This is my salute to Sony as a Nintendofan.
I am a huge Nintendofan that has played games for over 20 years. I´m in full belief that the best games ever to be made are from Nintendo (Super Metroid, Zelda-A Link to the Past, Super Mario Galaxy etc.). It made me miserable the way Nintendo was outplayed by Sony during the N64/PS1, GC/PS2 years. Sony easily and clearly won those generations and Nintendo were scorned by both media and players alike. Many even thought that Nintendo would stop making consoles and go thirdparty !
Here´s a couple of things that I in retrorespect feel Sony did good. Why they were good for me as a Nintendofan:
1. Sony has kept pressure on Nintendo and forced them to be at thier very best and most inventive. Without Sony Nintendo most likely would not have made the DS/Wii, both of which are the companys biggest sellers among their portables/consoles in history. Sony has forced Nintendo to think in new ways and in the process Nintendo has greatly expanded the market for videogames. It seems that there is a lot more different types of people playing videogames today than in previous generations and this can only be good for videogaming as a whole. Today we have a much wider spectra of players ranging from kids/teenagers/mums/dads/grandmas etc. which results in bigger sales and more profit for companies. This can benefit both Nintendo and Sony.
2. Sony has also pushed the boundaries regarding the technical aspects. They have always been at the forefront in this area compared to Nintendo which have always been more traditional here (which suits me fine). Without Sony perhaps Nintendo would not have chosen online for certain games (they are still not prioritating this but anyway, Mario Kart Wii is lovely for instance). Perhaps the Virtual Console, Wiiware and DSiware would not excist without Sony, who knows? The backwards compability was introduced with the PS2 I believe? I loved that. Wii is the first homeconsole from Nintendo to feature this.
3. Sony has pressured Nintendo to keep down the prices on hardware and software. I remember oh so well back in the 80´s and early 90´s when the games for NES and SNES in Sweden where I live actually were more expensive than the games of today!! More competition between companies are good for custumers!
So this is my salute to Sony, a company I do not really like at all and I have probably written more positives here than in my entire earlier posts put together =).
Thank you Sony for pushing Nintendo to do better and be the best they can. Thank you Sony, without you Nintendogames would perhaps be way more expensive. Thank you Sony, without you I do not think I´d have the Wii and DS today. My two favorite consoles together with SNES/NES
Here´s to future consolewars between Nintendo and Sony and their fanboys! Long live the consolewars
