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GameCube (Games) Entertainment Games

On Alleged Anti-Nintendo Sentiment In The Gaming Media 91

Posted by simoniker from the plumber-discrimination dept.
Thanks to GamesAreFun for its editorial discussing Nintendo's skewed portrayal in the news media. The writer argues: "I suppose it's just trendy to bash Nintendo right now, even if the arguments for doing it can be easily ripped apart", and goes on to tackle myths on popularity ("..the GameCube has actually never fallen into third place in the overall worldwide market"), a recent half-year financial loss ("old news now... the first loss they've ever reported since going public in 1962"), and temporary suspension of GameCube production ("do they honestly think Sony or Microsoft keep up peak productions at all times?")
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On Alleged Anti-Nintendo Sentiment In The Gaming Media More

On Alleged Anti-Nintendo Sentiment In The Gaming Media

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  • Tinfoil time (Score:4, Insightful)

    by CelticWhisper ( 601755 ) <celticwhisper@g[ ]l.com ['mai' in gap]> on Saturday February 28, 2004 @02:14AM (#8414918)
    Of course, the conspiracy theorists are going to point out the massive resources of Sony and Microsoft, and how easy it would be for them to buy their own kind of coverage. Can't say I blame them (the theorists, I mean)-there was that dealy with the "Linux has a higher TCO than Windows" study...

  • Another article (Score:5, Informative)

    by Daetrin ( 576516 ) on Saturday February 28, 2004 @02:44AM (#8415064)
    There's been a similar editorial [gamesindustry.biz] (although shorter and less detailed) up at GameIndustry.biz [gamesindustry.biz] for the past two weeks. It focuses on the furor when media outlets misinterpreted Nintendo as saying they were canceling their next generation console.

    "This is hardly the proudest hour for online game media, and it illustrates the need for journalists - even some of those working for large professional sites - to more effectively divide fact from speculation and opinion in their reporting."

    • Another similar thing occurred when the new DMCA exemptions were granted last year, allowing the cracking of software on obsolete mediums ("circumvention of access control" or something similar). However, some bright sparks started posting around on the net that old games are no longer protected by copyright and paper game magazines printed that verbatim without ever even bothering to check the facts. Really pathetic, and shows just how pitiful the state of videogame journalism is.

  • My Opinion (Score:5, Insightful)

    by incubusnb ( 621572 ) on Saturday February 28, 2004 @02:58AM (#8415106) Homepage Journal
    Hate the Game, not the system its on.

    as far as i'm concerned, all gaming systems are worthy of at least being tried, any Hardcore gamer would agree that even the worst designed systems can have some of the best quality games, the problem is when joe blow spends his $150-$200 on a system that has his type of games on it, he often falls for the propaganda behind the system and beleives the system he picked is the best. when i bought my PS2 i became a PS2 fanboy, then i bought an X-Box cheap and started realiseing that in some areas the X-Box does exceed the PS2(other than the obvious graphic capability), but in other ares the PS2 exceeds the X-Box. i made the same discovery when i bought my CG and since then started to understand that if you depend on one system you miss out on the offerings of other systems.

    now, granted some people can only afford one system and my only advice to them is to buy the system that has a game selection closest to what you enjoy (ie. GC - fun fantasy style games with a some serious gameplay elements, X-Box - Sports gamer heaven and a desent selection of more Adult-aimed games, PS2 - RPGs and racing games primarily, but its a very well rounded in terms of your selection, mostly sue to its Third Party Support)

    from where i sit, there is no best or worst game system. its too bad there are few people that have come to this realisation. in the console war, the only winners are the gamers themselves

    P.S. sorry if i went off topic a bit, i'm in a bit of a rant mood

    • Most of what interests me on the PS2 is RPGs. Most of what interests me on the GameCube is the games with innovative or polished gameplay. Most of what interests me on the XBox is...well to be perfectly honest X-Box Linux [sourceforge.net] and/or the XBox Live headphones.

      Now, I'm the kind of person who still plays NES games from time to time, and can replay some games nearly endlessly, so I don't lack for games to play so much as lack for variety of gameplay (like being in the middle of five RPGs at once...). It makes s

    • Regarding the PS2, I tend to hate the company, not the system ;)

      I worked for Sony briefly, an i was disgusted at their attitudes towards their customers and some of the questionable practices they used. The only way I can voice my protest to a corporate entity is with my wallet. So I have. Much the same with XBox, but in that situation its just Microsoft's behaviour in general. Might get a secondhand one to play with using it as a linux media player though.

