As someone who's been following this market for a long time, I'm continually impressed by Nintendo's ability to make huge profits (even when they they have the lowest install base like with the Cube). I found this article that describes Nintendo's bussiness model. It really explains where Nintendo is coming from and where they will be going with the wii. (It was written prior to the Wii's launch but it's the best I've ever read regarding Nintendo. It's a long read, too long to post, but well worth it if you take the time. ) I was hoping some of the member's here would be interested in reading and then discussing it. Let me know what you guys think. http://lostgarden.com/2005/09/nintendos-genre-innovation-strategy.html

This is old, but I'm not sure if it's been on a thread here. Similar articles have been.

It's all about disruption.

Mike from Morgantown

articles like these remind me of the days when JohnLucas and Kwaad regularly graced these forums, when the success of the Wii was still in dispute.

Pretty good article.

Nintendo has a great strategy, create new innovative genre. Because it is new they don't have to compete with anyone so it is cheap to create. Make a lot of money, and move on to the next innovation while everyone else works really hard to compete in the new genre.

I'm reading this and I'm like "this guy is just using a bunch of really long words to say EXACTLY what I've been saying since I first heard of the Wii"

Let's overgeneralize and speculate a bit- To me this article says a lot about Nintendo's intentions for the Wii. For starters I'd say Nintendo's business model, as well as their prior history, indicates they really don't care about making hardcore games for hardcore gamers and never will (I mention this based on another thread where people were discussing this in regards to Retro, this is not in line with their business model, too expensive to produce these types of games when they can make money on Tech demos and new genres-Wii sports, fit, etc). From this I would expect that mature games will stay few and far between on the Wii (at least from Nintendo) and anyone expecting sometihing different just because the Wii has a big install base is in for a let down. Second it says alot about how long Wii might last and where Microsoft and Sony fit into this generation. Nintendo's success puts both Sony and Microsoft in a bit of a holding pattern. Both are doing well servicing the hardcore market but are now forced to push for the casual market with motion based and casual products sooner than later (Sony for example would rather do this later in the life cycle of it's system). However, as the cost of PS3 and 360 systems come down to near Wii levels, and Wii saturation begins to kick in a bit, Wii popularity/profitability will decline. Nintendo will then move on to the next innovation, leaving this market to it's competitors (because competing is less profitable than reinventing for them), Nintendo made Wii software will dry up and they'll most likely have moved on to try the same thing with a new portable. Overall I think the Wii will delay the uptake of hi def systems but in the end will not negatively effect overall sales for these systems. For example, I see a situation in Japan about a year or two from now very similar to what is happening with the PSP were Wii begins to hits saturation and a slimlined PS3 blows up over there. Isn't Random speculation is fun

Bump.

I remember reading this a while ago. I had forgotten the site.

You seem to equate Mature titles with Hardcore, in which case, you lack understanding of gaming. Geometry Wars is a hardcore title right to it's very core. And the massively expanded version of it is (at this point) a Nintendo exclusive. That's on the Wii and not a Mature title, but it is screamingly hardcore in design. The same goes for Battalion Wars, Smash Bros, Metroid Prime, Zelda, and Fire Emblem.  These are all hardcore titles that are not only not Mature-rated, but also made by Nintendo. 

 Then again, Nintendo did publish hardcore mature titles such as Giest and Eternal Darkness, and will be publishing hardcore mature Fatal Frame IV. 

 Nintendo's mantra has always been to make games for everyone.  Hardcore gamers included.  With the Wii and DS, however, they tapped into a vital area that the other guys didn't understand:  How to actually bring new, former, and non-gamers into the fold.  How to make video games fun and friendly, rather than just technical, complex and scary.  Nintendo has always tried to make gaming easier for non-gamers to understand by making a smoother learning curve.  Pretty much every Nintendo game has an introductory period that allows you to learn by playing rather than having to mire through an-equally complex tutorial or an overly-thick options menu or a complicated-to-follow instruction manual. 

 In recent years, however, it all became over-complicated, and even the friendly GameCube offered enough complexity to prevent gamer noobs from easily jumping on-board.  The Wii and DS simply soften the learning curve to a point that regular non-gaming-inclined people can grasp it.  That's all.  They've always been about reaching out to gamers and new people pretty much equally.  This time, they found a successful way to actually accomplish the task of reaching out to the non-gamer crowd.

This paranoia that Nintendo is forsaking the hardcore crowd is just a bunch of crap.  If anything, it's the 3rd party companies out there that are forsaking the hardcore crowd on the Wii with their mindless slew of crappy mini-game collections and shovelware crap.  Don't bitch about Nintendo, bitch about the third party developers who just aren't getting it.