How can I take the DS seriously...

[binary solo]

Xponent said:

@ binary

I'm from NZ too. Nintendo has ALWAYS underperformed here, so I don't neccesarily agree that its casual marketing strategy is to blame. In fact, I think there is a strong case to argue that Nintendo are doing better now than they ever have in NZ.

I agree that it would be nice if hardcore games were advertised more often, but if you consider the limited attention Nintendo tends to pay the NZ market, it just makes more sense for them to focus on their most profitable titles.

Like someone suggested earlier, hardcore gamers are already well informed so its less effective to advertise to them. You even said yourself you knew that gamers games exist on the DS. You don't need an advert to remind you.

I'm sure you remember that little more than a year ago Nintendo ads were extremely rare on NZ tv. I know for a fact that Nintendo's advertising is more diverse in Australia, and I suspect the same is true of other countries. Geez, I haven't seen any DS games other than Brain Training advertised on NZ television. EVER.

Nintendo's smaller share of the NZ market is and always has been symptomatic of the poor support NZ receives from Nintendo in general, not its television marketing strategy, which actually coincided with quite a significant improvement in sales. Nintendo games simply didn't chart at all until about a year ago, and now Wii Play and Wii Fit appear frequently in the NZ top ten, which represents quite a remarkable turnaround.

Thanks for the NZ market analysis. There is a middle market of people who like the hardcore games, but who are not hardcore gamers, I would count myself as one of those types. Before I came on this site the impression I had of the DS was kiddy games and Brain Training because that's all I was exposed to. OTOH the PSP was directly appealing to my inner gamer with its marketing, so my impression was that this would be the handheld system for me. Fortunately for Nintendo my wife, also thinking the DS was a hand held for little kids, decided to buy my youngest son one for his birthday. But if it had been up to me at the time I would have got him the PSP. I probably would have had my way if it wasn't for the price differential. My older son bought his own PSP, so Sony are happy too.

I've got to hand it to Nintendo though, they went for marketing to the Mums and it has paid off like no one would have guessed in 2005. Sony and Microsoft really missed out on a revolutionary marketing strategy. On the other hand, Nintendo was starting with a clean slate.

famousringo said:

TV is for casuals. Why aren't you gaming?

Same reason I'm spending too much time here making up dumb ass threads: I haven't bought my PS3 yet.