    • On the flip side (Score:5, Insightful)

      by M3wThr33 ( 310489 ) on Saturday February 28, 2004 @09:24AM (#8416062) Homepage
      It's not the console I despise, it's the company and their practices.
      Microsoft has a well developed reputation of being greedy and disheartening. They have no intention of making a profit until 2006 at the earliest. Until then, they just want market share at the expense of quality. I believe it was Seamus Blackley himself that said MS was creating an artificial economy by paying developers exorbitant amounts of cash BEFORE a game's release as incentives to develop. Ever wonder why Xbox games have so many bonuses? You really think they couldn't fit Prince of Persia 2 onto a PS2 or Cube disc? Come on!
      Of course, we all remember the early Xbox flash cartoon making fun of Nintendo, don't we?

      Sony has other issues, from their artificially high prices to their shoddy equipment to their pompous attitude. Do you know ANYONE with a broken PS2? I think we all do. And it's not just because of the selling rate. If it was, there'd be a lot less PS2s in the shop. Go to Gamestop and ask what the ratio of broken PS2s is to Xbox/Cube consoles.

      If I can't appreciate the company, I can't enjoy their product. Now, leave me be while I bid on the Pokemon PT Cruiser with all the proceeds going to the Starlight Foundation.

      • Re:On the flip side (Score:2, Informative)

        by n0wak ( 631202 )
        If I can't appreciate the company, I can't enjoy their product.
        Then I hope you don't have a Gamecube, as neither company (MS, Sony, Nintendo) is a bastion of ethical business. How much was it that Nintendo got fined for price fixing? $150 million?

        Anyway, I have them all, so I'm likely going to hell.
        • Too true. This is the same Nintendo who forced out Gumpei Yokoi (after nearly forty years with the firm) because he made one bad product (the Virtual Boy). They did this even though they owed the company's survival to Yokoi's Gameboy. Not to mention that he also designed the Game & Watch range, and had a major hand in the NES/SNES).

          Nintendo are just like every other large multi-national (Sony and Microsoft included). They care solely about profits (a sound tactic for a company). It amazes me how peopl

      • Of course, we all remember the early Xbox flash cartoon making fun of Nintendo, don't we?

        No, I personally don't - even then, it doesn't really sound all that bad. I do remember, however, Nintendo threatening retailers not to advertise for the Xbox in the USA prior to the GC and Xbox's release, otherwise they wouldn't get GBAs to sell.

        And the price-fixing was already mentioned by others (though I was not clear if this was referring to the case they lost in the USA or one of the many ones in Europe).

        And l
        • Oh, come on. Are you saying they couldn't put PoP1 or 2 on the PC or give the others to the PS2/Cube BUT HAD TIME to do it for the Xbox? I find that hard to believe.

          And Nintendo does have its faults.
          When Hiroshi Yamauchi was first hired, he fired every single employee that was older than him. I recognize their flaws.
          • I do find the PC thing suspicious, no question. Maybe it was a rights thing though? Like they didn't have the PC distribution rights?

            And it isn't like this Xbox bonus is really advertised, as it is in games like Burnout2. I really do believe it was just a time/hardware issue - the Xbox runs on just a spiffy (but backwards compatible) hardware version of what the PC version originally ran on (and this was a hard disk game, mind you). Not too hard to emulate at all, compared to the completely different archi
    • You forgot the qualifier, "provided it's a viable system."

      It would have taken some pretty killer apps to give the Game.com any measurable market segment. And this is coming from someone who owned every Game.com item he could find. I just kept hoping one of them wouldn't be awful.

      Then again, that could have been Tiger's strategy all along... Genius!

