, so that much has been clearly established, right? Well, it seems I also recall someone (perhaps Miyamoto himself) who said that Zelda Twilight Princess will be the last game Zelda game of its kind.

So I was pondering those two quotes and all at once it hit me, and I think what we'll soon see is a Zelda FPS game which will probably involve crossbows and throwing bombs and things of that nature. It will be like Metroid is now, but in a more medieval style setting.

Do you guys think I might be right about this? I think it makes perfect sense, because I don't really think there is much more that could be done to evolve the Zelda franchise from the way it was in Twilight Princess. Sure they could add a few things here and there, but the formula is pretty well perfected at this point. I think if they take Zelda into the realm of FPS that will be just the sort of thing the franchise needs to keep itself fresh and interesting.

I could be wrong, though.

108

Nintendo Gaming / Has any game fully utilized the Wii's potential yet?

« on: May 02, 2008, 03:20:16 AM »

At least 90% of the games out now are crappy rush jobs, ports, or games that started development for the GC and moved over to the Wii (Zelda). That said, many of the graphics of existing games do look last gen, and everyone seems to be saying the full power of the Wii has yet to be realized, and if we just give it time we'll see games that are above and beyond anything the GC or even Xbox could do. My question is, are there any games out there now which have done this? Or are there any which are currently in development?

I understand it won't be possible to get 360 or PS3 level graphics out of the Wii because of the lack of HD support and other hardware limitations, but if the full potential were unlocked, would it really be very far behind?

109

Nintendo Gaming / Why are people still whining that there aren't enough games?

« on: April 17, 2008, 11:26:10 AM »

A year it made some sense to complain that the Wii didn't have a lot of games, but I still hear people bitching about the lack of games even now. While it is true that there could be more hardcore games made by 3rd parties, I don't think there is a serious shortage, and this is improving all the time. But yet, still there are people who are complaining and I keep hearing comments like "I have nothing to play until Mario Kart comes out", or "I don't want to beat this game too fast because then I'll have nothing to play until June". Why are people making these comments? There definitely could be more games than there are, but there is definitely enough out now that it's hard to imagine someone having beaten all of them..

So unless people are zipping through games at insanely fast speeds, or get sick of them and don't finish them, then I don't see how anyone could be lacking Wii games right now... We just had Smash Bros., Okami, and a bunch of other stuff coming out recently, and Mario Kart isn't far behind, so this had better be the end of these comments about not enough games for the Wii.  If people are still desperate, they need to look at WiiWare or the VC to help them pass the time.

110

Nintendo Gaming / Rumor: New DS Model To Be Shown At E3

« on: April 13, 2008, 06:32:45 PM »

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/52186

According to Bloomberg Japan, Hamamura noted his belief that Nintendo could unveil a new DS at E3 this year, which runs from July 15-17.

It was unclear if he was referring to a simple redesign or an actual new dual-screened platform. Given that the system regularly tops sales charts in North America and Japan, a revised version of the existing hardware would be the most logical assumption.

When asked for comment, a Nintendo representative apparently told Bloomberg that the company could make no comment at the time.

This is something I've been predicting for quite some time, and this is one of the reasons why I still have my old DS Phat. I figured there would be a new DS revision, so I didn't want to upgrade to the Lite. Now it seems like I made the right choice by holding off. 

111

Nintendo Gaming / Nintendo needs to make a Nunchuck pack-in game!

« on: April 04, 2008, 09:27:48 PM »

As you all know, Wii Play has managed to become possibly the most successful non-pack-in game for the Wii, and you all know the reason why that is, don't you? I'll give you a hint: it isn't because Wii Play is such an awesome game.

So yeah, millions of people have bought Wii Play just for the fact it includes a Wii-mote in the box with it. Nintendo has successfully followed this strategy with Link's crossbow game which has sold well just be including a cheap plastic shell with the game, and they are about to do the same with Mario Kart by including yet another plastic add on to help sell the game along.

