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Forums - Sales Discussion - Should Nintendo change their Brand Name in the west to 'Gameboy'?

Frogger on 18 April 2015
RolStoppable said:
It would be a good start to think about the reason why Nintendo abandoned the Gameboy name to begin with. It's a very interesting question because Gameboy was always very successful. How did that make any sense?

The reason is that Gameboy became increasingly associated with kids, even though the brand started out as something very inclusive on the back of Tetris which definitely appealed to all ages. Since Nintendo's intention with the DS was to expand their audience, they had to bite the bullet and abandon the Gameboy brand; of course, if the plan to expand failed, then the Gameboy brand wouldn't have been tarnished by the DS and could have been conveniently used again.

Since the DS succeeded, the only reason why Gameboy would return is if Nintendo has run out of ideas and has only nostalgia to fall back on. But otherwise their next handheld will not be called Gameboy, and it also won't be called DS because the 3DS kinda ruined that brand. It's for the best to come up with a new name to make it clear that Nintendo is doing something new.

As for the negativity that undermined the Wii U, that's definitely not because of the Nintendo name or even the stupid Wii U name. What killed the console is its message that the Wii didn't really happen. The Wii U is as if Nintendo had given the SNES a joystick as its standard controller. The Wii U is as if Apple made phones with keypads instead of touchscreens after the iPhone success. Nintendo moved backwards and do you remember what came before the Wii? It's the GameCube that was rejected by the market, so the Wii U is rejected all the same. When one of the key points for the Wii was that the dual analog controller was identified as a problem and Nintendo becomes successful as a result of that realisation, then it's absolutely idiotic to turn around and bring back the very thing that people didn't want to buy.

The bottom line is that the Wii U is a piece of trash and that's why it failed so hard. A different brand name for a video game system or even Nintendo as a company would not do any good if they pulled off the same bullshit again.


...

The Wii U is a piece of trash because it has dual analog sticks? The bringing back the dual analog controller was a problem? My head hurts.



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Dr.Vita on 18 April 2015

For handheld? - Yes
For home console? - No




Dr.Vita talks about Playstation Vita in 2016!
Playstation Vita Media Create Sales (2014 vs 2015 vs 2016)
Playstation Vita Japan Retail Software Sales (2013 vs 2014 vs 2015 + 2015 LTD Edition)
Prediction: Nothing will outsell PSP anymore (except Playstation home consoles)

Frogger on 18 April 2015
RolStoppable said:

Yes, it is a problem. It sends the clear message that the Wii U is not a continuation of the Wii.


It should, because it's not.



Leadified on 18 April 2015

I don't think so, the brand is long dead. Other than nostalgic value I don't think it will really help Nintendo too much.



Roma on 18 April 2015

feminists are waiting around every corner to start shitting out of their mouths

not that they are important though :P

 

anywho why would anyone call themselves Gamboy when they have a name like Nintendo? it's just a bad idea!



    R.I.P Mr Iwata :'(

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PieToast on 18 April 2015

Absolutely not. it's not even politically correct. 'Gameperson' is more suitable, but the brand has been dead for a long time.



.- -... -.-. -..

Frogger on 18 April 2015
RolStoppable said:

So you agree on that point? Then why don't you agree that it is a problem when Wii U sales are atrocious?


Because the logic that if something is selling poorly, it's because it does everything wrong is simple and flawed. It's far more complicated than that. It does a lot bad and a few good, but the bad far overshadows the good. The Wii U bringing back analog sticks is not part of the bad. If anything, the only reason it's even sold as much as it has is because it brought them back.



Nuvendil on 18 April 2015
RolStoppable said:
spemanig said:

Because the logic that if something is selling poorly, it's because it does everything wrong is simple and flawed. It's far more complicated than that. It does a lot bad and a few good, but the bad far overshadows the good. The Wii U bringing back analog sticks is not part of the bad. If anything, the only reason it's even sold as much as it has is because it brought them back.

The controller is the most obvious part of any video game console. People realize that the standard controller determines what kind of games are going to be made for that system.

The GameCube had a dual analog controller and flopped. The Wii didn't have a dual analog controller and was a raving success. Logically, the sound business decision would be to build on the success instead of the failure.

But I am interested, what makes you believe that the dual analog controller made the Wii U sell better than it would have otherwise?

Cum hoc ergo propter hoc. 



Frogger on 18 April 2015
RolStoppable said:

The controller is the most obvious part of any video game console. People realize that the standard controller determines what kind of games are going to be made for that system.

The GameCube had a dual analog controller and flopped. The Wii didn't have a dual analog controller and was a raving success. Logically, the sound business decision would be to build on the success instead of the failure.

But I am interested, what makes you believe that the dual analog controller made the Wii U sell better than it would have otherwise?


The PS4 has a dual analog controller and is a raving success. The PS2 has a dual analog controller and was a raving success. A + B does not automatically = C. There are various factors.

The drop in intrest in the Wii's motion controls, and the disatisfaction with its function, as well as the function of it's competitors the PS Move and the Kinect speaks volumes. The fact that the entire gaming ecosystem has regected the motion controls they once embraced tells me that if Nintendo stayed that course, things would have been much worse.

So it's less that dual analog helped it sell more, but that abandoning the Wii remote as its primary controller and replacing it with something more evolutionary than revolutionary helped it sell more.



Frogger on 18 April 2015
Nuvendil said:

Cum hoc ergo propter hoc. 


Lol, basically.