  • truth (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 28, 2004 @02:59AM (#8415108)
    it isn't easy being a nintendo fan these days. i wish every eb employee would read this and actually read things before speaking out of their ass. you know the "gamecube is underpowered" and the "xbox RoXorS" and other statements that they make, yet have no clue what muti-texturing is, and immediatly believe that xbox has more MHz's so it must be better. They have no clue of the differences in the chips (PPC vs. X86, 32 vs. 64 bit, ect) and like so many others believe what advertisers tell them.

    ps. "1337" speek and "xtreme" marketing really need to die. If you wern't using "1337" >8 years ago (and to get by filters) shut your damn mouth, you sound, type, and probably act like a 'tard

  • The bigger problem (Score:1, Interesting)

    by schild ( 713993 )

    I see 2 problems with the article:

    1. If you're going to be funny with the title, make it a funny article - if not have a serious title and give yourself some street cred.

    2. You can quote me all the number games you want, but can you name 10 games that are must owns for every gamecube owner? No, but that is easily done with XBox and PS2. If you can't do that, who gives a shit what the numbers say. I can name hundreds for the Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and Gameboy (both) - the N64 and Gamecube (at least f

    • Re:The bigger problem (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 28, 2004 @03:30AM (#8415236)
      "You can quote me all the number games you want, but can you name 10 games that are must owns for every gamecube owner?"

      Yes.

      "No, but that is easily done with XBox and PS2."

      But I said yes!

      "If you can't do that,"

      BUT I SAID YES!

      "who gives a shit what the numbers say."

      I do!

      "I can name hundreds for the Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and Gameboy (both) -"

      Me too!

      "the N64 and Gamecube (at least for me) have been total failures in that area."

      For you! But I can name these titles! Please ask me to name them! I'd be soooo happy to name them! I'm beggin' ya, just ask!

      • Re:The bigger problem (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        But I can name these titles! Please ask me to name them! I'd be soooo happy to name them! I'm beggin' ya, just ask!

        If you don't include Mario Golf, I will come through your connection and kick your ass!

    • 10 (or more) must have games (Score:4, Informative)

      by Daetrin ( 576516 ) on Saturday February 28, 2004 @04:15AM (#8415386)
      but can you name 10 games that are must owns for every gamecube owner?

      Metroid Prime
      Eternal Darkness
      Super Smash Brothers Melee
      Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
      Viewtiful Joe
      Super Monkey Ball
      Pikmin
      Animal Crossing
      Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles
      Mario Kart Double Dash
      Mario Party
      Super Mario Sunshine
      Mario Golf
      F-Zero GX
      Rogue Squadron
      Ikaruga
      Pac-Man vs.
      Star Fox Adventures
      Wario Ware

      Oooops, went over ten, sorry. There are also some games available for multiple systems, or that aren't quite out yet.

      Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes
      Tales of Symphonia
      Prince of Persia
      Beyond Good and Evil
      Resident Evil
      Lord of the Rings
      Spider-Man
      Harvest Moon
      Skies of Arcadia
      Soul Caliber II
      SSX 3
      The Simpsons Hit & Run

      I'm not even including several cases of multiple games from the same series. (I don't count Mario Kart, Mario Party, etc as being the same series.)

      There's probably a lot more than i'm forgetting about, especially in the action and sports genres which i don't play very much.

      • Re:10 (or more) must have games (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Why is it that whenever Nintendo zealots give their list of games, they include every single game Nintendo has ever made? Is Nintendo REALLY 100% infallible, that every title they have ever produced is SO great that everyone 'must own' it?

        Don't get me wrong, they have excellent quality control and produce masterpieces like Zelda, but every last game they drop out is not God's Gift to Gamers.
        • Why is it that whenever Nintendo zealots give their list of games, they include every single game Nintendo has ever made? Is Nintendo REALLY 100% infallible, that every title they have ever produced is SO great that everyone 'must own' it?

          I don't have any idea if i listed "every single game Nintendo has ever made," (though i seriously doubt it) and i don't really care. I listed all the GameCube games i could think of that i consider to be of superior quality. A lot of those are first or second party game

        • Eople don't (Score:4, Informative)

          by AllenChristopher ( 679129 ) on Saturday February 28, 2004 @07:02PM (#8419074)
          " Why is it that whenever Nintendo zealots give their list of games, they include every single game Nintendo has ever made?"

          He didn't... he only listed the good ones, and those are the only ones you've heard of or remember. Simple.

          Luigi's Mansion isn't on that list... fun it might have been, but it was basically a tech demo. Offensive that it was full price.

