A lot of people like to say that Nintendo is old fashion, they're averse to change, re-hash all their franchises and so on. They're like the grandfather who would rather use his old typewriter than a modern computer with simpler delete capabilities. That being said, there is at least one recent entry to their repetoire that's innovative enough to call a stand out; Nintendo Direct.
When it comes to a relationship with media, they're like social retards, well, less now becouse of ND. When you think Sony or microsoft in relations to the media, you think of Sony with Kevin Butler, giant screens at E3, live celebrity endorsments. Microsoft with their over the top production for a Halo commercial, all their advertisments in xtreme games, movies from the fast and furious franchise. Both companies bring the wow, explosion, the modern day revalence for your common consumer, Rock n Roll. In comparison, you have the weird quirkiness like the 'Wii would like to play' campaign, the confusing 'who are you' rhetoric, and their terrible strategy of lumping games together in one advertisment and thinking that's the way to advertise a game. Each time, missing the target that Sony and Microsoft seem to get right.
Nintendo Direct is a departure from their usual stubborness when it comes to how they do things. This is new, it's something that you'd expect Microsoft or Sony to do, like an MTV segment with a bombastic VJ spouting out the most recent breaking news(I'm looking at you Sway). But of course it's done in a nintendo way with the same quirkyness we come to expect. So, where does it lead to in the next couple of years; if it continues. Does it eventually spur new ideas relating to nintendo directed media? Say a movie studio, a TV studio? Can I say what we're all thinking: Nintendo NOT the next Disney, but they are Disney. Mario is the new Bugs, Mickey, lesser lesser lesser extent Spongebob. Nintendo Movies (Please no Live Action), Nintendo shows, Nintendo Land in real life. With ND, it's signs that they're breaking from their shells. If the small clues to Iwata's showmenship is any indication, they'll move pass videogame anouncements and move towards a wider range of media.
Imagine a Star Fox space epic, where Samus makes recurring cameos. An episode of Earthbound where we see a baseball league of Ness, Ninten and Lucas' teams vying for top honors. In this episode, Wario is trying to scam the elderly into putting all their money into his new casino. Will Kat and Ana be able to expose his dastardly schemes? Has anyone seen the Kid Icaus short anime? I certainly wouldn't mind a more dedicated effort into launching it as a complete series.
What do you think? Or should they just stick to gaming; which would be a shame seeing as their IPs can be very strong characters.
