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[whyreggielie]

Its funny but Nintendo in 80's >>>>>>Pre 180 Microsoft.


All all the company's that could not be trusted with a one console monopoly, Nintendo is by far the least trustworthy. Even now.

Reading all that just makes me wish Sega was still in the game *sigh*

I don't know about that, I don't think Nintendo is as evil as they used to be however they also had good reason to be so aggressive. Remember the video game industry was absolutely dead in the west when Nintendo took interest. Yamauchi personally flew to the US from Japan 2-3 times a week at this time to bring video games back here. He risked a 100 year old company by going to Toys r us (among other retailers) in an attempt to convince them that the famicon could be successful over here and literally offered to pay for everything. This meant Toys r us didn't have to pay a dime for the consoles they just had to provide some shelf space and reap profits, it meant retailers would have no risk at all in this venture but would be detrimental to Nintendo if it failed.

Nintendo was very successful in Japan and had no reason to risk the whole company to try and revive a market in a country that had already moved on. This literally is why video games even happened again in the west so Nintendo was able to get a serious stronghold here before competition such as Sega came along.

Yea they were a monopoly and very powerful but for good reason, the company revived video games as an industry so I wouldn't say they were untrustworthy as they were the reason we were even playing video games.

 

[Tripon]

Why is there a foreword by Seth Rogen in the book?

Seth Rogan wrote the script and starring in the movie adaptation.

 

[Some Nobody]

Before "please understand", was "understand bitch".

Perfect.

Seems kind of shitty for Venture Beat to basically pull out the juicy bits from an unreleased book and get a bunch of hits while basically spoiling a book that an author spent years working on.

"Spoilers" do not work for non-fiction books. There's no plot. At best, you talked a bunch of people into buying the book to learn more. At worst, you informed a bunch of people of some tiny tidbits of knowledge they probably didn't know before.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Hadn't heard about this book until today, but you better believe I just preordered it.

 

[Slayven]

Damn I guess the industry does have a long memory.

 

[Pikma]

It has more to do with better competition today than anything. Ever since Sony joined the war they've won every gen except last gen, and it's looking like another W for them this gen.

I get your point, but what does won even mean? HW sold? I highly doubt that has any use other than for fan discussion/bragging. Or is it Profit? because if that's the case then Nintendo also "won" the GC/PS2 era. Whatever it is, I can guarantee you that the industry is definitely not an hippodrome.

 

[Cipherr]

What about the lunchroom? Or IRL to be precise lol

Jumping the kid with the Sonic the Hedgehog trapper keeper.

 

[wintermute0]

Why is there a foreword by Seth Rogen in the book?

The credibility of this entire article is now in question.

 

[SwiftDeath]

It's really not. Look up Howard Lincoln.

Wow you're right

http://www.notenoughshaders.com/2013/03/14/howard-lincoln-kicking-ass-before-reggie-came-along/

 

[LegendofLex]

All all the company's that could not be trusted with a one console monopoly, Nintendo is by far the least trustworthy. Even now.

Not sure I agree with this. There wouldn't even be a game industry today if it weren't for Nintendo locking down NES to prevent the Atari disaster (tons of crappy games being released due to a lack of uniform licensing policies) from repeating itself. If anything, today we have an even unholier monopoly in the form of the third-party multiplatform cartel that is the true winner of modern console wars.

They definitely can't be trusted with success. It goes to their heads and they start to think they can do whatever the hell they want.

 

[Refreshment.01]

Yep, there was a time when cuddly Nintendo were a bunch of bastards bent on having a monopoly.

Thankfully the Genesis took off and and was so successful Nintendo lost the upper hand on threatening companies. A part of me is happy to see Nintendo trailing behind and humbled. We don't need a company like the old Nintendo in this industry.

MS?

 

[Dr. Feel Good]

Yamauchi personally flew to the US from Japan 2-3 times a week at this time to bring video games back here.

That seems incredibly inefficient. I think you were looking for 2-3 times a month.

 

[Refreshment.01]

Nintendo was very successful in Japan and had no reason to risk the whole company to try and revive a market in a country that had already moved on. This literally is why video games even happened again in the west so Nintendo was able to get a serious stronghold here before competition such as Sega came along.

