Author:
KevinCube
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Date Posted: 15:09:20 04/22/02 Mon
I'd say Skinner is on the right track... but more on that later. First, this quote from Brad really stuck out to me:
[i]"Microsoft and Sony seem to generate hype just fine, and they don't act like they are protecting secrets like they are of national security. Nintendo is paranoid. Plain and simple."[/i]
I COMPLETELY agree. But personally, I see see this as a justified move. We all agree Nintendo's games have always been the ones to push the envelope - creating gameplay and even entire genres. The ripoffs of Nintendo and its second parties are endless. It shows a real lack of integrity when a company is always ripping off Nintendo, and I doubt Nintendo wants to encourage that. This, I believe, is part of the reason.
[i]"Nintendo waits for the trade shows because of the press? Well, of course they do, but you just proved my point! After Spaceworld, the Zelda reaction (especially in the US)was not positive. Did Nintendo try to do anything about that? Did they attempt to smooth over the dissentors by explaining why the change took place? Did they give some answers to appease fans? How about Miyamoto saying more than "Wait until you play it." No. Nothing. Spaceworld closes, and Nintendo's lips go tighter than a..."[/i]
I think what you're missing here, Brad, is that Miyamoto's "Wait until you play it" comment was [b]more[/b] than he was planning on saying. We all agree that Nintendo is very tight-lipped. If the reaction from SW2K1 had been completely positive, Miyamoto would never have said that much. The Cel Zelda trailer may have caused an uproar, but that's not going to change Nintendo's methodology. Slowly, hype is still building for the game. More and more haters are realizing it will be brilliant regardless of its graphical look. But back to the point, the uproar over the graphic change [i]did[/i] garner an extra something from Nintendo. Granted, it wasn't much, but coming from them... it says a lot.
My feelings behind the hyping of games and the release of secrets, news, and tidbits kind of extends from what Skinner laid out. Notable quotes:
I think one reason may be for hype purposes. I have to admit, when a big game comes out of the blue at a trade show, and there has already been a lot of progress done on it, I really get excited....I think that Nintendo wants all of its games to be fresh ideas that come out of the blue and don’t have much time to get stale... The reason that Nintendo waits for the trade shows is because that is where the press is. Everyone is looking to the trade shows for a good metric of how the following months in the industry are going to play out... They are looking at stuff on PS2 and Xbox that they have know about for some time, but there is all this new stuff to get excited about at the Nintendo booth... Because Nintendo is so secretive, they always make a big splash at trade shows... That being said, Microsoft and Sony have seemed to do fine so far with their method of generating hype, so it is arguable weather Nintendo’s secrecy is justified. I think we will see at E3 whether or not it is."[/i]
You see, there are two seemingly exclusive facts:
1) Nintendo's hype philosophy works.
2) Sony's and M$'s hype philosophies work.
As we all know, however, those two facts can co-exist. What ends up being the question is not "Who hypes better?" but "Who hypes more efficiently?" And in my opinion, that's the thing Nintendo understands better than the competition.
For us, video gaming is a year round thing. We don't just walk into the stores arbitrarily and buy a game that looks neat from time to time. We research. We follow news. We anticipate. We look for release dates... We are the audience that Sony and M$ cater to, but we are also an audience that would love to have that information from Ninteno as well. Nintendo realizes this. Beyond wanting to guard their concepts and innovations, they know that if they hold back now - they can OWN the shows.
So we then question the merit of that. I say it's a good move. A show like E3 has all the press and retailers there. That means the non-hardcore audience will be aware of what they (press and retailers) experience at the show. While video gaming is year round for us, the rest of the world doesn't see it that way. The hype generated at shows where Nintendo drops bombs is enough to place them in the spotlight. So in the end, Nintendo caters to a larger audience in their hype strategy. It might not be as gratifying week to week, but Nintendo's consistent success is proof enough for me.
Oh, and by the way - Nintendo is going to own E3. And if not, wait until Spaceworld. ;)
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