Here are the Six Reasons Nintendo Has the Edge

[ilovetogame]

i think this list should have been


1) Motion Controls
Motion controls make lots of types of games way more fun. Not every genre certainly, but many of them. Wii motion+ is gonna really expand this too. Racing games, and weapons based game whether its an action rpg or action or action/adventure or whatever, fps, some puzzle games, some sports (especially sports like baseball, golf, bowling, boxing, tennis, and i imagine hockey), etc. And not only that but motion controls can actually create new types of games or completely different ways to play games like with the balance board. Motion controls makes lots of games more fun to play, which is what it is all about.



2) Innovative new software
Mostly this is coming from the wii series (wii sports, wii fit, wii music). But two of those games are driving wii sales like crazy. And wii sports is one of the most fun games i've played in years and its so simple its genius. Basically any game that uses motion controls to create new ideas for games or put a new spin on old ideas is using the technology well and that creates better games.



3) Innovation in general
Not just this gen but any gen nintendo usually the innovator. Granted microsoft brought in the harddrive and full online capabilities. While sony brought in discs instead of cartridges...wait, actually didn't saturn release first so i guess sega actually introduced that. hmm, well sony at least always pushes the storage size of discs, but thats not even a good thing this gen. so sony kinda sucks at innovation i suppose, the perfect example of this is the fact that sony has used the same controller for 3 generation which is just pathetic. The rest of innovation in the gaming market has pretty much all come from nintendo. Usually its in the form of controller and software innovation, but the way we play games and the games themselves are basically the two most important things to keep gaming fun.



4) Casual games
Yes, thats right, casual games. And i don't mean this as cheap cash-in mini game compilations that are generally hated by use gamers. But actual good games that are loved by both casuals and core gamers alike as well as casual games that bring in new ideas and expand the market which can only be good for gaming.

Stuff like wii sports is sooooo fun to play unless you are a snobcore, and its a casual game. even wii fit and wii music are bringing in new ideas and while some may find the games bad, they are expanding the possibilities for gaming and thats a good thing. For example, i think the only thing holding wii music back from being an incredible new piece of software is that you can't make your own music, you can only manipulate the preloaded songs. If you could actually write your own notes and songs in there and then use all the different instruments to make a musical creation completely your own then wii music would be huge for the music game industry in a way that guitar hero and rock band can't even imagine.

Games like boom blox and mario & sonic and the rayman games, and whatever other good casual games are out there are good for gaming. Not only cuz some of these games are actually really fun games but they bring in new ideas for gaming and new gamers which makes the industry bigger which means more gaming in the future.



5) Good business strategy
This comprises a lot of things. Nintendo knows how to make money even when its the last place console. So now that they have the two fastest selling systems ever right now they are raking in unprecedented amounts of money. This also has to do with not making a gazillion different sku's bringing out a new one every few months like is whats happening with ps3 and 360. its ridiculous. if nintendo now released a new wii that has updated features i'd be pretty pissed, i can't imagine how i'd feel right now if i only had a 360 or ps3 from launch.

Also this has to do with making an affordable console. Don't make a console that is way too expensive for people to buy and way too expensive to even make so that it doesn't sell well AND you lose lots of money. thats just bad business.

This also has to do with focusing on doing something well instead of trying to do many things poorly. Nintendo makes quality video game systems and they do it very well. They don't release consoles that aren't ready and have unheard of failure rates(RRoD) or that tack on useless things(six-axis), or try to push other unneeded but expensive technology(blu-ray). Nintendo makes a video game system to play games and with a quality unmatched by any other company.



6) A stable of great franchises that appeal to everyone
Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Mario Kart, Smash Bros., Pikmin, Star Fox, F-Zero, Donkey Kong, Wii series, Mario Party, Mario sports series, Paper Mario, Animal Crossing, etc.

These franchises are generally very core gamer and casual friendly. Some are more niche than others, but many of them can appeal to all audiences and when taking all these games as a whole nintendo has a stable of their own franchises that will always be exclusives that appeal to that entire gaming market and is even expanding that market a lot. Everyone can pick several of the franchises out of that list that they love. Sony and microsoft each have a few great franchises that gamers know they will get to play each generation. But what sony and microsoft have combined doesn't even come close to nintendo's first party lineup.

And to people who say that the only games that sell are nintendo games (which is wrong in the first place) as if nintendo games are all the same, look at the variety here: sports, fitness, music, mini-games, platforming, action/adventure, racing, rpg, social, fp-adventure, fighting, flight/shooting, and like strategy or whatever pikmin is.

I couldn't imagine going a geneartion without getting at least the new mario, zelda, metroid, mario kart, and smash bros. games, and i couldn't imagine going through this gen also without having wii sports. The thing about these games is their broad appeal. The focus of these games aren't heavily violent action games and shooting games that are gonna appeal to a much smaller crowd like microsoft and sony focus on. Nintendo has this incredible list of franchises many of which are always of the highest quality and they appeal to as broad a base as possible without neglecting anyone. if you are the most hardcore gamer or the most casual gamer you can find several things to love in nintendo's franchises. Sony and Microsoft would be well advised to make a quality stable of franchises that appeals to all audiences like nintendo has always done from the start.



thats what i think sony and microsoft can learn/copy from nintendo to create better games and help make the market continue to grow.