Apple Is Nintendo's "Enemy of the Future" 272
Pickens writes "The San Francisco Chronicle reports that video game industry revenue fell by 26 percent in April, adding more concerns about the health of the industry in the worst year-over-year decline since July 2009. But the big news is that the decline in portable sales makes up 61 percent of the overall monthly decline, suggesting that the Nintendo DS platform is losing steam but also reflecting the growing clout of the iPhone platform as the iPhone and iPod Touch continue to draw in more casual gamers, the iPad offers a bigger screen experience, and Apple announces the 'Game Center' — a social gaming hub with console-like online gaming features. Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata is understood to have told his senior executives recently to regard the battle with Sony as a victory already won and to treat Apple, and its iPhone and iPad devices, as the 'enemy of the future.' 'If Nintendo's future mobile platforms are to be any kind of success, the company will have to figure out how to take on the ease of use afforded by the App Store,' writes Nicholas Deleon. A large part of Nintendo's faith in reviving its efforts hinge on the 3DS, which may ship in the fall, the first truly major handheld introduction for Nintendo since the original DS in 2004. He adds, 'Maybe Nintendo should just release a phone?'"
can't see the forest for the trees... (Score:5, Insightful)
I disagree with the premise of the article.
I believe the lack of video game sales is due to the crappy economy overall, not because of things like the iPhone/iPod/iPad.
I could be wrong, but I feel their view is too shallow.
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...and entertainment budgets tend to be the first cut during hard economic times. While true, your point does little to counter his.
Re:can't see the forest for the trees... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Couldn't tell you that. What I can tell you is "Apple did it" holds about as much water explaining the decline of the videogame industry as " did it" does for explaining physical phenomena unless someone has better statistics than a loose correlation between a product release and a sharper decline in an already declining industry.
If you believe all the increasingly speculative articles lately, the ipad has killed videogames, netbooks, paper books, adobe, countless child laborers, and who knows what else.
See
Re:can't see the forest for the trees... (Score:4, Insightful)
That's not what TFA or TFS are claiming. Did you read them? They note a disproportionate decrease in sales for portable gaming, and postulate Apple's offerings as being part of that. I think in your rush to post early, you might have missed the point behind the numbers given.
Surely you see that it's possible that the Apple products have cut into the traditional portable console game sales?
I mean, you did read the summary at least, right, where they specifically mention that a large portion of the drop in video games sales was in the portable segment?
And surely you can see that Nintendo could feel that Apple's products are a threat to their business?
Let's not generalize this. Neither I nor TFA attack Apple, there's no need for you to show up on a white horse and defend them from an attack that doesn't exist.
You, me, and just about anyone out there with any knowledge of current tech understands that the Apple products that have come out recently will compete with Nintendo for portable gaming.
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If I were trying to sell special-purpose handheld game consoles, or handheld GPS units, or cheap digicams, or PDAs, I would certainly be thinking about the future, because smartphones do all that and more.
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No, at this point I have no idea what I or anyone else is arguing. I should have known better than to get involved in any internet conversation on something as subjective as economics lol.
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FTFY.
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I realize our household is atypical, as we don't have any cell phones, but we just bought 2 DS lites. We bought used, however, so don't contribute to Nintendo's bottom line. They were about $80 a piece.
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I think Cellphones will have about as much impact on dedicated portables (DS, PSP, etc) as the Computer had on dedicated gaming consoles (PS3, X360, etc). i.e. Virtually no impact.
Dedicated units still offer the ease of plug'n'play while cellphones and computers do not. Which is why I quit computer gaming about the same time Commodore Amiga disappeared as a platform (1995). Too much hassle trying to make the shitty game work on the crappy hardware. I'd rather just play my Gameboy or PS2.
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...and entertainment budgets tend to be the first cut during hard economic times.
Which would mean that the bigger declines would have happened previous to now.
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Please support your assertion.
The economy has continued to worsen in the previous two years and unemployment continues to rise. It is not at all unreasonable to think more and more American consumers are finally awakening to the depth of the economic crisis and beginning to ignore the irrational exuberance network news tends to spew.
Re:can't see the forest for the trees... (Score:5, Informative)
Depends on how you calculate it. Unemployment is only continuing to rise because we've been using numbers that underestimate the unemployed; as we correct for that (rather, it corrects itself as more people are trying to enter the workforce), the unemployment number can be going up even though we have more people gainfully employed.
