| Zucas said: I'm simply saying Nintendo needs to look to the future. |
They have, and quote/unquote core gamers ain't it. And there's no need to correct their "image" with "core" gamers (vocal internet minority) because they'll be no satisfying the bulk of that crowd unless the Wii was a 360 or a PS3. So those people are simply better off with a 360 or a PS3 since those are both better tailored to their wants and needs.
Nintendo said they saw the traditional gaming market approaching a dead end in the future based on what they saw in Japan's market at the time and designed the DS and Wii to expand beyond their traditional market to hopefully expand their business, because as a gaming only company, that's their future.
They didn't want to spend themselves broke on bleeding edge technology and retool their company's image just to chase after the same "core" demographic that Microsoft was already aggressively marketing to. Sega did what Microsoft is doing now, and without other forms of revenue to fall back on, it eventually lead to them both leaving the hardware business and the majority of their company being bought up by Sammy. Sony followed that same path with PS3 and have lost billions to secure less market share than either of their competitors.
After all this they certainly aren't going to drastically alter their business model right now, especially when they're still expanding on it. Ask yourself, why did Nintendo create the balance board, when their already established Wii remote is doing so well in sucking in the expanded audience? Because the remote wasn't enough. Look at the Japanese hardware numbers, the board isn't enough either. Before this generation comes to a close you'll probably see at least one new significant add-on for the Wii with another Nintendo game spear-heading to further their market expansion.
It's some what similar to Rock Band vs. Guitar Hero. The Guitar controller is what sold Guitar Hero, the price didn't matter, people love the experience the guitar controllers offers, much like the Dance Mats in the DDR series. That controller and that game helped to expand the gaming market to more people. How many, I don't know. But Harmonix couldn't just repeat that with a GH knock-off because they'd do nothing but battle Guitar Hero (Which ironically they also created) for the same group of new people. So Rock Band was created to extended the experience to encompass two other rhythm games with controllers that helped emulate the experience just like Guitar Hero. And despite it's a high cost and the amount of space it eats up both on a shelf (limiting how many you can put out) and at home, it's selling very well and has convinced Activison to alter Guitar Hero to compete directly in this new direction. Between the two of them this will likely get even more people involved then if they both just kept making Guitar games.
That's an example of a more narrow market (Rhythm Games) compared to Nintendo is actively trying to get everyone they possibly can to play their games, but it demonstrates a similar approach to market expansion. Nintendo will keep making their traditional titles like they always do, but they're not going to bundle them with the Wii anytime soon as it wouldn't change much other than it might slightly denting the internet media stigma they don't care about "core" gamers.
They've spent over two decades now making these games and feel they've probably done all they can do with them from a practical business standpoint. They'll keep making them, because they've got a market, they make money, and they know what they're doing. But they can't grow much with them aside from spending deep to over-promote them to death with floods of ads. Which probably wouldn't be worth the cost for a likely minor increase. They're going to aggressively pursue new markets because by definition they're new an will need to be convinced as they have little to no quality software designed specifically for them on the console market. Nintendo know how to make Zelda and Mario and the lot, they're still experimenting and learning new things with the expanded market. As they get better at it they'll find out what niche in their extended audience likes what, and then try something new again to capture the next niche.
Lastly this idea that a vocal minority displeased with not being Nintendo's favorite audience anymore will greatly scar Nintendo's image seems just foolish. Typically people only care about brand when they personally feel constantly ripped by the same brand on a repeat basis. For those who feel they are being abandoned, they've probably already decided to refuse to buy the Wii or went ahead and resold it. That's about it, even corporate scandals don't seem to make much of an influence unless it severely screws up the company from within. Nintendo were heartless bastards during their hay-day of the 8-bit and 16-bit era, and treated 3rd parties terrible. Their audience didn't care until it effected them directly during the Nintendo 64 when those and similar polices towards 3rd parties caused them to lose most of their non in-house support and people flocked to the competition to play those games.
Short Version: Nintendo isn't concerned with dispelling stigmas and stereotypes common among the gaming media and net. They're concerned with dispelling stigmas and stereotypes common among everyone who isn't playing games, hopefully by getting them to play their games.