          If you want a real stinker, go back to something like Yoshi's Safari, Yoshi's Story, or Paper Mario. Shudder. Some will tell you Paper Mario was pretty good... I don't know if these people are thick in the head or don't know about Super Mario RPG or what.

          " Is Nintendo REALLY 100% infallible, that every title they have ever produced is SO great that everyone 'must own' it?"

          They aren't infallible, but you know what I never hear about Nintendo? I never hear "The game sucked because it was rushed to market." I don't hear, as I did of Beyond Good and Evil "The game would have been better if the heroine's personality and appearance hadn't been changed at the last second for market reasons."

          As far as I can tell, they give their teams as long as it takes to do a new game. If the game isn't working out, they kill it and move on.

          That seems to work pretty well, huh?

          Further, when soemthing really IS bad, like Yoshi's Story, Nintendo is pretty good at making it disappear. The biggest black eye Nintendo has is the virtual boy... other failures don't come up much.

    • Super Smash Bros. Melee, Mario Kart, Crystal Chronicles (all great party games), Metroid Prime, I Ninja, F-Zero, Wind Waker, Prince Of Persia, Splinter Cell, Ikaruga, Eternal Darkness, Sonic Heroes.

      Oops, that was 12. My mistake. (Not even counting some of my personal favourites there, P.N. 03, Phantasy Star Online, and Animal Crossing)

      How many of the above games are currently exclusive to gamecube? All except one as far as I know (I purposely tried to avoid all-platform titles for this list, though rest a

    • Re:The bigger problem (Score:4, Interesting)

      by metroid composite ( 710698 ) on Saturday February 28, 2004 @06:54AM (#8415740) Homepage Journal
      10 games? Well, here's the lists I made a couple weeks ago when deciding which system to get first. As back story I have about 5 PSX RPGs I'm in the middle of at the moment, and more which I intend to buy once finishing those, so I was looking for non-RPG games. Also, no I did not forget Halo; I played Goldeneye back in 1997, thank you. I have no real interest in paying for it again when my N64 still works just fine. As for Soul Calibur 2, well I'm likely to get two or three consoles...eventually, so might as well get the GC version of the game since I don't care much for Spawn. And for some reason I just can't get myself excited about Dark Cloud 2 or Kingdom Hearts, though if I were more logical I suppose they would be on there.

      And I'm sure my list has massive gaps; these are mostly games that I somehow noticed and then didn't proceed to brand with "meh".
      X-Box

      Interested in:
      KotOR

      0% non-RPG interesting games. Failed.

      GameCube
      Interested in:
      SSB:M
      SC2
      Metroid Prime
      SMS
      ToS
      WW
      Pikmin
      Animal Crossing
      SoA
      FF:CC
      Eternal Darkness
      MK:DD
      Viewtiful Joe

      66% non-RPG interesting games. It works.

      PS2
      Interested in:
      FFX
      Disgaea
      Shadow Hearts
      Suikoden 3
      Xenosaga
      FFX-2
      BoFV
      Grandia 2
      Okage
      WA3

      0% non-RPG interesting games. Failed.

      That's...over 10 already, and I'm one of those freaks who has no real interest in Resident Evil.

      What I don't get is people saying "X-Box has bazillions of good unique games!!! So much more than the GameCube!!" Umm...what? KotOR and Morrowind are better on the PC from all I've heard; Halo I dismissed above under the "most console shooters are Goldeneye clones" clause. I'm looking at the GameFAQs top 10 of the XBox and seeing nothing but ports/rehashes, actually.

      I've said it before, and nobody responded (outside of the predictable "Halo/KotOR r0x0rz" babble) so for my own education and for the general comedic value I'll say it again: Screw ten! Name ONE good XBox game. (I should be careful; if I keep asking this Ninja Gaiden will finally come out...). To be fair I'm not exactly the target audience of the XBox (since first person shooters, sports, and racing aren't my favourite genres these days) but...there must be some game out there...right?
      • Ninja Gaiden (a completely different storyline, yet managing to cash in on the NES popularity of Ninja The Gaiden) wil be out March 2, 2004 for Xbox only.
      • ...but only because I can play emulated nintendo games on it. NES and SNES games run flawlessly -- N64 is mostly ok, too. Plus there's MAME, NeoGeo, ports of Doom and Quake1&2, etc etc...

