Nintendo targets Apple as "enemy of the future"

[Feels Good Man]

Rivals are invading its patch, but Nintendo is ready to go to war
Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent

Nintendo is preparing to unleash the full force of its development and marketing artillery against Apple after profits tumbled at the Japanese giant for the first time in six years.

The reversal of fortunes, though flagged in advance by the company, throws the spotlight on threats to what once seemed a bulletproof business.

Satoru Iwata, the Nintendo president, is understood to have told his senior executives recently to regard the battle with Sony as a victory already won and to treat Apple, and its iPhone and iPad devices, as the “enemy of the future” .

That, say analysts, may be premature. Last Christmas, almost twice as many Wii consoles were sold in the US as the PlayStation3. But games developers increasingly see Sony’s machine as having a large enough base of users to justify not making titles for the Nintendo machine.

Sony and Microsoft are also making their own forays into family-oriented gaming and the iPhone has emerged as a formidable competitor for Nintendo in the handheld gaming arena once dominated by the DS console.

Sources close to the Kyoto-based company describe a mood of concern as the hardware and software divisions race to restore the capacity to “surprise” — a traditional feature of Nintendo games that Mr Iwata holds dear.

The company’s recent strategy has centred on creating devices aimed not just at children and dedicated — generally male — gamers, but at the whole family. Two years ago, the company claimed to have permanently altered the demographics of video games by raising the average age and the gender mix of gamers. Unfortunately, the very people it claimed to have converted — high-school girls and men aged between 30 and 40 — reported that they would rather have an iPhone than a DS in their pockets or handbags.

Although the company ended the 2009 financial year squarely in the black, analysts described Nintendo’s profit slide as a “triple punch”.

Despite selling over 10 million copies of the latest Mario title for the Wii console, the pipeline of new games has stopped delivering the sort of blockbusters that drove console sales to record levels in the first two years after its launch. Nintendo has also suffered from the financial crisis. Households around the world spent most of last year in full belt-tightening mode, and remain cautious about buying games with a relatively short playing-life.

But the most striking decline was in sales of the consoles. Although both the Wii and DS have outsold their Sony and Microsoft counterparts, the lower technology of the Nintendo machines is starting to show. With far less processing power than either the PlayStation3 or Xbox 360, the Wii is suffering. Its sales were 21 per cent down in the year to March 31. Net profits at Nintendo, meanwhile, fell to Y228.64 billion (£1.6 billion) from Y279.09 billion.

Source

Heh, I can see why since Apple's popularity just keeps growing and growing

 

[Theraima]

they would rather have an iPhone than a DS in their pockets or handbags.

No wonder, DS is not a phone...

 

[BlackDave]

Nintendo should make a phone

 

[ProtoKun7]

They should try adding higher-tech stuff to their consoles now.


Just a thought.

 

[prowler]

Don't fuck with Nintendo, Apple.

Japanese based company > American based company

 

[ProtoKun7]

I wonder how many people still suspect that Apple and Nintendo are related.

 

[DeadLocked]

Nintendo need to stop milking and make a damn handheld to blow sony and apple out of the water. I have a DS and ipod touch and I prefer ipod right now even though their games aren't fully blown RPGs they're arcadey time waster games. Nintendo, you sir are a smart idiot. Their bronze age tech sells like "hot cakes" (and yes I am thinking of getting a /3DS/). Commence flaming.

 

[clegion]

I wonder how many people still suspect that Apple and Nintendo are related.

who did in the first place?

 

[ProtoKun7]

I wonder how many people still suspect that Apple and Nintendo are related.

who did in the first place?

I doubt many did, if anyone at all, but there are just a few similarities between them.

 

[prowler]

I wonder how many people still suspect that Apple and Nintendo are related.

who did in the first place?

I doubt many did, if anyone at all, but there are just a few similarities between them.

.... Like?

 

[TM2-Megatron]

Heh, I can see why since Apple's popularity just keeps growing and growing

Because there are more posers in the world today?

And didn't Nintendo still make like, $2.5 billion? That's not quite enough to cry over yet, IMO. However, I'm all for them going after Apple if it's what they want to do; I'm not a great fan of Jobs. The iPhone and touch may be allright for those arcade-style, 5-10 minute wasters, but IMO they can't compete in the area of more in-depth titles. People still prefer having a dedicated gaming device for that.

That said, I'm all for Nintendo loading down the 3DS with as much power as possible, to blow the POS iCrap out of the real gaming market.

 

[ProtoKun7]

I wonder how many people still suspect that Apple and Nintendo are related.

who did in the first place?

I doubt many did, if anyone at all, but there are just a few similarities between them.

