I honestly think Malstrom just likes to go against the grain with the "conventional wisdom," sometimes just for the sake of going against it. Often he is correct because the conventional wisdom is frequently wrong - Everyone thought Nintendo was going to go third party, and we all know how that turned out - But sometimes he is wrong (or over exagurates). Now that the conventional wisdom seems to be that Nintendo will crush the competition with the 3DS, he is backing off the bandwagon and taking a closer look at it, being far more critical of it. While I agree with Malstrom's posts like 90% of the time, I am not with him in these sudden doomsday theories of the 3DS.

I guess he is saying that Nintendo is kind of going back to being like Sony and MS, too "core based" and reliant on hardware and technolgy, which I can kind of see. (This shows in the Wii lineup of 2010 with games like Other M and Galaxy 2, which have not picked up Wii sales). But when he says that 3DS sales will wane, that puzzles me. If you look at the lineup, the sheer strength of the library is absolutely massive compared to most Nintendo platforms; both first and third party. Malstrom even said once himself; the console with the most/best games generall sells the most hardware, and this is what the 3DS appears to be doing. I see is sort of like another PS2, rather than an N64, in that it is coming off a major success, with even stronger third party support, and many many quality games from all genres.I just can't see a handheld with a library like that and such strong 3rd party support to perform poorly.

I'm not sure Nintendo necessarilly needs to implement the Wii strategy as strongly in the handheld sector, since the competition isn't nearly as strong as it is in home consoles. However, I'm 100% with him that Nintendo NEEDS a brand new 2D Mario for the system. I can't imagine them NOT releasing it, if they like making money at all..

Besides this, I believe he is jumping the gun. The original DS didn't have a 2D Mario until a couple years into its life. I believe a similar situation will happen with the 3DS. Also, Nintendo will always be looking to reach new markets, I can't see them stopping this strategy with 3DS. They are simply starting it out with more established franchises in order to get a quick and stable install base from the getgo.

I agree.

There is no possible way that after the success of New Super Mario Bros. on both the Wii and DS that Ninty won't make a 2D Mario within the first 2 years. Mario Kart is already on the 3DS along with Animal Crossing - both marquee holiday titles that Nintendo propped up over the last few years.

A Super Mario World 2 or NSMB2 is just the killshot. There is nothing stopping them from creating another evergreen either. They've been amassing quite the amount of success with lesser known DS titles (Art Academy, Style Savvy, Rhythm Heaven, Fossil Fighters) and its only a matter of time where such a large IP collection can propel them forward.

The sheer number of initial titles being released for the 3DS from 3rd parties as well around launch time is pretty much the best Ninty could ask for. I can see Ninty being a little core focused...but with the volume of titles available, I don't see how they could blow it all....especially to the still unannounced PSP2.

Malstrom's argument for the success of the Wii boils down to a great software library for core Nintendo players and an untapped market. Whereas Sony and Microsoft focus on hardware and the core, Nintendo focuses on games, which will sell to any gamer, lapsed or core. This is Malstrom's argument oversimplified without all the needless "professor with a cigar in his mouth" commentary.

The problem is, with Move and Kinect, Nintendo no longer has a free reign on the Blue Ocean market. Kinect moreso than Move because the initial launch strategy Sony did with the Move did not focus on marketing because they thought core Sony players would pick it up and it would gain momentum like a grassroots political effort. With the Kinect, you have a very serious threat and very, very big fish in the Blue Ocean. From what I have seen and read, Microsoft is serious on encroaching on and taking away from Nintendo's successbase of this generation.

If all was equal with each console of equivalent power without any controller, Blu Ray, or 3D gimmicks, the results have shown that Nintendo does not compete very well on an even playing level. All you have to do is look at the Playstation and Playstation 2 in comparison to the N64 and GameCube. Nintendo got beat down and violated like a cherry prisoner in the US prison system in those generations.

How much cartridge vs. CD and mini-disc vs. DVD had to do with Nintendo getting whallopped is unknown, but undoubtedly a factor. That being said, the Playstation vs. N64 and Playstation 2 vs. GameCube generations were more equal than this generation has been in similarities to gaming experiences.

By equal in this generation would mean each console has a Wii-like gimmick or better concerning controllers. As for Blu Ray vs. other disc formats, the PS3 is evidence of how little the latest fangled disc format can help sell a console by itself.

The way this generation finishes out will tell a far greater story for the relative places of each console in the next generation. Wii will have been effectively countered by Move and Kinect and the software 1st month sales will convey whether Nintendo will have success in the next generation on a similar level to the Wii.

