Editorials and Features
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Editorials and Features |
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Article by: Mr P |
 Article: Casual Thoughts of a Gamer Part IX [Written 2004-04-02]
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Nintendo as it exists today is an enigma. Despite all of its troubles, Nintendo still manages to be a profitable company on the back of the extremely popular Game Boy Advance. It does well with consoles, too, even though the GameCube lacks the DVD “feature” that is opponents trumpet. The problem with the N64 and GameCube isn’t that they’re not successful consoles—it’s that Sony’s consoles are that much more popular and more numerous. People ignore theses facts and simply point out, at every opportunity, that Nintendo is somehow doomed, this due to their still lacking for third-party support and a still-ailing image. Nintendo is perceived by the majority as “uncool” and “outdated”; it’s virtually ignored by the media—including game magazines—in favor of the PS2 and the X-Box; and it struggles to hold onto a loyal fanbase that seems to become less vocal by the day, their voice fading into a sea of ignorance. This is the world we live in, the world built at the hands of casual gamers. But those with any amount of patience and intelligence know that Nintendo’s demise is greatly exaggerated. You hear these now-redundant clichés recycled everywhere you turn: “Nintendo is going third-party,” disregarding their numerous press releases stating that the day they leave the console business is the day they leave the industry. “No one cares about Mario anymore,” even though Mario titles on the GameCube and GBA continue to rake in millions. It’s this arrogant attitude of the causal gamer that says video games only exist in America (since 1997, of course) and exist only within the reality that they’ve conjured up from the depths of their depraved minds. And then the most common myth is that Nintendo is in “last place” in the current console war and is thus losing money, when, in reality, they’re currently in second place worldwide and manage to bring in more profits than Sony and Microsoft in regard to video games. This happens because Nintendo is a video game company—it is their business, and they know it better than anyone—whereas Sony and Microsoft are “entertainment” companies that also make video games. Yes, it still hurts them that they’re their own first-party and must compete against existing third parties, but they’ve learned the importance of such developers and have even formed close relationships with some of them. Mainly, they’ve made peace with former enemies like Sega and Square-Enix; Namco and Capcom have bought into their philosophies; and others like Konami realize their importance, especially in regard to the GBA, and thus keep them close. They’re hanging in there. Of course, arguing about “who’s in last place” is pointless, because that’s a weak thing to do. What’d you hope would happen is that Nintendo would get together with Microsoft and figure out a way to cut into Sony’s stronghold. Until they do that, the casual fan will continue to let Sony run wild, and neither Nintendo nor Microsoft will gain a thing from their petty slap fight. And it does Nintendo no good to squabble with Microsoft, because their plight won’t change insofar.
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