Maybe we live in different regions, but in my neck of the woods the 3DS-es are gathering dust and children are playing with the iPhones or iPads of their parents or their own. My niece has her own iPad and my nephew an iPod Touch and they are not the only ones. Small kids are learning their touchscreen skills on iPads, not on 3DS-es. And we all know how important experiences at young ages are.
This may become a problem in the future. But the 3DS is flying off the shelf at the moment. I'm not saying that Nintendo can keep producing handhelds like this forever, they may have to adjust later, but for now I don't think they have anything to fear from the iPhone or iPad.
It's in many cases not the quality of the games, but the quantity. You wouldn't believe the amount of dog and cat training games my niece has on her iPad. And you are forgetting or not mentioning that iOS has some very engrossing games of near console quality that surpass the 3DS capabilities by far (Infinity Blade, Real Racing 3 etc..).
I agree that the quality vs. quantity ratio on iOS is clearly skewed towards quantity. And I am well aware of the quality games(like I said, I'm a gamer), but I disagree that they surpass anything on the 3DS. I could get into technical details, but long story short, games like Infinity Blade look very good as a static image, but you can't explore in it. The developer simply has to create a non-interactive image around the characters. This requires far less in terms of resources than say, Mario 3d Land. A game like Infinity Blade could easily run on a 3DS (Despite Epic's BS about it not being capable). I just think that the best iPhone game, does not compare favorably to a decent 3DS game. The experience is much worse to me, while that is admittedly different from person to person.
You are right that Nintendo should be smart about its marketing, but this news is a great example that they are shooting blanks.
I'm willing to see how this plays out. I have a love/hate relationship with the company. I love their games so much, that it infuriates me when I see them make terrible business decisions. They seem to really understand that they screwed up with the Wii U. I think they make some better moves in the future.
I didn't say that, but I agree with you. It doesn't have to be a matter of licensing. Nintendo could issue small games on iOS that could serve as gateways or extensions to their established console games. They don't need to sell or license anything. And before you mention Apple's 30% fee: Apple will definitely lower that fee with the pull that Nintendo would create towards iOS through an exclusive agreement.
I agree with most of that, but that's what I imagine they are trying here. I imagine they will have little mobile experiences that draw people into awareness of their much better and fully featured consoles and games.
Touchscreen controls and experiences like the best console games simply doesn't happen. You'll never see experiences like Zelda, or the Last of Us, or Halo (One for all three systems to make everyone happy) on a touchscreen device. It's just not possible.
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FAIL.
First of all, this thread is about NINTENDO, NOT APPLE. Secondly, Apple has about 150 BILLION in cash right now, not 10-15B.
I clearly meant Nintendo. I'll edit the post. Good job with critical thinking though.
You meant to say Nintendo?
Oops. Yes.
