id's Hollenshead Questions Nintendo's Strategy to Unite Gamers

[Andy Chalk]

id's Hollenshead Questions Nintendo's Strategy to Unite Gamers

Todd Holllenshead, CEO of Nintendo's [http://www.idsoftware.com/] plan to "destroy the psychological barriers" than separate them.

Speaking at Nintendo's E3 press conference, company president Satoru Iwata said that innovative consoles like the DS [http://wii.nintendo.com/]were creating a "paradigm shift," and that Nintendo was working toward bringing together gamers of all levels. "We must accept that games are for everyone," he said. "The best game designs let users of all skill levels play together."

But Hollenshead believes it will be a difficult task. "That's a tough one," he said to GamesIndustry at E3. "I don't know that it's a solvable problem, because I think that the thing is, is that your tastes change from a novice gamer to a veteran gamer or a hardcore gamer."

"When you first get in and play a type of game, everything is new and a challenge, but as you get experience you want different and greater challenges, which necessarily make a game hard to approach as a novice gamer."


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[Tarmanydyn]

"We must accept that games are for everyone," he said. "The best game designs let users of all skill levels play together."

Oh God...

 

[Andy Chalk]

It could be the words of a Nintendo executive whose experience and contact with gaming begins and ends with the knowledge that the Wii has made him mountains of money that continue to grow. It could be a little strategic chain-yanking, a bit of tongue-in-cheek fun with the fact that the Wii is stomping the guts out of the PS3 and Xbox by targetting everyone but hardcore gamers. Or it could be that Nintendo, or at least this guy, has bought into its own press, and now is actually strategizing a future in which Nintendo will have my Peggle-playing mom sitting down for Bawls-and-dope-fueled all-night LAN.

You can't argue with Nintendo's recent successes in the console wars, but honestly, I have no idea where they're going with this.

 

[Ian Dorsch]

You can't argue with Nintendo's recent successes in the console wars, but honestly, I have no idea where they're going with this.

QFT, my good man. QFT.