Nintendo Aims At Oprah Crowd 104
Next Gen's DICE coverage includes commentary by Reggie Fils-Aime, who tries to convince publishers to expand the gaming market. Even if it means running ads during Oprah. From the article: "He said that Nintendo would be using new marketing channels, such as daytime television shows, Oprah and Ellen ... In what has become something of a Nintendo mantra, he said Nintendo was seeking to attract female gamers and older gamers. He also warned that the number of teenage males is declining in North America, and high school students are saying their interest in games is declining."
Well now I'm confused... (Score:3, Interesting)
What I'd be more curious about (Score:5, Interesting)
So far for the DS they've got that Nintendogs thing, and that Brain Training thing coming up. These both did very well with "nongamers" in Japan-- but, while they're some kind of similar effect in America, they seem to be not the same kind of smash hit material with american audiences.
Other than those two games, Nintendo doesn't seem to have any other "zomg aimed at women" games coming up for the DS, and they've certainly announced nothing of that sort for the Revolution-- so far Nintendo's stated plans for Revolution games come down to pretty much "mario smash brothers metroid", all traditionally male-oriented titles. So if Nintendo advertises during Oprah... what exact PRODUCT do they intend on advertising?
This is a great idea (Score:5, Interesting)
These were adults who had, or whose employer had, shelled out hundreds of dollars in part so they could play 'Drug Wars' or whatever on a plane.
Similarly, on a plane to Australia from Thailand there were again, heaps of older men (and it was offputting) coming back from Thai holidays. This time, many, many of them had Gameboys.
Who hasn't seen their, or someone else's parents or grandparents playing a raft of card games on their computer.?
Nintendo is dead right. Many adults want something to play while waiting for things and riding on public transport. And with the DS you could do some interesting things - hey, on Oprah you could run a competition to do something while the show was running and then call some woman and give her credit for whatever. It'd be like voting for reality TV on steroids.
If Nintendo can take away the game playing is for younger folk stigma on their devices, particularly on their handhelds they could well exploit or create a large, successful new segment of the market.