great article about nintendo's strategy... market disruption..

[Don Seer]

jacked from  http://www.planetgamecube.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=28&threadid=17576

The guy is basically explaining reasons why Wii will/will not fail, all based on the whole "disruptive marketing" thing.

The sustaining business model for the console video game market is more horsepower and prettier graphics. Nintendo wants to disrupt this. Iwata said, “The time when horsepower alone made the important difference is over.” With the DS successfully disrupting the handheld market, what will the PSP’s successor become? A PSP with better graphics and more horsepower is not the answer. So Sony is at a loss as their business model got smashed. If Nintendo succeeds with the Wii, not only will the Wii outsell its competitors, but Microsoft and Sony would be paralyzed as ‘more horsepower and prettier pictures’ will not be the answer to the next generation of consoles.

http://thewiikly.zogdog.com/article.php?article=42&ed=4&p=1

[Trauma-san]

I've been reading things to this effect for a while now, and what strikes me is the fake materialistic vibe of the whole fucking thing with the other companies.  I'll ramble.

I believe Nintendo is correct in their strategy of making things truly DIFFERENT, and thereby making them more fun than what was before.  I applaud that and almost everything they're doing is brilliant it seems these days.  I also fully understand that one reason they're doing that is because their last console wasn't as successful as expected, and I also understand that Nintendo has made huge mistakes in the past; I don't think they're the 'only' geniuses in videgames today, but they are banging on all 8 cylinders as we speak.

The whole vibe I get from Sony AND Microsoft right now is a vibe of materialism.  Anybody with half a mind knows that more is not always better and quality always trumps quantity... so when Sony and Microsoft put out a system focusing on how it simply looks better than the games before, my ears prick up and I smell a hint of fake bullshit in the air.  That's my whole adversion to it and why I'm so excitied about Nintendo's system.

I also have a bit of an old soul, I like finding things in the world that are truths.  For instance, it's true that time is consistant, time is something you can grab onto, it's always the same.  Dogs are loyal to a fault, dogs will always protect and obey their masters, you can bank on that.  Everytime you turn on the radio and a Beatles song is playing, it's a great fucking song.  Nintendo makes fun fucking games... every time they drop a 1st party game, it's fun.  There's no hit or miss, pretty much you can bank on them.... so I like that they've been around for 100 years and are still extremely successful and can still come up with exciting new ideas.  So a little bit of it is me rooting for the old guard who's still got it even in their old age. 

On the other hand, a company coming into Nintendo's realm, and abandoning the whole fun/creative/child in all of us attitude, and focusing primarily on shallow issues like aethestics and sound quality, etc. strikes me as incredibly fake and almost a fraud.  Now, if Sony and Microsoft were just blowing Nintendo out of the water by making more fun games, I'd bow down. 

Another interesting point, Nintendo is a company that makes video game systems.  they make a profit on every system.  Microsoft and Sony kind of fake the funk; they put out big powerful systems, but lose money every time they sell one.  So they're trying to compete with Nintendo, but saying "ours is faster!" but yet they're hiding and cheating the fact that they cannot make a better console than Nintendo pound for pound, dollar for dollar.  A company that sells one product at a loss just to gain the crown of 'we sold more systems' seems again like a fraud to me.  The whole thing smells. 

I would love nothing more than  to see Nintendo take a truly creative system, release some truly great games that everybody loves, and make a fucking fortune doing it. 

[Trauma-san]

By the way O, thanks for the link, that was an EXCELLENT article.  I especially liked the financial part where they outlined Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft's financial strategies.  I've been screaming that for years, nobody hears me.