1 00:00:04,519 --> 00:00:12,960 Speaker 1: Technic Technology with tech Stuff from stuff Y everyone, and 2 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:15,880 Speaker 1: welcome to tech Stuff. This week we're going to continue 3 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:20,200 Speaker 1: our story of Nintendo. These are episodes that Chris Bilette 4 00:00:20,239 --> 00:00:23,360 Speaker 1: and I recorded back in two thousand eleven. Last week 5 00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:25,560 Speaker 1: we talked about the story Nintendo Part one, where we 6 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 1: look at the origin of the company and how it 7 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:31,440 Speaker 1: got started. In Part two, we talked more about video 8 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:34,680 Speaker 1: game consoles and what the company did to really set 9 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:39,360 Speaker 1: itself apart from other competitors in the space. So I 10 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:42,159 Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed this episode, and remember we're gonna have 11 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:44,920 Speaker 1: a part three coming up, a brand new episode that 12 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:48,559 Speaker 1: I am going to record very very soon. It'll be 13 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:51,480 Speaker 1: the next episode to Aero. Talk more about that after 14 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:58,640 Speaker 1: this class episode, So see in a bit. Okay, so 15 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:01,480 Speaker 1: we're going to do the the whole catch you up, 16 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 1: um if you're just tuning in previously on Tech Stuff. 17 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:10,280 Speaker 1: Nintendo started out as a playing card company in nine 18 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:13,959 Speaker 1: gradually diversified then got out of several other businesses, including 19 00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 1: the toy market, but that did give them the idea 20 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:21,000 Speaker 1: that possibly this whole video game thing might be an idea, 21 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:24,839 Speaker 1: and they started creating video game consoles that were only 22 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:27,399 Speaker 1: able to play a game or maybe sit up to 23 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 1: six games, but you know, kind of like the old 24 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:31,840 Speaker 1: Odyssey system and that it was very limited. It was 25 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:34,399 Speaker 1: all hardwired into the system. You could not put a 26 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:36,920 Speaker 1: cartridge in there was it was not cartridge cartridge based. 27 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:40,039 Speaker 1: At that point, also created the game and Watch, which 28 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 1: was the portable variation of that, but again, single game, 29 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:48,040 Speaker 1: that's all was on that system. Meanwhile, the arcade craze 30 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:50,920 Speaker 1: is taken off all over the world and Nintendo finds 31 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:57,520 Speaker 1: itself with a complete bomb and asks a young designer, Miyamoto, 32 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 1: Shigeru Miyamoto, to give it a shot. Can you come 33 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: up with something that we can use in the video 34 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 1: game market? And he thinks a storyline would sell games, 35 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:11,399 Speaker 1: so he creates a simple story about a giant gorilla 36 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 1: who hauls off a a woman named Pauline to the 37 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:21,800 Speaker 1: top of a skyscraper and challenges a young plumber well 38 00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: actually he was just a guy with a big mustache 39 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:29,160 Speaker 1: and overalls named Jumpman to come get her. And it 40 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: defies just about everybody in the company's expectations by becoming 41 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:38,760 Speaker 1: a huge hit, inspiring several uh several follow up titles 42 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 1: and licensing agreements. With these different console manufacturers to bring 43 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:46,720 Speaker 1: them into homes. Because home video games are becoming popular 44 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:50,440 Speaker 1: in the early nineteen eighties, late seventies and early Nintendo 45 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:52,920 Speaker 1: decides to get into that market. While the getting is good, 46 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:55,600 Speaker 1: I want me some of that action. They and they 47 00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:59,520 Speaker 1: introduce the Nintendo Family Computer and they launch it in 48 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 1: Japan on July fifteenth. Yeah, it's a great name for 49 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 1: a console. Uh yeah, great name for the console, the Famicom. 50 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:14,240 Speaker 1: So if you're not familiar with the Famicom, that is 51 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:18,520 Speaker 1: what in America we referred to as the Nintendo Entertainment System. 52 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 1: It's gonna if you're not familiar with it, yes you are. 53 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 1: It didn't immediately come over to America because at the 54 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: same time as it was launching in Japan America, in 55 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:29,800 Speaker 1: North America there was the video game Crash. We talked 56 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: about that. If you haven't heard it, go back and 57 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:34,000 Speaker 1: listen to it. There's an entire podcast about it. But 58 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: to give you the short form of that, what happened 59 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:39,120 Speaker 1: was the video game market was doing really well. Uh 60 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: so many players got into the system. Not not so 61 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 1: many players. So many companies got into creating video game 62 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:50,400 Speaker 1: systems and video game titles that the market became saturated, 63 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: and there were there were there were several really really 64 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 1: good games, but there were way more crappy games and 65 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 1: some of those, Yeah, we talked about some of those 66 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 1: in our Worst Video Games of All Time podcast. There 67 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: were some of the two big ones that leap to 68 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: mind were the licensed version of pac Man for the 69 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 1: AY and of course the number one game on everybody's 70 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:16,159 Speaker 1: list e T. The Extraterrestrial almost everybody's, but no, a 71 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:17,840 Speaker 1: lot of that. That was the thing. A lot of 72 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:20,800 Speaker 1: the game The idea was these games are a hit 73 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:24,279 Speaker 1: in the arcade, let's bring him to the home console. 74 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:27,679 Speaker 1: So you had games like pac Man and Donkey Kong, 75 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 1: um stuff like Amadar Burger Time Reactor, and they tried 76 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:36,480 Speaker 1: so hard to make them work on home consoles immediately 77 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:39,719 Speaker 1: that they ended up being complete and under dogs. Yeah, 78 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:43,000 Speaker 1: they were just a was such a rush to get 79 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:46,600 Speaker 1: to the market with that quality. Was was really sacrificed 80 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:51,120 Speaker 1: in order to get sacrificed in favor of speed. Well, 81 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: Nintendo ended up not launching in America right away because again, 82 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 1: this video game crash was taking place mostly through and 83 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 1: so it wasn't until October eighth five that the fam 84 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: Con made its debut in the United States, and of 85 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:09,239 Speaker 1: course then it was known as the Nintendo Entertainment System. 