Justin’s Words of Wisdom: Nintendo’s Questionable Moves and the 3DS
- April 2nd, 2011
- Posted in Justin's Words of Wisdom . Video Games
- By Justin
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By Justin Polak
Co-founder, Ambassador of the Mushroom Kingdom
I purchased a Nintendo 3DS at a midnight launch on Sunday, March 27th. Although I already gave my first impressions on the 3DS, I have had more time to explore my feelings on the handheld, both from personal experience and some statements Nintendo has made relating to it. Although I am happy with my 3DS overall, I can’t help but envision problems in its future.
I’m not sure if Nintendo is being wise about competition from Apple with its slew of apps on the iPhone, iPad, etc. Reggie Fils-Aime, President and chief operating officer at Nintendo of America, has said that he doesn’t think Apple is a viable gaming platform. This idea baffles me as it makes me feel that Nintendo has missed how their own success from the Wii came about. Prior to the Wii’s launch, if you told anyone who followed the game industry that Nintendo would catapult themselves back on top of the console world, most people would double over laughing.
See, while Apple doesn’t have nearly as much handheld revenue as Nintendo, it’s easy to see that Apple’s share of the pie is growing. The reason why the Wii was so successful, especially right out of the gate, was because it appealed to the casual market, an untapped resource at the time. Currently, Apple is luring in the same type of people in the same manner. I work with a bunch of people who still hold the opinion that video games are a children’s format for the most part, but they are quick to bust out their iPhone and play a glorified flash game. To me, this is exactly like seeing older adults and grandparents giving the Wii a shot, it was something far more simple to interact with, therefore more appealing to partake in. Oh, and it’s an easy way for game 
companies to make a ton of money.
As far as how all this connects to the future of the 3DS, it concerns me greatly that Nintendo is essentially sticking its nose up at “garage developers.” I understand that Nintendo doesn’t want a lot of shovelware (pause for laughter), but again, the most simple ideas are sometimes the best ones. If you don’t believe me I’m sure a few angry birds would like to have a word with you.
As if Nintendo doesn’t feel it slammed the door hard enough on it’s fans, they made the 3DS region locked, which is to say that it is impossible to play imported games (until someone inevitably comes up with a work-around). Region locking usually is standard practice in the game industry, but it makes me wonder why Nintendo let the original DS slide on that issue in the first place. I realize that this isn’t really a big deal outside of a few hardcore enthusiasts that can’t wait to play a new game before it is localized, or worse, a game that won’t be making it to their shores. However, this move seems like the icing on that cake after everything I have learned about Nintendo’s current attitude.
Hey, remember the last time Nintendo got arrogant? They had a great thing going and the Nintendo 64 seemed like it was goin
g to continue Nintendo’s dominan—
Ohhhhhh….
Hey idiots! Listen to your customers! Let normal people make games for your download service! Stop burying your head in the sand and pretending that Apple isn’t a problem! Are you guys suddenly deciding you want to make less money and have another company sneak up on you again and knock you back to last place? Look, I love Nintendo, but when they make moves like the ones mentioned above it seriously makes me wonder if they like the feeling of being outdone by their competition! They’ll never admit this, but Nintendo could have easily crashed and burned after Sony took over. And here’s the kicker, the Android market is just as dangerous, so either way, Nintendo better watch their backs.
As far as the 3DS goes, I’m sure many great games will be unearthed for it. The 3D is cool–for those who aren’t negatively affected by it–but it’s not enough to keep the handheld above water. In the next couple of months, the only game I am excited for is the Ocarina of Time remake. I don’t even care if the game is in 3D or not, and it worries me that I am getting pumped up for a game that was first released in 1998. Sure, the game’s getting a face lift and Nintendo has promised new features, but Nintendo better have more up it’s sleeve than remakes and older franchises that rely on 3D technology…especially since, again, it’s not working for everyone!
I’ll admit that I could be a worry wart, or that I am borrowing trouble. Even if Apple does grow even beyond the most positive analyst’s expectations, who’s to say that the 3DS won’t thrive regardless? 
Well, there was another company you might have heard of that marched to the beat of its own drummer. They took a lot of risks, and some ideas took off at supersonic speed. At one point, they were on top of the market and everything seemed to be shifting their way despite all odds. Then a slew of bad business decisions and abysmal hardware eventually dethroned them, and they are currently yet another modest developer. Say it with me:
SEGA!
Front page image from elder-geek.com, Nintendo 3DS photo from sciencemagnews.com, photo of Reggie Fils-Aime from 3dsbros.com, Android and iPhone photo from areacellphone.com, PlayStation photo from el33tonline.com, Sega Saturn photo from emuparadise.org.
Excellent assessment, and I couldn’t agree more. It was weird for me to hear iPhone users complain about Final Fantasy III’s port price tag and it’s both higher quality and less than half of what the ds version cost. No wonder nintendo is scared.
