A Cheap Revolution

Virgil

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estimated [http://gonintendo.com/?p=417] to launch at least at $399 (and at a significant loss at that), and the 360 already there, this would definitely put Nintendo in a good starting position. It's also very likely they'll beat the PS3 to market, which would also make an impact.

Of course, none of that will matter if the software isn't there, and third-party support has been a problem for Nintendo since the N64. Downloadable games from systems past might make that irrelevant though, at least during the launch. It will certainly be interesting to see if the Revolution will perform against its peers in the same way the DS has fared against the PSP.
 

Virgil

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Original Comment by: Patrick Dugan
http://www.kingludic.blogspot.com
"Nothing ain't worth nothing, but its free" - Jerry Garcia

I'm confident the Revolution will be televised.
 

Virgil

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Original Comment by: plangent
http://plangent.underhanded.org
I'm going to buy one at launch just to play Wind Waker and Twighlight Princess. I've never been able to bring myself to pick up a GameCube, so I guess I'll spent the first few months happily going through the Cube games I never bought.

Same goes for the PS3 and the slews of great PS2 games I never played. Backwards compatibility FTW!!!!1!
 

Virgil

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Original Comment by: Mark

Nintendo has turned its strategy around since Satoru Iwata became president. It now recognizes the value of exclusive software - public relations damage in the past has left it reliant on exclusive titles. Third party developers can't be relied upon to make exclusive content (see also: Capcom), and first and second parties are an expensive stopgap measure. Nintendo is not a software company, but rather a hardware company. This gives it great creative power with its software, but it also means that its hardware must be profitable, which can be limiting in an era where standard procedure is to sell powerful hardware at a loss.

The Revolution and the DS represent a shift in strategy. Nintendo is, in effect, forcing all the hardware released on its systems to be exclusive titles, and doing so without alienating developers with restrictive licensing contracts. It's quite brilliant even from a business perspective. Hardware that can do new things things that other platforms cannot and haven't been able to guarantees that the Revolution and the DS are consistently unique experiences in a way that PS3 and 360 titles can't be - and gaming is fundamentally a pastime that relies on novelty. New situations keep games interesting, and keep the industry healthy.

I could go on and on about how elegant Nintendo's business strategy is this time around, but that would be an uninteresting waste of time for all of us.
 

Virgil

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Original Comment by: Slartibartfast

Here's an article on Nintendo's business strategy that is anything but uninteresting. Read it.

http://lostgarden.com/2005/09/nintendos-genre-innovation-strategy.html
 

Virgil

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Original Comment by: Mark

I wasn't aware that there was anybody interested in gaming who hadn't read that article. It was Slashdotted and wanged, for chrissake.