I wish we could use employment figures instead of unemployment figures, it'd be a lot more clear. Currently unemployment figures are based on something like this, with B being the "unemployment" figures:
A) Fully Employed
B) Unemployed, but looking for work
C) Unemployed, but not looking
D) Underemployed
The current situation is that people are moving from C to B, and so the "unemployment" figure is going up, even though A (fully employed people) is also going up.
If you really want to look at video game spending as a function of general economic health, you should compare the video game market to consumer spending. Consumer spending has risen for seven months straight -- yet video game sales haven't mirrored this rise in spending. So it's likely that the cause of decreased sales is dependent on more factors than just the general state of the economy.
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Ralphie Wiggam: Hi Super Nintendo Chalmers! [wikipedia.org]
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While I agree with you, I think it would still be stupid for Nintendo to ignore Apple.
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While I agree with you, the selfish part of me still hopes Nintendo disagrees with you because then maybe I can one day buy a Nintendo-branded cellphone, at which point my soul will finally be at peace.
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I think their scope is incredibly narrow. The DS has been out for 6 years, the 3GS (the most popular Iphone to date) was released 2 years ago. So, where Sales for the DS Exploded in its first 2 years, they've plateau'd and started to fall. And since the iPhone sales have exploded in their first two years, they THINK they are seeing a pattern. The pattern is that both devices have done well early on. But only so many people want a DS, and only so many people want an Iphone. The DS is almost dated now, its la
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their marketting team is amazing (hate to admit it),
When you consider who they primarily market to, this isn't really saying much...
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Knowing your audience is half the battle in Marketting.
I suppose one of two things is happening:
1) Apple has their finger on the pulse of their fans, and know exactly what they want, how they want it, and when to release it to maximize profits. They know their supporters well enough that marketting to them is a breeze.
2) Apple has more control over who becomes their fans. They decide what they want an Apple fan to be like. They want others to desire to be an Apple fan, and it works. They don't market to eve
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I think it is far simpler still (Score:2)
Games are not that expensive and in fact an increase in such revenue was predicted because when money is tight you buy a new game rather then go on holiday.
But buy what game?
I still got a stack of old CD's just because and if I look at them, I see countless genre's that seem to have disappeared. Especially if you track mainstream game. Practically every title released by Microprose is gone. Flight sims? RPG's? Adventures?
And please if you point out Mass Effect, Dragon Age Origins and Fallout 3, then you
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Are you kidding? I know it's cool in an emo sort of way to always trash everything as if the world sucked, but that last few years have seen absolutely AMAZING games hit the shelves. As someone who's been gaming for 20+ years, there's never been a better time to be gaming.
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Really?
Name 1 in the past year that was on the level of HL, HL2, DOOM, Monkey Island, Portal. I love gaming and some good games did come out recently but I cannot think of a great 1-2 in the past year.
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That said, none of those FPS are particularly great or memorable. Just decent games that are rehashes of decent games from ten years ago. There's no compelling reason to pick one over the other.
Re:can't see the forest for the trees... (Score:5, Insightful)
HL2 is indie? DOOM is indie? Monkey island was made by lucas arts, kiddo. These were the biggest games of their time.
Modern Warfare is the same shit over again, we all have already played CoD we don't need to see it again.
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Pretty much all games were released that way back then.
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That is not even remotely true.
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Are you kidding? I know it's cool in an emo sort of way to always trash everything as if the world sucked, but that last few years have seen absolutely AMAZING games hit the shelves. As someone who's been gaming for 20+ years, there's never been a better time to be gaming.
Like what? Sure, there have been FUN games the past few years(Most recently, I had a great time with Bayonetta and Darksiders), amid the vast number of disappointments. But I could say the same thing 30 years ago when I played Yar's Revenge amid the sea of crap Atari Games.
I think you're too easily "amazed" unless you're conflating marketing success with actual quality if your number of "amazing" games surpasses the number of fingers on one of your hands.
I don't think I've been "Wowed" by a game since proba
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Like which?
I used to love adventure games, the last I bought was Grim Fandango.
I used to love car racing simulations, the last I bought was Need For Speed Underground, which sucks. Why haven't they ever managed to create a *good* physical car simulation since Grand Prix Legends came out in 1997? I don't mean the kind of simulation you drive with your thumbs, I mean something that gives realistic responses with a force-feedback wheel.
