[Xantar]

Originally posted by The Strangler

1) "Gaming Console - No DVD" - Nintendo has a GCN-DVD, just not in the states, so I guess they only feel that Japanese gamers like DVD.

Except Nintendo doesn't have a GCN-DVD. Matsu****a does. And they can do that because they manufacture the GCN's disc drive in the first place. It wasn't Nintendo's decision at all.

2) "No Proce Drop" - What happened in Europe again?

Good point, although I think she was talking about North America only. Of course, now that the Xbox has dropped to $200, Nintendo will probably be forced to make a move. Remember that this interview was conducted before the official Xbox price drop announcement.

3) "No unified Onlne Plans" - Online gaming a "niche" market? Yeah, that Everquest thing and Diablo 2 never caught on, did they? This basically proves a huge point. Nintendo knows their customers very well. They are made up of 2 distinct groups: a) hardcore Nintendo gamers and b) kids

It may very well be true that Nintendo's audience is predominantly young (hey, I wouldn't know any better), but I have seen lots of doubts about online gaming expressed by people who own PS2s also (I don't know any Xbox owners, unfortunately). A lot of people balk at the idea of paying more than the price of three games in order to play a single game online for a year. These aren't people on the internet. These are people I personally know.

Nintendo's problem with online gaming is that they don't see a workable, profitable business model for it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Diablo 2 doesn't have a monthly fee other than whatever it costs to get an internet connection. Everquest is wildly popular because it was the first MMORPG. What about all the other online games? The only other wildly popular games that people play online (that I can think of) don't charge a monthly fee to play online.

Nintendo is not going to provide online service for free. That's just foolish. So their only other option if they want to go online is to make some game that is going to be so massively popular that people will be willing to pay a monthly fee to play it. I can think of one such game Nintendo could do, but if they have any plans for that game, they wouldn't announce it now.

Nintendo has ALWAYS been about profits. Look at the N64. They produced a console that was WAY short on memory and hard to develop for because the profit margin was higher. Financially, this is very smart, but it still stinks for the consumer in some ways.

Firstly, this comes as a surprise to nobody. Secondly, what are Microsoft and Sony? I'm sure that if Sony could have gotten away with the kinds of tactics Nintendo used in the last generation, they would have jumped at the chance. Look at financial reports for Nintendo and Sony's game division. The thing is Sony couldn't do what Nintendo did because they were the newcomer to the industry and didn't have nearly the first party support that Nintendo does.

I'm sure that if they could get away with it, Sony and Microsoft wouldn't have DVD-playback on their machines nor built in ethernet and hard drive in the caes of the Xbox.

Just relax and stop worrying about how companies are screwing over the consumer. With three competitors in the industry, nobody can afford to anger the consumer.