Nintendo Has Common Sense
Nintendo has announced the successor to Brain Age, Common Sense Training for Adults. I’m not going to mince words — this could be pure genius. Not just because it will (like Brain Age) be accessible to consumers of all stripes, but because it takes Nintendo one step closer to dominating a lucrative and untapped market: self-help games. Most of you are probably aware (or could guess) that self-help is a multi-billion dollar industry. You can find a book (or ten) for every problem you can imagine, not to mention audio tapes, TV shows, etc. But not much in the way of mainstream games, with few exceptions. So Nintendo is going to teach us “common sense”. If the game proves to be enjoyable and popular, maybe they’ll teach people how to stay in shape, next. (With the Wii, that would be incredibly easy.) Or maybe the next game will be a “romance trainer”, complete with built-in, network-enabled social networking functions at later levels of the game. (”Don’t just train to flirt, put your training into practice!”) Or maybe a negotiation game, with levels like “negotiate a purchase”, “negotiate a sale”, “negotiate a hire”, etc. The list of fun and useful possibilities just boggles the mind. The Common Sense titles could include a “common sense in other countries” component. I bet people would get a huge kick out of experiencing these cultural differences in the context of a game. And it makes localization of the game much more interesting. :) This topic really deserves more attention, but it’s 3am and I want to go to sleep. More in the future! |
Two rather conflicting bits of news for Sony today. On one hand, a survey revealed that the Sony brand is stronger than Nintendo’s, and much stronger than Microsoft’s. (Forrester Research, which conducted the survey, went on to claim that “Microsoft faces big consumer defection risk.” Ouch.)
On the other hand, rumors abound that Walmart will quit the UMD business. Universal Studios has already ceased UMD production. Losing Walmart is a bit like having your legs chopped off. I wonder: if UMDs had cost half as much, would consumers have stuck with the format? The price always seemed excessive… to me at least.
It’s strange to witness such a mismatch between technical achievement, great branding, and questionable strategy. Why is Sony obsessed with expensive proprietary formats that almost inevitably generate apathy (if not resentment)? Why did it take the company so long to realize that, shocker of shockers, an online service would be important in next-gen consoles? Why is Sony letting the Nintendo Revolution run away with the physical gaming market, when the Eye Toy has been around for years? Where is Sony’s next-gen response?
I know, I know. It’s easy to criticize from the bleachers. They’ve got smart people who’ve managed to win two console wars in a row. And maybe these missteps don’t matter, since brand strength may preserve Sony’s dominance in the console market. Then again, I’m guessing that Nintendo had A+ brand strength with consumers once… before the GameCube?
