Nintendo Articles

[joe]

First, an article from Tom's about the DS...

Linkage:
http://www.tomshardware.com/column/20050210/index.html

Quote:

Why is Nintendo Ignoring American Men?
Created: February 10, 2005
By: Christiaan Allebest
Summary: There are many adult gamers that grew up with Nintendo and still want to connect with the company that they associated so strongly with video gaming in their youth. Will Nintendo ever offer them something other than Pokemon and Super Mario?

The Japanese Mind Is Not The American Mind

Like a few other gamers, I bought the new Nintendo DS the day it was released here in the U.S. (Nov. 21). I was hoping it would be the beginning of a resurgence for the console gaming pioneer. I was also optimistic that it would finally represent an attempt by Nintendo to capture older audiences, a segment of the population that they have never seemed interested in reaching out to before. Unfortunately, in spite of losing market share at an alarming rate, they won't climb onto what could be a life raft for them - the adult market. They are still choosing to focus almost entirely on pre-teens.

They may not realize that there are many adults out there now who grew up with Nintendo, and still want to connect with the company that was associated so strongly with video gaming in their youth. The new "geek chic" has made it acceptable for them to carry around handheld gaming devices that would have been socially verboten in the past. But despite this huge opportunity, Nintendo still chooses only to court America's pre-pubescent youth.

Is that really where they think the money is? Or are they just out of touch with who the older gamers of America are? I think the latter may be the case. Consider that Nintendo's Chief of Public Relations, NiKen Toyota, congratulated himself on the recent increase of DS purchases by Mature (19+) gamers in Japan. He sited the advertisements featuring Japanese pop star Hikaru Utada as the reason it has risen from 49% to 59%. Well, that's great for the Japanese market, where they enjoy things incomprehensible to the American mind. But do they really think effeminate Japanese pop stars will connect them to mature gamers here in the States?

Tickling & Picking Your Nose

Sorry, but we need games that aren't some derivative of Chu-Chu Rocket, or based on cats or collecting cards. I thought Nintendo might have understood that with the exciting Metroid game that came with the DS, but alas, it was only a demo, and the original isn't expected until May. In fact, other than the original launch titles, there are very few significant games scheduled to be released for months at all -- the bulk of them are not due until next Christmas! So it looks like we are in for a drought that started at the handheld's launch.

Of the twelve titles currently available in the US, many major gaming sites have only rated one or two above what could be considered a "B+" on their respective scales. A quick survey shows that nearly half of the remaining games scored around a "C" or below. Unfortunately, the titles that could have connected with adult Americans, like Madden 2005 and Spider-man 2, are among those in the "C" range. So I expect that many gamers like me will look to the PSP to provide us with games that aren't based on tickling or picking your nose (see Warioware).

Nintendo needs to reach out to older American gamers, not with the gloved, 3-fingered hand of Mario and his balloon animal friends, but with titles that deal specifically with what fascinates American males most: shooting things, blowing $%#@& up, and scantily-clad ladies.

Second, an article about recent Nintendo patents, and the puzzling V-Pocket...

Linkage:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/02...s_6118355.html

Quote:

Nintendo patent suggests far-reaching plans
Nintendo registers a trademark for a brand that includes adapters for gaming handhelds, as well as ski wax; V-Pocket mystery has industry guessing.

TOKYO--According to the Japanese Trademark and Patent Office, Nintendo registered a trademark for what it is calling the "Nintendo V-Pocket." The patent was filed on December 7, 2004.

Records show that the trademark applies to a wide range of products, from board games to ski wax. It also covers portable LCD game machines and adapters that allow for the display of images and audio recorded on memory cards.

V-Pocket's simple black-and-white logo uses fonts resembling the Nintendo DS's logo, with the letter V emphasized. It's possible that the trademark is meant for an as-yet-unannounced DS adapter, but given its registration date and usage details, it's also possible that the V-Pocket was an early working title for the Play-Yan, Nintendo's upcoming MPEG-4 and MP3 adapter for the DS and Game Boy Advance SP.

The same day, Nintendo and Game Freak registered a trademark for "PCGP," with each letter in a circle. We'll have to wait to see whether this logo will be used in an upcoming game or product. If it is used, it could be for an upcoming Pokémon product, since Game Freak created the series.