Dante Posted December 8, 2008 Posted December 8, 2008 When Satoru Iwata became the president of Nintendo Co Ltd six years ago, the video game world was ruled by Sony Corp's PlayStation 2 and populated by young men. Iwata knew the market could be much bigger than that. Under his watch, Nintendo started inventing products for an unlikely crowd of gamers from pensioners eager to train their memory to yoga students perfecting their poses. "Today there are people who play and who don't. We'll help destroy that wall between them," Iwata said in May 2006 ahead of the year-end launch of the Wii console. Unlike most consoles, the Wii is meant to appeal to everyone, whether their idea of entertainment is a tranquil round of golf or a battle with fantasy warriors. "Regardless of age, gender or game experience, anyone can understand Wii," Iwata said at the time. His prediction proved accurate: The Wii turned into a bestseller and has consistently outsold its rivals. Global Wii sales came to 34.6 million units as of the end of September, against 16.8 million for the PlayStaion 3 and 22.5 million units for Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360. Iwata's knack for unconventional solutions has marked his career, including his rise to the top at Nintendo, the world's largest video game maker and creator of the well-loved game characters Mario and Donkey Kong. He became president at 42, in a country where executives at major listed corporations tend not to make that step until their late 50s or early 60s, if not later. Iwata's predecessor, Hiroshi Yamauchi, a member of the founding family, picked him for the top job only two years after he joined the company. Yamauchi himself had held that position for more than half a century. TEENAGE Programing Iwata was hooked by computer programing at high school and studied computer science at Japan's top technology university, Tokyo Institute of Technology. In 1982 he joined HAL Laboratory, a small game maker, only to watch it fail about a decade later. Instead of leaving the firm in search of safer and better-paid work as a game developer, Iwata agreed to become its president and helped it return to profit. He moved to Nintendo in 2000 and helped it launch the GameCube console the following year. The GameCube never really took off, however, overshadowed by the far more popular PlayStation 2. Yamauchi recognized Iwata's rare ability to understand both the hardware and software aspect of the game business. That ability shows through in the Wii, which combines games for different age levels and interests with unusual hardware, such as a motion-sensing controller that can be swung like a tennis racket or a baseball bat. Nintendo's other bestseller, the DS handheld game player, also appeals to a broad fan base with software that includes puzzles, memory exercises and educational games, for example for learning Chinese characters. Players can use a stylus instead of a key pad to operate the DS, something that appeals to people who are used to working with a pen but find key pads unfamiliar. EYEING IPOD Helped by these features, the DS has outsold the PlayStation Portable two-to-one and is now encroaching on the territory of other gadgets. Last month, Nintendo started selling a DS model that can take pictures and play music, taking on Apple Inc's iPod and iPhone. "We find ourselves at an unprecedented stage where one in every six people (in Japan) has a DS," Iwata said at a news conference to unveil the new model. "We will strive not only to appeal to those households without the DS, but to promote a shift to 'one DS per person' from 'one DS per household'." Nintendo expects its operating profit to jump 29 percent to 630 billion yen in the year ending March, more than three times that of Sony. Whether it can keep up that kind of trend in a global economic downturn remains to be seen -- after all, even Iwata, now 49, acknowledges that Nintendo's products are not strictly necessary. "We are producing something people can live without. But we need to keep thinking what would make our products a priority purchase even if they are not a necessity," Iwata said in October of this year. "If we stop doing that, no matter how successful Nintendo is at the moment, things will start going wrong in no time." Yahoo
... Posted December 8, 2008 Posted December 8, 2008 Hmm, I think the PS2 was a pretty casual console, why do you think so many people have one? Sure, faulty lasers made the same person buy more than one, but the PS2 began the casual gamer craze, not Nintendo. How many people had the PS2 for Buzz and Simpsons games? A lot, I tells you!
Dante Posted December 8, 2008 Author Posted December 8, 2008 I think it started with PS1 than the Wii/PS2
... Posted December 8, 2008 Posted December 8, 2008 Hmm, I actually think the PS1 was more "hardcore" than the PS2. The casual thing really started with PS2.
Emasher Posted December 8, 2008 Posted December 8, 2008 The PS2 was more Mainstream than casual I think.
Jonnas Posted December 8, 2008 Posted December 8, 2008 Don't be ridiculous. It started with the NES and Super Mario Bros. Or in the arcades with Pac-Man.
Guest Maase Posted December 9, 2008 Posted December 9, 2008 No, the generation is pretty Obvious It started Nerdy. Then it became Hardcore with PS1 (They basically united the "Cool" with "Videogames", something you wouldn't normally find before, only Nerdy Videogames) PS2 became a little more casual, trying to bring some guys to the gaming, while still remaining cool... Wii was the opposite. They completely break the fourth wall and there's almost no one in the world who does not know the name "Nintendo Wii"
Hellfire Posted December 9, 2008 Posted December 9, 2008 Wii was the opposite. They completely break the fourth wall and there's almost no one in the world who does not know the name "Nintendo Wii" I don't think the expression breaking the fourth wall applies here.
... Posted December 10, 2008 Posted December 10, 2008 Yeah, they're actually trying to do the opposite. I don't think Maase knows what the fourth wall is...
Jonnas Posted December 10, 2008 Posted December 10, 2008 ...Maase, breaking the 4th wall means that, in a fictional world, someone knows they're in a film/game/book. Saying something like "You can't die! The movie isn't over yet!" is breaking the 4th wall.
Guest Maase Posted December 10, 2008 Posted December 10, 2008 Really? Thanks then :P My expression is wrong, then
Shino Posted December 11, 2008 Posted December 11, 2008 I think it really started with the Mega Drive.
darkjak Posted December 11, 2008 Posted December 11, 2008 Hmm, I think the PS2 was a pretty casual console, why do you think so many people have one? Sure, faulty lasers made the same person buy more than one, but the PS2 began the casual gamer craze, not Nintendo. How many people had the PS2 for Buzz and Simpsons games? A lot, I tells you! Buzz, Singstar, Guitarhero and the eyetoy games came late into the PS2's lifespan. What Sony appealed to was the mainstream gamer. In other words, the people whom could play regular games, but cared more for what image the game had than how it scored in games mags. Also, the PS2 sold well in its early lifespan was because it was the most cheap DVD-player on the market at the time.
Emasher Posted December 12, 2008 Posted December 12, 2008 Buzz, Singstar, Guitarhero and the eyetoy games came late into the PS2's lifespan. What Sony appealed to was the mainstream gamer. In other words, the people whom could play regular games, but cared more for what image the game had than how it scored in games mags.Also, the PS2 sold well in its early lifespan was because it was the most cheap DVD-player on the market at the time. Gaming Magazines? More like what they heard from friends. Mainstream gamers don't read about games on the internet all that much.
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