Nintendo: Caught in the Horse Latitudes

[Shannon Drake]

Nintendo: Caught in the Horse Latitudes

Fortunately, that same success assures the dry spell won't last, though it may take a while to snap. A console with sales approaching 8 million is going to have games made for it, simply because the market demands it. And the Wii has lower development costs, though it also requires thinking a bit differently to adapt a game to its controller. Porting a game isn't simply a matter of tweaking the engine and adjusting the control scheme from one console to another. Businesses hate change, but we're already seeing the lumbering industry gearing itself up and grumbling to itself. In hindsight, it's hard to believe most of an industry missed the incredible buzz the Wii generated pre-launch, though no one was quite sure how the little console with the gimmick controller was going to sell.

Getting out of the Horse Latitudes will require stepping beyond upgrading the engine and optimizing things for the next generation, but that will only be a net benefit to an industry wrapped up in chasing the next Unreal Engine. Low development costs, a different market and high demand will also make the Wii the platform of choice for up and comers with a grand vision and a low budget, especially since they won't be competing with a lot of the big guns. We'll break the calm eventually. It's just a question of how many old warhorses have to go over the side to make it happen. And one day, we'll look back and remember the time an entire industry was baffled, not by failure, but by success.

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[xarsonist]

i remember when the wii came out and wal-mart didn't even have demos, just that chick on the screen outlining how badass the virtual console was going to be. it was like 9 in the morning and i called my mom at work like "mom! this is nuts! we have to get one of these for christmas". that's typical. except i was 19. it'd been a while since ANYTHING made me react like that. and that my friends is the appeal of nintendo. turning late teens to mid-20 year old gamers into 8 year olds who just saw mario smash a goomba for the first time. i just wish they'd quit making frickin barbie games and maybe make a remake of mgs2 to accompany snakeeater (yeah yeah metal gear is fanboy bs BITE Mii!)long live nintendo!