Come the Revolution

GamesIndustry.biz has a piece looking at what game developers think will be required to ensure that Nintendo's Revolution doesn't go the way of the GameCube. From the article: "While this mutual exploitation between indies and Nintendo may grant the GameCube some stay of execution, the Kyoto giant's next home console will require a very different approach to marketing. Solid details about the Revolution remain sparse, yet Nintendo has stated it hopes to attract a different audience to the one being aggressively chased by Microsoft and Sony. This is the console that will support a back catalogue of twenty years' worth of Nintendo games, as well as new titles utilising the intriguing new controller."

Older is better

[From A Far Away Land]

I'd actually consider buying a Nintendo platform that supports Gameboy and NES games as well as the new stuff. Either that, or gives owners a license to run an official NES emulator on their PC. Donkey Kong trumps new stuff any day.

Re:Gamecube - premature death?

[Fred Or Alive]

Where are you?

I'm in the UK, and the article is pretty accurate, the 'Cube has dissapeared from most retailer's shelves (partly pushed out by the PSP, and ironically, the DS), and it's pretty much relegated to small amounts of shelf space in specialist games shops. I'm sure people get lots of play out of their 'Cubes, but Nintendo will probably have trouble selling more games and consoles when they can't pursuade shops to actually sell them.

Nintendo fans shouldn't worry totally, the cash cows of the Game Boy and DS are doing far better.

My $.02

[tekkou]

My opinion on this latest generation of video game systems is that MS and Sony may be trying to cram too much into a system. These things are supposed to play games first, everything else 2nd. Yes it's nice that I could use my PS2 as a DVD player along with playing games, but it wasn't a great DVD player, and when I had the money I bought one to take that function's place.

I'm very happy that Nintendo is willing to take a gamble and keep with their trend of making GAME systems. One only has to compare the DS with the PSP to find that a GAME system is what more people want. Yes there are people that like the PSP for all its media functionality, but should that be in a game system? Why not just buy a PDA for that? You'd have the ability to view a wider range of media in that case .

When I first heard about how Nintendo was planning on this new controller idea, having the back catalog of games, and keeping it just a game system I knew I wanted one. Nintendo has always been more focused on gameplay I feel. I did own a GameCube, and the Nintendo franchise game validated the purchase. I only wish I still had it for the upcoming Zelda game.

Personally I think that MS jumped the gun a bit with the 360. As has been mentioned countless times prior, it isn't much of an improvement over the previous XBox. I have a feeling that the PS3 might get pigeonholed into that same category (though I still will likely get one for Metal Gear, Gran Turismo, and other PS only series), but the Revolution is the one thing that I'm truly waiting for because it's the only one to promise doing something new and different.

Re:Go where?

[tukkayoot]

"The way of the GameCube" likely refers to the plumetting number of consoles sold. The NES sold 60 million units. SNES sold 49 million. N64 sold 32 million. The GameCube has sold about 21 million. Not a good trend for Nintendo, regardless of how profitable they are.

If the Revolution sells fewer units than the GameCube, it's going to be hard for anybody, even Nintendo fanboys and Nintendo themselves to see that as anything but a failure. As the article explains, they need move beyond their niche appeal and break into the mainstream somehow if they don't want their home console business to sink into the abyss. If the rate of decline of sales in this generation doesn't improve from the last generation, the Revolution will barely sell more units than the Dreamcast.

I personally think Nintendo will recover in this generation, though. That's what I'm hoping, anyway. The 360 launch debacle and the PS3 delay certainly can't hurt. Nintendo is in a position to pull off a huge upset if things fall into place.

The Revolution will be great

[jshackles]

The one feature of the Revolution I'm looking forward to is the back catalog / download ability that (if done correctly) should be like xbox live arcade on crack.

Yes, my xbox can play every NES, SNES, Gameboy, and N64 game. I hate that the only options I have to play a lot of these games is to buy the system / games used on eBay which in no way rewards the original developers.

Plus it would be cool if they add online functionality to games. Anyone up for an online game of Goldeneye?

Re:Older is better

[keyne9]

You mean like the Gameboy Player addition for the GCN? Given the Revolution's aim to be able to emulate many (or most) of the older games for their older systems, I suspect you won't have much of a problem with your desire.

Re:Go where?