Yea they were a monopoly and very powerful but for good reason, the company revived video games as an industry so I wouldn't say they were untrustworthy as they were the reason we were even playing video games.

While i won't say i agree/disagree with your post. It is very important to consider that of the 3 main console manufacturers the one that cares and have more interest in gaming and its success is Nintendo (including selfish reasons of course) XD

The sad thing is, we let them.

True, yet this has been the case with most every dominant company.

 

[MCN]

They definitely can't be trusted with success. It goes to their heads and they start to think they can do whatever the hell they want.

The sad thing is, we let them.

 

[Joni]

Why is there a foreword by Seth Rogen in the book?

Aside from what the other people said, he is a famous gamer too.

 

[meitantei_conan]

Sounds like an interesting read. I will definitely pick this up when it comes out. My god Nintendo was so evil back then.

 

[Ivan 3414]

Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Nintendo has made far more money years later...when they were presumably much less than 10% of Walmart's profits. So what does this post really have to do with this discussion? This is like saying Nintendo has fallen because they don't sell playing cards anymore.

 

[Duane Cunningham]

Nintendo has made far more money years later...when they were presumably much less than 10% of Walmart's profits. So what does this post really have to do with this discussion? This is like saying Nintendo has fallen because they don't sell playing cards anymore.

This doesn't effect your point, but for the record, Nintendo DOES still produce both hanafuda and western style cards in Japan. They've never stopped all this time.

 

[LegendofLex]

The sad thing is, we let them.

Luckily for me (and unfortunately for them), I am getting to the point where I cannot afford to stand up their pet projects. So if they don't get it right soon, it will be easy to stop "letting them."

On the sites where I byline, I also try to actually call them out on their BS. Specifically their software BS (NSMB factory, Aonuma's Zelda "formula," Sakamoto Metroid in particular) as well as their weird hardware priorities (not things like low power consumption but things like prioritizing the mostly-useless Wara Wara Plaza for the main menu interface, or 3D on 3DS, or an expensive GamePad that pushed the price above $250).

 

[Hyperactivity]

Sounds like an interesting read. I will definitely pick this up when it comes out. My god Nintendo was so evil back then.

Ruthless is another way to describe it. They're like those villains in books that fit the description for magnificent bastard due to how ridiculously efficient and cruel they are

I guess Nintendo=Kefka/Dimentio/Fawful?/majority of ultra popular villains

 

[IdreamofHIME]

According to the article, Hollywood asked him and Evan Goldberg to write a script for a movie based off the book.

Hope it get's made, there's been two episodes of Goldbergs that focused on Nintendo games (Zelda and Punch-Out) and you can tell they had a big influence on his life as a kid.

 

[JeffGrubb]

Seems kind of shitty for Venture Beat to basically pull out the juicy bits from an unreleased book and get a bunch of hits while basically spoiling a book that an author spent years working on.

Hey, author of the VentureBeat/GamesBeat story here. I talked to the author before even starting this story, and he is absolutely happy about it.

Even better: This story does not even come close to representing the juiciest bits from the book. Most of these are just from the first half, and things get much crazier from there.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Kalinske and Sega of America were great.

Sega of Japan were mostly to blame for their misfortunes IMO.

Kalinske was fantastic. Sega of Japan has always sucked.

 

[JeffGrubb]

Kalinske was fantastic. Sega of Japan has always sucked.

That's more of a spoiler than anything in my VB post.

 

[SmokedMeat]

MS?

I'm unaware of Microsoft threatening to pull any publisher's license if they dare to publish games on Playstation or Wii U.

They're bad for sure, but they're not as bad as Nintendo was.

 

[jstripes]

What about the lunchroom? Or IRL to be precise lol

Ya, I got punched in the gut in Grade 7 over a comment I made about the Genesis' sound capabilities.

I made the comment in the library, and he stewed over it until he saw me again in the lunchroom.

 

[Tripon]

I'm unaware of Microsoft threatening to pull any publisher's license if they dare to publish games on Playstation or Wii U.