The one obvious thing which is missing here is the Nunchuk. It isn't packed in with any game, and in order to get it you must purchase it separately. This is such a waste,because Nintendo could make any crappy game idea they wanted into a huge financial success if they chucked it into a box with a bonus nunchuk. So why aren't they doing this? They can throw together some cheap shovelware titled "Link's Lawnmowing Training", or "Samus Aran's Bowling Training" and shove it into a box with a bonus nunchuck and put a $50 price tag on it and that game would sell in the millions.

So why isn't Nintendo doing this? If they did think of the profit they would make by combining a $20 nunchuck with a $5 game and charging $50 for both. Plus it would put more nunchuks into circulation and further the success of multiplayer Wii games in the future.

112

Nintendo Gaming / Major League Eating - the must have Wiiware launch title!

« on: March 03, 2008, 11:34:50 AM »

http://wii.ign.com/articles/856/856016p1.html

This is the great thing about Wiiware. Money doesn't need to be spent on manufacturing discs and so forth, so all sorts of crazy game ideas are now going to see the light of day when they wouldn't have before. 

113

General Gaming / LOL! Anyone remember this commercial? [Crash Bandicoot]

« on: March 01, 2008, 10:58:29 AM »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PCJ1lWMaSA

Back in those days Sony's mascot went to Nintendo and attacked them directly. Nowadays, they don't even mention the competition in their commercials. And I'll bet that the guy inside the costume is probably the PSP stalker himself. 

114

General Gaming / Which old movies should be made into video games?

« on: February 07, 2008, 09:06:33 AM »

I just finished playing the Godfather game for the Wii, which was pretty awesome and also amazing considering the movie itself is like 35 years old. That's a heck of a long time for that movie to become a game. Most games that are based on movies are for new ones which are still in the theatres, but there are a heck of a lot of old films which could really make great video games. What kinds of old films would you guys like to see put on the Wii or other current consoles?

Now, don't laugh at me for this, but I was thinking the movie Groundhog's Day with Bill Murray would make an awesome sandbox type of game, where you start out each day exactly the same, but you can choose to explore the city and do whatever you want without any real fear of consequence, because you'll still wake up the next day on the same time and all that. The way you'd win the game - if there really is a way to win - would be to win the heart of that woman Bill is in love with. I honestly think that would be a cool game if it were done right.

There are lots of other movies I could think of as well. Someone give me a studio and a budget!

115

NWR Forums Discord / Nintendo Stock Plummets!

« on: February 07, 2008, 08:52:22 AM »

Wii Fad Confirmed!

Share holders have realized the Wii's success is just a fad and they are tripping over each other in a frantic race to sell their shares before the stock becomes worthless!


(Actually, it is really just something to do with the weak U.S. dollar, or something like that. But I thought a little sarcasm would be fun.)  

116

Nintendo Gaming / How much of your Wii library is 3rd party?

« on: February 03, 2008, 02:22:27 PM »

After a certain thread was bumped in the handheld forum, it got me thinking about how many 3rd party games I actually own for the Wii and that it would be a good idea for a similar thread here in the console discussion, so here it is. I'm proud to say that exactly half of my library is 3rd party games, and the other half is first party. Right now, my library is this:

1st Party Games
--------------------
1. Wii Sports
2. Wii Play
3. Zelda: Twilight Princess


3rd Party Games
---------------------
1. Ghost Squad
2. Resident Evil 4
3. The Godfather: Blackhand Edition

So I currently have a total of 6 games, with three being 1st party and three being 3rd party. I think it is safe to say that my library is evenly balanced. Can your Wii library claim to be as fair and balanced as mine?

117

Nintendo Gaming / Bob Saget to appear on your Nintendo DS!

« on: January 23, 2008, 08:37:14 PM »

Link

It is actually a game based on the show 1 vs. 100 (which is still cool, but I was really hoping it would be Fullhouse the video game).

118

Nintendo Gaming / The Official Virtual Boy Discussion Thread!

« on: January 07, 2008, 09:31:58 PM »

I didn't see any other threads devoted to the VB, so I thought I'd create this.

