Mushrooms fear Apples

[Mhurron]

Nintendo Takes Aim at Apple as 'Enemy of the Future' - Mac Rumors

'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".'

Interesting thing to worry about, since no one has written a really compelling game for the iPhone/Pod/Pad yet in the 2-3 years the things have been out while Nintendo is pretty much printing money.

Another interesting quote - '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.'

Sorry Nintendo but no. Time went on, we all grew up. You can stop pretending all your customers are children who can't stand the sight of blood now.

[Ufgt]

Re: Mushrooms fear Apples

They need to make a DotA/HoN/LoL type game for the ipad. It's the perfect platform for that genre of game.

[Solymir]

Re: Mushrooms fear Apples

Chaos Rings says hi..?

A game developed by a major publisher exclusively for the iPhone/iPod Touch. I think this is what Nintendo (Iwata) is looking at. Is Apple poised to knock Nintendo off the top? Fuck no. But there is marketshare to be lost or gained here.

[Kailea]

Re: Mushrooms fear Apples

Sorry Nintendo but no. Time went on, we all grew up. You can stop pretending all your customers are children who can't stand the sight of blood now.

That argument is so old and full of BS now a days.

There are plenty of games that cater to an older audience on the Wii, not from Nintendo themselves per say, but then again, that's not what Nintendo does, they do stuff like Mario and Zelda, not zombies and death.

I do think that Nintendo needs to stay away from Apple though, and stick to smacking Sony and MS around ;p (or trying to smack them around, depends on your view)

[Nandito]

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What about Facebook? They're an enemy too! They have FarmVille! That's like... a million customers lost!

[Ufgt]

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Whoa, Chaos Rings looks cool as shit. Is it available for the ipad?

[Solymir]

Re: Mushrooms fear Apples

They say it will run on the iPad, but there is no specific iPad edition like some other developers are doing. I am curious how it looks on an iPad since the graphics were done for the iPhone screen.

[Feba]

Re: Mushrooms fear Apples

Pretty sure they're right on here. Sony has failed to break out of the gamer market-- it's not that DS are that much more popular with the Halo playing crowd, it's that people that want digital cookbooks, comics, light games to play on trains, and so on aren't even aware the PSP exists. Apple, on the other hand, has a very good history of entering a field, selling themselves as the "People Friendly" edition, and raking in cash.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Mushrooms fear Apples

Another interesting quote - '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.'

Sorry Nintendo but no. Time went on, we all grew up. You can stop pretending all your customers are children who can't stand the sight of blood now.

Back in the GBA days 30% of the demographic was actually women over 30 buying and playing GBA games. The demographic has grown with the DS and in PSP's smaller marketshare, women make up a larger demographic there, if only by ratio. Keep in mind that that before this women were getting pulled into PC gaming through games that were friendly to them like The Sims. This isn't a trend that came about all of the sudden.

Also, if you'd look at the core games on DS, there is a lot out there for the grown-up market.

Thing is, Nintendo doesn't think they need to do bloody, mature games and they're right - they don't have to do it at all. There are plenty of third parties to fill the void that can and do produce such content.

Hotel Dush, Ace Attorney, Trauma Center, Castlevania, Shin Megami Tensei, Etrian Odyssey, Knights in the Nightmare, Phantasy Star, Final Fantasy, Infinite Space...

I could go on and on, that's so pretty heady stuff for a "kiddie" system. Even Fire Emblem and Advance Wars: Days of Ruin present a stark contrast to the likes of Zelda, Mario and Kirby. Zelda veers back and forth in demographic appeal because it can. Metroid has always appealed to a more mature player.

And now you have stuff like The Last Story and Xenoblade on the rise for Wii - this is internal or partnered projects. This is not the usual family fare. The core Nintendo teams do not have to "grow up" when Nintendo can acquire or make deals with third parties to make such content as well.

And hell, just look at what Pikmin is - kiddie veneer aside, its an RTS - something a lot of people can't get their heads around.

But people like you always over look this stuff and just zero in on the obvious - Mario and Zelda. That's all they do in your mind and, hey, that's fine and its your problem.

But you're right, I don't see iPad/iTouch/iPhone as that much of a threat to Nintendo. They've gained marketshare and beaten PSP, but they're far from getting serious games on a regular basis and something like the iPhone isn't a thing people will casually replace for better games due to expense, they bought it to be a phone with other applications. Most of Apple's games are novelties at best and we're only just now starting to see some serious entries.