86 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:13,359 Speaker 1: And originally Nintendo took a very very controlled approach to 87 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 1: introducing its system. It wasn't it wasn't like a a 88 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:21,640 Speaker 1: nationwide launch. In fact, you could originally only get an 89 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:24,760 Speaker 1: inn e ES if you were willing to go to 90 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:27,680 Speaker 1: New York City to get it. That was the limited 91 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:29,839 Speaker 1: market they introduced it to and it was something like 92 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:32,200 Speaker 1: a hundred thousand units and they sold out of ninety 93 00:05:32,279 --> 00:05:36,280 Speaker 1: thousand of them in a heartbeat. Um in a New 94 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,000 Speaker 1: York minute, Yeah, in a New York minute. And the 95 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:42,600 Speaker 1: original in as when it first came out in New York, 96 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:46,840 Speaker 1: was loaded with extras in order to tempt people to 97 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:49,000 Speaker 1: buy it, because you gotta remember, at this point, the 98 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:51,839 Speaker 1: home video game market in the United States is toast. 99 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:55,600 Speaker 1: People are starting to move to personal computers. Video game 100 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:58,160 Speaker 1: consoles are looked at his things for kids, and it's 101 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:03,040 Speaker 1: and there's just no insistency and quality. So Nintendo had 102 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:05,800 Speaker 1: an uphill battle here. So when they launched it in 103 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:09,159 Speaker 1: New York, here's what he came with. This is a 104 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:11,240 Speaker 1: huge difference to the way you buy a video game 105 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 1: console today. You got the console, you've got two games, 106 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:18,560 Speaker 1: you've got two game pads, you've got the Zapper light gun, 107 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:24,120 Speaker 1: and you got the Robotic Operating Buddy or rob one 108 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 1: hundred and twenty five dollars. Wow, that would be about 109 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: two fifty dollars in today's money. So it's still sort 110 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:34,200 Speaker 1: of affordable in terms. I mean, you think about the 111 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:39,479 Speaker 1: PlayStation three debuting it what six United States? Yeah, so 112 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:43,799 Speaker 1: it's it's you know, it was a pretty amazing deal 113 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:47,039 Speaker 1: at the time, and uh, it does very well, and 114 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:50,080 Speaker 1: then Nintendo starts to open up in other test markets 115 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:53,800 Speaker 1: places like Chicago and Los Angeles. Um, still very gradual 116 00:06:54,279 --> 00:06:58,800 Speaker 1: until it goes nationwide pretty much in six uh and 117 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:01,600 Speaker 1: at that point, the h the price had moved up 118 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:04,920 Speaker 1: to a hundred and ninety nine dollars, so the d 119 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:07,040 Speaker 1: was kind of the introductory price to kind of get 120 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:09,240 Speaker 1: that word of mouth campaign going. And and once it 121 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:11,440 Speaker 1: went nationwide, they figured they could price it at one 122 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:14,280 Speaker 1: and that would be the right market value for then 123 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: Intoo Entertainment System. I don't know, it might hot cakes, yeah, sure, 124 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 1: dead And in eighty six that was also when in Japan, 125 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:27,520 Speaker 1: Nintendo introduced a special disc system accessory in the Famicom, 126 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:30,160 Speaker 1: because I could remember in Japan it was it was 127 00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 1: built as a family computer system, not just a video 128 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:38,360 Speaker 1: game console, so it would allow you to actually use 129 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:42,800 Speaker 1: discs to uh play games on the Famicom. Back in Japan, 130 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:46,440 Speaker 1: you could even go and have you know, a disc 131 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:49,200 Speaker 1: made of a game or whatever at special vendors in Japan. 132 00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:52,080 Speaker 1: Now and in the United States, we were not so 133 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:54,520 Speaker 1: fortunate as to get access to this, although I'm sure 134 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:56,680 Speaker 1: there are plenty of collectors out there who have the 135 00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:59,640 Speaker 1: Japanese version of it. In America, that's always been a 136 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:03,920 Speaker 1: hot like underground market in the United States. Yeah. Now, 137 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:07,560 Speaker 1: keeping in mind too that in the late seventies, when 138 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 1: or the mid seventies, when consoles were starting to come 139 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:15,160 Speaker 1: into the homes, all this stuff was hardwired into the 140 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:18,240 Speaker 1: console itself, as as Jonathan was just saying a minute ago, 141 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:21,160 Speaker 1: and they figured out that it was possible to make 142 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 1: a connector slot so that all the ROMs would be 143 00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:27,160 Speaker 1: actually in the cartridge itself and it would make a 144 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:29,760 Speaker 1: connection with that cartridge when you plugged it. You had 145 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 1: to give it a firm push to get it snapped 146 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:33,720 Speaker 1: into the slot the right way. Also, you had to 147 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:35,640 Speaker 1: you had to breathe into the cartridge. That was that 148 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:39,760 Speaker 1: was required before you. That's what we always did, ye 149 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 1: before you. Well, it's good to get the dust out 150 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:46,000 Speaker 1: of it. Of course, some of the Atari cartridges had 151 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:48,839 Speaker 1: a little flap they protected the guts. Not all of them, 152 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:52,880 Speaker 1: some of them, but yeah, they the Nintendo Entertainment System 153 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:56,280 Speaker 1: used similar cartridges too. They were they were wider than 154 00:08:56,440 --> 00:09:00,280 Speaker 1: the the Atari cartridges of course, and and bigger. But yeah, 155 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:04,320 Speaker 1: they were using the same types of programmable rum chips 156 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:07,320 Speaker 1: that you would just snap into the game slot. Didn't 157 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:09,840 Speaker 1: have a disk like the game systems do now. So 158 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:13,880 Speaker 1: in eight six they also introduced some titles that became big. 159 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:17,480 Speaker 1: Commando huge in e S game, I think I heard 160 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 1: of that. Yeah, fun one too, Ghosts and Goblins one 161 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:24,000 Speaker 1: of the most difficult games ever. Also fun but hard. 162 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:29,120 Speaker 1: And then um there was came out in six If 163 00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:31,760 Speaker 1: that's not confusing, that's a little weird. Uh. And in 164 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:39,120 Speaker 1: eight seven, two other big names in Nintendo franchises debuted, Castlevania, 165 