Digital Media Convergence News - Nintendo
Story courtesy of http://www.nyunews.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/01/24/43d5bbb826c61
Nintendo starts Revolution
by Matt Buchanan - January 24, 2006
Of all the next-generation consoles facing uncertain public reception — even after having accounted for the 360’s arguably botched launch — Nintendo’s Revolution stands out in particular.
Those who trouble themselves to keep up with gaming — cold-blooded analysts aside — know that the PS3 is in a controversial state, with problems ranging from manufacturing troubles to high costs and an ever-changing launch date.
That said, I counted myself among the extreme few with solid faith in the Revolution for logical reasons, as opposed to blind Nintendo fanatics. Over winter break, however, I came to discover that the ranks of believers in the Revolution are not only larger than I suspected, but are solidly grounded in their reasons for supporting it. Cost accounts for much of the dissatisfaction with the 360 and PS3 since 400 to 500 bucks — the higher figure being PS3’s probable price point — is a lot of cash. After all, I can’t see Sony bleeding more than $200 a system.
The Revolution, on the other hand, is debuting at no more than $250, though I would say Nintendo’s shooting for no more than $200, and there have been whispers of it dropping to as low as $150. Moreover, Nintendo’s systems have a history of actually working upon launch — a history neither Microsoft’s nor Sony’s systems have matched, because it has taken two runs of a system in both cases to correct large-scale defects in the launch batch.
The Revolution’s other major selling point, and what most gamers are excited about, is the downloadable service for games from the NES, SNES and N64. I think it’s largely been underestimated as to how key this download service will be.
There are a couple possible models the service could follow. The first, and most probable, is an á la carte model, similar to iTunes. The major questions from this point are price, including whether or not pricing will be tiered, and, if so, how? Ninety-nine cents is obviously the magic number, one for which people have an affinity, and one that will sell 50 to 100 games to a sizable portion of Revolution owners, though I think that number can go up to $1.49 and still see gamers purchasing more than 50 classic titles.
This changes a bit with tiered pricing, which could be done in two ways. In the first option, demand would dictate price and popular titles would cost more. Another situation would price newer titles higher with, say, NES titles starting at $.99 and up to $5 for N64 titles. I see SNES and NES games sucking up a ton of bandwidth in the latter case, though I think those two systems will sell the most games regardless of price.
A subscription model would be far less likely. First, Nintendo has reiterated that the general online service will be free, and this would almost backpedal on that. Second, Nintendo is all about simplicity lately, and the complication of a subscription model wouldn’t jive with either their recent business practices or even historical precedence, which emulates Apple’s to an extent.
The download service partly addresses the other source of discontent with the other two consoles: lack of quality games. The 360 had no real killer apps at launch, and won’t have any until Halo 3 launches. The PS3 has no stellar launch titles announced yet, and, even then, the only critical game is Metal Gear Solid 3.
The Revolution’s riding not only a wave of nostalgia, but the promise of truly innovative and promising gameplay, which a significant portion of gamers have picked up on. It has even rode past glitzy promises of multiple-core processors, which big name developers such as John Carmack of Doom fame have knocked down a few pegs in recent interviews by citing the ever-growing technological complexity of games as an obstacle to creating great ones, not a boon.
Look no further than the DS and PSP to see what I mean. In raw horsepower, the PSP destroys the DS, which many derided as a gimmicky, doomed-to-fail system. The outcome? In Japan last week, the PSP beat the DS in weekly sales for the first time in months because the DS was sold out. Why? The games, great examples of which DS has in abundance. The PSP’s games — few as they are — may be better looking, but that doesn’t make them better.
The other major card in Nintendo’s deck is that even if the Revolution doesn’t go off as planned, it’s not nearly as screwed as Microsoft and Sony would be. Both of their consoles are essentially subsidized components of much larger schemes of digital media convergence, which both companies are heavily betting their futures on. It’s a bet that Nintendo smartly chose not to see them on, as it’s a bet that somebody’s going to lose.
-----
Lots more articles and reviews like this are at http://www.ipods-and-onlinevideo-reviews.com.