Yet again Apple is totally different from nintendo, Apple = phone, apps, ipad, ext. I don’t see anything called igame yet nintendo makes games for actual gaming systems not lil 5min phone games and yea there might be a couple games like ff3 but hey someone else remake that for the iPhone and charged there own price and im sure think 5 years after its release on the ds it would look better and be less expensive stop comparing to completely different things its a phone its battery does not last 30min playing a game oh and look it doesn’t have buttons just touch screen so where are the solid controls like other GAMING systems have, sure I have a HTC phone I don’t play or download any app games cuz they are a waste of time and space I do however play emulators but then again the controls are always sloppy and horrible so no apple will not overtake Sony, nintendo, Microsoft ect, cuz its not a dedicated gaming device.
Once iPods have actual buttons then I’ll take them seriously.
Good read. I worry about the same things, though the Sega comparison is taking it a little too far.
Nintendo is scared. I am scared for them. They’re doing their best to be the hardware of choice for the other game developers who also fear the competition from the under-priced app stores. This became apparent to me when during Iwata-san’s GDC speech. They’ve admitted previously that they have fallen behind other companies in terms of digital content. My guess is they want to build their own app store environment with the 3DS, with strict quality control. They’re going to push ‘quality over quantity,’ in their eShop on the 3DS, and though they may have fewer titles available for download, their profit margins will be much greater.
It is my hunch/belief/hope that the 3D capabilities are just a way of drawing initial attention to the system, but most of their creativity will go toward the systems other features. After all, even if the 3D was absent, this device is still a worthy piece of hardware.
The only thing we can do now, besides speculate, is wait and see if they load the eShop with out-of-this-world new content, and a huge library of classics. They have to keep the OTA updates coming, and back up all the talk of 3D movies, etc. etc.
If there is one thing that is certain, Nintendo is not stupid, they just want to differentiate themselves as a stable for quality content.
You are wrong with the n64, the developers needed cds or that was their “reason”, putting a game in a bigger media even if this were just 12mb in the n64 they were happy with 340mb in PS. Now that nintendo were right with Roms in cards (or catridge), everyone uses internal storage when they said that every game must be in a cd, dvd, umd, etc. Personally, i dont like to call players “casual”, “hardcore”, even i dont call myself a “gamer” because this is more than just complete every game in the “hard mode”, you must enjoy all the experience to understand the game and the idea behind it. Finally, nintendo will always be the “First one”, if nintendo jump the others try to jump higher, if nintendo crashes against a wall the others try to crash against a bigger wall, but they will never try to walk and touch the wall until nintendo will try it.
i think you guys commenting are missing the point. it’s about perception. i have EvERY system. every iPhone. you guys are missing the point. were not talking about which ones better for gaming. obviously the 3ds. were talking about how society and potential ( non hardcore ) buyer will perceive the product. look at the wii, all shovel wear garbage games but people thought it wAs amazing and they purchased it. your opinions, my opinions are irrelevant to how a item is marketed. people will think iPhone is coll and therefore will buy it over a 3ds. by the way. I’m writing this from my iPhone 4 after playing pilot wings on my 3ds
hey justin can you please stop posting utter bullshit coz that was just so pathetic i so cannot stop laffing at you!!PMSL.
here is a bit of info for your useless brain…..of the top 20 ds, dsi games of all time 19 of them are from NINTENDO!!!so why the hell would they wanna change such an awesome winning formula by letting garage developers make games that will never ever sell like there own brilliant titles?
and you think nintendo are gonna crash and burn like sega did?HAHAHAHA god you really have no clue i remmeber when the ds was first released at the same time as the psp,idiots like you said the days of ninty dominating the handheld wars are over……LMFAO!!yeah right 7 years later and the ds has sold a mind boggling 150 million worldwide making it the biggest selling console of all time,while the lame shite psp has only managed to shift 68 million!!!hahahaha
the same was said when the wii first came out,people like you said it would fail big time………..lol yet 4 years later and wii has totally destroyed the sales of xbox and ps3 to date the wii has sold 90 million,the xbox 360 53 million and ps3 49 million!!!
and your crying that you want games like angry birds on the 3ds?LMFAO!!get real you wanna play games like angry birds go buy an iphone or ipod touch.
and your moaning about future games that are coming out for the 3ds are the same mario zelda games?well may i also point out to you the mario games,mario karts,zelda game sales are amazing and always trounce the big games that come out for the ps3 and xbox,for example super mario bros wii sold an amazing 18 million worldwide even beating sales of call of duty!!!!
nintendo has and will always have an awesome fan base and thats why the ds and wii became so popular,and your dribbling on about nintendo going in to last place?lol
you sound like a jealous sony fan boy,so plz go and cry when your pathetic NGP becomes dead on arrival just like the psp go!!
Here is the reason Apple and mobile gaming is no threat to Nintendo: Games.
At the end of the day its games that sell systems. No one buys iphones and Androids for Angry birds or such, they buy it as a phone with a lot of features, games are an afterthought. People will buy DS and Wii for the games, even without extra features. This is why Nintendo has no need to entertain mobile games, or garage devs, because their games don’t propel buyers, it won;t bring people out to buy the systems.
Yes 3DS’s lineup is pretty weak, but if you recall, the DS was even weaker, only Mario 64 as is big launch game, and now its the highest selling game system in history, console or handheld, why? Because of software that brought people out.
New Super mario bros and the like ignited DS sales, and it never looked back.
