Well played, Nintendo

While initially watching Nintendo's E3 conference, I wasn't completely impressed. The console looks alright, but with little more than a 3-second Metroid Prime 3 video, it was pretty obvious that Nintendo was nowhere near as far along in their next-gen console development as Microsoft or Sony.

The Game Boy Micro didn't do it for me either. Even in light of the PSP, I still consider the Game Boy SP as the closest thing to a perfect portable system. Small, simple, and a folding structure that keeps the screen from scratches. The Micro is just a small Game Boy Advance. No new features. No music playing. Nothing too new, really.

However, then Nintendo dropped the bomb for me. "Virtual console." The ability to play 20 years of Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and Nintendo 64 first-party (and hopefully third-party) games. Wow. Wow-oh-wow. This was what caught my attention. This is what I'm excited about with Nintendo's new console, and I doubt I'm the only one. If there's anything Nintendo has going for it right now, it's a great library of older games. And while it may not be the same as the tech demos of the PS3 and Xbox 360, I now know I'm going to need one of these babies.

Well played, Nintendo. Well played.

Comments

[Foopy]

Like Nintendo, what made Sega awesome was its games, not its console systems or its ability to attract exclusive development contracts (although I did love the Dreamcast). Even if they were forced to do it, I think it was a good move for them to stop focusing on hardware and politicking and focus more on what they do best--especially when it meant that many of their new games would be available for multiple systems.

I hope that Nintendo eventually comes to the same conclusion. Yeah, it'd be sort of weird to buy a Mario game for the XBox 360 or the PS3, but I imagine more people would buy games made by Nintendo that way, and it'd save me from having to buy another freaking console. :)

[Mike]

I would agree, but for now it's unlikely to happen. Sega dropped from the console race because they were bleeding money. Although it's in third place, Nintendo has played its cards right; they're always profitable. While we may bash them for this or that decision, they've never lost money on their ventures and they know this very, very well.

I think as long as Nintendo can stay out of debt, they'll try to stay independent.

What I'm hoping is that they become something of an indie-type game developer. Someone at the conference said that the Revolution would be cheaper to create games for compared to the other consoles. If this proves true, we might get some relatively weird, quirky, and cool games that might not be commercial block busters, but memorable new properties.

[Mister Toups]

Well. There's also online Smash Brothers.

I'm ashamed to admit this, but Nintendo just stole my heart with the mini GBA. I usually shun gimmicky gadgety things like that, but in this case I can't resist it. I'm not sure what it is about it exactly.

I'm quietly rooting for Nintendo, as usual, because they seem to have the most sensible approach to things. The news about cheaper development costs is important to me, because I barely ever buy games new ($60 is way too much for most games these days), and the other next-gen consoles are probably going to bump the price up another $10. Hopefully Nintendo won't follow suit, and offer at least a selection of lower priced games.

But hell. If it plays Earthbound out of the box, I'm pretty much sold.

[Girl_from_Mars]

I am sleepy, so i dont have much to add, other than i am very excited. The micro seems very micro... i would have to hold one to decide what i thought. I hope the revolution will talk to my DS cuz i got rid of my SP but i like the features that are enabled when you connect your gameboy to gamecube for zelda and such.
I wonder if we will have to pay to access the old games? That doesnt quite seem nintendo's style?

[Mister Toups]

Are you kidding? Not Nintendo's style? The same company that packaged old Nintendo games into GBA carts and sold them for $20 a pop? Do you know how many Game Boys I've bought from them?

I mean. I'd like to see them for free, as well. But I'm not crossing my fingers.

[RegularX]

Yeah, I never understand why people expect Nintendo to hop out of the hardware business. Just because they didn't sell as much as Microsoft, it's not like they failed. They were still quite profitable with the GameCube (insanely so compared to Microsoft's huge losses with the XBox) and the DS is probably the most inventive handheld to come out in a decade, even it's not my cup of tea.

All they really need to do is maintain enough market share to keep their profit margin viable. To do that, they'll need to focus on mistakes they've made (internet apps, etc)

Nintendo does hardware well, it's just a matter of seeing if Sony's and MS's strategy of really expensive hardware sold at low, low, low prices eventually push them out (not this generation, probably not next ... but maybe after that).

Course if that happens, we all lose out. I don't see either Sony or Microsoft treating us with uberpowerful toys once they don't have to anymore.

[JVC]

As Mike said, the GB micro is just a smaller GBA SP. Only dedicated followers of fashion will buy it, unless the price is right. When you can get a DS for $150, that's going to have to be well under $100!

[thechunkymonkey]

My only worry about this is that we haven't seen Nintendo's "revolutionary" controller. Mario 64 DS is proof that a poorly translated control system can take the fun out of even the best of games.

Even the button configuration for the zelda re-makes on the gamecube seemed to lack something (playing the ocarina just didn't feel right, it was like playing a guitar with the strings in the wrong order).

Don't get me wrong, the idea of having some of my all time favourite titles, all in one tiny little box under my televison (as apposed to the wirey jungle thats under there at the moment) almost made me scream with delight. The Virtual Console idea is fantastic. It's just that If i have to throw the controller into the air to make an 8-bit mario jump, then i feel that some of the nostalgic magic will be lost in its translation.

[JVC]

Nintendo are clearly side-stepping the controller issue, which suggests that it's going to be a big deal.

I've harvested a couple of links to more speculation at my blog.

[Daibo]

As much as I really do love Nintendo, what exactly is the benefit of playing 20 year old games on modern hardware in the wake of PS3 and Xbox 360? Isn't exactly this a kind of give-up? A statement like: "we can't compete anymore, we simply can't, so instead of trying to shape the future we're going back in time, dwelling in nostalgia. Those were the days, oh boy..."?

(Yes, I'm somewhat retro myself. But nobody else cares about that, least of all buyers of a *new* console.)

All these mediocre features (in the eyes of the target group, mind you) won't make a revolution, I read "final blow of death" more than once. Sniff.

But hopefully, I'm just too pessimistic, as usual.

[waixingren]

I haven't seen anything about a lightgun.

[StocDred]

Daibo, the downloadable library isn't the Revolution's sole feature. It will have the big next-gen graphics and all new games just like the PS3 and the other one. What Nintendo has realized - what the entire industry has realized - is that retro games are now a big moneymaker. Look at all the compilations and re-releases and TV Games stuff that's appeared in the last couple of years... nostalgia gaming is huge and nobody has the kind of nostalgic content that Nintendo has. I know Nintendo gets a lot of crap for re-releasing old games, like the SMB Advance series and the NES anniversary series... but compare them to the giants of retro-releases, Namco, and Nintendo almost seems like they haven't done enough. Namco was way ahead of the curve when they did the Namco Museum series on PS1... and now Sega, Atari and Intellivision collections are everywhere. And they're mostly awful (the latter two, anyway. Where's the Odyssey plug-and-play unit?!).

It's not Nintendo giving up, it's Nintendo pulling out something only they can do, which is exactly what they need to do to stay unique while the Sony and Microsoft camps fall all over each other trying to perfect bullets-and-blood animations.

[Derek Quenneville]

Regarding the Gameboy Micro, I haven't seen it explicitly stated that it will run pre-GBA titles... I think that the faceplate thing will be a success, but I agree that the GBA SP is basically the perfect handheld.