The
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Telltale games sells decent adventure games, surely the best made in the past decade.
Best recent carracing sim would be Gran Tourismo 5 prolouge.
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This is a pointless discussion. The quality of a game is completely subjective so you won't get anywhere with this.
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It means basic FPS with pretty graphics but no actual story-line or game-play that hasn't been seen before.
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Fallout 3 may "look" like an FPS to the unedumacated, but it's not, it's an RPG. Didn't you play it? You can be the best Quake/Team Fortress/Counterstrike player in the world and have the best mouse skills, but that won't help you much in Fallout 3 since your accuracy and damage is based on your stats/perks/skills and in how good a repair your weapon is.
how much would it take (Score:2)
how much would it really take to add a phone to a 3DS? Surely it has more than enough processing power, the displays are crisp, it has touch screen already... only issue I could see would be adding an antenna.
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how much would it really take to add a phone to a 3DS? ... only issue I could see would be adding an antenna.
It may take a few other basic components, an OS that can do more than play a game, etc, etc ... and don't forget the DS Phone Game cartridge "now only $39.95!"
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It has an OS / libraries that can already play a game while using a radio interface (WiFi) while using a camera and while using an SD card. And two screens at the same time. Oh, there's IR too.
I don't think adding cellular module is outside its capabilities.
weird wording (Score:2)
I realize that it's a translation, but it reads like "enemy of the future" as in apple doesn't like and will fight the future. Not a "future enemy" like you are poking the sleeping bear with a stick...
Sheldon
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But...that Terminator and 8-bit Mario both use the same CPU...
woo (Score:2, Interesting)
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Would you rather Microsoft, Sony, or the nascent overlord Google win?
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I disagree that some bigger companies need to decide on the fate of Apple in portable gaming. I'm a casual gamer, and I'm stoked that in the next year or two I can get rid of my handheld gaming device and instead just play games on my smartphone.
The question is whether some bigger game developers will choose to develop games for Apple, and whether App
Or... (Score:2)
The time just before the last month saw the news about successor of Nintendo DS (which is itself long in the tooth, although considering that - doing rather fine)
No no no no (Score:5, Insightful)
Well maybe Nintendo could release a phone. I'm not against that. I guess. I don't know how I feel about that.
But what I'm really noing to is WHY the sales are dropping. Its not because of the iPhone.
It's because the DS is almost 6 years old. Nov 2004 was its release. Anyone who has wanted a DS, already has one. Nintendo foolishly tried to enhance the sales with the DS Lite and DSi. How shocked am I to find that nintendo fans who purchased a DS, don't feel the need to buy a DS lite, or a DSi. So how much money went into those two projects, and really what benefit did they expect to see? Did they expect a resurgence of sales? They merely expanded the market of the DS by small margins. And so only those who didn't wants a DS for various reasons would be so inclined to buy a DS lite or DSi, hoping those reasons would be resolved.
I'll stick my neck out and make this claim: If Nintendo decided to launch a new handheld - and it was different than the DS or Gameboy, it would sell well. Problem is that Nintendo has started to fall apart on their innovative ideas. The Wii has also been out for 4 years now, and the only innovation they've added to it has been the Wii Fit board 2 years ago, and the DS gets rehashes.
So, when Apple releases a new phone, and it sells, Nintendo isn't losing because its a threat in any sense, its more or less that Nintendo's sales have already plateau'd and started to have fallen, and Apple sales just happen to be on the rise.
Correlation != causation.
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Probably not much. I'm guessing they just needed something to keep the company busy while they try to think up something worthy of being the next-big-thing. You can't just fire your entire marketing dept for a year or so while you wait for R&D to finish.
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Marketting should be drumming up the idea of a new product from Nintendo if Nintendo is indeed working on something.
Since we're on the topic of Apple, just look at their marketting. There have been more articles speculating on the next iPhone than I can count (and thats a lot, I can count pretty high you know), and theres been more leaks for their phones than theres been leaks in my house.
Before the Wii came out, the whole speculation about what the "Nintendo Revolution" was going to be about really got peo
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MotionPlus [wikipedia.org]
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Agreed its an improvement to the system and was a good move and it may or may not be selling well (I haven't checked on it) - but it didn't add anything new to the Wii, it just makes the controller do what it was supposed to do in the first place.