How many here have ever experienced one? I actually own one somewhere in the attic. I got it not long after it came out. Originally, the price was $179.99 (or something like that) but it very quickly dropped as stores began to clear inventory of it, and within no time the price was down to $29.99 at KBtoys. I begged my mom to get it for me, and it was a good thing I did because soon it was gone from stores entirely. And I managed to get a few games for it. I can't remember all of them, but I remember there was a boxing game with robots, and a shooter called Red Alarm which was kinda like Star Fox.

The controller on it was really weird, because it had two D Pads on either side, if I recall correctly. That was so you could move around in the three dimensions. This was like a year before the N64 came out, so the analog stick concept hadn't yet been invented, but the VB certainly could have benefited from it. The main problems with it was that it wasn't really a portable in any realistic sort of way. I think it had very, very, terrible battery life which made it as bad or even worse than a Gamegear, which meant you really needed to have it plugged into something. You also couldn't strap it onto your head, and it had this stand thing which you either sat on a table or on your lap and then stuck your eyes into the headset. I think if you could have strapped it to your head it would have done a lot better than it did.

Another serious problem was it had extremely poor third party support, and first party support for it wasn't much better. Unlike all other Nintendo systems, the VB lacked major franchises like Zelda and Metroid and so on. It had a few Mario games, but if I recall correctly they were sports games like Tennis and one like the original arcade Mario Bros. The only game I can remember for the system which I could consider significant was Wario Land. Other than that, the games were okay but nothing that you'd really justify buying the system for. And I think Nintendo cut support for it even before they released it. I think they realized it was going to be a disaster so they stopped all development, and I think they only released the system just so they could get rid of the systems and games they had manufactured.

It was Gunpei Yokoi's only real disaster, but it was a disaster which devastated him and cost him his job at Nintendo. It is amazing that this is the same man who was behind the wildly popular Gameboy. What went wrong? Only thing I can think of was he lost his mind or something. But still, the VB could have been more successful than it was if Nintendo threw more support behind it with strong games and advertising. If it had Metroid, Mario, Zelda, Kirby, etc on it then maybe it could have realized its full potential and maybe third parties would have also backed it better. They also should have made the headset strappable to your head, and it would also have helped if they could fix the eyestrain and headaches you would suffer from playing it for a long time. But I don't think that could have been fixed, just because of how the system is.

In those days they had to use red laser because they were the cheapest, but now they could probably make a VB that was in full color and with stunningly amazing graphics. Will it ever happen? I'd like to think the idea of virtual reality gaming isn't gone forever and that maybe Nintendo will look into a Virtual Boy successor someday. But for now, all we can do is wonder what the VB could have amounted to if it was given the proper chance.

What do you guys think about the Virtual Boy?

Edit: And there was also an episode of Home Improvement which featured the Virtual Boy. So if nothing else, the system will live on in that episode.

119

Nintendo Gaming / DS Crank is the worst accessory ever

« on: January 05, 2008, 08:55:25 PM »

Link



On the other hand, if you are stuck on a deserted island this would be the thing to have. You'd just have to train a monkey to keep turning it for you while you played. Why not? They can apparently train monkeys to crank those music box things.

120

General Gaming / Rumor: Next XBOX Console already in development

« on: January 05, 2008, 07:03:52 PM »

Link to 1UP article

While this is only a rumor, I see absolutely no reason to doubt it is true. Remember, 2009 is two years away so MS probably has something in the early stages of development by now. Releasing the 360 a year before the competition has paid off for them big time, so I see no reason why they wouldn't apply that strategy again. They probably also have some motion control idea in development after seeing how successful it was on the Wii.

Expect this 7th generation to be VERY short, folks.

121

Nintendo Gaming / What do people say about Nintendo being market leader again?

« on: December 12, 2007, 11:37:44 PM »

It is amazing what a difference just two years can make. Back then, Nintendo was in third place and all the analysts were saying the Wii would be Nintendo's last console and then they would go third party and all that stuff, but now no one is saying that. Some are still clinging to the idea (hope?) that the Wii is just a fad and like all fads it will pass. But I think they are wrong too, because people said the same about Pokemon when it first came out like 10 years ago. The Wii has been out for over a year and it's popularity has only INCREASED. I've never heard of a console being sold out this long after launching, nor sell for $819 in bundles on Amazon until now.