They're bad for sure, but they're not as bad as Nintendo was.

Yeah, they just won't allow you to publish games on their platforms for Indies unless you give them launch parity.

 

[PlumCantaloupe]

Looks great. Just pre-ordered. I really enjoyed David's "Game Over" which touched on some of these points but in less detail.

 

[Tigress]

I'm unaware of Microsoft threatening to pull any publisher's license if they dare to publish games on Playstation or Wii U.

They're bad for sure, but they're not as bad as Nintendo was.

But I honestly think MS would if they thought they could get away with it. They don't cause they are smart enough to realize they don't have that much power over the industry (at the moment anyways) but if MS thought they could, I bet they would.

(And that probably says a lot about my view of MS ).

 

[Manmademan]

I get your point, but what does won even mean? HW sold? I highly doubt that has any use other than for fan discussion/bragging. Or is it Profit? because if that's the case then Nintendo also "won" the GC/PS2 era. Whatever it is, I can guarantee you that the industry is definitely not an hippodrome.

Lol. Not even close. Nintendo's handheld division was floating the company through the GC/PS2 era. The GC itself made them absolutely no money at all. The thing was a sales disaster.

 

[SmokedMeat]

That's more of a spoiler than anything in my VB post.

Well, some of us were around back then. : P

 

[PAULINK]

OooOO, I want to read this book.

 

[Manmademan]

OooOO, I want to read this book.

Same. As time goes on I find the business of gaming behind the scenes to be the most compelling thing about the industry.

That story about opening up genesis shops in Wal-Mart's hometown is just genius

 

[SmokedMeat]

But I honestly think MS would if they thought they could get away with it. They don't cause they are smart enough to realize they don't have that much power over the industry (at the moment anyways) but if MS thought they could, I bet they would.

(And that probably says a lot about my view of MS ).

Thankfully there's enough healthy competitors out there that we'll never see a situation like that again.

 

[Manmademan]

Thankfully there's enough healthy competitors out there that we'll never see a situation like that again.

You really think this is the case? Because Im not confident of this one at all

 

[dog$]

Remember the video game industry was absolutely dead in the west when Nintendo took interest.

There wouldn't even be a game industry today if it weren't for Nintendo locking down NES to prevent the Atari disaster (tons of crappy games being released due to a lack of uniform licensing policies) from repeating itself.

The home consoles of Atari, Mattel, and Coleco were dead in 1983. In one region.

The industry, otherwise and globally, was not dead.

Arcade revenue wasn't as affected as home consoles, and PC gaming definitely lost no ground. Don't forget the PC-like hardware that the three aforementioned companies developed and in most cases released from that point in time forward. They had good reason to do so.

 

[crimzonflame]

Im calling BS on that 10% figure. Someone please prove me wrong.

 

[ThoughtsOfSpeaking]

Yea they were a monopoly and very powerful but for good reason, the company revived video games as an industry so I wouldn't say they were untrustworthy as they were the reason we were even playing video games.

Not in Europe.

The C64 was trucking along quite nicely throughout the whole "video game crash". Its arguable that we would of all just stayed PC gamers without Nintendo, but they had a lot less impact on the industry over here.

 

[Drensch]

The home consoles of Atari, Mattel, and Coleco were dead in 1983. In one region.

The industry, otherwise and globally, was not dead.

Arcade revenue wasn't as affected as home consoles, and PC gaming definitely lost no ground. Don't forget the PC-like hardware that the three aforementioned companies developed and in most cases released from that point in time forward. They had good reason to do so.

So yeah. The industry was dead.

 

[Manmademan]

Im calling BS on that 10% figure. Someone please prove me wrong.

It's plausible, but I can't say for certain. Remember that at nintendo's peak (NES era, early SNES era) Wal-Mart was still a regional player, not a national juggernaut. That's one of the reasons SEGA went with SoftWare Etc/Babbage's/Electronics Boutique and Toys R Us for their surprise launch of the US saturn. They had the largest reach.

