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Jacob Paper 2

Page history last edited by aahmets2@... 14 years, 11 months ago

Cause and Effect Paper

 

Will new gaming innovations cause a shift in market dominance?

 

We have seen this scenario a million times: a small mustachioed plumber pummeling helpless turtles to their death in order to save a simple-minded princess. If you are not familiar with this depiction, it is Super Mario Brothers for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Super Mario Brothers ushered in a new era of videogames, one that represented colorful graphics, simple yet compelling stories, and innovative game play. As a result many Mario clones were created, but nothing could compare to the original. Just like any living being the gaming industry is continuing to evolve. Each new idea causes a shift in the market, resulting in development studios mimicking the original, eventually over saturating the industry. This is a problem that should not be prevented, but instead embraced.

 

The gaming industries phylogenetic tree is eerily similar to that of the human races. At the dawn of time small rectangles bounced back and forth a ball. Eventually these rectangles developed appendages and a love for Italian food and plumbing. Soon this plumber was abandoned on Mars and his only means of survival was to slaughter Hell’s minions. Even though this examaple is a little extreme and comedic, the same thought is still there, we are constantly evolving. Video Games are never stuck in a rut, when something is boring and stale; a new gaming innovation is already in the works. This means a whole lot more than finding a new way to take money from consumers. It is a form of artistry one that finds new ways to involve the viewer than ever before.

 

All of these advances cannot succeed. Many of them drown under the weight of their own hype and lack of marketability. With every successful gaming innovation being praised, there are hundreds that will never even see that the light of day. If some of these manage to seep out, they are met with lackluster reviews and sales. Some of the more recent failures are the Nintendo Virtual Boy and the Nokia N-Gage.

 

Nintendo is seen as one of the most influential and important videogame development companies. Despite being one of the top videogame publishers in the world, Nintendo still has some skeletons in their closet. The year was 1995 and the videogame industry was at an all time high. A Super Nintendo and Game Boy were in the home of almost every middle and upper class child in America. Even with their large amount of success, various other consoles were in development in order to compete with their main competitor, Sega. Gunpei Yokoi, creator of the Game and Watch and the Game Boy was already hard at work at a console that would turn the gaming world upside down, the Nintendo Virtual Boy, codename: VR-32. The Virtual Boy was intended to create what no other home console could, a 3-D environment for the user. The hardware of the Virtual Boy was nothing more than a pair of goggles with red LED lights that caused the viewer to experience a slight 3-D environment, similar to a 3-D movie or comic book. Instead this caused the user to see double instead of a new dimension. It is important to note that the choice of red LED lights was made not for the quality of picture, but instead for the cost. Red lights at the time were much cheaper and a less of a drain on batteries. This was the first indication that the Virtual Boy was doomed from the start. Soon the project was given the green light and word got out to the gaming community and press that Nintendo would be releasing the first 3-D gaming console. Upon its release the Nintendo of America description only hammered the nail in the coffin: “"Powered by a 32-bit processor, the Virtual Boy produced very impressive 3-D effects, although the monochromatic graphic style proved to limit the appeal of the visuals.” This farce did not full the public and critics. The system was universally panned after its first years of sales, dropping its initial price of $180 dollars, to mere fractions of the original. When confronted about this universal failure, Nintendo did the only thing a strong corporation was capable of, blaming the creator. Yokoi became a martyr. Production was soon halted and Nintendo continued to focus even more on their new system, the Nintendo 64.

 

In the early 2000’s videogames were at an all time high. The Sony Playstation 2 and Microsoft Xbox were selling millions of consoles around the world. In order to find a niche in a market dominated by home consoles, Nokia decided to incorporate what they know best, cell phones. They saw gamers as a group who owned not only a cell phone, but also a portable gaming system. By combining the two Nokia would be able to not only sell more phones, but also games as well, thus the N-Gage was born. Much like the Virtual Boy, the N-Gage suffered a fate caused by poor design and lack of development. When the system was finally released in 2003, gamers were disgusted by its “taco” shape and poor button scheme. Even though Nokia managed to secure some lucrative gaming rights such as Tomb Raider and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, this was not even enough to save the N-Gage from abysmal sales. Nokia reported that 400,000 units were sold in the first two weeks, while market research firms Chart-Track and Arcadia Research claimed that the N-Gage only sold 5,000 units in North America and 800 in the UK. Nokia later confirmed this information was true. Although the N-Gage was received poorly in America and the UK, it is still being produced and sold in Chinese and Indian markets.

 

What is most fascinating about these two consoles is that despite horrendous sales and a lackluster reception, they were not bad ideas. In fact some would dare to say they were revolutionary. One must admire the designers for trying something new and daring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peer Feedback

 

Aldijana:

This seems as it will be a great paper once finished. I feel that you have established your thesis in your intro. I wish you had written a little more, because you first two paragraphs were interesting enough and left me wondering and wanting more. Can’t wait for the finished paper and if the rest of the paper turns out as great as the first two paragraphs then it will be a great piece.

 

Lydia's Peer Reviews of You

 

Peer Review on Final Paper

 

Aldijana

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