| johnlucas said:
FICTION: Becoming everyone’s Second System is a nice consolation prize when you’re unable to become the First System.
FACT: Becoming everyone’s Second System automatically makes you the First System.
If every PlayStation 4 owner bought a Wii U & every XBox One owner bought a Wii U as their Second System, then that’s TWO Wii U’s for every ONE PS4 & XOne.
And you have to figure that some people will pick Wii U as their Main System so that would make THREE Wii U’s.
Also take into account the PC gamers—even those of the so-called PC Master Race. If they buy a Wii U, that’s FOUR Wii U’s.
Is it more likely for PS4 owners to buy a XOne or XOne owners to buy a PS4 when the libraries for both are virtually the same?
Is it more likely for the PC Master Race to buy either a PS4 OR XOne when PC’s are more powerful, more customizable & have the same libraries as the PS4 & XOne (and beyond)?
Differentiation is key. Exclusivity is key. Wii U has games you can’t play ANYWHERE ELSE.
PC Master Race gamers will buy a Wii U for its uniqueness & diversity & so will PS4 owners & XOne owners.
The same thing happened to a little console called Wii. Remember that suck-up campaign called “Wii60”?
Funny thing, if you replace Wii U with 3DS or mobile gaming, this is actually somewhat accurate, but there's no way in hell this could ever apply to Wii U. 3DS and smartphones fill the secondary system role much better than Wii U does, even by your standards. Both of them have way more games you can't play on PS4/XB1/PC than Wii U does, they're both less powerful and they're both (usually) cheaper than Wii U.
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FICTION: It was smart for Microsoft to unbundle Kinect from XBox One to improve sales.
Nintendo should do the same with Wii U & its Gamepad.
FACT: It was stupid for Microsoft to unbundle Kinect from XBox One to improve sales.
Nintendo should never & WILL NEVER do the same with Wii U & its Gamepad.
You don’t make standards by allowing something to be optional. It DOES have to be forced on the buyer by default.
It DOES have to be ready out of the box.
Microsoft showed that they don’t really believe in their Kinect by unbundling it from the package.
By doing that, they have effectively KILLED Kinect for the XBox One.
Now they can no longer have games with Kinect functionality built into the design since most of the userbase won’t have the peripheral.
Completely false. DVDs, BluRay, MP3s, CDs and Casettes became standards without being forced on people simply because the consumers and manufacturers agreed that they were better than the competition. And it's hardly forced on anyone if you can simply buy one of the systems without it. Same applies to the following paragraphs.
Nintendo HAS ALWAYS forced their control standards onto the public & that is the RIGHT way to do it. I’m sure there were people complaining about the plus-sign shaped Control Pad on the NES preferring to play with an Atari-style joystick.
Oh Nintendo gave you the joystick LATER—the NES Advantage—but first they want you to get familiar with their Control Pad first.
There were those who were uneasy with the L & R shoulder buttons along with the extra X & Y buttons on the SNES controller.
But Nintendo created games that compelled you to use those buttons in order to play: Super Mario World, F-Zero, Star Fox.
There DEFINITELY were those wary of the N64 controller with its scary 3-pronged shape, analog Control Stick, Z trigger, & C button cluster.
But Nintendo forced you to use that Analog Stick, Z trigger, & C button cluster in games like Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, & GoldenEye 007.
The Control Pad was still there but they forced you to learn those new sticks & buttons first.
Some complained about putting Control Stick in primary position in the simplified Gamecube controller.
I’m sure they also complained about the new C stick, the Z trigger becoming a second shoulder button & the button-size differentials with big button A, small button B, bean-shaped buttons X, & Y.
Luigi’s Mansion & Super Smash Bros. Melee help to quiet those complaints.
We definitely know of the STILL-ongoing complaints of the Wiimote & Nunchuk.
Making a controller that can handle the growing complexity in game design without putting that complexity on the face of the controller itself.
Motion control & pointer control.
Gamecube’s button size differentials still intact with big A, trigger B, shoulder C, trigger Z, small 1 & 2.
Control Pad on Wiimote, Control Stick on Nunchuk. And it was all forced on buyers through games like Wii Sports, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, & Mario Kart Wii.
They would give you a Classic Controller LATER but first they want you to explore every aspect of this control revolution (including the source NES style when you turn Wiimote sideways).
Wii U is no different as they force you to use that Gamepad (UPad) even with the co-star controller Wiimote & the secondary Wii U Pro controller.
Getting rid of that Gamepad would keep it from becoming standard & would be a direct insult to Nintendo’s long tradition of creating new standards.
