Well as I have never owned a DS I didn't know that it was playing legacy NES and SNES titles. I would have assumed that it was playing its own, newer games. I assumed they would release new titles on their own devices and release extremely old NES and SNES titles on third party devices in order to gain interest in the titles, so they can try to use that to bolster their own hardware sales
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Nintendo Finally Considers Smartphone Move After Third Straight Annual Loss
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Well as I have never owned a DS I didn't know that it was playing legacy NES and SNES titles. I would have assumed that it was playing its own, newer games. I assumed they would release new titles on their own devices and release extremely old NES and SNES titles on third party devices in order to gain interest in the titles, so they can try to use that to bolster their own hardware sales
The latest Pokemon games should have been available for iOS on day one. Hugely missed opportunity.
See my earlier post here https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18663022/
The handheld console sales are down from last year and less than half of what they used to sell. Then again the DS was an unusually successful product.
They haven't released the old ones on the 3DS, they did excellent remakes on the DS though - IMO the best Pokemon game to date, and you get a little pedometer that increases your Pokemon EXP as you walk. I recommend picking them up if you got the chance.
Would that really work though? Consider that most of us who would buy 8-16bit games are likely older and want to relive childhood memories. If the problem is the younger generation skipping handhelds in favour of phones/tablets and they don't have the same attachment we do to those games I don't see this as a viable solution.
Pokemon is a big enough franchise that people will buy consoles just for the game. I bought a 3DS for Link Between Worlds and I bought a Wii-U for the next Zelda that doesn't even have a release date yet.
Evolve or Die
I guess this old Nintendo advert ironically has the best advice for Nintendo.
Evolve or become extinct!
You only have to look to Blackberry, to see Nintendos future if they dont radically change their business model. Not too many years ago Blackberry were a hugely profitable company, even after iPhone and Android success they still thought they would be ok, that there loyal fans would support them. We all know how that worked out.
Eventually Iwata will realise you go where the market is, if not the shareholders will revolt. Where profit can be made, where there is growth. 3DS might have had a good 2013, but figures are way bellow DS and current revenues are dying, they no longer make profit on hardware anyway.
When the Nintendo DS was first announced in 2003, Nintendo did proclaim it to be the sucessor to the Gameboy Advance instead they hedge their bets and proclaimed it a "third pillar" of income. As if they were unsure of its potential. I think Nintendo will eventually go the same way with iOS development. Saying that its a 'third pillar' and wont effect their other 2 models.
I guess this old Nintendo advert ironically has the best advice for Nintendo.
Evolve or become extinct!
You only have to look to Blackberry, to see Nintendos future if they dont radically change their business model. Not too many years ago Blackberry were a hugely profitable company, even after iPhone and Android success they still thought they would be ok, that there loyal fans would support them. We all know how that worked out.
Eventually Iwata will realise you go where the market is, if not the shareholders will revolt. Where profit can be made, where there is growth. 3DS might have had a good 2013, but figures are way bellow DS and current revenues are dying, they no longer make profit on hardware anyway.
When the Nintendo DS was first announced in 2003, Nintendo did proclaim it to be the sucessor to the Gameboy Advance instead they hedge their bets and proclaimed it a "third pillar" of income. As if they were unsure of its potential. I think Nintendo will eventually go the same way with iOS development. Saying that its a 'third pillar' and wont effect their other 2 models.
That happens with every console, it's happening right now with the PS4 and Xbox One too. The 3DS is interesting in that the first year was very bad but they turned it around, then it started to fall down. DS sales went down too after the peak. If Apple's iPhone release schedule was a new one every 5 years it too would slide, no?
As it currently stands the 3DS and DS were jumping one over the other in lifetime sales until last year. It was a dry, niche-filled year after all. Late last year there was a new Zelda and Pokemon game so I imagine the 3DS will catch up (but I wouldn't bet on it overtaking just yet).
The DS is the best selling handheld. The 3DS is only second to it, I wouldn't worry about it yet. The Wii U on the other hand...
You are assuming (without any evidence) that Android would have had the PlayStore even without seeing the AppStore before and realizing, we need to have something like that too. The fiction of alternate history doesn't work that way. And there is no resemblance to the situation Nintendo is in. First and foremost Apple is making billions of profit every quarter and Nintendo is reporting its third straight annual loss. Unlike with Apple it is not a joke when someone is shouting: "Nintendo is doomed." They are in trouble.