        Seriously, the XBox is not a great platform for games. KOTOR was fun, but I'm not a huge RPG fanatic. Halo -- well, it's nice to see FPS's catching on, and I dug the soundtrack, but its deathmatch sucks pretty hard if you've played Q3A... or hell, even doom2. The other titles are mostly non-exclusive -- or just b

      • It was great (though not up to the original), but few people bought it it seems. Really, it should have been released on the GameCube.

        After I played through it repeatedly, I sold my X-Box and haven't looked back.

  • 1962? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by dpete4552 ( 310481 ) * <slashdot@tuxcont[ ].com ['act' in gap]> on Saturday February 28, 2004 @03:31AM (#8415243) Homepage
    What the hell did Nintendo make in 1962??

  • Wonder Twin Powers UNITE!! (Score:5, Funny)

    by NanoGator ( 522640 ) on Saturday February 28, 2004 @04:21AM (#8415406) Homepage Journal
    As a representative for all Nintendo fans everywhere, I would like to extend a hand of friendship towards our brothers, Apple users. Together, we might.. uh... profit?

  • My consoles are always missing something... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mattgreen ( 701203 ) on Saturday February 28, 2004 @04:23AM (#8415410)
    Maybe my consoles don't come with advocacy handbooks but I'm of the opinion that if you truly believe one console is better than all the otheres for every person then you are, at best, deluded, and at worst, an idiot. Maybe I am too skeptical of consoles but they have never swayed me to the point of being a free, yet inarticulate advertisement for it. If I had to buy a console right now (I don't own any) I'd buy the GC in a heartbeat.

    Either way, the Internet would be a much better place if every 12-year-old with a nickname ending in 3 digits and having to do with Dragon Ball Z didn't feel a need to jump on sites like Neowin and respond to any console game-related article with "XBOX RULEZ!" and then attach some shiny smiley face to it.

    The advocates for consoles/operating systems do the most damage to them in my mind, more than the actual product. You start wondering if any well-adjusted people actually use the product. Thus I'd have to rate the majority of pro/anti-console sentiment as simply the inane banter that makes the Internet go round. The real question is, why do people keep eating it up?

  • Another oft-used anti-Nintendo arguement (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 28, 2004 @04:36AM (#8415443)
    "Nintendo makes kiddie games"

    and of course gabe from penny arcade [penny-arcade.com] said it best when referring to wind waker...

    "...these guys think that Zelda is a game for kids. Well only KIDS would care that a game looks like it is for kids. It's like when you are 14 and your mom wants to get a picture of you on the merry go round with your little sister but you don't want to get on because it's for kids. Eventually you grow out of that phase and you can appreciate just having fun whether it be on the back of an undulating wooden horse or in front of a cell shaded video game."

  • It's a completely liberal/conservative media! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by superultra ( 670002 ) on Saturday February 28, 2004 @08:38AM (#8415964) Homepage
    I thought the article was well written. However, calling the media any one thing sounds remarkably like the political camps in the United States saying that the media is exactly opposite of whatever political persuasion they're coming from. "The media is completely liberal!" cries Rush Limbaugh and, well, Fox News. "It's completely conservative!" cries (shouts, perhaps) Howard Dean, or Michael Moore.

    So it comes as no surprise that there's an article saying there's bias against the Gamecube, when this is probably not true as most of the console gaming press have chosen a Gamecube for their game of the year for the last two or three years. I have no doubt that Microsoft could very well prove anti-Microsoft bias in the media, especially in the beginning of its lifespan. Anyone remember why Halo surprised everyone? It was because the press generally trashed it from E3 onward. No doubt Sony, too, has had its moments, also particularly in the beginning of the PSX or PS2 cycle lifespan.

    As my dad used to say when I whined about my little brother getting something I felt I ought to have, "Cry me a river." You'll always be able to find a bias in the press, because the press is as varied as the community it serves. Duh. I could probably find bias in the gaming media against flossing teeth. Which would be kind of gross, but probably true.

    If there's a bias in the media, it's because Microsoft is an American company, and knows how to work the American press. Surprise. Sam Altersitz has no problem claiming Japanese sales number in his article, thus opening his table of study to Japan. But I see absolutely no mention of the Japanese press whatsoever, and while I've probably read as much Japanese press as Altersitz, which is to say none, I'm inclined to believe that Microsoft would be highly justified in claiming in that the Japanese press is extremely anti-Microsoft. Why? Because Microsoft has absolutely no idea how to "press" the Japanese. So why is it a shock that Nintendo, which always seems to be off a wavelength in relation to the American press anyway, is worse at convincing particularly the mainstream press that it is "winning" the console war?

