Malstrom: 'The Big Picture' problem underlying Nintendo's decline

[oniyide]

RolStoppable said:

oniyide said:
Just read the whole thing, and there are alot of interesting points, I agree with most of them. Couple of things bothered me. Consumers dont expect to buy Ninty hardware and have it be out of date? That makes no sense. They make consoles, consoles become out of date, just like TVs, VCRs, DVDs, anything electronic and you have to update to keep up. Unless he is talking strictly games, then I would agree.
I can see how GC was seen as a kids only console, but N64?? Some of their best games were not exactly kid friendly, GE, PD, Turok etc. ANd if this is the case, why was PS and PS3 so successful, it wasnt like their libraries were that much different and they weren't exactly churning out family friendly games.
I gotta call BS on 3d Zelda. Mario fine, but OOT remains the best selling Zelda game of all time. And surprise, the remake on 3DS is THE best selling 3DS game, for now
He says people dont buy want to buy Wii U with 360and PS3 games on them. What about the people who constantly cry about why this or that game is not on whatever Ninty console they are talking about?? Im sure there are Ninty fans who want to play those games, they might not be alot but they are out there.

I agree with most what he said, but dammit im an n64/GC kid. I grew up playing NES at my uncles house, playing SNES at friends houses, and i loved them, but i love those GC esque games dammit, and if NInty is trying to get those and do their family friendly thing, then let em. IF they cant then they better stick to the family friendly deal, I have not problem buying Wii U and PS4 next gen.

Expiration date on hardware: People tend to keep their Nintendo consoles and games for decades, because the games are fun to play. The hardware is kept around, because it's necessary to play the software. Truly good games never become out of date.

Kids only console: The Gamecube had its fair share of outstanding not kids-friendly titles, but it didn't help its image. The Nintendo 64 didn't fare much better either. The main point here is that Nintendo stopped being a family console at that point, because parents were put off by "monster" controllers and games that became less accessible.

PS1 and PS2 (I think you meant PS2, not PS3): Consumers define Sony consoles different than Nintendo's, so issues that apply to Nintendo don't necessarily apply to Sony and vice versa.

Ocarina of Time: It had a far greater marketing budget than any previous Zelda and was positioned as the Nintendo 64's savior. No other Zelda game got pushed this hard. As for the 3DS remake, you know just as well as everyone else against what it competes in sales on Nintendo's latest handheld, so that really isn't an achievement at all.

PS3 and 360 ports: It's a vocal minority who demands these games and for most of these Nintendo fans it's restricted to a select few games anyway.

True, good games dont go out of date, but people would still have to buy the new consoles to play the recent good games, that goes for any console maker. 

Yeah GC had a bad image, it didnt help that it was purple at first. And you're right, they did stop being a family console.

I meant PS2, and yeah they have a complete different image than Ninty

OOT yeah it got ads, I sorta agree with you on the reamke, but if people didnt care then why are they buying a game, that has been available for years and cheaper ins large numbers. Are 3DS owners that starved for games that they are going to pluck down full price for a game that they most likely have played at least once before? Sure it has little competition but contrast that to Nintendogs, that game did a killing on DS, and the new one has yet to cross a million (its close) and that was released at launch, Zelda OOT was released not too long ago and it already passed it. It has to be more to it than just, OOT had a lot of ads.

I dont know, ive heard people complain about more than just a few games. But yeah they are in the minority for the most part, most people just buy another platform for those anyway