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:45,240 Speaker 1: Yes and Metroid Yeah. So a lot of the games 166 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:49,000 Speaker 1: that would become sort of emblematic of Nintendo Entertainment System 167 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:52,600 Speaker 1: started to launch right around this time, and uh, the 168 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:57,160 Speaker 1: NES does incredibly well. Now, I never owned an in NES. 169 00:09:57,880 --> 00:09:59,839 Speaker 1: I had a friend who lived down the street from 170 00:09:59,840 --> 00:10:01,600 Speaker 1: me who did own an NES, and I used to 171 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:03,719 Speaker 1: go over to his house all the time and play. 172 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:06,000 Speaker 1: And in fact, I played one of the games that 173 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:09,280 Speaker 1: won the best Video Game of the Year for Nintendo 174 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:13,640 Speaker 1: now that that happened back in. That game was punch Out, 175 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:16,760 Speaker 1: and we're talking about the arcade game at that point, 176 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:19,839 Speaker 1: but man oh, the arcade game was a huge hit. 177 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:22,640 Speaker 1: I loved punch Out so much. That's one of those 178 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:25,199 Speaker 1: arcade consoles. Like you know, you always have that fantasy 179 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:29,439 Speaker 1: of some of us anyway of owning certain video game consoles, 180 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:31,600 Speaker 1: like having a special room that would just have video 181 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 1: game consoles in it. Punch Out would be one of 182 00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:36,040 Speaker 1: the consoles I would own punch Out. There there are 183 00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:37,520 Speaker 1: two other titles I can think of right off the 184 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:38,920 Speaker 1: top of my head that I would have to own 185 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:41,400 Speaker 1: for that and on the one one would be the 186 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:46,920 Speaker 1: original Star Wars arcade game use the Forest Luke and 187 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:50,840 Speaker 1: also the Spy Hunter. Those are the so those would 188 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 1: be the three Elevator Action maybe yeah, if I had room, 189 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:56,719 Speaker 1: but if I only had room for three, it'd be 190 00:10:56,800 --> 00:10:59,959 Speaker 1: Spy Hunter, it would be Star Wars, and it would 191 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:02,760 Speaker 1: be punch Out. Forget those of you keeping scored home. 192 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:07,199 Speaker 1: Punch Out is the only one that's a Nintendo game anyway. Yes, 193 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:10,440 Speaker 1: but there you go, that one of the three games 194 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:12,720 Speaker 1: would be a Nintendo game, because when most of us 195 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:15,600 Speaker 1: think of Nintendo, we don't necessarily think of the arcade 196 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:18,400 Speaker 1: games that much because they made such a huge name 197 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:20,520 Speaker 1: in the home console market. Now, Donkey Kong of course 198 00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:23,200 Speaker 1: being like the big exception. Yeah, well that's how I 199 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:25,840 Speaker 1: think that's how Nintendo was able to sell the Nintendo 200 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:28,880 Speaker 1: Entertainment System was that they could say, hey, we were 201 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:31,800 Speaker 1: the guys behind Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. And 202 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:33,960 Speaker 1: Super Mario Brothers. Yeah, you don't have to worry about 203 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:38,120 Speaker 1: us taking some sort of u uh well, especially when 204 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:40,760 Speaker 1: they were reporting games from the arcade to the console, 205 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:43,120 Speaker 1: you know, since it was the same company that was 206 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:47,880 Speaker 1: producing these hit games, so much more faithful. Yeah, and 207 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:49,760 Speaker 1: and so they you know, that could be a message 208 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:51,360 Speaker 1: they send out to the market, is like, you don't 209 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:54,200 Speaker 1: have to worry about some terrible port of our game, 210 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:56,079 Speaker 1: because we're the ones who made the Arcade game, We're 211 00:11:56,080 --> 00:11:58,040 Speaker 1: the ones who made the console. You know that the 212 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:01,680 Speaker 1: console is gonna reflect the gameplay that you are familiar 213 00:12:01,679 --> 00:12:03,599 Speaker 1: with in the Arcade. Well. One of the things that 214 00:12:03,679 --> 00:12:06,719 Speaker 1: Jonathan touched on in the first episode, and again, if 215 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:08,720 Speaker 1: you haven't listened to it, will wait for you to 216 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:11,520 Speaker 1: come back and listen to that first. But one of 217 00:12:11,559 --> 00:12:15,199 Speaker 1: the things he touched on was that the the CEO, 218 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:20,840 Speaker 1: the CEO at that time of Nintendo, insisted that everything 219 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:24,760 Speaker 1: go through him for approval. And that was important in 220 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:27,360 Speaker 1: a way because it ensured that there was going to 221 00:12:27,400 --> 00:12:29,679 Speaker 1: be some quality in the stuff. They weren't just throwing 222 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:31,600 Speaker 1: it out the door like certain other companies that I 223 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:35,520 Speaker 1: can mention, I didn't mention. Well, that was part of 224 00:12:35,559 --> 00:12:38,880 Speaker 1: the problem of Video game crash. Yes, So Nintendo had 225 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:42,120 Speaker 1: had taken the certification process, yes, and that that was 226 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:45,160 Speaker 1: a selling point from the Nintendo Entertainment system that the 227 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:47,599 Speaker 1: other consoles didn't have at that point. Because if a 228 00:12:47,679 --> 00:12:49,720 Speaker 1: title was going to be on the NES, it had 229 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:53,160 Speaker 1: to meet certain criteria, it had to had to pass certification. 230 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:56,640 Speaker 1: It's frustrating for developers because the developer might have a 231 00:12:56,679 --> 00:12:59,240 Speaker 1: great idea, but for some reason they run up against 232 00:12:59,280 --> 00:13:03,280 Speaker 1: a barrier that to the developer seems arbitrary and then, uh, 233 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:06,240 Speaker 1: you know, we see this today with developers who developed 234 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:09,520 Speaker 1: for Apple, for example, for for apps on the iPhone 235 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:12,640 Speaker 1: and the iPad. They're developers who say, I submitted this, 236 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:14,800 Speaker 1: I thought it was a great idea, and then I'm 237 00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:17,880 Speaker 1: hitting a wall. And in some cases it may seem 238 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:21,600 Speaker 1: arbitrary to an outside observer, but to Apple it may 239 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:24,880 Speaker 1: seem like, no, this is not following our rules, and 240 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:26,920 Speaker 1: this the rules are there in order for us to 241 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:31,480 Speaker 1: ensure that the user has a good quality experience. At 242 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:33,640 Speaker 1: the end of the day, that was a Nintendo's approach 243 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: to with the video games, and said they did not 244 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:37,559 Speaker 1: want to fall into the same trap that Attari and 245 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:40,680 Speaker 1: Collico had fallen into, where they started to put out 246 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:44,079 Speaker 1: and publish games that or they allowed third party publishers 247 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:46,880 Speaker 