Miggy-AMN
09-28-2004, 07:25 PM
I just thought it was an interesting editorial from the Gamespot peeps. I didn't know that the DS announcement came out of the blue:
This is my first entry in my journal, and my first GameSpotting column. We'll call it my rookie card (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2002-01-21&res=l), if you will. Years from now, perhaps children will sing songs about this day.
I started at GameSpot News on Monday. I knew my first week of work wouldn't be a slow one - in the runup to the Tokyo Game Show, I expected a slew of stories that needed to be rushed live. What I didn't expect at all, what in fact very few people even knew was coming, was Nintendo's announcement late Monday night. After many, many false alarms, we finally had the price and launch date for the DS, and lots of other details.
Tuesday morning was completely insane, as you might well imagine. Phone calls, the frantic clicking of keyboards, shouting across the cubicles. Oh, and then our Japanese correspondent sent in piles of breaking Tokyo Game Show stories, including details of Sony's press conference and PSP announcements. Only later on did I get to think about the way it all went down.
Stories about the surprise Nintendo announcement called the timing of the conference, just before Sony was about to announce details of the PSP, "suspicious."That's the safe way of saying it. I'd call it a straight shot across the bow; a kidney punch from behind. If the E3 press conference was the emergence of the new, aggressive Nintendo, this was the first strike.
Instantly, I was comparing it to the best tricks Sony ever pulled. Undercutting Sega Saturn's price by a hundred dollars at E3. Sending Crash Bandicoot out in front of Nintendo headquarters to film a smart-assed head-on commercial. But this time it's being done to Sony, not by them. Anyone who thinks the new attitude professed at the E3 press conference is just smoke and mirrors should look to the Monday announcements. Yeah, they mean business.
Sony's statements that day were, as usual, ultimately dismissive of the DS. Their view, at least the view that they present to the world, is that the PSP is not in competition with the DS or the Game Boy Advance. Now, I'm not saying that one portable system has to die at the hand of the other or anything. It is possible that both systems could be successful. But even if it's not a battle for market share, it's a battle for image.
In this industry there are very few tight races. Whoever wins, wins big. It's a snowball effect. Whoever starts to take off first will, all other things being equal, pull far ahead of the pack. No matter if the systems have roughly equal lists of pros and cons, one of them will end up being perceived as the 'winner' of the handheld wars. Nintendo wants to make the DS that system.
And one big step they've taken in hopes of doing just that is to shake up Sony's press conference. You've got to wonder if Sony was ready to announce price and launch info for the PSP at that conference, but pulled it after they realized that anything they announced was instantly going to be compared to Nintendo. In any case, Sony doesn't want the PSP compared to the DS, hence their public reticence to go after Nintendo's system.
Meanwhile, Nintendo relishes in comparisons. Reggie had some harsh words about the PSP at the teleconference. It's actually Sony who currently has zero percent market share in the handheld realm. They're the actual underdog. But Nintendo realizes how little that matters in this topsy-turvy industry, when empires can crumble in a year and tiny startups become billion-dollar market leaders in a decade.
Sony, of course, is going after Nintendo's market. They're just not saying that out loud. For all of their talk about the two products being non-comparable, you can bet that if the PSP gains market share over the DS, Sony's next set of PowerPoint slides will unabashedly trumpet the victory. Sony already took one market from Nintendo. Now it's going after another. Nintendo's defense? A strong offense.
Who knows who will win. One thing, for sure, is clear - this isn't your father's Nintendo. The old Nintendo would have moved at its own pace. The new Nintendo just cut in line in front of Sony in a big way. If this kind of surprise is indicative of what we'll see out of Nintendo in the future - like at the Revolution debut at E3 - then prepare for war.
Very good read.
http://forums.gamespot.com/gamespot/journal_entry.php?board=909095436&topic=16474806
This is my first entry in my journal, and my first GameSpotting column. We'll call it my rookie card (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2002-01-21&res=l), if you will. Years from now, perhaps children will sing songs about this day.
I started at GameSpot News on Monday. I knew my first week of work wouldn't be a slow one - in the runup to the Tokyo Game Show, I expected a slew of stories that needed to be rushed live. What I didn't expect at all, what in fact very few people even knew was coming, was Nintendo's announcement late Monday night. After many, many false alarms, we finally had the price and launch date for the DS, and lots of other details.
Tuesday morning was completely insane, as you might well imagine. Phone calls, the frantic clicking of keyboards, shouting across the cubicles. Oh, and then our Japanese correspondent sent in piles of breaking Tokyo Game Show stories, including details of Sony's press conference and PSP announcements. Only later on did I get to think about the way it all went down.
Stories about the surprise Nintendo announcement called the timing of the conference, just before Sony was about to announce details of the PSP, "suspicious."That's the safe way of saying it. I'd call it a straight shot across the bow; a kidney punch from behind. If the E3 press conference was the emergence of the new, aggressive Nintendo, this was the first strike.
Instantly, I was comparing it to the best tricks Sony ever pulled. Undercutting Sega Saturn's price by a hundred dollars at E3. Sending Crash Bandicoot out in front of Nintendo headquarters to film a smart-assed head-on commercial. But this time it's being done to Sony, not by them. Anyone who thinks the new attitude professed at the E3 press conference is just smoke and mirrors should look to the Monday announcements. Yeah, they mean business.
Sony's statements that day were, as usual, ultimately dismissive of the DS. Their view, at least the view that they present to the world, is that the PSP is not in competition with the DS or the Game Boy Advance. Now, I'm not saying that one portable system has to die at the hand of the other or anything. It is possible that both systems could be successful. But even if it's not a battle for market share, it's a battle for image.
In this industry there are very few tight races. Whoever wins, wins big. It's a snowball effect. Whoever starts to take off first will, all other things being equal, pull far ahead of the pack. No matter if the systems have roughly equal lists of pros and cons, one of them will end up being perceived as the 'winner' of the handheld wars. Nintendo wants to make the DS that system.
And one big step they've taken in hopes of doing just that is to shake up Sony's press conference. You've got to wonder if Sony was ready to announce price and launch info for the PSP at that conference, but pulled it after they realized that anything they announced was instantly going to be compared to Nintendo. In any case, Sony doesn't want the PSP compared to the DS, hence their public reticence to go after Nintendo's system.
Meanwhile, Nintendo relishes in comparisons. Reggie had some harsh words about the PSP at the teleconference. It's actually Sony who currently has zero percent market share in the handheld realm. They're the actual underdog. But Nintendo realizes how little that matters in this topsy-turvy industry, when empires can crumble in a year and tiny startups become billion-dollar market leaders in a decade.
Sony, of course, is going after Nintendo's market. They're just not saying that out loud. For all of their talk about the two products being non-comparable, you can bet that if the PSP gains market share over the DS, Sony's next set of PowerPoint slides will unabashedly trumpet the victory. Sony already took one market from Nintendo. Now it's going after another. Nintendo's defense? A strong offense.
Who knows who will win. One thing, for sure, is clear - this isn't your father's Nintendo. The old Nintendo would have moved at its own pace. The new Nintendo just cut in line in front of Sony in a big way. If this kind of surprise is indicative of what we'll see out of Nintendo in the future - like at the Revolution debut at E3 - then prepare for war.
Very good read.
http://forums.gamespot.com/gamespot/journal_entry.php?board=909095436&topic=16474806