Also, consider that Walmart even now runs HYPER thin margins, in the single digits and just makes up their profit on sheer volume. Nintendo hardware, software, and accessories on the other hand carried fairly heavy margins, and it wasn't unusual to see prices go UP on carts after release for hard to find titles.

So yeah. The industry was dead.

A bit of an exaggeration. The arcade scene was still active and unaffected by the crash, and Sega released the Master System in the states one year after nintendo launched the NES.

 

[Pimpbaa]

Lies. We were fighting, it was just via snail mail to your favorite gaming magazines 'letters from the readers' section. Then from there to BBS/IRC and whatnot.

People had access to the internet in the early 90's too, usually through a unix shell account. Lots of systems wars on usenet. Plus real life system wars, some jealous "friends" gave me shit for having a Genesis while in school (when they still had a NES).

 

[kitchenmotors]

A bit of an exaggeration. The arcade scene was still active and unaffected by the crash, and Sega released the Master System in the states one year after nintendo launched the NES.

Except it's not. Nintendo had to market the NES as a toy rather than a video game console because the industry was dead. No one would sell a video game console after Atari basically cratered the industry. Nintendo had to rebuild from scratch and as I'm sure it pains many people to view it that way, those are the facts.

 

[ThoughtsOfSpeaking]

Except it's not. Nintendo had to market the NES as a toy rather than a video game console because the industry was dead. No one would sell a video game console after Atari basically cratered the industry. Nintendo had to rebuild from scratch and as I'm sure it pains many people to view it that way, those are the facts.

Which meant diddly squat outside of north america.

Video games were still being made and played throughout Nintendos tenure. Sega would of entered the Market with or without Nintendo going first.

 

[MercuryLS]

I'm unaware of Microsoft threatening to pull any publisher's license if they dare to publish games on Playstation or Wii U.

They're bad for sure, but they're not as bad as Nintendo was.

MS was never in a position to ever dictate anything like this. With the NES Nintendo had a near monopoly and pushed their weight around, any other company would have tried to do the same thing. MS did it with Windows, Office, IE. After Sega broke through with the Genesis, that pretty much put an end to these types of monopolistic practices. It's pretty amazing that they competed so well with Nintendo that gen, they had so much against them (3rd party and retailer fear of making games for Sega and stocking their systems), the fact that were able to gain momentum is a miracle.

 

[Nilaul]

Remember that rumor of them sending the Yakuza to kill Gunpei Yokoi? That's some scary shit.

See what happens if you leak something? The price of breaking Nintendo's NDA is death.

 

[Persona7]

Now the Wii u, 3DS and DS share a single shelf.

 

[kitchenmotors]

Which meant diddly squat outside of north america.

Video games were still being made and played throughout Nintendos tenure. Sega would of entered the Market with or without Nintendo going first.

Sega would have never had the impact that Nintendo did on a global scale. Nintendo's dominance in North America really set the stage for the entire industry and if it wasn't for Nintendo of America building an empire during the NES days, Sega would have never had any sort grasp on the industry that they gained during the Genesis days.

Sega was always sort of a mess, even if it worked out for them during the Genesis days.

 

[dog$]

Sega would have never had the impact that Nintendo did on a global scale. Nintendo's dominance in North America really set the stage for the entire industry and if it wasn't for Nintendo of America building an empire during the NES days, Sega would have never had any sort grasp on the industry that they gained during the Genesis days.

Sega was always sort of a mess, even if it worked out for them during the Genesis days.

And meanwhile for PC and arcade games...?

(in other words: Meanwhile, in Europe...?)

 

[LegendofLex]

Arcade revenue wasn't as affected as home consoles, and PC gaming definitely lost no ground. Don't forget the PC-like hardware that the three aforementioned companies developed and in most cases released from that point in time forward. They had good reason to do so.

Yeah, I forgot, PC/like gaming was booming so hard in the 80s that the EA board didn't threaten to fire the CEO if he didn't put EA's games on NES.

And non-Nintendo gaming companies in other markets were, likewise, very, very relevant.

Oh wait.

 

[Jintor]

Still waiting on an updated n64 - GC - Wii - wiiu - GBA - DS 3ds era look. Would it even be as exciting?