1: to publish games that just did not measure up. Now, 248 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:50,720 Speaker 1: that did not mean that Nintendo was free of bad games, 249 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:54,600 Speaker 1: but they weren't glutted with them like the Atari was 250 00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:57,120 Speaker 1: towards the end of its days. Yeah, it killed both 251 00:13:57,120 --> 00:13:59,800 Speaker 1: at and Calico. Yeah, and if you say yes, but 252 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:03,360 Speaker 1: it are still around it a different company. They purchased 253 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:06,880 Speaker 1: the name anyway. Anyway, Um, yeah, that was that was 254 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:10,240 Speaker 1: one of the selling points. Um. And the other was, 255 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:13,640 Speaker 1: in addition to good marketing, they had something that they 256 00:14:13,679 --> 00:14:18,600 Speaker 1: could market around, and that was Miamoto's characters. Um. Donkey 257 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:22,040 Speaker 1: Kong had made a name, well not literally because his 258 00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:24,600 Speaker 1: name wasn't his name at that point, but had a 259 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 1: name character and Mario and they were able to use 260 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:33,760 Speaker 1: those characters in successive games and so uh, they basically 261 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:38,040 Speaker 1: had exclusivity. You didn't see Mario on games that weren't 262 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:42,480 Speaker 1: licensed by Nintendo. Nintendo was was uh, basically ensuring a 263 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:45,720 Speaker 1: future for itself by creating a storyline in its games 264 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:48,000 Speaker 1: that could be carried from game to game. Yah. They 265 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:51,080 Speaker 1: really started to protect their intellectual property. They were very 266 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:54,320 Speaker 1: protective of it. So still still are. Yeah, you still 267 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:57,440 Speaker 1: are not going to find Mario pop up on say 268 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:00,640 Speaker 1: an iPhone game, which that'll come into playing at the 269 00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:03,800 Speaker 1: end of our conversation today. So Nintendo has taken this 270 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:06,520 Speaker 1: approach and it's working well for them now. In n 271 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:12,440 Speaker 1: uh So this is ninety nine years into the company's history. 272 00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:15,240 Speaker 1: For those scores, ninety nine years in the company's history. 273 00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:20,640 Speaker 1: Nintendo makes an agreement with another company called Sony. I 274 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:22,680 Speaker 1: think I've heard of them too. Yeah, they were going 275 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:25,600 Speaker 1: to work together and put out a new video game 276 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:29,520 Speaker 1: console system that would use optical disks instead of cartridges 277 00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:32,240 Speaker 1: to store games. Hey, that seems like a great idea 278 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:34,880 Speaker 1: because Sony is really good with this electronics stuff here, 279 00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:39,640 Speaker 1: as Nintendo doesn't take them off. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened. 280 00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:42,920 Speaker 1: Nintendo and Sony could not see eye to eye on 281 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:46,200 Speaker 1: many aspects of the deal, and ultimately the deal fell apart. 282 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:51,400 Speaker 1: Now this this collapse. Yeah, the collapse of this deal 283 00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:54,200 Speaker 1: would later lead Sony to develop its own video game 284 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:56,920 Speaker 1: console system called the PlayStation. I think I've heard of 285 00:15:56,960 --> 00:15:58,720 Speaker 1: that too. You may very well have heard of that. 286 00:15:58,920 --> 00:16:02,080 Speaker 1: Nintendo wishes it had. Yeah, PlayStation ended up causing a 287 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:05,280 Speaker 1: big headache for Nintendo, particularly in Japan in a couple 288 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:08,680 Speaker 1: more years. But we'll get into that in so on 289 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:13,360 Speaker 1: the company's centennial, which is so hard to think up. Like, 290 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:15,320 Speaker 1: there's so many companies out there, and you're like, how 291 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:18,960 Speaker 1: many of them are a century old or older? Not many? 292 00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:21,840 Speaker 1: Not many are still around. Nintendo is one of them. Uh. 293 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:25,800 Speaker 1: In nine the company introduces the game Boy. Now, the 294 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:29,240 Speaker 1: game Boy sold for eighty nine dollars in the United States, 295 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:31,440 Speaker 1: which is about a hundred and fifty dollars a hundred 296 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:35,520 Speaker 1: fifty six dollars today. Uh, and the game Boy sold 297 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:40,080 Speaker 1: very well, partially because it was marketed not just kids, 298 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:43,240 Speaker 1: but to adults who would spend time doing things like 299 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:46,040 Speaker 1: writing the train or the bus. If you were one 300 00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:48,600 Speaker 1: of those people who are commuting on a system like that, 301 00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:53,880 Speaker 1: then you would want something to occupy your time. And uh, yeah, 302 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:56,440 Speaker 1: Chris is humming the theme song to the game that 303 00:16:56,560 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 1: was packaged with the game Boy that became like it was. 304 00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:02,520 Speaker 1: If you want to call about talk about a killer 305 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:05,840 Speaker 1: app or a killer title, this is like one of 306 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:09,560 Speaker 1: the top killer titles of all time. We're talking about Tetris, 307 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:13,280 Speaker 1: which was not a video game developed specifically by Nintendo. 308 00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:18,520 Speaker 1: Actually came from a Russian developer. But Tetris was such 309 00:17:18,560 --> 00:17:23,320 Speaker 1: a compelling puzzle game and still is today that it 310 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:27,640 Speaker 1: it was probably responsible for selling more Game Boy units 311 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:31,480 Speaker 1: than just about anything else. I played Tetris for so 312 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:34,520 Speaker 1: long on my game Boy that I could see when 313 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:36,600 Speaker 1: I turned off, you could tell this this is a 314 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:39,520 Speaker 1: good game. When you turn off the game and you 315 00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:41,880 Speaker 1: close your eyes to go to sleep, and you're still 316 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:44,719 Speaker 1: seeing those little shapes drift into place. Or when you 317 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:47,679 Speaker 1: are moving and you're packing up the moving van and 318 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:50,080 Speaker 1: at the time you're going do do do do do 319 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:52,760 Speaker 1: do do crooked space piece, I don't I needed an 320 00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:58,520 Speaker 1: L shape? Uh yeah, So why did I get that sectional? Um? Yeah? 321 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:02,480 Speaker 1: I spent many many hours with my game Boy. Yeah, 322 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:05,760 Speaker 1: it was a very popular device, and that was my 323 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:09,359 Speaker 1: first Nintendo system. And game Boy also was developed by 324 00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:12,480 Speaker 1: It was designed by gum Pay Yakoi, who we talked 325 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:14,320 Speaker 1: about in the last podcast. He was the fellow who 326 00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 1: was hired and had had turned