Topic: Sun may eventually set on nintendo consoles?

Hi there I dont post often on here but use this site alot at it is awesome. I am a huge nintendo fan and have fond memories of my SNES in the early 90s, N64 and more recently the WII and virtual console.
I work as a high school teacher and each year meet a lot of kids (age 11-16). Often, they mention video games in conversation, which I pick up on and they seem surprised that anyone over 25 would play video games. The VAST majority of these young people have either x box 360 or PS3 and the VAST majority are into COD/HALO/FIFA/GTA etc etc. Basically typical teenage fodder, shooting and death or football (proper football). When I tell them about my WII they often respond by saying 'thats a kids console' or 'zelda is rubbish' or the WII has 'crap graphics'. There are a few kids around with a WII but they are a small minority.
The problem here is that todays 'new' gamers are totally unaware of Nintendo's heritage in gaming. Kids are not playing and appreciating games like Mario and Zelda. They see these games as 'kiddy' despite the fact they are actually kids themselves. Kids are unaware that Nintendo was making games way before sony and microsoft. They also feel that anything not in HD and without gritty sci fi settings, blood and massive guns is just not cool.
Therefore, who are the people that play Nintendo's games? Well, is it older gamers that know about Nintendo's heritage and quality? Casual gamers may play Wii sports etc, which sells consoles, but who is going to buy Nintendo's hardcore games? Yes Nintendo also puts out shooters like conduit, red steel, or even metroid. However the kids already have COD, Dead Space, Bioshock etc in HD. They do not own a Nintendo console.
My concern is that eventually Nintendo will be shunned by the current generation of gamers who see the WII as a toy and not a serious gaming machine, largely due to ignorance and misconceptions about their software.
Nintendo may one day go the same way as SEGA........

I'm a kid, and I share your view dom77. On the most part, I hate children and their attitude to Nintendo. Even though I am one. Someone needs to shake some sense into these fanboys, why don't you try? Teach them what a real game is.

Nintendo isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Their products and games continue to sell extremely well despite what some little Halo obsessed 11 year old twerp has to say about them.

Nintendo has undoubtedly considered this and is shifting its demographic -- something rare in business marketing -- to respond. It may be a situation in which gamers have to simply acquire a taste for Nintendo as they age. Much like people go from drinking soda to beer and then to liquor before eventually discovering wine's subtleties when they become adults.

For years i'm sick of games that glorify violence in a serious matter...
(Mortal Kombat is violent, but in a humorous way for instance)

There is nothing funny about warfare and life on the streets.

Violence doesn't equal quality, neither do graphics as such.

[quote=burning_spear]Nintendo has undoubtedly considered this and is shifting its demographic -- something rare in business marketing -- to respond. It may be a situation in which gamers have to simply acquire a taste for Nintendo as they age. Much like people go from drinking soda to beer and then to liquor before eventually discovering wine's subtleties when they become adults.[/quote

Nice analogy!

Kids like pretending to be adults and adults like to be reminded of childhood bliss. What's new?

Anyway, there's plenty of good families out there who won't allow their children to play violent games and see Nintendo as being the family-friendly answer to video games. They just don't shout the loudest, that's all. All you need to do is look at the sales figures man.

Firstly, the reason why they think that no one over 25 would play games is because no one has told them that it is so, and that the adults they interact with mustn't be gamers. I know loads of people over 25 who played games as children/teens and still play games. It's just kids and teens somehow thinking that games are only for them, which is very ignorant and self-centered. They surely must know of the retro classics like Pac-Man and Space Invaders - who was playing those when they came out? They weren't even born then, but the games were still popular! How can they explain that? And how old would those gamers of the 70s and 80s be now, still keeping fond memories of those games?

My concern is that eventually Nintendo will be shunned by the current generation of gamers who see the WII as a toy and not a serious gaming machine, largely due to ignorance and misconceptions about their software.