Just like they did with DS & its stylus despite all the gripes & complaints from visionless gamers, they will continue to force players to expand their horizons.
Nintendo didn't force their controllers on people, with the exception of the NES controller because they had a monopoly on the market during the 3rd gen. Anyone who valued controllers highly enough and who thought that Nintendo's controllers were awful could have simply bought one of the competing consoles, and in fact, many did. Especially during the Wii era. Same thing applied to their competitors: if you didn't like the genesis controller, you could always get a SNES. If you didn't like the Playstation controller, you could always get an N64. Our you could still buy it if the console had something that made up for bad controllers.
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FICTION: Nintendo should go back to making traditional controllers.
FACT: The “traditional controller” is Nintendo’s tradition.
Who’s tradition? All of today’s controllers are based on the NES/Famicom standard of 1983 INCLUDING the Gamepad.
Yes. ALL controllers. That includes your DualShock & your XBox controllers. Even those Logitech controllers.
They are all built upon standards introduced by Nintendo themselves.
True, to a degree, but the basic layout of movement buttons on the left, action buttons on the right and start button right in the middle predates the NES controller and even the Donkey Kong arcade cabinet. The controllers used by Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Sega, and many others, have mostly been based on the controls used by arcade cabinets, with modifications to make them portable, as evidenced by the layouts. Even motion controls can find their precursors in the arcades.
Nintendo has certainly been a very influential force in establishing what is now the standard game controller, but they were by no means the only innovators in that area.
But this whole lecture is really off topic from the "Fiction" statement, which should actually be labelled "OPINION" beecause that's what it is. The fact that Nntendo greatly influenced what we now view as the "traditional" controller doesn't change the fact that the Wiimote and, to a lesser extent, the Wii U Gamepad have diverged from the well-established current standard of game controllers, and some people dimply prefer the current standard.
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FICTION: The Japanese market is irrelevant to the videogame industry.
FACT: Japan is the CAPITAL of the videogame industry.
There is one key reason why Japan is THE MOST important market in the videogame industry. It’s not because of population size since both the American & European/Rest of World regions have larger populations than Japan.
It’s not because of consumerism since no one beats the United States of America in consumerism.
It’s because Nintendo’s home base is in Japan. And since Nintendo is the ruler of the console videogaming market—the largest & most influential videogaming market in the world—what happens in Japan affects the rest of the world markets.
To those who dispute that Nintendo’s the ruler of consoles, take a quick look at the best-selling games of all time & see who rules that list. Furthermore take a look at it by single platform to make it even starker. Check them for best-selling franchises of all-time.
Check them as a developer & publisher to see how many diverse franchises & game genres they produce compared to other prolific best-selling developers & publishers who make just one or two.
Then consider that NO OTHER CONSOLE MAKER IN HISTORY has EVER been able to keep up 2 viable platforms—both home console & handheld console—at the same time. Not Atari, Not Sega, Not NEC, Not SNK, Not Sony.
Then look at who changes controller design & game design & see how many others follow suit.
Completely false. PSP and PS3 both sold more than the GBA, so if that's considered a viable system, so are they.
Since Nintendo, the ruler of the videogame industry, lives in Japan it must be concerned with its hometown market & serve it.
Like the saying goes, you can’t sweep somebody else’s front porch before you sweep your own.
But there’s ANOTHER reason why Japan’s the CAPITAL market.
TWO out of your Three console makers—Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft—are based in Japan.
This reason FURTHER UNDERLINES why Japan is the Capital of the videogame industry. Also add the fact that many of your influential developers & publishers come from Japan like Capcom, Namco, Sega, Square-Enix, Konami, & so forth.
Nintendo recognizes Japan’s importance & will always start their strategies THERE first.
They know that the hierarchy of markets goes #1 Japan, #2 America, #3 Europe & the rest of the World.
They know that “The West” follows the influence of “The East”, that what happens in Japan influences America & what influences America influences Europe & the rest of the World.
Sony on the other hand is forgetting this truth & is trying to follow “The West”.
They are getting caught up in the competition against American Microsoft, a “Western” company, & are neglecting their focus on “The East” Japan.
The blockbuster Call of Duties & Grand Theft Autos made by the American/European developers who ultimately come from the PC world have Sony catering to those markets at cost to the Japanese one (does THAT explain PS4’s weak performance in Japan perhaps?).
But Nintendo knows where the Capital is. HELL, they’re the ones who PUT it there!