Nintendo's fortunes around by 327 00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:21,879 Speaker 1: introducing a toy that became the Ultra Hand, basically an 328 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:25,439 Speaker 1: extendable claw that would grip uh toy balls or you know, 329 00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:27,000 Speaker 1: that was what came with it. But you could use 330 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:29,159 Speaker 1: it for all kinds of other games like harassing the 331 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:34,720 Speaker 1: family cat. But yeah, the often than not probably. Yeah. 332 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:36,960 Speaker 1: So he was the fellow who designed the game Boy. 333 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:39,960 Speaker 1: So yeah, very popular design, very simple design, you know, 334 00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:44,239 Speaker 1: unlike his first portable uh for a this was this 335 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:48,800 Speaker 1: was basically the hundred of portable games, because before that 336 00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:51,920 Speaker 1: they were all hardwired, like the Mentel games with the 337 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:55,320 Speaker 1: little led s that would go you know yeah, and 338 00:18:55,359 --> 00:19:00,160 Speaker 1: even even Nintendo's UH game games were all hard fed 339 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:02,359 Speaker 1: at that point. So this was the first cartridge based 340 00:19:02,359 --> 00:19:06,080 Speaker 1: one that really started to take off. So in nineteen nineteen, 341 00:19:06,119 --> 00:19:10,440 Speaker 1: into No introduces the Super Famicom, which in the United 342 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:13,399 Speaker 1: States a year later in ninety one was known as 343 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:16,600 Speaker 1: the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Yeah, the NES was starting 344 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:18,840 Speaker 1: to near the end of its life cycle, though it 345 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:21,560 Speaker 1: was still supported for a few years after this. UM 346 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:24,399 Speaker 1: and the NES was an eight bit video game system, 347 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:27,560 Speaker 1: the S and E S the Supernintendo was a sixteen 348 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:32,040 Speaker 1: bit game system, twice the bits, and at that time 349 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:37,080 Speaker 1: Nintendo boasted an ownership a market share of about eighty 350 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:40,840 Speaker 1: percent of the United States game industry and nine percent 351 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:45,840 Speaker 1: of the worldwide game industry, so truly a dominant company 352 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:49,480 Speaker 1: at this point. Also, this is a good time to 353 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:54,399 Speaker 1: mention the character designs that Miyamoto came up with. The 354 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:56,720 Speaker 1: reason why the characters look the way they do is 355 00:19:56,760 --> 00:20:01,080 Speaker 1: because the eight bit gaming era was so low resolution 356 00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:04,800 Speaker 1: that you had to pick a very simple yet iconic 357 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:07,879 Speaker 1: design to be able to show people what your character 358 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:10,480 Speaker 1: look like. So he has Mario has a giant nose, 359 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:12,720 Speaker 1: so you could see that he had a nose at all. 360 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:15,240 Speaker 1: Mario has a mustache because it was easier to see 361 00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:19,480 Speaker 1: than a mouth. His his his overalls, his hat, all 362 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:22,760 Speaker 1: of that was designed because in order for him to 363 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:25,320 Speaker 1: show up well against multiple backgrounds, he had to have 364 00:20:25,359 --> 00:20:27,400 Speaker 1: a very simple design. And we're done all the way 365 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:30,480 Speaker 1: back to the Donkey Kong days. So um yeah. Even 366 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:33,040 Speaker 1: in the sixteen BET the designs get updated, of course 367 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:36,320 Speaker 1: because now you've got higher resolution, but they're still based 368 00:20:36,359 --> 00:20:39,080 Speaker 1: on that very simple premise and it was something that 369 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:45,800 Speaker 1: guided Miyamoto's design for for many years. Uh yeah. So now, 370 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:48,679 Speaker 1: right around the same time in Japan, Nintendo starts to 371 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:52,600 Speaker 1: face down lawsuits brought against it by competitors who are 372 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:57,960 Speaker 1: accusing Nintendo of fixing prices with retailers, so that essentially 373 00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:00,760 Speaker 1: the Nintendo products would stay on store shell and and 374 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:03,800 Speaker 1: and keep selling, while the competitor peditors would end up 375 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:08,119 Speaker 1: getting pushed. Aside um, Nintendo was is no stranger to 376 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:11,520 Speaker 1: lawsuits century which makes sense. I mean, you know, if 377 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:14,120 Speaker 1: you're the dominant player, then the antitrust lawsuits are gonna 378 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:17,800 Speaker 1: start popping up, because really, for a while, Nintendo was, 379 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:21,159 Speaker 1: and no pun intended, the only game in town, or 380 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:24,640 Speaker 1: so it seemed. Now we're gonna I'm gonna skip ahead 381 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:26,960 Speaker 1: a little bit. So SNDS is really popular. A lot 382 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 1: of really popular titles come out on the SNS. But 383 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:32,280 Speaker 1: I don't think I need to go into all of those. Um, 384 00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:36,600 Speaker 1: let's let's talk about one of Nintendo's major missteps, not 385 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:41,760 Speaker 1: the power Glove, which was its own problem. Nintendo hasn't 386 00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:44,960 Speaker 1: always succeeded when it's come up with some innovative products, 387 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:48,120 Speaker 1: and one of those innovative products that really bombed by 388 00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:53,040 Speaker 1: Virtual Boy. But what could be wrong with that Virtual 389 00:21:53,119 --> 00:21:55,760 Speaker 1: reality was the wave of the future. We're all going 390 00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:57,680 Speaker 1: to be walking around with these things on our heads 391 00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:02,680 Speaker 1: that would show us these amaze immersed in a computer 392 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:06,840 Speaker 1: world that would be uh indistinguishable from our real world 393 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:08,560 Speaker 1: all around us, as long as our real world all 394 00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:13,320 Speaker 1: around us is a monochromatic vector graphic. As it turns out, 395 00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:16,240 Speaker 1: there's a glitch in the matrix. Yeah, so the Virtual 396 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:20,040 Speaker 1: Boy comes out. It's a head node display. It's actually 397 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:22,080 Speaker 1: on a little stand and you lean forward, it's almost 398 00:22:22,119 --> 00:22:24,240 Speaker 1: like a pair of binoculars. You you lean your head 399 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:27,680 Speaker 1: forward and you have a screen for each eye, and 400 00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:30,040 Speaker 1: it if only it didn't have to be hardwired into 401 00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:34,680 Speaker 1: your neural network. It relied on something that we call parallax. 