I think you don't have any reason for concern, and Nintendo has its bases covered. Here's how. Nintendo's target audience is really three different parts of the market:

• Casual, family gamers. The most obvious one. Wii Sports, Wii Play, Brain Age, even a lot of Mario games are targeted at these.
• Old-school/new-school Nintendo fans. Nintendo continues to release games like Starfox, Metroid, Kid Icarus and Zelda, and brings out new series like Pikmin to keep their first-party selection from stagnating.
• Hardcore gamers. This may be a little bit of a surprise, but it shows particularly in the more recent third-party releases on the DS (and even the Wii). The DS is the new console for quality JRPGs, retro games, and point n click adventure games, and the Wii is coming into its own with a number of more sophisticated gaming releases on the horizon. These sorts of games are the real "hardcore" titles because they are difficult, require skill and dedication, and don't always appeal to the mainstream. Many gamers (myself included) have been swayed to the side of Nintendo thanks to the excellent third-party releases on the DS and if the Wii continues strongly in this manner it may end up this way too.

That is a far larger segment than Microsoft's and Sony's target of teens. Why do you think Sony and Microsoft are going the casual route now? Teens and tweens just aren't enough of a market for them to be as successful as Nintendo in recent years.

And really, who cares if the "current generation" of gamers (and are they really the current generation? Aren't you still currently playing games?) doesn't respect Nintendo? Why do people view teens as such an important part of the market anyway? The people with real spending power/potential are adults and traditional gamers. These people look for quality, not just the latest edgy fad game that everyone's playing, and will stand by brands and studios they respect. So many people on this forum bought Other M even though it had mixed reviews, and found that they loved it regardless of differing opinions.

They see these games as 'kiddy' despite the fact they are actually kids themselves.

Yes, the PS3 and 360 are more popular with tweens and teens than the Wii is. I think the market says a lot about which ones are "kiddy". I couldn't care less what uninformed teenagers think of Nintendo.

graphics will one day no longer be an issue as they will all be pretty much as good as they can get

p.s. like your metalheadz pic - 90s gaming + 90s dnb = win

Great response! I guess I am thinking back to when I was a teenager and teenagers WERE the gaming market.

Oh Yeah you are right about a lot of kids being ignorant ! (Not all of them)

My opinion is that we could probably have done without Microsoft in the console market leaving just PS3 for the HD gloss and nintendo for the inovative first party releases

Some of my favourite games when I was a teenager were Goldeneye/Quake/Sensible Soccer/GTA 1. So I can relate.

I'm now a little older and I love Nintendo, so...

Of course not all of them, I only meant the ignorant ones. There are lots of kids and teens on these forums who have their heads screwed on right.

Yeah, my view of the Xbox 360 and the PS3 is that they are approximately the same. The PS3 is generally more action-y, while the 360 is generally more shoot-y, but otherwise you could substitute one for the other. Even with the upcoming Move/Natal they're approximately the same.

Yet once the Wii had games which appealed to me, it was a no-brainer that I was going to get it.

Also, have you seen the public's response to the 3DS? Everyone loves it, even Sony and Microsoft gamers. Even Sony and Microsoft themselves! Really, I am right when I say Nintendo has all its bases covered!

Think about it though, teens of today most likely started gaming with the PS1 or PS2... that's pretty much all they know but in five or ten years times teens will have started gaming with the Wii and DS.

truth! this man speaks the truth!even a huge nintendo nerd like him hates the gamecube

The kids who swear by the hardcore games are actually a small portion of the gaming population.

These days pretty much everyone plays games and you can't discount an entire half of it as women have as much say in what games will sell the best as men.

A lot of the kids will just play these games to seem cool. They'll also go and watch films like The Fast & The Furious, but they'll hardly turn those into box office smashes either.

The Wii has outsold both other consoles almost combined. Somebody is buying them!

corbie the 300 wii's you have in your basement dont count

Who knows, Nintendo may one day die but they're going to have to fall pretty far to sink to Sega's level. You could teach a business course focusing just on the incompetence of Sega alone.

Wii isnt kiddy I actually became a Major Nintendo Fan at age 13, but I still hear this at my school, and I tell them its not about the graphics its about game play, but they wont listen.

My Big Bro is the same way. He Pro graphics over Gameplay.
That must be why he picks alot of Broing games that just look good.

But I'm not going to try to talk to someone whos all about, "Wii Sucks, no HD, Mario is for Non-gamers"
There not going to want you say anything good about the Wii, and won't really care what you have to say.

There no point in Fighting, it just there lost