30 years ago in 1985 when the Nintendo Famicom went international as the Nintendo Entertainment System & permanently crippled the PC gaming market to this day. The ones who kept the videogame console from going extinct in the face of the multi-purpose all-in-one Personal Computers which could do gaming & everything else you could think of. The ones who created a market so powerful & so lucrative that the PC gamemakers had to exit the PC market one by one & go to the consoles just to be able to make a living. The ones who created such a powerful market that OTHER Japanese entities jumped on the bandwagon to eat off the meal Nintendo created—Sega, NEC, SNK, Sony—further entrenching Japan as the Capital.
The ones who inspired Microsoft employees Alex St. John, Craig Eisler, & Eric Engstrom to create The Manhattan Project later known as DirectX to BOMB the ever-strengthening influence of Japan in the videogaming industry & return focus to the Western platform of choice, the Windows PC.
The ones who inspired the DirectX team to create Project Midway later known as the DirectX Box later known as the XBox to be the vehicle to turn that tide just like 1942’s Battle of Midway turned it for the Americans in World War II.
Nintendo knows what Microsoft’s here for.
Microsoft tried to buy them out in 1999 & when they couldn’t do that, they bought out who they thought was Nintendo’s essence, Rare. Microsoft thought they bought Donkey Kong out from under Nintendo’s nose. They thought they bought Nintendo’s gamemaking prowess by buying Rare.
They saw Nintendo as another Sega since PlayStation 1 had the record sales. Sony was the leader in Microsoft’s eyes & Nintendo was child’s play.
Microsoft would crush these Japanese competitors & restore gaming prominence under the “Western”/American PC banner.
Nintendo knows that Microsoft tries to outmuscle whoever they think the leader is in the business.
To one up them & beat them at their own game.
Microsoft out-PS3’d the PS3 with the XBox 360 & then when they saw the TRUE leader of the business show itself through Wii, they tried to outmuscle the Wii with Kinect & the whole New XBox Experience (Avatars replace the Blades dashboard).
Then Nintendo trumped their efforts in 2010 with a simple red paint job & confused them with a sudden exit from the generation in 2011. “We won the gen!!” thought Microsoft foolishly.
Wii U abruptly starts the 8th generation so Microsoft tries to one up the leader again:
“Gamepad? Ha! SMARTGLASS! AND Kinect! Beat that!”
Then Wii U lulls & Microsoft sees PS4 swell. “Oops, Sony’s the leader again. Drop the Kinect.” And thus that leads to the strong price drops & the recent American sales victories against PS4 in the everlasting XBox vs. PlayStation wars.
All part of Nintendo’s Master Plan: Microsoft as Sony’s foil. Nintendo knows Microsoft’s intent & sees Sony’s distraction.
XBox is nothing without America (as Japan shows) so Microsoft uses its muscle to overpower whoever threatens ITS home market, USA. Nintendo knows Microsoft HAS to fight for this place, the place it’s trying to restore as the Capital of the videogame market.
OF COURSE Sony doesn’t recognize the importance of Japan. They’re a bandwagon jumper anyway.
They didn’t create this phenomenon in the first place.
And they have become so “Westernized” that they’re forgetting where they come from.
That’s why instead of fighting Nintendo with a Vita, they’re fighting them with a PS4.
“Japan’s a handheld country,” they said. Who do you think MADE them a handheld country in the first place?! Hahahahaha!
So Nintendo rightfully recognizing Japan as the Capital makes sure that the 3DS kills the Vita before it’s even born.
Vita Est Mortis. Ironic. That way Nintendo has Sony fighting with only ONE vehicle instead of Two.
And a vehicle (home console) that is weaker in Japan, a handheld/portable-focused marketplace.
Then Sony, a tech-focused company, will dismiss the old-tech Vita since it sells nothing in “The West” & put all their chips on their PS4 home console trying to upstage Microsoft’s XBox One.
Sony at E3 2013: “We don’t do what Microsoft does!” Audience: “YAY!!!”
But that’s the worst thing Sony could have done since they don’t have financial muscle to go toe-to-toe with a desperate muscle-minded Microsoft. Putting the squeeze on Microsoft in America will only ruin Sony in the long term.
Meanwhile Nintendo UNIFIES Japan & prepares to bring a UNITED Japan to “The West” & split BOTH Sony & Microsoft in half.
Microsoft’s dumb & Sony’s distracted. Neither one of them sees it coming because they don’t recognize or respect the fact that JAPAN is the Capital of the Videogame Market & will be that way as long as Nintendo, the ruler of the videogame industry, exists.
I honestly can't find a single statement in this whole segment that could be said to be based entirely on facts and won't waste my breath arguing with this.
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FICTION: PlayStation 4 will win the console wars.
FACT: The strongest console NEVER wins.
That's like if someone from 2008 said "There's never been a black president" to "prove" that Obama couldn't possibly win the elections.
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