[Anonymous Coward]

I love Nintendo games. Their back catalog is far and away the best of any developer. Their games weren't just good, they had a timeless quality. They are a top quality developer all the way to this day too. Still, you gotta be realistic here.

Nintendo's real success has been in software, not hardware. In hardware they had a near monopoly 15 years ago and it has been in free fall decline. They've gone from first place by far to niche player in the market. The N64 and Gamecube both completely missed the market, and both survived on the Nintendo brand alone.

You say they are profitable, and that's great. I'd ask how could they not be? They have intellectual property that should let them mint their own money. Again, all from software or IP, while the hardware is what drags. Imagine the sales numbers if they sold Zelda, Pokemon and Mario games on the Playstation and xbox.

We'll see what happens with this Revolution console, but my very-early prediction is a disaster.

Money Talks.

[ucaledek]

Let's not forget in the midst of all this next-gen marketing: Not everyone has HD. I don't care how much saturation of the market people expect hi-def to get in the next 5 years. Plenty of people still can't use this feature that Sony and Microsoft have as an "edge" over Nintendo. It's been said before, but if you're not a person salivating over the latest HDTV's to come out, you're probably not going to want drop $1000 for a new console and enough games to make it worthwile (and only 10 games or so for Xbox360, maybe half that with these rumors about PS3). I know that of all the consoles, Revolution is the only one reasonably in my price range (grad student!). Even if in this generation I buy an HD set, I still won't buy either of the other two until then, when presumably the prices will have already dropped alot (meaning even worse losses for Sony and Microsoft). And my brother got a PS2 before I bought a DVD player. I waited 8 months or so, and for half the price of the PS2, I got a DVD player that didn't suck like the PS2. Why shouldn't I expect the same this time around? However Blu-ray/HDDVD falls, there will have to be players not half-assedly attached to a game console. And even though Nintendo seems stuck in the same pattern as the other two when it comes to a glut of sequels, there is still plenty of innovation in their first party franchises. Zelda has always differed greatly between games both in style and gameplay. Hell, me and my roommate still play,frequently, MarioKart 64 over the Xbox games he has.

Re:The Revolution will be great

[pluke]

I'm just looking forward to a proper emulation of the N64, the xbox versions have a long way to go yet for many games i love - eg blast corps

Re:Gamecube - premature death?

[tekkou]

I owned both the PS2 and the GameCube, and actually bought the typical 3rd party games (mostly EA games oddly enough) for the GameCube because the system had much better graphics. When the game producers stopped releasing multi-platform games on the Cube I just stopped buying that kind of game.

Basically I had the PS2 for the Metal Gear, Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy, and GTA franchises. The Cube is what I used for everything else.

Nintedo Dojo

[Brothernone]

You know what.. i'd like to see any other platform IN HISTORY have the love and memmories of as many gamers as Nintendo. They were there from the start, they continued to kick ass, and here is is 2k6 and they're still whompin tall and proud. Is there a person on the planet that doesn't remember playing a zelda game for the first time... i can even tell you who the freinds were that helped me figure it out as we all went through it. All this talk of Nintendo being in trouble is sad. I'll sum it up with a challange. If there is any system that thinks it's got a bigger fan base than Nintendo.. Let them show up to the dojo and we'll fight this thing out 8 bit style.

Re:Nintedo Dojo

[radish]

Is there a person on the planet that doesn't remember playing a zelda game for the first time

I'm 30 years old, I've been gaming for over 20 of those years, I own every current (xbox360) and previous generation console (NGC, PS2, Xbox) and I've never played a Zelda game. Ever. I'm sure they're great, and lots of people seem to love them, which is nice, but they just don't appeal to me. When I was younger I didn't have a NES or SNES - in fact, Nintendo seemed to have very little penetration in my locale - everyone I knew had Sega Master System, then MegaDrive and then jumped ship to PSX/PS2. Until recently I was more of a computer gamer anyway - through the 8-bits then Atari and finally PC.

The point of all this? Don't over generalise. Your experiences are very unlikely to be shared by even a small percentage of the overall population.

Let me put it this way

[SpaghettiPattern]

I disliked the purple color of the Gamecube because IMO it was childish and ugly. It's only out of supply reasons that I got a purple one.

Then I played on it ... and boy do I like the Nintendo games.

Now I hope the Revolution comes in purple.