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Well I doubt losing sales because of public misperception is something they "do not have a problem with".
I fail to see that as a problem with Nintendo's image. I see that as a problem with public misperception. They DO have a problem with that, but changing their "image" around will accomplish nothing because...
Image is press. I'll say it again because it bears repeating. Image is press. It is not console color. It is not demo discs. It is definitely not ads. It is not Nintendo's magazine, although magazines are a key factor to image, some of them being the press. (Sidetrack: Nintendo Power doesn't say anything different from XBN, OXM, PSM, and OPM. Which begs the question, which is worse? A magazine wholly owned by a company going "Go Company GO?" Or a magazine not owned by a company going "Go Company GO?") Hell there wasn't even an image to speak of until around 1994 or so. And all the things the press ran about video games were usually things like "Do your kids not get enough exercize?" and "Are videogames turning our children into viloent monsters?" that demonized games in the process. oh yeah and there were those Senate hearings
Yet when Sony and later Microsoft entered the market with much fanfare, that fanfare came from the press, and some of it probably paid for if you catch my drift. (I mean Sony has no compunctions with inventing a human being to give their movies good reviews) And I'm usually sure Nintendo doesn't play
that kind of press game. (It would surprise me if they did, and even so, they obviously aren't doing it now, because no usual press firm is just glowing with love over Nintendo nowadays.) The press is what makes image, and so Sony and Microsoft get great images, one of whom likes to invents human critics and use employees as people "who just saw A Knight's Tale and it was like totally awesome," and the other... well MSNBC.
Hell, if you read what the press had to say about Microsoft and the Xbox in June 2001, I bet you'd do a double-take. The thing of 2k1's E3 was the GameCube, everybody loved it, while the Xbox had an absolutely terrible showing, with Halo being a glitchy mess. You would think that the Gamecube would be hot stuff now. But around August 2k1, it was as if the press (this includes various magazines) did a complete 180 and starts the Cube bashing by calling it a purple kid's toy lunchbox that will have fluffy super funtime games whereas the Xbox is a man's console that has mature games worth playing because mature people play mature games like Halo. Oh and that the Xbox is 100% All American America. And I think I know
how Microsoft was able to to pull that one off, if you catch my drift again. By sheer force of press and repetition Nintendo's public perception went down the tubes. Foolish Nintendo. They thought all you had to do was have great games. And I think that perception is something that cannot be fixed with just a demo disc. They would have to start playing those press games, if you again catch my drift. And I don't think they can. And if they can, I don't think they do. And if they do, I don't think they outbid MS and Sony for Magazine "features."
Cripes this crap I just talked about is happeneing again right now. With the DS and the PSP. You have probably seen the magazines and the press going googoo over this bloated piece of machinery even AS bad press is getting released about it. We never hear about that OR the DS, even though more than twice is known about the DS than the PSP. It's geeting good press and a good image despite that it is sounding very bad right now. And I think I know
how thats happening too, if you yet again cacth my drift. And you know... Image is press.
tl;dr Nintendo doesn't have a problem with their image. Their image is fine. They have a problem with public misperception, largely brought upon by the mainstream press. Which Deguello heavy-handedly implied that Nintendo's competitors do dirty tricks involving lots of money to get favorable press, which then leads to a good image.
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