Nintendo's New Look

Forbes has an article talking with Nintendo of America's VP of Marketing Perrin Kaplan. She talks a little bit about Nintendo's upcoming plans, and the concept of the Blue Ocean. From the article: "For us, it's all about the experience, not if the technology allows you to play your game on the high-definition formats, which are now in such a small percentage of homes. Many independent sources tell us that experiencing current high-def games on a regular TV makes it near impossible to see everything clearly. That means the majority of homes are experiencing something lesser than what they bargained for. "

Re:On the subject of Xbox 360s sold...

[seinman]

"Stocking issues" is a myth. Every store i've been to in the last few months has had multiple xbox 360 units in stock. Just three days ago at Best Buy, they had a stack of 20 of them right on the sales floor.

Re:On the subject of Xbox 360s sold...

[AuMatar]

The full version or the core system (without hard drive)? I wonder if thats causing the confusion- the full system being sold out, and noone being stupid enough to want the core system.

Consistency in numbers please....

[Anonymous Coward]

I didin't finish the article.. just got to the part where it's ranting off all these numbers.. and it didn't make much sense to me..

700k xbox360s -- isn't that the US sales numbers?

13 Million DS -- Isn't that global sales?

82% of handheld software sales -- wouldn't that be including the GBA? but then its written in the same sentence that mentions the 13 million DS sales.

WTF is gonig on, where are these numbers coming from,.

Re:Nintendo is in trouble with the Revolution

[The-Bus]

Your comment is interesting. You mention how awesome the interconnectivity of the 360 is (and you're right). But then you mention enjoying playing "indie" games for $5. With the exception of maybe Mutant Storm Reloaded and maybe Marble Blast Ultra, all the others games are about as non-HD as you can get. You don't need HD to play backgammon, or Bejeweled, or a billiards game, or any of the 1980s Midway arcade ports. You don't need an HDTV to enjoy Geometry Wars. Yet these are the games that are flourishing. Sure, they have some bells and whistles that take advantage of the hardware, but that's just that: bells and whistles. It shows there's a market for fun.

Now imagine something similar to Xbox Live Arcade, only the hardware is 1/3 the price. That could be very good.

Re:Nintendo is in trouble with the Revolution

[stringycheese]

They're like a car company saying to their customers, "You don't want a big SUV - you want our compact car with good fuel economy".

Your analogy to the car market is a bit funny because it is right on and yet contradicts your point. I will admit that the SUV is a big market. Yet, not everybody wants a big SUV. A lot of people actually do want an economy car. Other people want sports cars. Other people want motorcycles. Have you been reading any news on General Motors? They posted record losses last year in the billion dollar range. Sales of SUVs were dismal in the second half of 2005. During the same time period, companies like Toyota and Nissan reported record sales of their mid-size cars. The demand in the market is changing.

In the same way, Nintendo is trying to target a totally different market and I think if this new controller works and they can produce fun games, they will see great success. Also, I would point out that unlike some companies, Nintendo has proven they actually can make a profit in the video game industry.

Blue Ocean, Red Ocean

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

"Inside Nintendo, we call our strategy "Blue Ocean." This is in contrast to a "Red Ocean." Seeing a Blue Ocean is the notion of creating a market where there initially was none--going out where nobody has yet gone"

Looks like people at Nintendo have been reading this:

"Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant" (2005, Harvard Business School Publishing), by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne.

Ironically, it's also the book Ford cited when it took the knife to its belly a few weeks ago...
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200 6601230398 [freep.com]

Re:Nintendo is in trouble with the Revolution

[xtracto]

Nice, another comment moded as troll because you expressed your POV and it was different than the general /. crowd.

I just want to note something, Nintendo is going to fail with the revolution and will end the same way Sega ended, we will see the Mario Brothers on the PlayStation 4. Mark my words, it will happen.

It will be nice, whoever (Microsoft vs Sony) gets the Mario/Zelda franchise is going to win the console game wars. I preffer Sony (not because I am pro Sony, I HATE sony for they DRM and Rootkit) but in some way, if Sony wins it will be a force against Microsoft Monopoly. If MS wins, we will have to stand the big MS Monopoly for another 10 years.