Personally, I have a hunch that Nintendo will not be ontop next generation unless they pull some hardware gimmick out of left field that allows them to find another Blue Ocean. I just don't see it coming. What we will have is parity and as the Playstation and Playstation 2 gens have shown, when there is parity, Nintendo loses.

I focus on the hardware because hardware has a definite novelty factor to it. The novelty factor for the 360 and PS3 did not last very long because they were viewed as a very similar gaming experience to the original Playstation with the controllers and focus on graphics. Contrary, the novelty factor for the Wii has lasted a long time because Nintendo went down to it's gut and created an out of this world, innovative console with the Wii. Henceforth, when the choice for your lapsed gamer or nongamer is between the two HD twins with a traditional gaming experience vs. the Wii with new innovative controls and games aimed at the lapsed, nongamer and family friendly populations, most chose the Wii and have stuck with it.

If all was equal, Nintnedo wouldn't have made the desicions that lost them the third parties, and thus would have had the same support from third parties that the PS1 and PS2 had. And they would have been an unstoppable juggernaut if that was the case.

I agree with the game overthinker in that Sony only got where they are because their competitiors were either screwing up (N64) or downright collapsing (Sega). You're overrestimating Sony.

I’ll try to be more clear, what makes me suspicious is not the potential of the console, which is unbelivable indeed, but the “games” that will be made for it; indeed something i noticed (and maybe you have noticed too) is that Nintendo has some kind of “cycle” since the end of the Snes era, something like this: New console -> Mario -> Zelda -> Mario Kart -> Smash Bros -> Metroid -> Donkey Kong -> new console -> Mario…

And what i’m thinking right now is that the cycle is going to repeat with the 3DS too, including the “poor third party games support”, not much because of the console itself, but because of something that i resume in a phrase like “Nintendo consoles are innovative but Nintendo is not”. I’ve taken this quote from a my friend, but if you think for example that although the N64 was a more powerful console than the PSX, the second one had more games and with better quality too even if the platform was “weaker” in terms of performance, and something similar happened with the PS2 against the gamecube.

Another reason why i think that the 3DS could be a trap is a phrase a my friend sayd long ago, when he was supposed to choose between N64 and PSX, he sayd “I get a N64 because is more powerful”, with the result that when i bought a PSX he was costantly at my home playing with it saying “N64 has shitty games”, and this is something that, as you sayd in a your article, makes me somehow think about the 3DS like the N64. My thought is that even if very powerful, it will not least for too long because of the “mind” of it’s producers, making maybe nice games but only for the first year to then drop down in creativity and “making games supposed to be just sold for the trademark” as i say, but i’m not an expert in marketing, so i would like to listen to your opinion as you seem more expert than me in this “field”

 I agree completely with your N64 reference. The 3DS is going the way in spirit as the N64 did. It is not an inclusive console. Just as the N64 cut off people like me, the 3DS is going to be cutting off DS and Gameboy users.

One of the bedrock ideas of disruption is what is called ‘overshooting the market’. Nintendo realized the N64 was overshooting the market when they released the Wii. “Make simpler games,” they said. Now, what is the 3DS but overshooting the handheld market? I don’t need all this stuff in a handheld. I need simple games. 3d games were a failure on the DS, what makes anyone think that they will suddenly be in demand in the handheld market?

Now, the 3DS is having a better launch than the DS did. The DS was, after all, rushed. There is much better software for launch for the 3DS than the DS which is probably a big reason why Nintendo doesn’t feel worried.

It is not that I do not think Nintendo realizes they are overshooting the handheld market. It is that I do not think Nintendo cares. Nintendo is obsessed with 3d technology, and their view is that the software developers will do whatever the hell they please and your role, as the consumer, is only to go along for the ride. The bigshots at the software side are very unhappy with you, the consumers, for not going wild over 3d Mario (despite what form and how easy they make it), for not wishing Metroid: Other M be the full replacement of the Metroid series, for still demanding more 2d games, and not being excited about Aonuma designing Zelda games for his son’s entertainment.

The 3DS reminds me very much of the N64. Tons of Industry and hardcore gamer excitement over it with a silent, but large, slice of the userbase being disinterested. However, a big difference between then and now is that the 3DS, unlike the N64, doesn’t have intense competition. But when something overshoots the market, it creates opportunities for competitors.

Is he

Is he complaining about the D-pad

He's complaining about the D-pad, isn't he

Edit: Oh, he's not, thank Christ, I was about to be all

"You guys I think we are reading the rantings of someone who doesn't warrant much attention"

Edit2: Though him posting those e-mails unresponded-to implies that he agrees with them, either as a way of proving a point or agreeing in particular

BLurghk