| sethnintendo said: How is Nintendo doing poorly in Japan? Their sales are down but will pick up once MH / DQ games are released (Also, the new black Wii). They are back to selling more than the other consoles and they have sold the most there than the other consoles. I guess having 65% of the home console market in Japan is doing poorly or having problems? |
They started very strong out of the gates (they were outpacing the PS2 for a very long while) but they've hit the doldrums since then. This is especially worrisome since they've released many of their biggest console franchises there already, and while their new expanded audience offerings did well they still have not let them keep pace with the PS2. If you're Nintendo, this trend is incredibly worrisome, because gaming is who you are, and Japan is a nice barometer for what the aging populations of the world will react to gaming. The stuff you've mentioned will help, but when you struggled to stay in the 10k/week category, you've got problems. The fact that they're crushing the HD systems is irrelevant: beating an asthmatic at a marathon is not a point of pride.
| Mr Khan said: He seems to have been on this bent for a long time, that 3D Mario (and Zelda) is fundamentally inferior to the 2D variant, especially in the eyes of Nintendo's audience. He seems to think its an issue with the SNES game design being superior. He loses ground when he cites NSMB's superior sales performance, because you cannot compare handheld games to console games thus. He himself should know this, given his long criticism of the PSP |
Actually, he's pretty down on Mario World: he likes the NES games the best, especially 3.
You're point about handhelds=/= consoles is a good one. However, NSMB is helpful here for two reasons. It demonstrates that the market does not have less interest in Mario platformers overall than they did in Mario's 2D heyday, which puts a damper on any argument that those numbers can never again be reached because people have moved on from Mario. It also tells us that Mario's appeal is actually pretty universal. Remember, up until this generation Mario platformers were almost exclusively left to consoles, not handhelds: the Mario Land games were made for the Gameboy, but since the early 90's Nintendo hadn't made any more of those until NSMB (I wonder why?).
I'd also point out that the line between handhelds and consoles is not as important as it used to be. The pick-up-and-play philosophy of the former is bleeding more and more into the latter, while even the most console-centric genres are increasingly adapting to fit the handhelds (JRPGs, anyone?). I'd also point out that the PSP in particular is, for all intents and purposes, a mobile console, and its games reflect that.
| tuoyo said: Anyway I like Nintendo's new approach. Make the Mario game Japan wants (NSMB DS and Wii) and make the Mario game the rest of the world wants (Galaxy and Galaxy 2). Japan wins and we double win cause we get Galaxy 2 and a bonus Mario game. |
Agreed!
