Tell me, what do FF, Metroid, Zelda and MM have anything to do with joystick vs pad? Honestly?

Do you realize many of us played with the NES Advantage??

(I'm throwing it in here just in case)

Quite the ironic name too.

The controller did not render competition irrelevant... circumstance (competition's own failures) did, and OKAY, I will concede, top-quality Nintendo entertainment SW as well. But that was not via revolutionary differentiation, it was via simple higher quality.

But your definition of Blue Ocean is still wrong. It's not that it renders competition obsolete, it's that it targets a segment where competition is inexistent, that's a Blue Ocean strategy. Neither the controller nor the software are such, other than Nintendo differentiated itself via SW quality, but not by targeting new audiences, but simply by being more compelling as a SW provider.

It's differentiation, not blue ocean. There's a huge diff between this and the Wii's strategy. Huge.

Loving the debate between Rol and happydolphin (what happened to your 'padib' name?).

Rol, you sure know a lot about the NES success here in the U.S. back in the 80s.I remember it well, and I´ll tell you, the NES phenomenon, proportionely speaking, was bigger than any other console that was released later, to this very day...it´s the only post Atari console, as far as I know, that held more than 80% of the market in the U.S.

Not even the Wii, DS , PS1 and PS2 achieved that...maybe the original GameBoy did, but I´m not sure.

I took this out of context. I'll reply again.

These were coming out way after the Atari was already dead in the water. The games: 1986, 87. Atari's time was ending already in 1983,84.

In that case, innovation may be a better word to use. (Plus, by that definition, the Wii is no revolution. People still use trad controls very much so).

If that's what blue ocean means, then it really didn't work for the Wii, and we're using a term I thus don't care about, as it is completely irrelevant to the discussion.

(However, I'm sure there's much more to Blue Ocean than you make it seem, and this author is presenting that aspect, and probably doesn't touch on the case where competitors continue to maintain their segment while the ex-competitor now treads in untouched waters.)

EBWOP: Also, if NES was so Blue Ocean, how come the Genesis/Mega Drive managed to remain relevant post master system?

I certainly should read it.

@bold. By that definition, the PS1 is blue ocean. It positioned itself in uncontested marketspace and became highly profitable. And the PS2 even more so. I do want to understand and follow a more comprehensive dialogue. Let's mull over this stuff and find middle ground. I don't like fighting with you.

The funny thing about this definition of Blue Ocean is that the outcome defines the intent. But by definition a strategy is a course of action intended to meet an outcome.

So, ultimately, by these definitions, in hindsight, one can come in and say this or that strategy was blue ocean, and it ends up really meaning nothing at all. In other words, is it the means or the end that matters? If the end testifies of the means, that is very tricky, since we've seen many cases where the ends were not representative of the potential of the means, especially with other factors taken into account.

I personally prefer defining blue ocean as the position itself, where no competitors lie. It makes much more sense to me, and is a much more invaluable concept.

EBWOP: Also, when judging the ends rather than the intent, the definition does not account for luck, where luck is pole opposite to strategy.

i have a question to amercians or other people who know that. you always have the prices without tax on the price tags in the shops and not like here in europe with tax included, right? (had a discussion with one from here about that)

so if you buy a console there and the official release price will be 299 does this mean you have to pay 299 and the price tag in the shop is like 299-tax or is the price tag 299 and you have to pay that + tax of this region?

this would maybe mean that we europeans don't have to pay as much more as i always thought.

i know you can buy it over the internet and many don't pay tax then but "officially" this would be maybe a smaller difference then?

Going by what you're feeding me, the SNES strategy was a Red Ocean one, since it placed the SNES in a position where its competition became once again relevant.

(I know this doesn't make much sense, but I'm just going with it)

It also begs the question. How much of company direction is strategy, how much is pure consequence to a lack thereof?