402 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:37,639 Speaker 1: And parallax we've talked about on this podcast before, but 403 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:41,440 Speaker 1: in general, parallax is the phenomena we experience because our 404 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:44,520 Speaker 1: eyes are not located in the exact same spot in 405 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:47,439 Speaker 1: our head, or else we'd all be cyclops. Uh we 406 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:51,959 Speaker 1: have vision, Yeah, yeah, there's a there's a difference between, uh, 407 00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:55,240 Speaker 1: the way an object appears in your left eye and 408 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:57,160 Speaker 1: the way it appears in your right eye, and your 409 00:22:57,160 --> 00:23:00,480 Speaker 1: brain assimilates the information from these two images, and that 410 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:03,359 Speaker 1: helps you judge things like depth. It's not the only 411 00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:05,280 Speaker 1: thing that lets you judge depth. And there are people 412 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:09,200 Speaker 1: who have trouble with parallax who can still tell generally 413 00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:11,560 Speaker 1: how far something is away. And of course the further 414 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:15,000 Speaker 1: away something is, the less parallax matters, because the the 415 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:19,919 Speaker 1: converging points become closer and closer to being parallel instead 416 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:22,919 Speaker 1: of converging on a single point. Um. But anyway, it 417 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:27,400 Speaker 1: used these two screens, one for each I to give 418 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:30,560 Speaker 1: the illusion of depth. And it was monochromatic and used 419 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:34,160 Speaker 1: red graphics, which mean you know, you were staring at 420 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:36,680 Speaker 1: a at a black screen with red graphics on it. 421 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:39,960 Speaker 1: I remember Warrio showed up in UH in Virtual Boy, 422 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:43,560 Speaker 1: and at first I thought Warrio was introduced in Virtual Boy, 423 00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:47,160 Speaker 1: but that's not true. Warrior Warrio actually predates Virtual Boy 424 00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:48,960 Speaker 1: by a few years, and he first appeared on a 425 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:52,199 Speaker 1: Game Boy title. But I remember there was a Warrior 426 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:56,080 Speaker 1: title on Virtual Boy and a friend of mine, um, 427 00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:58,000 Speaker 1: no one, actually, I guess none of my friends actually 428 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:00,119 Speaker 1: owned a Virtual Boy. I remember testing it out in 429 00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:04,600 Speaker 1: in various toy stores, toy stores, not toy stories. Um 430 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:07,000 Speaker 1: you got a friend in me, thank you? And it 431 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:09,520 Speaker 1: launched and around a hundred and eighty bucks when it 432 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:13,120 Speaker 1: came out in UH. It did not do well. People 433 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:16,440 Speaker 1: were disappointed in the graphics quality, They did not feel 434 00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:19,199 Speaker 1: that it was particularly compelling, and there were a lot 435 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:22,240 Speaker 1: of reports of people suffering massive headaches while trying to 436 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:25,080 Speaker 1: play this thing. I can't imagine why, and there and 437 00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:28,440 Speaker 1: there just weren't that many compelling titles either. It was 438 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:31,040 Speaker 1: kind of like a triple threat. Really, you had a 439 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:34,520 Speaker 1: system that just didn't feel like it was fully baked, 440 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:36,639 Speaker 1: You didn't have a lot of really great titles, and 441 00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:41,240 Speaker 1: you had reports of people having headaches while playing it. So, uh, yeah, 442 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:44,560 Speaker 1: the Virtual Boy ended up being a bomb, a non 443 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:48,359 Speaker 1: virtual bomb. Yeah. Um. And apparently I think eight hundred 444 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,960 Speaker 1: thousand of them were produced, so they're now collector's items. 445 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:55,000 Speaker 1: There aren't that many that ever hit the wild. At 446 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:56,679 Speaker 1: least they didn't bury them in the desert. No, they 447 00:24:56,680 --> 00:24:59,000 Speaker 1: didn't grind them up and bury them under the desert 448 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:04,000 Speaker 1: like a certain video game titles where so they didn't 449 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:05,440 Speaker 1: put them on top and I want to put them 450 00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:09,320 Speaker 1: next to e t um Yes, So, how how do 451 00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:11,479 Speaker 1: you recover from a flop like that? Well, they weren't. 452 00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:15,200 Speaker 1: I would argue that that the company's name wasn't damaged 453 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:19,320 Speaker 1: to the point where Nintendo was hurting. But that was certainly, 454 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,159 Speaker 1: uh a thorn in its side. It wasn't like the 455 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:25,320 Speaker 1: Virtual Boy ruined their reputation entirely. It was just that 456 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:28,760 Speaker 1: it was not a success. But in nineties six they 457 00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:32,359 Speaker 1: did bounce back quite a bit. They introduced their next 458 00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:36,679 Speaker 1: video game console. Now this was during the you know, 459 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:38,560 Speaker 1: we we had the eight bit systems, we had the 460 00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:41,760 Speaker 1: sixteen bit systems, a few thirty two bit systems came out, 461 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:45,840 Speaker 1: but Nintendo did not jump on that bandwagon. Instead, Nintendo 462 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:48,960 Speaker 1: bided its time for a sixty four bit system and 463 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:51,920 Speaker 1: surprise the world when the Nintendo sixty four came out, 464 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:55,439 Speaker 1: And I say surprised because they decided to stick with 465 00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:58,399 Speaker 1: the cartridge based games as opposed to moving to an 466 00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:01,760 Speaker 1: optical disc system. Yeah. So let's see who who were 467 00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:05,040 Speaker 1: their competitors. Atari had basically uh, you know, they had 468 00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:07,359 Speaker 1: come out with the links. Yeah, we had, it was 469 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:10,800 Speaker 1: not doing well. You had Sega, which we if you've 470 00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:13,320 Speaker 1: listened to our podcast about Sega, you realized that Sega, 471 00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:16,280 Speaker 1: although it was always an also ran when it came 472 00:26:16,359 --> 00:26:21,520 Speaker 1: up against Nintendo, except Nintendo really kind of rebuilt the 473 00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:26,720 Speaker 1: home digital video game market and uh and Sega came 474 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:29,800 Speaker 1: along about that time, and they gave they they were 475 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:34,520 Speaker 1: the the Apple to Nintendo's Microsoft in this world because 476 00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:39,040 Speaker 1: they pushed Nintendo harder and we're a good competitor. And 477 00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:42,680 Speaker 1: in fact, their marketing slogan was Sega does what Nintendo 478 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:47,240 Speaker 1: don't because they had Sonic. Sonic was designed to show 479 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:52,160 Speaker 1: off the speed of the Genesis UH system at home, 480 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,680 Speaker 1: and it did a great job of showing that off 481 00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:58,000 Speaker 1: because he moved very quickly. The graphics sixteen bit system 482 00:26:58,119 --> 00:27:03,800 Speaker 1: looked very nice. Um, and then you had Sony. Yeah, 483 00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:07,800 Speaker 1: the PlayStation. Really In Japan, the Nintendo sixty four did 484 00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:10,920 Speaker 1: not do so well, and it's because its main competitor 485 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:14,040 Speaker 1: was the Sony PlayStation, which just seemed much more compelling. 