Can Nintendo Court the Casuals Again? 132
An anonymous reader sends this quote from Eurogamer:
"Do you remember the last time? When the Wii launched at the tail end of 2006, it was to an air of excited curiosity that went well beyond the borders of core gamers, with Nintendo conjuring what ran close to a full-blown phenomenon. ... Nintendo's masterstroke, of course, has been resurrecting the ultimate hardcore poster girl with the announcement that Bayonetta 2 is heading exclusively to the Wii U. There's something slightly incongruous about an over-sexed, incredibly violent action game rubbing shoulders with Mario and co., but then again that's exactly what makes the proposition so very exciting. ... There's still one very important section of the market that may prove a little tougher to persuade. Right now it's harder to see the broader appeal of the Wii U, and it's not simply a case of fearing that it'll fail to replicate the success of its predecessor — there's every chance that it could endure the same rocky start that plagued Nintendo's 3DS."
Re:One big difference (Score:5, Insightful)
Valid point, but there is a niche within the niche. Ever since the Wii Nintendo has been marketing towards the "family night" crowd. You'll see in almost every ad a group of family or friends taking rounds at having a blast at whatever happens to be on the screen. This still appeals to a great number of people and it is hard to get excited about the idea of sitting around in the same room with your iPhones/Droids playing Words With Friends (unless, I dunno, you were having some sort of tournament?).
Who is a "casual" gamer anyways? (Score:5, Insightful)
As far as I can tell, the definition of a "casual" gamer is "anybody who isn't a 15-30 year old male". I mean, I still hear of puzzle adventure players (who tended to be middle-aged women) being seen as casual gamers, while the people who play really quite simple hack-and-slash games (which appeal more to younger men) are considered hardcore. The mistakes, I think, are:
1. to aim most video games at a particular demographic and then wonder why nobody else is getting interested in them, and
2. hire young male game designers and wonder why they can't write a great game that appeals to older people or women.
It definitely has nothing to do with the difficulty or intracacy of the game.
Re:This again? (Score:3, Insightful)
Haha. No. The Wii/DS generation was extremely profitable for Nintendo and far more successful than the Gamecube/GBA generation before it. Now the 3DS hardware is profitable again and Wii U hardware is supposedly profitable right from the start, so Nintendo's prospects are pretty good.
Sony, on the other hand, is in serious trouble. If anyone's getting out of the console business, they'll be first to go.
Re:Jumped the shark (Score:2, Insightful)
1) Inflation. The 20$ of 1990 was 26,35$ in 2000, 33,37$ in 2010 and 35,25$ today.
Inflation has nothing to do with it.
Sure it does. You need to come to grips with the simple fact that the purchasing power of fiat money decreases with time. 70$ today is just 40$ in 1990 money. As a matter of fact, games have gotten LESS expensive since 1990 in real terms, because games back in 1990 sure as hell costed more than 40$.