Presenting...the Nintendo Revolution...

[CommanderSP]

Nintendo. A company who always try to innovate, a company who always put gameplay above everything else (you hear this Mikami?). In this generation however their new ideas seemed a bit forced, it was like the company tried to innovate just for the sake of it, thinking how to make games later.

But i do not wish to talk about the actual revolution, but the way it was promoted. In short, i have a feeling they did everything backwards. If they had played their cards in a different way, then you would get more people really excited with the console.

E3 2005. Iwata presents the new console but only the box and not the controller. For the last year, people were thinking what sort of idea Nintendo came up with in order to evolve video gaming. Yet Iwata kept stressing the fact that this is going to change the way we play games, hinting that they do not care about conventional games anymore. Then last friday we saw the controller. While many applauded Nintendo's bold move, many hardcore fans got too worried about this new way to play games because "they will NOT play Zelda with that". Then we get a Nintendo representative saying that there will be a classic joypad addon which will enable to play SNES/N64/GC games with ease. What's more, IGN made a mock up of a controller which could look like the one Nintendo mentioned and i have to add, THIS bit of info, along with that picture puts everything back in order.

But how could have they hyped this better? Well for starters, they could have had a much much better show back on E3 2005. They could unveal the revolution and JUST the classic controller addon, with that mystery slot. Nintendo could still stress that it is what goes in there that will revolutionise everything. Their exact words could be "that controller is not as important as you may think".

Moving forward to summer 2005. Shigsy could let slip the fact that "games may not use that controller at all as what we made is sufficient to replace it" and have everyone confused and VERY interested. Then on friday, they could start by showing the classic addon. Then they would put the REAL controller and have one demo using its functions WITH the classic controller. Then they would take it out, put the analog addon and run the prime3 demo showing how that can fully replace the old controller in certain situations.

Nintendo made everyone think that they do not care at all about third parties and all they want is to "fix what is broken" and this impression is still present. However if they did everything backwards, they could still stress this innovation but keep the impression that "change is preferred but NOT required".

What they did, managed to make the press worried about Nintendo's future plans. In my opinion they lost the battle there. Had they done it the other way, they could have the majority of the press on their side, being really excited with the console and hyping it as well (i sense some worrying even in positive articles about the revolution). All they need to pay attention to, is the way the console is presented to the consumers and that will be important in the console's success.

from the one the older users love to hate

CommanderSP

[Smalldude76]

note that the add-on isn't even there right now, nevertheless being ready at E3. I see your point though, and it does make sense. Thing is that if they revealed the mock-up with the slot, what will people think? I'd instantly think remote as another shape would be somewhat out of the question.

[Mimternet]

Revolution still wouldn't be out until 2006 whether they unveiled the controller at E3 or next year's E3. It makes no difference. In fact, they couldn't have timed it better. They've had two Revolution launches and the games are still to come. Besides, focusing on the add on to play old games misses the point entirely. We don't need to see that controller to know it is possible. The point of Revolution is something NEW and REVOLUTIONARY.

Also, I don't think they made the press worry because the press didn't know anything. They may have made the stupid members of the press worry, but any intelligent press person would have know to wait and see. Patience is a virtue.

[CommanderSP]

well it's not really hard to make a GC pad with another button shaped exactly like the N64's Z trigger just below the L button. Maybe they could move the GC's Z button below the R button and you basically have a console that can play nearly every game from the NES to the GC (well with some small difficulty using the C-stick for some N64 games which had those as standard buttons - ISS). That would be a good place to start. They could alter the design a bit and they could have it ready in no time.

The problem was not that though, but they had not chosen their innovation yet 2 months before E3 2005. Iwata had stated that they had selected a few ideas but the revolutionary aspect of the revolution was not finalised yet. Still though, i am sure they could make up this classic addon in a few days (it did not have to be the final version mind you) and show it to the public on E3 2005 because what happened moved all the interest away from the revolution and the problem is that even after the announcement of the classic addon, some people are still not interested.

