Dave
04-09-2004, 09:28 PM
Nintendo president, Satoru Iwata, made a statement in which he confirmed Nintendo's commitment to the video game hardware industry, and outlined the short term goals of the company. So, how was it that this perfectly reasonable statement was plastered on the front page of almost every video game website, as an admission from Nintendo that the company was leaving the hardware business?
But it wasn't just small Nintendo fansites that ran this news; reputable websites such as IGN.com, Gamespot and Cube Europe also reported the story with headlines such as "N5 on Hold?". Admittedly IGN did quickly change their headline of "N5 Canceled" to "Nintendo Plans GCN Peripherals", but the mear fact that what was being reported was clearly completely contradictory to the statement from Nintendo.
The following is the complete transcript of the news source from which all these reports came:
OSAKA (Nikkei)--Nintendo Co. (7974.OK) has decided not to release a new video game console to follow its current GameCube for the time being, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported in its Tuesday edition.
The home-use game machine and software developer will instead diversify games and sell newly developed peripherals mainly for the GameCube. It will make games for the current model more appealing, while rivals Sony Corp. (6758.TO) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) plan to debut high-performance next-generation consoles that can be also used for non-game content such as movies and music.
Nintendo plans to release peripherals as early as 2005. Although details aren't yet known, these devices are expected to diversify playing styles by improving the gaming experience and connections with hand-held units rather than improve graphics and sound quality.
The decision to withhold the release of a new console was made because while the game market is contracting and becoming more diverse, "customers are fully satisfied with the performance of the current model," President Satoru Iwata said.
Nintendo will continue in-house development of a new home-use game machine for release in the future, but for the next two or three years will add functions to the GameCube.
This report was quickly rebuttled by Nintendo; this in itself is very out of character for the company:
"We are currently developing the machine that can realise a number of brand-new and enjoyable ideas. But I'm sorry that I can't dwell on the details today. In 2004, the titles which make use of the connectivity between GameCube and Game Boy Advance will be enriched, including Pac Man vs. and Zelda: Four Swords. You will see that the great potential of GameCube will come to fruition."
"Before you will touch and play with our next-generation products, we will provide you with a number of unique experiences and unprecedented joy with the existing machines, including Game Boy Advance. Please keep your eyes on Nintendo in 2004!"
As you can see from the first article, it's more a case of journalists failing to check their source. All these websites, from IGN to the smallest fansites, took their stories from one single report without checking the quality of the information provided. I seem to remember that this is the same set of circumstances that got some guy called Tony Blair in trouble very recently.
It's a well known fact that Nintendo has the largest console user base after the PS2; so why is there still this impression conveyed by the media that Nintendo is on it's last legs? This generation Nintendo has made the largest profit of all three main console producers; yet people still think it would be in Nintendo's interest to get out of the console race.
Does this eagerness to put down Nintendo at every opportunity expose a popularly held thought among the media? Could it be that it's not just the Xbox and PS2 fanboys that are pushing for a third party software developer to be created from Nintendo?
- Dave
But it wasn't just small Nintendo fansites that ran this news; reputable websites such as IGN.com, Gamespot and Cube Europe also reported the story with headlines such as "N5 on Hold?". Admittedly IGN did quickly change their headline of "N5 Canceled" to "Nintendo Plans GCN Peripherals", but the mear fact that what was being reported was clearly completely contradictory to the statement from Nintendo.
The following is the complete transcript of the news source from which all these reports came:
OSAKA (Nikkei)--Nintendo Co. (7974.OK) has decided not to release a new video game console to follow its current GameCube for the time being, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported in its Tuesday edition.
The home-use game machine and software developer will instead diversify games and sell newly developed peripherals mainly for the GameCube. It will make games for the current model more appealing, while rivals Sony Corp. (6758.TO) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) plan to debut high-performance next-generation consoles that can be also used for non-game content such as movies and music.
Nintendo plans to release peripherals as early as 2005. Although details aren't yet known, these devices are expected to diversify playing styles by improving the gaming experience and connections with hand-held units rather than improve graphics and sound quality.
The decision to withhold the release of a new console was made because while the game market is contracting and becoming more diverse, "customers are fully satisfied with the performance of the current model," President Satoru Iwata said.
Nintendo will continue in-house development of a new home-use game machine for release in the future, but for the next two or three years will add functions to the GameCube.
This report was quickly rebuttled by Nintendo; this in itself is very out of character for the company:
"We are currently developing the machine that can realise a number of brand-new and enjoyable ideas. But I'm sorry that I can't dwell on the details today. In 2004, the titles which make use of the connectivity between GameCube and Game Boy Advance will be enriched, including Pac Man vs. and Zelda: Four Swords. You will see that the great potential of GameCube will come to fruition."
"Before you will touch and play with our next-generation products, we will provide you with a number of unique experiences and unprecedented joy with the existing machines, including Game Boy Advance. Please keep your eyes on Nintendo in 2004!"
As you can see from the first article, it's more a case of journalists failing to check their source. All these websites, from IGN to the smallest fansites, took their stories from one single report without checking the quality of the information provided. I seem to remember that this is the same set of circumstances that got some guy called Tony Blair in trouble very recently.
It's a well known fact that Nintendo has the largest console user base after the PS2; so why is there still this impression conveyed by the media that Nintendo is on it's last legs? This generation Nintendo has made the largest profit of all three main console producers; yet people still think it would be in Nintendo's interest to get out of the console race.
Does this eagerness to put down Nintendo at every opportunity expose a popularly held thought among the media? Could it be that it's not just the Xbox and PS2 fanboys that are pushing for a third party software developer to be created from Nintendo?
- Dave