The mobile phone market (1 device per fiercely loyal contracted customer) is very different to the console market (many cheap devices that last the entire console generation). Photoshop isn't dead because iPhoto exists. Sony aren't stopping TV production because Apple and Samsung sell lots of phones.
Overall they aren't in trouble, the Wii-U is hurting them but that's it. The DS line is selling well (compared to it's competition) and the original Wii printed money for years while both MS and Sony were known to be selling their consoles at a loss. Nintendo has failed generations before (GC) and rebounded. The sheer amount of money Nintendo makes off merchandising is enough to keep them afloat for another generation or two.
Yes let's retire series that have sold more games worldwide than any other franchise in existence. /sarcasmNintendo is losing money because they are mostly focusing on Japan and little kid games.
Pokemon? Mario? Zelda? Time for a retirement....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games#All_consoles
The 3DS didn't even reach the half the peak of the DS and it's not even 3 years old yet. The DS sales was still going up in its third year and its peak was much higher.
I would very much worry about it if I were Nintendo. With the Wii U tanking they really need the 3DS to be a big hit. The 3DS turned it around because in addition to better games Nintendo slashed the price earlier. That hurt the profitability of the company. Then they added two models and the sales still haven't taken off like the DS, instead it has gone down slightly.
The biggest difference here is that Nintendo knows there's a problem, and at least looks like they're going to do something to address it. Unlike Blackberry, who saw the writing on the wall, and said "OH WELL, WE'LL JUST KEEPING DOING WHAT WE'VE BEEN DOING OLOL", then only made an effort to go above and beyond long after it was far too late.
Nintendo's had a good, swift kick to the nuts, but I'd hardly call them doomed. Not yet. Just like with the GC to the Wii, they could turn it around yet again.
LOL, some of those games are over 10 years old....
It's 2014. How's the new Mario game? Did it break any records? Did it sell close to other Mario titles of past releases? Do you see my point?Time to move on and stop trying to bring back old titles Nintendo.....
Time to move on and stop trying to bring back old titles Nintendo.....
As long as Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, and the rest remain household names, Nintendo will keep making games around them.
Though what they need to do is expand beyond them. Keep the oldies but goodies around, but don't lean on them solely. They need to make new stuff to go alongside them.
It occurred to me Nintendo president Satoru Iwata probably thinks iPhone as an enemy in the terms of someone buying an iPhone FIRST, then a 3DS.
If so, then he is a total idiot, becuase in today's world vast majority will buy a cell phone, with a huge % a Smartphone first.
No on needs a game player.
While Xbox and Sony are doing smartphone support apps, Nintendo is absent.
PS, he probably does not use a cell phone.
If so, then he is a total idiot, becuase in today's world vast majority will buy a cell phone, with a huge % a Smartphone first.
No on needs a game player.
While Xbox and Sony are doing smartphone support apps, Nintendo is absent.
PS, he probably does not use a cell phone.
Man, if they just released old versions of MarioKart, the original Smash Bros, and StarFox 64, I would pay a good amount for just those titles. I think they're really missing the boat on these. Not saying they should give up the hardware business, but they should at least consider porting the old games onto iOS and Android devices.
Do you mean the latest Mario that hasn't even been out for 3 months and is currently rated over 95% by just about every review site out there?LOL, some of those games are over 10 years old....
Time to move on and stop trying to bring back old titles Nintendo.....
Game of the year Awards:
2013 - Link Between Worlds
2011 - Skyward Sword
2010 - Super Mario Galaxy 2
2007 - Super Mario Galaxy
2006 - Twilight Princess
DOOOOOOOOOMED.
Scroll down that list to #Wii_U and the sales numbers shrink by a factor of ten. Past sales don't count for future sales. Best-selling video games only run on best-selling systems. You can't sell more games than consoles.
Every gamer who's heard of Mario, Zelda, or Pokemon. They have a market. Time to move into the iOS market though, not through proprietary hardware.
Satoru Iwata
Sadly I think Nintendo Games will come to iOS only after they nearly go bankrupt and Satoru Iwata commits jisatsu like a samurai would seppuku. He is so arrogant and headstrong that only that kind of humiliation will make the board of directors see the light.
Sadly I think Nintendo Games will come to iOS only after they nearly go bankrupt and Satoru Iwata commits jisatsu like a samurai would seppuku.
He is so arrogant and headstrong that only that kind of humiliation will make the board of directors see the light.