.... Like?

Alright, nothing substantial. Just coincidences like the lowercase i, AAC playback on DSi and not MP3, and the fact that Apple sacrifices functionality for design. I'm just rambling, don't give it much concern.

 

[Bladexdsl]

ha ha steve jobs your next!

 

[iFish]

Well... EVEN though i love both Nintendo AND Apple.... i want Apple to win this. i have always been a nintendo faboy, but more of an apple one (as you guys mostly know). if i had to choose my iPod or my DS to take on a trip with me and i could only chose one. it would be my iPod touch, you can do way more on it, not just games.

but i think nintendo needs to show us them move is not better then our cuttent wiimote

Well.... that is my 2 cents

 

[Scott-105]

Wow, how can and iPhone be considered a gaming console? I have an iPod touch, (which uses iPhone Apps obviously) and out all the Apps I've downloaded, I keep maybe 30%, if that, of them on my iPod. Plus, all of them aren't games either. They're only a handful of good games on the iPhone and there's tons of good ones on the DS.

 

[iFish]

Wow, how can and iPhone be considered a gaming console? I have an iPod touch, (which uses iPhone Apps obviously) and out all the Apps I've downloaded, I keep maybe 30%, if that, of them on my iPod. Plus, all of them aren't games either. They're only a handful of good games on the iPhone and there's tons of good ones on the DS.

No offence here, but the is also a !@#$ load of shovel ware on the DS

The iPhone apps that are games. have it is like the old atrie. you can go in with 10$ and walk out with a bunch of great apps. rather then bringing like 30 - 40$ and getting one game that might not be good (this does not apply to me, since i use a flash card. but if i buy games i know what i want)

 

[TM2-Megatron]

Wow, how can and iPhone be considered a gaming console? I have an iPod touch, (which uses iPhone Apps obviously) and out all the Apps I've downloaded, I keep maybe 30%, if that, of them on my iPod. Plus, all of them aren't games either. They're only a handful of good games on the iPhone and there's tons of good ones on the DS.

No offence here, but the is also a !@#$ load of shovel ware on the DS

And that wasn't the case with the PSOne or PS2? Massively popular systems attract the most shovelware, due to the fact they're present in more households than competitors. The Wii and DS even moreso, probably because the devkits are also relatively inexpensive compared to the others. Ultimately, shovelware is only an indication of how popular a system really is. What Nintendo needs to do with the next handheld, though, is make sure there are a few more real quality titles to balance out the shovelware; and that they're released more frequently. There should always be an upcoming first-party title from Nintendo on the horizon, whether it's Zelda, Mario, Pokemon, Starfox, etc. And ideally upcoming 3rd party titles that people can actually get excited about, as well.

Apple might be able to compete in the market of tiny, addictive shallow titles. But there'll never be as many people wanting to play full-blown RPGs, etc. on Apple hardware. It's too expensive, for one thing. And they often cripple their hardware for the sake of aesthetics; which is stupid.

 

[MelodieOctavia]

Shit just got REAL!

 

[Scott-105]

Wow, how can and iPhone be considered a gaming console? I have an iPod touch, (which uses iPhone Apps obviously) and out all the Apps I've downloaded, I keep maybe 30%, if that, of them on my iPod. Plus, all of them aren't games either. They're only a handful of good games on the iPhone and there's tons of good ones on the DS.

No offence here, but the is also a !@#$ load of shovel ware on the DS

The iPhone apps that are games. have it is like the old atrie. you can go in with 10$ and walk out with a bunch of great apps. rather then bringing like 30 - 40$ and getting one game that might not be good (this does not apply to me, since i use a flash card. but if i buy games i know what i want)

No... just no.
iPhone/iPt games are as pants in terms of shovelware as the DS.
Every console has gems, every console has shovelware... except, the iPt isn't a console.
The touch screen provides mediocre controls and makes developers create gimmicky games.
You can't get 'tons of great apps' for $10, either... that's an overstatement.
At the end of the day, the iPhone is a mobile phone, that has mobile games. They're cheap and mildly entertaining for when you're waiting for a bus or something, but the DS kills off iPhone/iPod touch for games.
For gadgetry, iPhone > DS/DSi.
For gaming, DS > iPhone.

That's exactly what I meant, just 5661 explained with more detail.

 

[prowler]

The iPhone apps that are games. have it is like the old atrie. you can go in with 10$ and walk out with a bunch of great apps.

WHAT.
Most 'good' apps are around $4-5
The only good app I've seen so far on the iPod is Chaos Rings even then, you wouldn't be sitting for hours on it like you would on a NDS game.

Causal gamer.