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Also who says Nintendo gives a shit about DS sales? The DS has sold like 60 million units. What this means is there are tens of millions of gamers with DSes out there. Nintendo makes money on each and every DS game sold, since they license them all. So what they really care about is that the games keep moving. Based on my informal observations, combined with the number of units out there, I'd say they are. DS games get a lot of shelf space at Target and Best Buy and so on. More than any of the consoles and
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DS? Isn't that a walled garden?
Sales dropped because Easter was in March in 2010 (Score:3, Insightful)
Perhaps this isn't the sole reason, but I'm sure it's part of it. There's really nothing to see here.
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I would totally consider a Nintendo phone.
Considering their pricing scheme, they are totally capable of undercutting the phone market. $400 for a smartphone? Fuckoff, if I can get a Nintendo DSiPhone for ~$150? After the BS phone carrier rebate like $50 for a nintendo phone would be a no-brainer.
But then, I like cheap stuff.
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Apparently the leap to the 3GS was a big one.
Not to mention the telecoms work in conjunction with Apple. You have an iPhone? You signed a 3 year contract? You can upgrade to the new iPhone if you sign another 3 year contract, no charge...
They would consider that a "sold" iPhone even though the consumer themselves didn't hand over the money for it, the Telecoms did on their behalf to have 3 years worth of money from the consumer.
bigger screen experience (Score:2)
Competition is legion (Score:5, Interesting)
It seems like there are all kinds of things competing for the attention of gamers nowadays. I can't really see 'bejeweled' or whatever the hell the kids are playing on their iPads competing with WoW or whatever. But what about huge timesinks like facebook, twitter, youtube, and even internet news/chat/etc?
I can't say... I just hit 35 and I've damn near lost my ability to sit still in front of a video game. It just feels like a giant sucking waste of time - then again I'm posting on /., so what does that say about me?
Even when I did game, I'd put down $40 for half-life and get... 4-5 years out of it. So I guess I'm not a typical gamer.
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What have you been doing for the past 15 or 20 years? Setting aside any more teasing I'll just welcome you to rest of your life. Congratulations.
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Heck, Counter-Strike was a totally free game.
From laughed at to "Enemy of the future" in 1 yr. (Score:5, Interesting)
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Well, Reggie Fils-Aime is right, they download a game ($3-5) and play it a few times until they get bored, and dl another game ($3-5) and play it.
Guess what, it is easier to justify $3-5 on a game, crappy or otherwise than it is to risk 10 times that on a game that may or may not suck, may be fun for many hours of pleasure, or just boring after one time through.
Ten sucky games are worth more than one that may or may not suck.
And I wish I was running a game company right now, as I have bitchin' idea how to m
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You dont know corporate speak, one thing is you will never ever here from a corporate guy in public that they are concerned about someone else, this is like admitting a defeat.
Reggy after all is a salesman and for that he has to lie his way around. I do not understand why the press even interviews those guys anymore they could preprint their answers (we are not concerned bla bla, strong product lineup bla bla, we are the future bla bla) and have it signed by them, would not make a difference but would be wa
Re:From laughed at to "Enemy of the future" in 1 y (Score:4, Interesting)
Reggie Fils-Aime: What are you going to do with your iPad?
IGN: Honestly, I don't know yet, but I'm buying one.
[Reggie laughs]
IGN: In your recent Forbes interview, you said Apple's products hadn't resulted in any sales impact on DS yet. But it's just a matter of time before Touch drops to $149 or maybe even $99. Then you've got a real competitor in the handheld space. What're your thoughts on that?
Reggie Fils-Aime: All of our competitors need to be worried about what we're going to do. I don't worry about what they're going to do. We're going to continue to innovate. If things get to a point where their pricing comes down, my pricing probably has come down as well. Chances are I've innovated in a whole new way that they haven't thought of before because that's what we do at Nintendo. And so, the fact of the matter is, in the here and now they're having no impact on our business.
IGN: You're not seeing any impact on current sales then.
Reggie Fils-Aime We sold 600,000 DSs in the month of February. Best ever handheld month on record. I don't think they're having an impact.