486 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:16,639 Speaker 1: The graphics seemed better, um, and they were using an 487 00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:18,720 Speaker 1: optical disc system, which meant that the games could be 488 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:22,760 Speaker 1: far more complex. Cartridge had a limited amount of space 489 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:26,720 Speaker 1: that you could hardwire a game onto, and also it 490 00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:29,800 Speaker 1: meant that there were limitations with a cartridge based game 491 00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:32,879 Speaker 1: that you didn't necessarily have with an optical system game. However, 492 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:36,399 Speaker 1: there were also positive sides to go with cartridge based 493 00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:38,480 Speaker 1: the big one being that you didn't have to worry 494 00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:41,000 Speaker 1: about loading times. Yes, and you also don't have to 495 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:43,960 Speaker 1: worry nearly as much about ruining the cartridge as you 496 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:46,360 Speaker 1: did about scratching it, and it's much more robust than 497 00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:49,160 Speaker 1: the disc was. But yeah, the big one being loading times, 498 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:51,560 Speaker 1: because you know, with an optical based one, the laser 499 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:53,679 Speaker 1: had to find the right track on the CD in 500 00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:56,320 Speaker 1: ordered for it to start playing the right information and 501 00:27:56,359 --> 00:28:00,080 Speaker 1: then load that information into the the console's memory so 502 00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:03,080 Speaker 1: that you could start playing, whereas with a cartridge bass system, 503 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:06,560 Speaker 1: it just because everything's hardwired, it's never changing. It goes 504 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:08,520 Speaker 1: straight to where it needs to go, and you didn't 505 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:11,560 Speaker 1: have to have these loading screens. And Nintendo thought that 506 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:14,639 Speaker 1: was an advantage. And uh, in the United States, it 507 00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:17,240 Speaker 1: did quite well. In fact, some of the best games, 508 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:20,280 Speaker 1: some people would argue of all time came out during 509 00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:23,919 Speaker 1: the Nintendo sixty four era. But that controller. I liked 510 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:26,760 Speaker 1: the controller. I actually enjoyed that controller. Uh. And it 511 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:30,199 Speaker 1: was the first one to have a thumbstick in Nintendo's history. Uh, 512 00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:32,840 Speaker 1: not the first, not the first one to have a 513 00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:35,679 Speaker 1: thumbstick ever, but the first one for Nintendo before they 514 00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:38,520 Speaker 1: were using the D pad. Yeah. So yeah, that, like 515 00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:40,960 Speaker 1: Gold and I, came out for the Nintendo sixty four 516 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:43,040 Speaker 1: and that was a big hit. That was a big hit, 517 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:46,120 Speaker 1: one of the one of the games that people still 518 00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:47,920 Speaker 1: will refer to as one of the best video games 519 00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:50,960 Speaker 1: of all time. Um. Oddly enough, I think it's probably 520 00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:56,200 Speaker 1: arguably more favorite of people, uh than the actual movie. Yeah, 521 00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:59,320 Speaker 1: and that's just personal observation, not based on anything other 522 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:02,760 Speaker 1: than that. So Don't write Me, and and there were 523 00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:06,040 Speaker 1: other games like Mario sixty four really kind of reinvented 524 00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:09,600 Speaker 1: Mario quite a bit. Um. People thought that was pretty innovative. 525 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:12,640 Speaker 1: I was a huge fan of the wrestling games that 526 00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:15,480 Speaker 1: came out for the Nintendo sixty four. They were very deep, 527 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:20,120 Speaker 1: They allowed incredible customization. You could create your own wrestler. Um. 528 00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:23,800 Speaker 1: There were phenomenal games, and the Japanese games were even 529 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:26,640 Speaker 1: more robust than the American ones. I had all the 530 00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:30,520 Speaker 1: American titles because I didn't have the Japanese system. You 531 00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:33,520 Speaker 1: couldn't play Japanese games on an American system unless you 532 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:37,000 Speaker 1: had an adapter um or in Japanese, you know, or 533 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:39,720 Speaker 1: you just went ahead and bought a Japanese game system. Right. 534 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:42,720 Speaker 1: Two systems were not compatible. They were region locked for 535 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:45,560 Speaker 1: the you know, that's the easiest way of saying it. 536 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:48,080 Speaker 1: But I loved a lot of the games in the 537 00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:50,400 Speaker 1: in sixty four. In sixty four does well in the 538 00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:52,760 Speaker 1: United States, doesn't do so well in Japan. And two 539 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:56,680 Speaker 1: thousand one, uh Hit they introduced the Game Boy Advance, 540 00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:01,480 Speaker 1: but they also introduced them into No Game Cue Ube. Yes, 541 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:04,280 Speaker 1: so there's a five years have passed since the sixty 542 00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:06,800 Speaker 1: four debut nine six and sixty four comes out two 543 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:09,239 Speaker 1: thousand one. You get the game the GameCube, and this 544 00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:12,080 Speaker 1: is when Nintendo moves to the optical disks, except they 545 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:15,959 Speaker 1: don't use the big optical disks the same size as 546 00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:18,960 Speaker 1: a CD or DVD. No, these are smaller. So yeah, 547 00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:21,560 Speaker 1: that kind of part of that is a d r 548 00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:24,360 Speaker 1: M thing. But anyway, it was one of those things 549 00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:26,960 Speaker 1: where where people were, oh, so, now Nintendo is getting 550 00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:30,160 Speaker 1: on the the disc train as opposed to cartridge is 551 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:32,800 Speaker 1: on the train. They did not look back from that 552 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:37,800 Speaker 1: point forward. Uh, Nope. They had removable storage and uh 553 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:40,880 Speaker 1: and a very nice game controller. Actually, the GameCube was 554 00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:44,280 Speaker 1: my first Nintendo home console, not counting the game Boy 555 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:47,640 Speaker 1: because that's a portable and it also had some compatibility 556 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:50,200 Speaker 1: stuff with game Boy Advance. So you started to see 557 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,440 Speaker 1: some convergence here where you could you could have the 558 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:56,360 Speaker 1: two systems interact with one another, which I like, Yeah, 559 00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:59,960 Speaker 1: that was kind of cool. And then in two thousand two, uh, 560 00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:04,640 Speaker 1: Satoru Iwata becomes the first Nintendo CEO who was not 561 00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:10,160 Speaker 1: related to the founder Yamachi um by marriage or by blood, 562 00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:11,800 Speaker 1: so he was the first time was the first time, 563 