    Either way, it doesn't matter. I appreciate the amount of thought and time and research that Sam put into the article, but the answer to why the press seems slanted is obvious. It is, but it's also slanted for the Gamecube as much it is against it, it's just so varied that it's easy to say it's for or against anything. And if there is a slant, that slant doesn't take into consideration the Japanese press nor the obvious advantage Microsoft has in home turf.

    • No doubt Sony, too, has had its moments, also particularly in the beginning of the PSX or PS2 cycle lifespan.

      Yes. The PS2 specifically. Becuase Sony knew the groundswell for the thing was huge, and that they'ed released it at the perfect time to sell through to the extreme other side of the holiday.

      Timmy: Whats this mom?
      Mom: Its a reciept, your getting a PS2!
      Timmy:Yaaaaa...
      Mom: .....In March....
      Timmy: ..aaay. Oh. Awesome! I still beat all my friends!
      Granted thats a little extreme, but still.

      T

    • Lets not forget the most obvious problem when it comes to communications for an overseas company. Language barrier. I know both the media and Nintendo have whole departments setup just to make sure the Japanese-English translation makes it through correctly, but somewhere along the line some Japanese Nintendo representative might forget to pass along some financial report or news report PRAISING the Gamecube to his U.S. Nintendo representative.

      In addition to your comment about Microsoft being able to workin

    • I realize that the parent post is not about conservative or liberal bias in the media... but since he mentions it, let's look at that shall we.

      These quotes are all over the web:
      "The numbers are stark. Over 90 percent of reporters vote Democrat. The numbers are even higher among editors and White House correspondents. Democrat faculty outnumber Republicans 9 to 1." - PoliPundant

      With 90% voting democrat, it's a wonder that people don't laugh when Howard Dean says such lunacy as you (kinda) quoted. Oh wait.
      • Sure, you're really off-topic, but let's try to rein it in a bit.

        I've also heard of these "reports" of how "reporters" vote yet have yet to see them or how they are verified.

        Even so, that's really not the question to ask. Are the news outlets themselves liberal or conservative? Are corporate giants like GE, 20th Century Fox or Viacom left-leaning? And if you believe they are, how right to the right are you?

  • a recent half-year financial loss ("old news now... the first loss they've ever reported since going public in 1962")

    I don't keep up on the financials of gaming companies, but... I think this "defense" has convinced me that the biased Nintendo articles are maybe not so biased. Nintendo has it's first financial loss since going public 42 years ago? That's pretty serious. The fanboys can compain that it's old news, but it's news that would fund speculation and future plans by investors. If the Nintendo

    • Re:Woah. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by M3wThr33 ( 310489 ) on Saturday February 28, 2004 @09:06AM (#8416015) Homepage
      Guess what, pal?
      Do you even know what CAUSED the loss?
      A surprisingly strong yen devalued Nintendo's off-shore accounts, offsetting whatever sales they had with a huge conversion loss. Nintendo has billions (YES, B) in the bank, and I don't mean Yen. When you can generate a quarterly loss through devalued currency, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Look at the Canadian buck. It's surprisingly strong nowadays.

      In 2003 alone, Nintendo made $330 million.
      Counting combined sales, Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire was the #1 selling title (#2/3 if not, giving the title to the PS2 version of Madden)

      Don't assume anything. Nintendo's still doing better than you think.
      • Nintendo has billions (YES, B) in the bank, and I don't mean Yen.

        All that means is that Nintendo can survive some financially stupid decisions. But it doesn't mean the stupid decisions are undone. It sounds like Nintendo mismanaged enough of their relationships to have done actual harm to themselves. If I were an investor, I'm not sure I'd be overjoyed to see the cash in the bank sqandered on mistakes that could have been avoided.

        • Re:Woah. (Score:3, Informative)

          by XellDx ( 737289 )

          All that means is that Nintendo can survive some financially stupid decisions.