PS: The press are far from celebrating mind you. Many of them are still confused. All that wait and that big focus on the innovation and not paying attention to what gamers are really drooling for, did hurt the way the press impressions and i am getting this "wary" feeling all over the place. That should not have been there.

CommanderSP

[Mimternet]

I still don't understand the problem, I didn't like the wait but I never doubted that Nintendo would produce a good console and the I don't see a big need for a classic add on when we knew at E3 this year that the Gamecube controller was compatible.

Saying many of the press are still confused is a bit of a generalisation. Again, they don't need to fully understand until E3 2006. All they need to know is that this controller is doing something new and so far it works with Nintendo doing their upmost to make sure it is the best thing since fire.

[CommanderSP]

well to be honest i am not persuaded either that this is the right thing to do. I have raised some issues on those "AIR" controls and if you put them together with this "expannding" attitude of Iwata, we will see a lot of simple games, games which will not be much of a challenge (apart from some arcade style high scores..maybe..) to the hardcore, but will be there to help "non gamers" play games. Furthermore, Nintendo's "small quiet and affordable" console, makes me think that no one will care to buy watered down versions of third party games (it is already bad that third party games don't sell, this will be catastrophic) and to be perfectly frank, i am tired of all the blandness of Resi4 (and from the looks of it, Zelda as well) as sharper, higher quality textures along with Bump Mapping can make the game look much much better (still believe that the Star Wars F5 games look the best on GC) so visuals may have an impact on the gamer market.

A lot of questions need to be answred and we need to see some games in motion. However i am still worried that things may not turn out as i expect them to, whereas i can assure you that if presented backwards, i would be a lot more optimistic.

The console will be released last so they need to keep hyping the right way until the launch. In my opinion, a working demo of prime 3 should have been in playable form, showing them WHY they should not invest on an Xbox360 in 2 months time.

It does not matter what i say though...not as much as that of a journalist...who is still worried about Nintendo's direction. He then looks at the Unreal 3.0 engine and smiles...

CommanderSP

[Hellfire]

I'm surprised that you aren't bashing Nintendo a lot. I kid, I kid. :P Anyway, worrying about things that Nintendo could have done better with hype is pointless, not to mention that everyone think to know what's better and let's not forget that mistakes are natural to make. Iwata and Reggie are soo focused on using the new controller that when they're asked about conventional means of controlling they kind of dismiss it, but there's confirmation of a normal controller, so why see more into it? I just hope that developers see this and embrace a console with so much potential. Still the game just started for Nintendo, let's see what they do next.

[MidnightSun]

Me thinks the "classic style controller" add on wasn't finished. I think half way through the Revolution controller development they realized that the controller would be flawed for third party games and "classic" style gameplay, so they through together this "classic" shell. The "shell" probably isn't even finished yet, and that's why it hasn't been shown.

[nicolasmasset]

CommanderSP, Why don't you start your own company and blow us all away with your flawless marketing tactics that way surpass those old geezers at Nintendo with 20years of experience ;)

But seriously now, I understand what you're saying, but it is quite pointless, just as Hellfire pointed out. I'm sure Nintendo had it's reasons that we don't know about. Just let it fly, it's over now, and it's a bright future innit!

[Philthy]

Totally agree with that.

The reason why they didn't want to show the games yet is becuase this was the controllers show. They were very careful to not show games and I'm in agreement as they still have an easy ace card to show at another time such as before the 360 or PS3 launches. They wanted us to focus on the innovation and try to imagine ways of using it ourselves.

[Mabui]

I think it's probably best Nintendo did what they did in the end. They tend not to stoop to the level of Sony and Microsoft which both really didn't have anything prepared and probably were about the same place as Nintendo was in creating.

Seems like a firesale of things falling off the other systems before they reach launch meanhwhile Nintendo just showed the shell, and as it gets closer to the launch it gets more and more thrown inside.

So instead of asking "What else won't be in the system?" your left to wonder "What more could they cram in?!"

[CommandeR]

I am the one and true CommandeR, who art thee?

[CommanderSP]

A ghost of old times, someone who was too argumentative for his own good. Banned years ago from C-E for fear of another flaming war. But i was still around...hehe

CommanderSP