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They are still, "not taking Apple seriously" for all we (should) know. "Satoru Iwata is understood to have told his senior executives recently to regard the battle with Sony as a victory already won and to treat Apple, and its iPhone and iPad devices, as the 'enemy of the future.' + later some "journalist" speculation. So, they probably plan for the battle for some time now ("3DS" is probably basically ready, if you look at typical development time of new Nintendo hardware). They just they show their concer
Nintendo phone (Score:4, Interesting)
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"We're sorry, but your voicemail is in another castle!"
Would all calls sound like you're talking through a giant steel pipe?
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I wouldn't, not unless they drastically changed their attitude when it comes to emulators and roms. As it is now, I can play NES, SNES, Genisis, Gameboy, and Gameboy Advanced games on my phone. The games I like (RPG and strategy) play very well, are very inexpensive (just a few dollars for each emulator) and for the most part are games that are so far out of print that I don't even feel guilty pirating them as they aren't available anywhere else anyway.
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No way. If the Wii's any indication, you'll have to jump through hoops to get even an intermittent connection and you'll only be able to talk to random people unless you exchange a 30-digit friend code with the people you really want to call.
Not just Ease of Purchase, but Ease of Transition (Score:4, Interesting)
If you're a parent with 2+ kids, which would you rather do?
Buy a DS, along with a copy of a game cart for each kid (or a download for each DS, not just now but in the future also), or purchase an iPod Touch + 1 copy of the game to sync with all of them?
Add in Nintendos HUGE lack of ability to replace hardware (go search for people needing to replace Wiis and DSs and trying to keep their purchased DLC ... here's a hint at the conclusion "Good Luck!").
Seems like Nintendo SHOULD be concerned. Heck, SquareSoft is even releasing titles on the AppStore. If Apple added a button or two, it would be that much easier, but they still have dual stick shooters (that are personally "okay", but not great), and a HUGE potential for game developers.
If a few major developers jump on board and accept it as a First Class gaming platform (which they MIGHT since they don't have to worry about used carts being resold and the install base is huge), then Nintendo could be in for a huge awakening.
Re:Not just Ease of Purchase, but Ease of Transiti (Score:5, Interesting)
As far as the buttons, Apple is not trying to get existing gamers. Apple is targeting the younger people, who want to game, who want to use facebook, who want to watch movies, and will not make a choice. They have hot spots at school. These are kids who can take a DSi to school, and guarantee that it will be confiscated, or an iPhone or Touch with they can defend as having a semi-legitimate value. The main problem most marketers make is seldom looking at the emerging market. The market that has not been trained with buttons.
A industry designed to fail.. (Score:2)
The only game on the horizon I'm really looking forward to is Guild Wars 2.
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The only game on the horizon I'm really looking forward to is Guild Wars 2.
Yeah, a free-to-play WoW should do really well for the first year or two.
No. (Score:3, Insightful)
Again?! (Score:5, Insightful)
This story is eerily similar to the previous "Oh NO! Nintendo sales are down!" article about the Wii. Nintendo is the dominant player of the market, and sales are down, BECAUSE ALMOST EVERYONE POSSIBLE ALREADY HAS A DS.
Market saturation, mixed with the usual mid-year games lull, and the anticipated rollout of a new platform combine to lower sales numbers. Does that mean competitors are taking over the market? No, no it doesn't.
I'm not crazy about "does this mean that...?" style of journalism. Speculation is fine - but it isn't news. Yet, this style of "journalism" seems to be rising as other forms of journalism are going out of business. It's fine for arguments, but annoying when there's too much of it, too often.
Ryan Fenton
Re:Again?! (Score:4, Funny)
Speculation is fine - but it isn't news.
Well, they're speculating that it is. :)
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I'm not crazy about "does this mean that...?" style of journalism. Speculation is fine - but it isn't news.
People use predictions to try to make themselves look smarter. A few days ago somebody was posting here about how the future of Nintendo was gloomy because Sony is attempting to replicate the Wii's controller. This sort of broken logic works because of a general lack of understanding of what went into the success of the product. Journalists do this too, afterall, their relevance is dependent on the respect people have of their command of the topic. It works because nobody holds these guys to anything th
How old is the Average DS User? (Score:2)
Last I checked the most popular titles on the DS system were targeted at kids. Who the heck is going to have a kid with an expensive iPhone on an expensive data plan. Maybe Apple can peel off some older casual gamers, but they aren't going to nab any of Nintendo's core DS customers.
