Nintendo

3 Comments Posted on by Steve Murray Columns, Video Games

Nintendo, Let’s Plays and the Power of Free Marketing

nintendo-youtube-ad-revenueNintendo has always had this reputation as a friendly sort of company. Their big anchor franchises aren’t M-rated shooters but family-friendly adventure and platformer games that appeal to all ages. Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime’s public appearances show him as a charismatic and knowledgeable leader of the video game industry. They’re the little underdog up against the power of conglomerates like Sony and Microsoft.

Yet, Nintendo has been on the back foot lately. The terrible results of the Wii U launch has put Nintendo on the back foot and now they’re trying anything to reverse course. Unfortunately, their latest move has struck a nerve with gamers online. Nintendo is targeting “let’s play” videos on YouTube and making copyright claims so they can scoop the ad revenue from the videos.

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6 Comments Posted on by Steve Murray Columns, Video Games

Console Wars: A Battle No One is Trying to Win

nintendo-vs-sony-vs-microsoft-console-warsOne console has a sharing feature that nobody wanted and unveiled with a slightly underwhelming line-up. Another console is strongly rumoured to mandate a permanent connection to the internet to play games and is likely to prevent playing used games. The third console is so underpowered that some third-party publishers have abandoned it less than six months after release.

For as excited as everybody was about this generations console wars, it sure seems to be shaping up to be a race to the bottom and a case of not survival of the fittest but survival of the least weak.

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1 Comment Posted on by Steve Murray Video Games

The Evolution of Video Game Consoles (Infographic)

Earlier this week, I mentioned that rumours suggest that we’ll see the PlayStation Four and likely the Xbox 720 reach store shelves before the end of the year. That means that the major console manufacturers will all have a console in the eighth generation of home video games consoles. We’ve come a long way since the first generation of consoles which included the likes of the Magnavox Odyssey, Coleco Telstar and Nintendo Color TV Game.

For a look back at the history of video game consoles, we have this handy infographic. Continue reading →

1 Comment Posted on by Steve Murray Video Games

E3 2012: The Nintendo Outlook

The Nintendo press conference at E3 was really in two parts this year. The first part was Sunday’s Nintendo Direct video presentation which showed off some of the hardware behind their new Wii U console. Tuesday’s press conference was more about the games coming to the Wii U and 3DS with some first-party debuts and some surprise announcements of games coming to Wii U. Continue reading →

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The Evolution of Video Games (Infographic)

Did you know that it’s been almost 40 years since Pong brought video games to mainstream popularity in 1972? Video games have come a long way since a white dot moving slowly across the screen. Today’s video games play in 1080p HD and in 3D with realistic graphics that could pass for a movie at a passing glance. So just how far have we gone over the last 40 years? This infographic explains. Continue reading →

1 Comment Posted on by Steve Murray Entertainment

E3 2009: The Nintendo Outlook

The final two console manufacturers both had the main stage on Tuesday. First up, though, was Nintendo. There were a number of new games that are coming out for Wii that were expected to be previewed. The leader in console gaming is known for making big splashes at E3 so we expect the unexpected from the Japanese company. Continue reading →