Nintendo at the crossroads
By Jason Hill February 5, 2004
By the early '90s, the name Nintendo was synonymous with video games. The company almost single-handedly revived the industry after 1983's spectacular crash spelt doom for the likes of Atari, Intellivision and Coleco.
Nintendo has since been a constant innovator, pioneering standards such as analog control, shoulder buttons and rumbling joypads while making some of the finest games ever. However, today, its future is not assured.
Poor hardware design choices and a focus on children have flattened Nintendo's share of the home-console market. Nintendo 64 suffered from Sony's slick PlayStation marketing and the expensive cartridge format.
Now PlayStation2 and Xbox are outselling GameCube in Australia by 10 to one. More than 1.1 million PS2 and 450,000 Xbox consoles have been sold, but only 100,000 Cubes, despite a bargain price. Lack of DVD support, limited software and the "kiddie" stigma have hurt sales.
Fortunately for Nintendo, the hand-held Game Boy Advance has been exceptionally popular, with half a million sold here and 45 million worldwide.
But with Sony's PSP expected before Christmas, Nintendo's cash cow has serious competition ahead.
At May's Electronic Entertainment Expo, Nintendo will unveil a new weapon that it hopes will get gamers excited and prove it has not abandoned a heritage of innovation. The portable Nintendo DS will feature dual LCD screens and processors to present two perspectives of the action simultaneously. The machine will have two 75 mm screens mounted on top of each other, similar to Nintendo's 20-year-old Game & Watch units, pictured right. Users will not have to interrupt play to switch perspectives. For example, the screens could show a whole soccer pitch while also focusing on an individual tackle.
It will be sold alongside GameCube and Advance before Christmas.
PSP is equally a music and movie player as well as a games machine, and Nintendo is wise not to take Sony on but instead invent a whole new game. Whether dual screens is a gimmick or offers a unique experience remains to be seen.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/...853927184.html
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上文表示NGC在澳洲雖然價錢廉宜但銷售失利的原因
。不能看DVD
。遊戲數目少
。子供機形象