Chip Tarver
Nintendo starts Revolution
by Matt Buchanan - January 24, 2006
Of all the next-generation consoles facing uncertain public reception — even after having accounted for the 360’s arguably botched launch — Nintendo’s Revolution stands out in particular.
Those who trouble themselves to keep up with gaming — cold-blooded analysts aside — know that the PS3 is in a controversial state, with problems ranging from manufacturing troubles to high costs and an ever-changing launch date.
That said, I counted myself among the extreme few with solid faith in the Revolution for logical reasons, as opposed to blind Nintendo fanatics. Over winter break, however, I came to discover that the ranks of believers in the Revolution are not only larger than I suspected, but are solidly grounded in their reasons for supporting it. Cost accounts for much of the dissatisfaction with the 360 and PS3 since 400 to 500 bucks — the higher figure being PS3’s probable price point — is a lot of cash. After all, I can’t see Sony bleeding more than $200 a system.
The Revolution, on the other hand, is debuting at no more than $250, though I would say Nintendo’s shooting for no more than $200, and there have been whispers of it dropping to as low as $150. Moreover, Nintendo’s systems have a history of actually working upon launch — a history neither Microsoft’s nor Sony’s systems have matched, because it has taken two runs of a system in both cases to correct large-scale defects in the launch batch.
The Revolution’s other major selling point, and what most gamers are excited about, is the downloadable service for games from the NES, SNES and N64. I think it’s largely been underestimated as to how key this download service will be.
There are a couple possible models the service could follow. The first, and most probable, is an á la carte model, similar to iTunes. The major questions from this point are price, including whether or not pricing will be tiered, and, if so, how? Ninety-nine cents is obviously the magic number, one for which people have an affinity, and one that will sell 50 to 100 games to a sizable portion of Revolution owners, though I think that number can go up to $1.49 and still see gamers purchasing more than 50 classic titles.
This changes a bit with tiered pricing, which could be done in two ways. In the first option, demand would dictate price and popular titles would cost more. Another situation would price newer titles higher with, say, NES titles starting at $.99 and up to $5 for N64 titles. I see SNES and NES games sucking up a ton of bandwidth in the latter case, though I think those two systems will sell the most games regardless of price.
A subscription model would be far less likely. First, Nintendo has reiterated that the general online service will be free, and this would almost backpedal on that. Second, Nintendo is all about simplicity lately, and the complication of a subscription model wouldn’t jive with either their recent business practices or even historical precedence, which emulates Apple’s to an extent.
The download service partly addresses the other source of discontent with the other two consoles: lack of quality games. The 360 had no real killer apps at launch, and won’t have any until Halo 3 launches. The PS3 has no stellar launch titles announced yet, and, even then, the only critical game is Metal Gear Solid 3.
The Revolution’s riding not only a wave of nostalgia, but the promise of truly innovative and promising gameplay, which a significant portion of gamers have picked up on. It has even rode past glitzy promises of multiple-core processors, which big name developers such as John Carmack of Doom fame have knocked down a few pegs in recent interviews by citing the ever-growing technological complexity of games as an obstacle to creating great ones, not a boon.
Look no further than the DS and PSP to see what I mean. In raw horsepower, the PSP destroys the DS, which many derided as a gimmicky, doomed-to-fail system. The outcome? In Japan last week, the PSP beat the DS in weekly sales for the first time in months because the DS was sold out. Why? The games, great examples of which DS has in abundance. The PSP’s games — few as they are — may be better looking, but that doesn’t make them better.
The other major card in Nintendo’s deck is that even if the Revolution doesn’t go off as planned, it’s not nearly as screwed as Microsoft and Sony would be. Both of their consoles are essentially subsidized components of much larger schemes of digital media convergence, which both companies are heavily betting their futures on. It’s a bet that Nintendo smartly chose not to see them on, as it’s a bet that somebody’s going to lose.
-----
Lots more articles and reviews like this are at http://www.ipods-and-onlinevideo-reviews.com.
Chip Tarver
posted by Chip Tarver at
8:03 PM
