Nintendo Says 3DS Beats App Store With "Quality"

[Big_Boss_Mantis]

Well, I'm under the impression that Sony smartphones, as a consequence of the previous partnership with Ericsson, are very popular in Scandinavia... and the South American market.

I was dead set on getting an Xperia Play, but decided to wait for more PS1 titles to be released. I'm glad I waited, since it never actually happened.

Well, I live in Brazil, and the ONLY Xperia I have seen in a final consumer's hand (of course we see them in stores) is my own. It is even hard to get accesories or replacement parts... I can tell you that, at least in Brazil, Sony Ericsson doesn't seem to hold an considerable market share...

Don't know about the rest of South America, though. But the cellphone market changed a lot recently... Did you get that impression after the smartphone market get into lockdown between Samsung and Apple (with an very occasional Nokia)?

I'm just saying that on the business side of things a partnership between Microsoft and Nintendo could be highly lucrative for both parties.

In addition to getting Microsoft's third-party support and Nintendo's first-party titles on the same platform.

EDIT: And maybe Nintendo's traditional hardware quality to compensate for Microsoft's habit of putting together machines that spontaneously combust

I don't think it is a bad idea on paper (Nintendo's stellar first party coupled with Microsoft's third party support).
I just don't think that it would end up like that.
See, Microsoft has (IMHO, hoping not to start a flame war) bad consumer policies. They like money, and they throw evil business practices if they think they can get away with it.
Paying for online. Ads on the dashboard. Harshly releasing an broken console. And even the whole "screw real games, this Kinect is A GOLD MINE!!" recent policy. I don't like them.

Sony is as stupid as it is incompetent. It makes bad decisions, it can't provide services that make up for the "premium price" they ask. But I try to compromise, because they like games and they do things for gamers.
Microsoft only likes "them monies". (again, from my angle. #dealwithit)

I think Nintendo, under Microsoft, wouldn't BE Nintendo. Super Mario Kinect would NOT be Super Mario Galaxy.
I may be wrong, but what I said is not unprecedented ... See what happened to RARE. (which is the closest thing we had on the hypothesis "Microsoft buying Nintendo")

 

[Big_Boss_Mantis]

And I disagree with "traditional Nintendo hardware quality".

Yes, my Game Cube had an horrible fall (ironically, it felt like a dice) and survived completely unscathed.
And my Wii also had his share of long road trips and still ticking.

But I can't stand how cheaply looking is Nintendo's recent hardware. Yes, I know, it IS cheap, it has to be cheap, and it just ends up showing.
But I couldn't stand to look at my (non XL) 3DS. Those asymetrical screens. That cheap plastic D-Pad. That poor quality touchscreen. That old design.
And that Wii U GamePad? So much plastic and so little of that ugly screen (in pictures it doesn't seem that bad). Doesn't look like an IPad or a Galaxy Note. It looks like a Etch-a-sketch.

It was acceptable in the early 2000's, but today, with smartphones and tablets dangling from trees, I find Nintendo's hardware painful to the sight.

 

[JediMB]

I think Nintendo, under Microsoft, wouldn't BE Nintendo. Super Mario Kinect would NOT be Super Mario Galaxy.
I may be wrong, but what I said is not unprecedented ... See what happened to RARE. (which is the closest thing we had on the hypothesis "Microsoft buying Nintendo")

(Fun trivia: Microsoft actually approached Nintendo about the possibility of them canceling the Gamecube to help design the Xbox instead.)

Anyway, I was suggesting an equal partnership; not an acquisition by Microsoft. An acquisition would be all kinds of horrible.

And RARE was already but a shell of its former self when Microsoft acquired the company, since a lot of people left both after they made GoldenEye and once Nintendo decided to sell. A lot of the GoldenEye people work at Crytek UK (formerly Free Radical Design) nowadays.

 

[JediMB]

And I disagree with "traditional Nintendo hardware quality".

Well, I was specifically referring to the robustness of their hardware. Hence the reference to Microsoft hardware's notorious failures. I own every Nintendo console from the NES to the Wii, plus a fair number of handhelds, and they're all still fully functional... with the N64 controllers' analogue sticks as the only exception.

I largely agree on that the Wii U controller feels cheap, and that there were more than a few unfortunate design choices made with the 3DS. Part of why I don't own either of them yet.