Nintendo

This company started out with the best stuff. the NES, and then the SNES, were among the best. However, since the competition from companies such as Sony and Microsoft, they have not been faring so well. At the turn of the 2nd generation of videogaming, it was seen that games were converting from cartridges to dics, and that the dataspace available would be remarkably higher in comparison to the previous generation. With this came potential for extremely advanced graphics (compared to the 8bit days of yore) online capabilities, more advanced gameplay, and not to mention longer games. But... Nintendo came in "last place" in the second generation console war for a few reasons: The concept of more realistic graphics appealed to many and was a new hype, and Nintendo's Gamecube did not have the capacity to play games with this level, nor did its discs. Its controller was also a turn off to the crowds, and the more dynamic controllers of the Xbox and the PS2 won over. Also, the revolutionary online techniques and community of Mircosoft was not to be outdone by anybody, and the Nintendo lost even more ground. Nintendo also had another problem, aside from hardware issues. It's games. The concepts of the games were immediately aged, and Mario, Zelda, Kirby, and the like were all covered with a layer of dust. Brand new series and game makers were sucked in to the advanced systems and made most of the successful market of games. Games such as the Halo series, Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Solid, Jax & Daxter, and many more were a new sight for everybody. The old games were not able to shine because most people were thinking "been there done that" and Nintendo's newer versions of previous titles were left in the dust. Then they had a second shot in the 3rd generation... The Nintendo Wii was the cheapest system at launch and had brought back an old trick-motion sensing. Althought thie was originally developed by Sony, Nintendo claimed it was revolutionary. This worked for several reasons: Most of the gaming market is made up of minors, (under 18), and most had not heard of the old controller from Pelican for the PS1. As for those who did know, you could say that nobody bothered with a publicly announced lawsuit (up till December 2006, as that was when this review was written). Now once again, the concept of gaming graphics displayed in 1080p (the best for the 3rd gen on PS3), many people dreamt of that quality of gaming. However, Nintendo was (once again) not concerned with graphics. Their motion sensing controller appealed more to kids who didn't care about HD, and it was artificially "new". there was also another reason it succeeded at the start: it's price. With the cost of the Wii starting at around $250, it was by far the cheapest console, with the twist of a motion sensing controller. However... The PS3 was the most saught after, seeing as people lined up for up to a week to get it, and all sold out almost immdetiately. The Xbox 360 had come out a year before and had a headstart, but the Wii was hot on it's heals. However, this is mostly because of the controller concepts and low cost. It's not all fun and games for the Wii buyers. Their controller relied mostly upon motion sensing, and had very few buttons. this was great for things such as sword fighting, bowling, and other stationary activities, but it greatly limited the rest of the functions. FPS, RPG and some other genres that involved platforming were restricted and were extremely hard to incorperate with the Wii controller. It also limited those who did not want to have to rely on physical accuracy to beat games or even play them. Nintendo will have to improve their graphics, get new games, improve their game quantities, get a legit online community, and make a dynamic controller to win the 4th gen...if they can.