Nintendo’s Not Talking To You, But Your Grandmother

Miyamoto said Nintendo used E3 as a platform for spreading the word to a broad audience based on the media present at the event, they’re not speaking to the core audience. So, if you’re a core audience gamer and you were confused on why Nintendo didn’t build their presentation to be all glitz and glamor, it’s because they weren’t talking to you.

Based on the fact that E3 is a “press event” and their looking to get out the word to the general audience, press is needed as a staging point. The audience sitting in the seat was a bit more intense in nature and have high expectations for each presentation.

With sites like gamespot streaming the event live on the Internet it’s not too hard to imagine some casual gamers and non-core-gamers may have been listening. Or, perhaps their hoping to get old school media in the form of magazines and journalists to write about their upcoming product launches.

Or, perhaps they just showed up because they’re expected to?

(Thanks, Joystiq)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

Nintendo’s Non-Gamer 50+ CrowdNintendo’s Non-Gamer 50+ Crowd

While Sony and Microsoft one-up each other with fire sales on old hardware and blockbuster titles like Gears of War 2 and Resistance 2, Nintendo goes for something completely different… older people.

You’re only as old as you feel, but it’s hard to discount Nintendo’s attack on a demographic when they visit the American Association of Retired People’s Life@50+ Expo in Washington, D.C. this week. Odd move, indeed… or is it?

Retired people may have a bit more time than a busy adult with two kids and a few jobs to hold down. While young adults may want to game, they may not always have the time in their schedule, especially in the United States where people forget what “vacation” means. Retirement is a time to reflect upon your life, your deeds and enjoy the fruits of your labor with your grandchildren; it’s time to get a Wii.

The Wii is the perfect gift for retired folk who want to entertain themselves with something new and different without having to keep up with game releases. The Wii doesn’t have very many games when compared to the 360 and, although many get low review scores, retired folks aren’t scanning the Internet for weekly game reviews and news. They may not be the most in-touch with the industry but that’s okay, they’re non-gamers.

All that Nintendo has to do is sell the unit to them, it may sit on the shelf for months or only get pulled out when the grandchildren visit, but it’s a low-cost unit with games like Wii Sports and Wii Fit, what more do they need?

(Thanks, Kotaku)

Wii Friends Codes, Not PerfectWii Friends Codes, Not Perfect

Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo has gone on record with his thoughts of the Wii friends code system. He’s a father, with a daughter, so he’s letting his own personal judgment get in the way of a good community built game system.

In talking about the open access of the Internet he said, “I as a father do not feel like allowing my daughter be engaged in that kind of world.” He’s more inclined to protect his children from the dangers of the Internet and random (often insulting) people by requiring a 1:1 paring with real friends.

For many gamers the Wii friends code system is far from perfect. It’s so far from perfect its a barrier to entry and any form of fun on the console platform. Nobody is against protecting their children, a parent will be the first to admit they’re desire to protect their kids over all else, but clearly someone isn’t thinking outside the box on this topic.

The only way to protect your children is to enforce a large numeric key which you must hand deliver (or e-mail) to your friends in order to play? We’ve got more creative enforcement in child safety on our TV sets using the VCHIP which allows parents to password protect certain television programming.

(more…)

Episode 506: E3 Swag and Sony SagEpisode 506: E3 Swag and Sony Sag

This episode follows the three hour long E3 episode, but there was so much E3 to talk about, a lot of the show spilled over into this show, including the crew talking about the swag Jonah sent to them, and Sony’s “winning” of E3 in terms of media attention. There was going to be a Gaming History, but the episode ran long and they weren’t going to have a two hour podcast after a three hour one.

The news of the week includes:

  • Microsoft and Nintendo troll Sony over crossplay
  • Bethesda lawsuit says Westworld game stole Fallout Shelter code
  • Microsoft and Razer are working on Xbox keyboard and mouse support
  • Nintendo Switch could get its own new Monster Hunter games
  • Life is Strange 2 Episode One release date revealed

There was some Listener Feedback to last week’s episode, too.