That and they don't have the kind of third party support Nintendo has. And piracy is actually even more rampant on Apple's side of things, which is pretty surprising given the games are cheaper.

What about Facebook? They're an enemy too! They have FarmVille! That's like... a million customers lost!

Natsume is more worried about Farmville, I think. They're cutting into their Harvest Moon market.

[Feba]

Re: Mushrooms fear Apples

I really don't think that Harvest Moon players are moving over to Farmville. There might be some potential to bring Harvest Moon online though.

Christ, who would've thought that a Harvest Moon MMO seems more likely to happen than a Pokemon one?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Mushrooms fear Apples

I really don't think that Harvest Moon players are moving over to Farmville. There might be some potential to bring Harvest Moon online though.

Natsume expressed recently that they might go that way, but I think they're more concerned that Harvest Moon has to be compared to Farmville and not the other way around. FarmVille is now known by more people.

Doesn't help that makers of Rune Factory broke off from the Harvest Moon brand and are gaining recognition in the eyes of gamers as well.

[Feba]

Re: Mushrooms fear Apples

Yeah, I know. The real scary thing about Farmville is that it's more of a social experience, and it's something people get drawn into for free without realizing it. It's going to be very hard for Harvest Moon to even begin to tap into that. Could even hurt the brand-- try to appeal to the wrong audience, they think it's not 'fun' because it doesn't give them what they're seeking in Farmville. But what they're seeking in Farmville isn't even what they realize, so they blame the game, and that causes blowback into the original userbase.

[Nandito]

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Christ, who would've thought that a Harvest Moon MMO seems more likely to happen than a Pokemon one?

Stuff like that makes me cry myself to sleep.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Mushrooms fear Apples

The contents of the article for those of you at work:

"While a number of indicators have shown that Apple's iPhone OS platform has become a factor in the portable gaming industry, Times Online reports that Nintendo finally appears to have acknowledged the threat it faces from the increasing popularity of the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad and turned its focus to address Apple head-on.
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".

In trying to move away from its background as a platform targeting younger gamers, Nintendo has run up against Apple's devices, which tend to cater to the same demographics as Nintendo's focus.
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.

While analysts warn that Nintendo should not turn its back on its battle with Sony, the company is reported to be preparing to "unleash the full force of its development and marketing artillery against Apple". It remains unclear, however, exactly what strategy Nintendo is intending to pursue as it seeks to compete with Apple's products that offer a multitude of functions beyond gaming."

---------- Post added at 03:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:22 PM ----------

They say it will run on the iPad, but there is no specific iPad edition like some other developers are doing. I am curious how it looks on an iPad since the graphics were done for the iPhone screen.

Yes it does run on the iPad but they are making an iPad edition too. The iPhone graphics on the iPad are a rough around the edges in landscape mode, but are still very playable. If you can look past jaggies in games then it is quite enjoyable. Do not have the ability to post pictures right now though.

I have also been playing Golden Sun, FF 1&2, Mother 3, etc. and really enjoying them. The down side is that my DSi XL isn't getting as much as it used to.

The iPad also has an iPhone app called We Rule that is Farmville-esque. I played it but got to max level for my castle and it really doesn't have much to offer after that. Maybe they'll update it and add more stuff eventually like Farmville did.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Mushrooms fear Apples

Nintendo puts up a VC story for Game Boy, Game Boy Color, GBA and DS stuff for the 3DS and that would be a strong start. Thing is they're going to have to shoot for low price points.

Its also a fallacy to say iPhone and DS cater to the same market. DS is waaaaay more game-centric and iPhone is more non-game/tool centric.

As I've said before, until that thing sprouts a D-Pad, Buttons and shoulder buttons it is not a practical gaming platform There are some games that can be totally touch-based and there are some games that should never be just touch-based. Seriously, Street Fighter IV on iPhone? You know that's going to take a hit in quality and have to be dumbed down for the platform. Its as mind-boggling as putting Knights in the Nightmare on PSP.

They just released Dark Void Zero on iPhone and that was previously on the DSi. Its a NES game by Capcom, it requires precision platforming, that's not going to work for iphone.

RPGs can work, so long as they're not action based. Action is the big issue with iPhone/Pad games. I saw an EA basketball game running on iPad and it was a total fucking joke.