But what I'd like to know is what you guys have heard from other people when they talk about Nintendo. Do the Nintendo haters still bash the company as being "k!ddie"? Or have the abandoned Sony/MS and now think Nintendo is the cool company to follow? Do they think the Wii is just a fad and that Blu-ray and sixaxis are the real future of gaming, or do they think the Wii remote concept is here to stay? That's the thing I want to know. I don't hear a lot of Nintendo bashing going on anymore so I'm wondering if it is still going on within certain circles.

It is very funny to think of Nintendo haters being shocked and bewildered by a company they had thought was on its last legs suddenly emerge as the leader once again. I can't think of anything else like this ever happening. I guess it would be like some third party candidate like Perot or Nader suddenly winning an election when most people were saying third parties can't win. Or maybe it is like how Alexander the great had defeated a Persian army that was 5 times his size..

It's just like the late 80's-early 90's again, and I have to say sometimes I wonder if I'm just dreaming. I mean, how could Nintendo be in 1st place again? For that matter, how could the Playstation 3 be in 3rd? Have I entered into some Bizarro world or something?

122

Nintendo Gaming / Rumor: Super Mario RPG sequel for DS!

« on: November 27, 2007, 04:18:48 AM »

Link

Quote
- For starters, it would seem that Square Enix would consider a new RPG featuring the moustached plumber. Après un premier opus sorti sur Super Famicom , Super Mario RPG serait de retour, cette fois-ci sur Nintendo DS . After a debut release for the Super Famicom, Super Mario RPG is back, this time on Nintendo DS. Il est même précisé qu'au cours du jeu, notre héros ferait la rencontre de différents personnages emblématiques de l'univers de Final Fantasy . It is even said that during the game, our hero would meet different characters emblematic of the world of Final Fantasy.

Holy Crap! This is long overdue.

123

Nintendo Gaming / Wiis are now selling near PS3 launch prices!

« on: November 27, 2007, 04:11:03 AM »

Link to Neogaf

This is insane. Whoever heard of a console being so popular and still sold out a year after launch???

124

Nintendo Gaming / So, is the Wii Zapper worth getting?

« on: November 25, 2007, 10:03:21 AM »

I was looking forward to this, but after reading the review for it on this site I now have my doubts. An overall rating of 4.0 seems pretty bad...

Is this the view of everyone on the Wii Zapper? Has anyone who bought it actually like it? How does it play with the other games besides the Crossbow one it comes with?

125

Nintendo Gaming / Rumor: New DS Revision!

« on: November 15, 2007, 11:49:11 PM »

Link to Kotaku Article

A Securities Analyst has this to say:

Quote
Our contacts indicate that a refreshed DS is complete. It is thinner (it has no GBA port), has on-board storage and larger screens. However, we do not expect a revamped Wii or DS until sales begin to tail off in all three major geographies.

So will this be a "DS Slim" to counter the PSP Slim?

I am one of the few who still own the original DS Phat. Sometimes I think about getting a DS Lite because they are so cool in comparison, but they don't really do anything different so I can't justify it. But maybe this third revision (if the rumor proves correct) will offer new features that make it justifiable?

The bit about the onboard storage sounds VERY intriguing. I think this is probably so you can download old GB, GBC, and GBA games onto it and play it on the DS just like the Wii's VC. There's also no reason they couldn't do SNES and other consoles as well. The SNES would be extremely suitable for this, because it has the exact same button layout.

It kinda sucks if they drop the GBA slot, but on the other hand it does make some sense. If Nintendo wants us to rebuy our GBA collection on a VC then I can see why they'd get rid of that slot. It won't work with me, because I still have my GBA SP and I intend to hold onto it. But, what does this mean for DS options Paks like the web browser and rumble pak? I would hate to lose those... but if this revision has those abilities BUILT IN, then that would be awesome. Don't you all agree?

Oh yeah, and we need the ability to play MP3s that Japan got in a Pak, but we never did. Nintendo had seriously better have that built into this revision, as well as video support. If it has all of this stuff, then Nintendo would have me convinced to buy another DS (even though I already own an older version).