Coffee Talk #96: Can Nintendo Be Stopped?!?

“Can Nintendo be stopped?” That’s the question a lot of game writers have been asking for the last few years. With the ridiculous success of the Nintendo DS and Wii, it seems like a good question. I, however, think it’s a stupid question considering what a lot of these people have been writing about Nintendo for the last 15 years. The story goes a little something like this:

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, your closing thoughts on the Vancouver Winter Olympics, why there isn’t a PSN error 867-5309, or the hotness of Mika Brzezinski, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

“Can Nintendo be stopped?” That’s the question a lot of game writers have been asking for the last few years. With the ridiculous success of the Nintendo DS and Wii, it seems like a good question. I, however, think it’s a stupid question considering what a lot of these people have been writing about Nintendo for the last 15 years. The story goes a little something like this:

  • Nintendo 64: Can Nintendo be restarted?
  • GameCube: Really, can Nintendo be restarted?
  • DS/Wii starting hot: Can Nintendo keep it up?
  • DS/Wii continuing to be hot: Can Nintendo be stopped?
  • DS/Wii in 2010: Will Nintendo remember the people that got them here?

While Nintendo did well with the N64 and GameCube (despite what some people think, the company was highly profitable and cash-rich back then), it was clear to the entire world that it needed to do something different in order to overtake Microsoft and Sony. It did and now the company gets heat from the Nintendo “faithful”. A lot of N64 and GameCube owners were rooting for Nintendo to reclaim the throne, but I guess that was a conditional wish. Funny how it goes….

Anyway, the answer to the question, “Can Nintendo be stopped?” is obviously, “Hell to the no!” — at least for this console generation. As for the next generation…well, the market is constantly changing and there are way too many things that can happen between now and then.

The better question, in my mind anyway, is this: “Will Microsoft and Sony be able to reach as broad an audience as the Wii with their next-gen consoles?” What do you think?

Author: RPadTV

https://rpad.tv

13 thoughts on “Coffee Talk #96: Can Nintendo Be Stopped?!?”

  1. I hope they can't. Then that would mean that the whole market will be saturated with shovelware and family friendly content. I'm an adult male who does not have kids, I like my content mature and visceral.

  2. All of what I just said being said…..I still hate how Nintendo's offers so much peripheral based software. Frankly, to say that the Wii is "only $199.99" is a flat out lie, because you've gotta buy the nun-chuck, balance board, and/or motion plus to play a lot of their "core" games. And who knows what kind of BS they're gonna cook up with the vitality sensor. What's next, the power glove 2010?

  3. Why, Nightshade? Why did you have to bring this up:

    Let us bury this monstrosity in the past and never speak of it again.

    -M

  6. It don't look like they'll ever be stopped. Even if they start slowing down all they have to do is drop the price again to boost sales, I know they can afford it.

  8. There’s a place in the market for what Nintendo offers. But it’s not in my house. At least, not yet. When my son gets a little older, we may pick up a Wii so there’s some family friendly games in the house.

    Nintendo’s success does not spell doom for the rest of the industry as a whole, in fact it’s very much a good thing. Frankly, it’s introducing a whole new generation to gaming. While Grandma may not pick up the next new console out there, the young kids being introduced to gaming via the Wii certainly will. And as they grow up, they’ll demand the same type of content that the rest of us do. So the types of games we all want aren’t going anywhere, especially when you’ve got games like Call of Duty or Halo selling like hotcakes every time a new one is released.

  9. I think nintendo will be okay next generation. Their next console will not blow people away but it will do fine. I’ll always get a nintendo by the way. I always need my Legend of Zelda and Mario fix, especially Mario Kart.

  10. haha @ nightshade
    they have something like a power glove right now. 3rd party companies have the boxing glove accessories for Punch out. I’m still waiting for nintendo to jump aboard on that one. The Wii vitality sensor is going to bomb, that will be the beginning of the end for the Wii.

  11. I don't think that the big N will ever really be stopped, merely contained. I highly doubt that they will ever get back to their 76% market share (or something close to that), but they will always be a competitor. They have a simple task of pleasing the consumers, and they have been able to do this, originally with more hardcore gamers, as can be seen with the NES and SNES, also with the N64. The difference between them and anyone else in the video game industry is that they have been able to change their target audience and change their consumer base. I don't know of any other company who has been able to do that (if there is a business or company that has also done this I would love to be informed).

    They know how to market themselves and how to sell their products, no matter what they are.

  13. @Topic
    I never wished they would be on top. All I ever wanted was for them to not be seen as inferior by other gamers. Funny how that never happened…..

    @Heavy Rain
    The story is pretty good, but the QTEs seem very inferior to me. Not that they aren’t done well or miss used. It just that, RE5 had much better button symbols (PC/360 versions. Not sure about PS3) When I played RE5, it actually showed the buttons on my controller and not just the letters. Maybe that spoiled me, but I found it very frustrating to try and figure out what button did what command in Heavy Rain. Maybe if they colored the symbols the same color as they are on the PS3 controller (or if I wasn’t dyslexic), it wouldn’t seem so bad. Anyway, the game is still good. I just needed to vent that little bit of frustration is all.

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