Sam Hart's intelligent critique of Nintendo's business practices on GeekComix is particularly relevant today. Nintendo is currently under fire from the EU regarding these same business practices, and will have to pay US$147 in fines (see NYTimes story).
Nintendo has definitely made its name as a family-friendly, kid-safe company with the cutest, sweetest avatars on the block. But it sounds now like they were a hard-hearted greedy corporation engaging in illegal strong-arm tactics to artificially set the prices of their products.
Oh, Nintendo. Don't make me cry.
All businesses in the games industry are super-shady outfits, operating on ruthless practices on their console-creating competitors. Including Nintendo. All because they have super-cute characters to hide behind and Miyamato-san in a cuddly jumper posing for photos, doesn't make them whiter-than-white...
Steve ;)~
Posted by: PAINPAINPAIN | 11/06/2002 at 11:50 AM
Yup. It's a dog-eat-dog world.
Posted by: Kashiwa | 11/07/2002 at 12:42 AM
At least they dont take Microsoft's stance and try to buy up all the software developers in the world because no one good wants to develop for them... maaaaaaaaaaan i almost cried when i heard that MS tried to buy SEGA and then use SEGA to buy SquareSoft, my two favourite software companies... what was MS thinking!!?? i mean, it would've been cool because i have an Xbox [ahem.. yah.. i know], but still... that would've been awful... Its good those two companies did not give in, but then, a month later, MS baught up Rare...
I know rare for their Donkey Kong series, and Bond series. I guess EA has taken over Bond now, but its kinda sad that a Nintendo staple has moved over to Microsoft. At least Nintendo could create their own characters which inspire loyalty in many of us, [yes i baught mario sunshine], but its just sad when a company tries to BUY that loyalty and not create it themselves.
Posted by: Ifrit | 11/07/2002 at 02:31 AM
You seem to forget Ifrit, that Nintendo still has the rights to Donkey Kong. Rare was licensed to mkae the games, they don't own the Donkey Kong name at all.
As for Nintendo, I'll make it no secret that I used to love them back in the day. A few years back I had a strong hatred build for a certain Mr. Hiroshi Yamauchi when he made a rather nasty comment about RPGs and the people that play them... Now my distatste for them is building even more rapidly.
Nintendo deserves to be fined that much. They deserve more in fact. They almost deserve to be knocked out of the market, in this humble person's eyes. However, what does it matter? We're still going to buy their consoles for Metroid, Zelda and Mario. Fortunately, I have my Dreamcast, XBox and PS2, so if I want actual selection in games, plus systems I can play with homebrewn software on, I'm set.
Funny isn't it, how people always whine their heads off about Microsoft and Sony, when in the end it's Nintendo that gets caught? :)
Posted by: Moonstruck | 11/08/2002 at 10:15 AM
This happened to Nintendo in America ten years ago as well. Nothing new. Nintendo IS shady, but they are the best damn software company out there.
Posted by: Sartori | 11/08/2002 at 02:23 PM
Moonstruck, you realize Yamauchi is gone now, things are different. Satoru Iwata is in charge now. Yamauchi's insane rule is at an end.
Posted by: Sartori | 11/09/2002 at 08:36 AM
I agree, Nintendo has produced some great software. I never knew how shady they really were though.
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