Once upon a time, Nintendo was the force in gaming. Ah yes, many a kid grew up with a Nintendo branded console and handheld by their side at all times. A handful of very strong first party IPs saw Nintendo's name become all but synonymous for video game. Somewhere along the line, however, things began to change and what was once a king among digital entertainment is now a dated relic, irrelevant to modern gaming and completely out of ideas.
The Gamecube was perhaps Nintendo's defining moment in their march towards the cobwebs of forgotten names. Although possessing some terrific titles and being generally praised by critics and fans, the little lunchbox just didn't do all that well. Perhaps Sony was too great a competitor, or perhaps Nintendo had just drifted a little too far to the side-line. The handheld market, however, continued to print money for the aged monolith, with the various Gameboy iterations selling like free candy to fat kids.
The Wii was a massive success for Nintendo and there are perhaps more Wii's in homes than light bulbs. The flame sprung back into a bright blaze and things looked to be turning around, but then something happened; no games came out and no one knew what to do with their little white rectangle. The Wii may have sold in record amounts, but they now make better paper weights and dust collectors than gaming machines. What was once the glorious Nintendo mega-factory was reduced to a barren graveyard of weathered and flogged horses. IPs that were once young, popular and full of future, were ridden into the ground, reskined, rehashed and remade so many times that no one wants them any more. Nintendo is selling sand at the beach.
The handheld market, although still partially dominated by the NDS, didn't offer much else to fans, with a mirrored fate to that of its big brother, the Wii; no games came out and soon everyone forgot they owned the little buggers. With the absurdly fast rise to popularity of the iOS, the handheld market, once Nintendo's bread and butter, slipped through their fingers and eventually escaped their mighty grip all together.
Sony and Microsoft power ahead, with the latter utterly dominating the gaming scene, both console and computer. The former is less popular, but still maintains a strong presence and unleashes its own fair share of best sellers from time to time and remains a player in the modern gaming world. Big budget games like Call of Duty, Halo, Gears of War, Uncharted, The Elder Scrolls and Mass Effect set record sales and ensure a healthy supply of new fans are created every day. Meanwhile, Nintendo stubbornly refuses to embrace change, limits internet multiplayer in an age when such a thing is all but a must-have-feature in most games, and generally limps along the track, offering very little to an increasingly tired fanbase. Mini-game collections, party games and the rare big name are all they can manage to squeeze out for us, and that's just not good enough when there are so many other sources offering much, much more.
Although still quite prevalent in pure consoles sold, the brand Nintendo has lost virtually all of its worth and with the future looking more bleak than ever thanks to the entirely unasked for and, frankly, stupid looking WiiU, things seem rather bad. The game tap has trickled to a stop and Nintendo seems only interested in the Japanese market. But how long can it last there, I wonder.
Once upon a time, if you asked a child or even an adult what the first thing they thought of when they heard "video game" was, a lot of them would have mentioned a Nintendo system. Nowadays, "Playstation," "Xbox," "Halo," "Modern Warfare" and such are more frequent replies. When the increasingly older fans of Nintendo, who grew up with them and owned their very first console, age past gaming or simply vanish, what then? I don't think Nintendo has enough of a face or name to be relevant to the new generations of gamers.
What's your thoughts?
The Gamecube was perhaps Nintendo's defining moment in their march towards the cobwebs of forgotten names. Although possessing some terrific titles and being generally praised by critics and fans, the little lunchbox just didn't do all that well. Perhaps Sony was too great a competitor, or perhaps Nintendo had just drifted a little too far to the side-line. The handheld market, however, continued to print money for the aged monolith, with the various Gameboy iterations selling like free candy to fat kids.
The Wii was a massive success for Nintendo and there are perhaps more Wii's in homes than light bulbs. The flame sprung back into a bright blaze and things looked to be turning around, but then something happened; no games came out and no one knew what to do with their little white rectangle. The Wii may have sold in record amounts, but they now make better paper weights and dust collectors than gaming machines. What was once the glorious Nintendo mega-factory was reduced to a barren graveyard of weathered and flogged horses. IPs that were once young, popular and full of future, were ridden into the ground, reskined, rehashed and remade so many times that no one wants them any more. Nintendo is selling sand at the beach.
The handheld market, although still partially dominated by the NDS, didn't offer much else to fans, with a mirrored fate to that of its big brother, the Wii; no games came out and soon everyone forgot they owned the little buggers. With the absurdly fast rise to popularity of the iOS, the handheld market, once Nintendo's bread and butter, slipped through their fingers and eventually escaped their mighty grip all together.
Sony and Microsoft power ahead, with the latter utterly dominating the gaming scene, both console and computer. The former is less popular, but still maintains a strong presence and unleashes its own fair share of best sellers from time to time and remains a player in the modern gaming world. Big budget games like Call of Duty, Halo, Gears of War, Uncharted, The Elder Scrolls and Mass Effect set record sales and ensure a healthy supply of new fans are created every day. Meanwhile, Nintendo stubbornly refuses to embrace change, limits internet multiplayer in an age when such a thing is all but a must-have-feature in most games, and generally limps along the track, offering very little to an increasingly tired fanbase. Mini-game collections, party games and the rare big name are all they can manage to squeeze out for us, and that's just not good enough when there are so many other sources offering much, much more.
Although still quite prevalent in pure consoles sold, the brand Nintendo has lost virtually all of its worth and with the future looking more bleak than ever thanks to the entirely unasked for and, frankly, stupid looking WiiU, things seem rather bad. The game tap has trickled to a stop and Nintendo seems only interested in the Japanese market. But how long can it last there, I wonder.
Once upon a time, if you asked a child or even an adult what the first thing they thought of when they heard "video game" was, a lot of them would have mentioned a Nintendo system. Nowadays, "Playstation," "Xbox," "Halo," "Modern Warfare" and such are more frequent replies. When the increasingly older fans of Nintendo, who grew up with them and owned their very first console, age past gaming or simply vanish, what then? I don't think Nintendo has enough of a face or name to be relevant to the new generations of gamers.
What's your thoughts?