Apple is no threat to Nintendo, nor is Sony or MS, the only threat is Nintendo itself, if they release compelling, and interesting software on the 3DS, it’ll sell like there is no tomorrow, if they don’t, it will flop, plain and simple.
@snake77
Talk about fanboyism! You’ve gotta be one of the worst Nintendo fanboys I’ve ever seen. “Ooh, Ninty’s so awesome, Sony sux! NGP = dead on arrival!”
See, people thought the Wii and DS would be “dead on arrival” too, and you yourself pointed out that they weren’t. Don’t be a hypocrite; be prepared to back up your arguments.
On top of that, while DS sales are starting to slow down, PSP sales have been rising since the start! The PS2 is still selling, and actually sold more consoles than the DS; do your research before putting that in any comment next time.
People like you always talk about how the iPod “isn’t targeting the same audience” as Nintendo, even though both target casual gamers! Flash games are casual games for the most part, and the best-selling Wii games are casual! What do you say to that; that they sell to different types of casual gamers or something? Bull!
Totally agree with axt. Apple never designed the iphone and ipad for heavy gaming. Even now most of the games that dominate the app store like angry birds are casual games. You wont find yourself spending more than ten minutes on angry birds.
Nobody will invest 300$ on an ipad just for its games. The games may be addictive but they still cant replace AAA titles like call of duty, fifa, battlefield etc.
I am not saying nintendo is worrying for nothing. Agreed, more people are getting hooked on to apple products day by day. But still if nintendo manages to keep up great titles like super mario, apple has no chance against nintendo. Maybe when apple brings out thei own video game console, the tables will turn and maybe then nintendo should start worrying a little more.
Also I don’t think the NGP is going to be dead on arrival. It has some great features and might outbeat the 3ds as well. But still both are targeting different crowds the way the wii and ps3 did.
But for now nintendo should focus on making great titles.
Cheers!!
I’m not going to pretend I’m an analyst, but I feel I need to comment on a few things.
One, the iPhone/Android business has had it successes, like the aforementioned Angry Birds (over 100,000,000 downloads and 70-ish millions in profit isn’t anything to sneer at [even if we factor in the amount that was from free downloads]). However, this is one game out of over 1,000 that are available on the iPhone right now. I am curious as to how many of THOSE games are successful. Just about anything can have one success on it. Even Atari Jaguar had successful games like Tempest 2000 and Alien vs Predator.
Also, it’s not like Nintendo has never made a cheap, downloadable games (and I don’t mean the Virtual Console). DSiWare has many titles developed by Nintendo. Yes, this service is far more modest than the iPhone, but it has its own games. Spotto! and X-SCAPE are made by Nintendo and are at a low cost. These games are “simple ideas”. Plus, they’re not going to pass up on easy money.
And people love to take the “garage developer” quote out of context. There are some developers who are small, yes. But what they are referring to is someone who can barely get the code to stay together, much less work. One of the games used the “counter the argument” is Minecraft, a game developed by a former developer in the game industry with years of experience (hardly comparable to a “garage developer”). We can argue that more than a few Wii games were built like that, but it’s kind of a required sin – third parties have thrown their eggs into the HD basket and are trying to recoup costs by releasing as many games as cheaply as possible to recover the costs. Which includes the iPhone as of recent.
Furthermore, how is Nintendo not “listening to their customers”? If a company sells over 20 million of ONE GAME, people really want that. If a company sells over 10 million of ONE GAME, people really want that. I’m not sure when they DIDN’T listen. If Nintendo charged 400+ dollars for a handheld, that wouldn’t be listening to their customers. And from what I’ve heard about the 3DS, the on-line section of it is already improved over their current offerings on the Wii and DS (and that was before they got their eShop set up [though beating their current offering is hardly a challenge]).
And what about StreetPass and SpotPass – two systems designed for the purpose of increasing social interactions to others by building communities with them. Hyperbolic? MAYBE, but there are people setting up meetups so people can do such a thing during launch. I can’t think of any other device actively encouraging that.
SEGA was a company that banked on a lot of risks, yes. However, they banked on many expensive, highly experimental risks (SEGA 32X, anyone?). To use SEGA as an example of Nintendo’s possible future seems wrong. SEGA had one truly successful product – the Genesis, which is a shame. Their Dreamcast was basically beaten to a pulp because Sony ruined their chances before they could get a foothold. A bit of shame, yeah. Such is the nature of competition.
Nintendo has never been a huge, risk-taking company (even the Virtual Boy, which seemed to be a rushed product from the beginning, was treated like a simple toy). They never really built things that will break their bank, and they rarely spend so much money as to ruin their gains on advertising or excessive development costs. Even their current handheld is hardly going to kill them if it doesn’t take off (yes, it’s barely over 100 dollars BEFORE shipping, handling, assembly, marketing, R&D costs, etc.). Even their less successful consoles like the Gamecube and N64 made them money.
Its for these reasons im jumping on the sony or Microsoft bandwagon next console generation cycle. Yes 3ds is super cool but like wii how long is one feature gonna hold your attention for.
Im traveling back in time? Nintendo is do00omed all over again.