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Re:How old is the Average DS User? (Score:4, Insightful)
Who the heck is going to have a kid with an expensive iPhone on an expensive data plan.
iPod Touch.
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Apple is the Enemy of the Future? (Score:4, Funny)
I thought that was Skynet.
Skip one lousy meeting...
Nonsense. (Score:3, Insightful)
Couldn't the decline in DS sales simply be due to the fact that the market is saturated? Anyone who wanted a DS has already purchased one. The same goes for all the consoles. We're at the mid-point for this generation of consoles, a point at which I would expect console sales to have stagnated somewhat. It's not surprising that Wii sales would have declined the most dramatically, given the nature of its relatively outdated hardware. The PS3 is probably the only console of the three with some growth potential given it was such a late starter.
So far Apple is a non-competitor in the console arena, outside of perhaps the portable market and even there it's still a minor player. And Apple is always going to struggle as a gaming device given its significantly higher price point, being a more fragile device and, for the iPhone, requiring a pricey subscription with AT&T. We have to consider who's playing on these consoles. A significant number of them are quite young, not the sort of people who would normally be using an iPhone or iPad. For adults who might be interested in gaming, chances are they'd own both an iPhone AND a console, or two.
Is this more nonsense from "experts" gushing over how wonderful everything Apple is? Currently Apple poses no threat to the consoles. Any decline in game sales is almost certainly connected to the general state of the economy. However, anyone with common sense at Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo would certainly be eying Apply with caution and would be wise to prepare for the future.
I have a hard time seeing Apple entering the dedicated gaming market. They seem more interested in creating a ubiquitous general-purpose entertainment device. Gaming is one of it's many capabilities. I'd say it's more likely that the consoles will move in that direction; in fact, the PS3 and Xbox360 have already made some moves that way. Sony has even built in some connectivity between the PS3 and PSP. But I think such devices are still some time off.
Apple is everyones enemy? (Score:2)
First it was netbooks and now it's nintendo? Yeah sure, this seems more like bullshit to me. Hipster talk about the "gaming future" and how apple is taking over every market (to their delight)... but what it is, is a desire to see trends as, instead of what they are, apples products crushing other markets.
I bet the next article will be "PC gaming decline! did steams jump to MAC kill PC gaming?" or something similar.
How boring. (Score:2)
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I was expecting something much more exciting. Say, like Apple has plans to come out with a console. That would be much more interesting than this garbage.
I was hoping to read that Steve Jobs had slept with Satoru Iwata's wife.
Why the DS has lost its appeal with us (Score:2)
The Wifi capabilities are generally good, but it's hit and miss if it will work when I'm at a coffee shop. Not so with our phones - the Wifi seems to work fine and there's the 3G conn
Phone? (Score:2)
No thanks. The last thing I need is the three-years contracts and absurd monthly fees from the Canadian cellphone companies.
Nintendo should check the sales of the iPhone + iPad 3G vs iPod touch + iPad Wi-Fi.
DS (Score:2)
How many versions of the DS? DS, DS lite, DSi?
Perhaps they should get off the behinds and produce something new again?
Oh boy, another asskissing Apple story. (Score:2)
Need a better control scheme (Score:2)
Apple's a non contender in the gaming area until they come up with a better input method. The touch screen will hold them back.
2 inputs at once it not enough for anything but simple trivial games. Now simple trivial games are exactly what the iStuff needs. But they'll never touch the more robust systems.
How can they? They're more powerful, look better, have better controls, cost less, and using them doesn't cause your hand to block half the screen.
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What the article says is that the difference, or rather the loss, between April 2009 sales and April 2010 sales was larger than any other since July 2009. July 2010 doesn't factor into the equat
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What?
You draw numbers on the ground with it and it dials that number?
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Negative. The thing Nintendo needs to learn from Apple is how to create a closed system that also does not violate your common sense by not being able to MIGRATE YOUR DOWNLOADED CONTENT TO THE NEXT SYSTEM. Plain and simple. I have both and I'm telling you I won't purchase an upgrade to the DSi in any way until they pull their heads out of their asses and make it so I can move my downloaded games to my other, rightfully purchased and legal, system. At least my walled-gardening apps for the iPod Touch can
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I only use games I have the carts for. I proved I wanted them when I bought them years ago. I was willing to pay for them again, but nintendo decided they did not want to serve this market.
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You mean the online stores they already have, accessible directly from the devices?