          Correct, and they actually have survived those decisions in the past as well. The difference the article is trying to paint is that while Microsoft (and for this purpose Sony's game division) have a very loyal, devoted fanbase, neither has actually SURVIVED something like the Virtual boy.

          Or The SNES-CD which became the Playstation.

          I can't argue against the logic that those numbers are not good to investors. However, non

  • Nintendo, the Apple of video games (Score:5, Insightful)

    by metamatic ( 202216 ) on Saturday February 28, 2004 @10:21AM (#8416221) Homepage Journal
    Blatant bias against them in the mainstream media? Check.

    Produce high quality hardware with excellent design? Check.

    Described as "doomed" year after year? Check.

    Still have billions in cash reserves? Check.

    Not enough software? Check.

    Always being trolled by moronic Microsoft fanboys? Check.

    It's obvious, Nintendo are the Apple of video games.

  • Blah blah blah (Score:4, Informative)

    by XellDx ( 737289 ) on Saturday February 28, 2004 @11:48AM (#8416585)
    I love this. Especially the SEC report on Microsoft. I myself had no such luck searching the SEC website, but I'm attributing that to short attention span and lack of interesting in learning about that search engine. Goolge has provided [webprowire.com], on the other hand, what seems to be lacking from the article. An explination of exactly WHY Nintendo's profits fell.

    But in the end, does that really matter? Nintendo lost 26 Million. Microsoft is loosing a quarter of a Billion dollars every quarter this thing goes on. And desipte the nay sayers which come out of unholy holes whenever Nintendo's on the board, when its the turn for the Xbox usually the spectacular loss gets a footnote for the entire article. Blah.

    And no one's willing to try and touch Sony. I mean, doesn't anyone remember this??? [theregister.co.uk] I know I sure as hell do. And that's when it started.

    On of the biggest secrets of the PS2 are Disc read errors [google.com]. Well, it's actually not so big of a secret. When you get buisness offering to fix your game console becuase Sony won't, you've found a pretty significant problem. Granted, the Xbox has the same thing [google.com], but my understanding is that those have been overcome. Sony has denied that this is a problem. How many people have heard they where sued over it [consumeraffairs.com]??

    I'm spouting rhetoric now and will stop. My point that negative attention about either Sony or MS rarely gets published on gaming websites stands. These are examples, and I'm pretty sure that given some creative manuvers i can find more, but I need to get back to work. :)

    • Re:Blah blah blah (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Granted, the Xbox has the same thing[disc errors], but my understanding is that those have been overcome.

      Really? Tell me how to overcome these problems as my Xbox still has those damned "Dirty Disc Error" messages despite being shipped back to Microsoft four times! MS's fix is to either delete all of my save data or just send it back with a "duh, works good here" note. I even have a movie disc that consistantly locks up my Xbox but works fine on ten other units that I've tested it on including two othe
      • Understanding, understanding.

        Since there are more PS2's out there it is a more common problem, you see. I hadn't heard of anyone's XBox crapping out in the last year so I'd assumed they'd gotten rid of it. At least they've never -denied- that its broken. They've just not fixed the problem.

        ...yeah, i'm not sure thats any better myself.

  • Yes yes (Score:3, Insightful)

    by aztektum ( 170569 ) on Saturday February 28, 2004 @02:37PM (#8417411)
    Now that video games are more than niche market and Sony, Microsoft and your mom are interesting in getting a piece of the action, they're going to bash the guy that tries to stay true to their previous success.

    Everyone calls Nintendo a kiddy company b/c they don't get the games where you blow cops and everyday citizens apart. (Not that there's anything wrong w/ that.) But they make some of the best adventure/platform/plain ol' fun not overly complex games I can think of.

    I told my non-gamer friend to get a Gamecube, here's why: He can still get Madden and other EA Sports games, Tony Hawk games, plus the born again classics of Zelda, Metroid, Mario Games. He's played Xbox/PS2 since and says he'd still rather be playing his Gamecube.
  • The difference between 2nd and 3rd place right now is one good month. Sony is so far ahead at this point it's academic. How the next gen plays out will be a bigger issue and if Nintendo goes into that generation of console with the same press it will harm them.
    • Oh, I forgot one other point. Nintendo REALLY needs to pick up their 3rd party offereing and I mean titles other than cross platform ports. My friend and I were discussing the lack of "must have" titles outside first party.

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