00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:14,760 Speaker 1: Nintendo had a CEO that was not part of this legacy, 564 00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:19,080 Speaker 1: and he took over at that point. In two thousand three, 565 00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:22,320 Speaker 1: Nintendo introduced the game Boy Advanced sp which was a 566 00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:25,680 Speaker 1: thinner and lighter version of the game Boy Advance and uh. 567 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:28,640 Speaker 1: In two thousand five and two thousand six, Nintendo starts 568 00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:32,760 Speaker 1: to launch their DS line, which interestingly looked a lot 569 00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:36,840 Speaker 1: like some of the old the old game and watch 570 00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:41,880 Speaker 1: um systems that had the clamshell designed to double screens, 571 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:45,200 Speaker 1: but in this case they included a touch screen with stylus, 572 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:47,440 Speaker 1: and so that was kind of a differentiator in the 573 00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:51,800 Speaker 1: home or the handheld market at the time, because remember 574 00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:54,680 Speaker 1: in two thousand five and two thousand six, smartphones and 575 00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:57,200 Speaker 1: not really become a thing in the United States, and 576 00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:00,360 Speaker 1: games for smartphones were pretty much unheard of at that point, yes, 577 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:04,000 Speaker 1: at least in the US. UM and then the Nintendo 578 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:06,560 Speaker 1: launches the d S I in April two thousand six, 579 00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:10,440 Speaker 1: and then we have to you know, the WE also 580 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:13,360 Speaker 1: comes out in that around that time, the WE console, 581 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:16,600 Speaker 1: which is the current Nintendo console on the market, introduces 582 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:19,800 Speaker 1: the Wei remote where you've got the motion gaming, and 583 00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:24,440 Speaker 1: Nintendo kind of surprises people by taking aim at the 584 00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:28,880 Speaker 1: casual gaming market. Yeah. See um, if you'll remember, at 585 00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:33,120 Speaker 1: that point, Microsoft had released the Xbox and the Xbox 586 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:38,200 Speaker 1: three six UM, and Sony and the PlayStation three. Yeah, 587 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:41,960 Speaker 1: I mean they PlayStation two was a huge success. H. 588 00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:44,840 Speaker 1: The Xbox was a huge success, and basically Nintendo was 589 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:46,880 Speaker 1: taking it on the chin with the GameCube. Although the 590 00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:52,360 Speaker 1: GameCube was sophisticated um, and it had again the the 591 00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:57,160 Speaker 1: uh brilliant licensing maneuvers of Nintendo by keeping Mario and 592 00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:00,840 Speaker 1: the Zelda franchise and some of the others Metroid uh 593 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:04,479 Speaker 1: alive on the console and locked into the Nintendo console 594 00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:08,440 Speaker 1: the fans of the franchise. Again, Miamoto's thinking that there 595 00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:11,960 Speaker 1: should be a story is playing into Nintendo's success because 596 00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:16,160 Speaker 1: without that storyline and the fans want the storyline, Um, 597 00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:21,320 Speaker 1: Nintendo probably. I think you could argue, um that Nintendo 598 00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:24,400 Speaker 1: may not have survived past that because uh, there was 599 00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:27,680 Speaker 1: an onslaught from Sony and Microsoft and they needed again 600 00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:30,360 Speaker 1: they needed something to differentiate them from the mark and 601 00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:33,080 Speaker 1: from the rest of the market. And the we did that. Yeah, 602 00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:35,160 Speaker 1: and it was when the Week came out, it really 603 00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:38,000 Speaker 1: did make a big splash. I mean, it had huge 604 00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:41,520 Speaker 1: sales figures, and it was leading the video game console 605 00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:44,000 Speaker 1: sales in the United States for for ages. I mean 606 00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:46,680 Speaker 1: for the longest time. It was uh, the question wasn't 607 00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:48,760 Speaker 1: who's in the lead, it was who's in the second place, 608 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:51,680 Speaker 1: because you knew that Nintendo was in the lead. But 609 00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:57,440 Speaker 1: Nintendo sales have slowed down more recently because we well 610 00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:00,720 Speaker 1: a lot of reasons. The game consoles several years old now, 611 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:04,760 Speaker 1: and um as are the Xbox in the PlayStation models 612 00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:07,680 Speaker 1: the current models. But Nintendo also has the problem of 613 00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:10,640 Speaker 1: it aimed for casual gamers, and casual gamers don't tend 614 00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:13,640 Speaker 1: to be the kind of people who rush out and 615 00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:16,960 Speaker 1: buy the next new title. Necessarily, they might be satisfied 616 00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:20,360 Speaker 1: with just a few handful of titles because they gain casually, 617 00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:23,040 Speaker 1: They're not that they're not as heavily invested in the 618 00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:26,200 Speaker 1: system as a hardcore gamer is. Yeah, I mean, their 619 00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:30,839 Speaker 1: gamers will replay games even on older consoles. They will 620 00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:34,560 Speaker 1: keep older consoles and older computers around to play classic 621 00:34:34,640 --> 00:34:37,640 Speaker 1: games that they really love. Case in point, the newer 622 00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:41,200 Speaker 1: versions of Golden Eye, long after the movie franchise has 623 00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:45,800 Speaker 1: moved on. Several films um Golden I is sticking around 624 00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:50,440 Speaker 1: on newer consoles, and so you've got with the Nintendo we' 625 00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:54,520 Speaker 1: you've got this issue with saturation again, just like with 626 00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:58,359 Speaker 1: the video the playing cards back in the sixties, you've 627 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:02,000 Speaker 1: got uh, you know, the argument is just about everyone 628 00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:04,920 Speaker 1: who wants a wee has a wee, and so there's 629 00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:06,640 Speaker 1: not a whole lot of reason to go out and 630 00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:08,919 Speaker 1: buy more. So of course sales figures are gonna start 631 00:35:08,960 --> 00:35:13,160 Speaker 1: to falter. Plus I'm sorry, go ahead. Plus Microsoft now 632 00:35:13,200 --> 00:35:16,160 Speaker 1: has to connect and Sony has the move, so now 633 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:21,040 Speaker 1: they're motion control is not as big a deal anymore. Um. 634 00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:26,040 Speaker 1: And so also the smartphone revolution and the gaming on 635 00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:29,600 Speaker 1: smartphones and social networks has taken a big bido Nintendo 636 00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:32,960 Speaker 1: because Nintendo was taking aim at that casual gamer. Well 637 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:35,600 Speaker 1: back in two thousand and six when the Week comes out, 638 00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:38,920 Speaker 1: the casual gamer wasn't really being catered to that way. 639 00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:43,600 Speaker 1: But today you've got everything from phones to uh to 640 00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:48,319 Speaker 1: uh you know, set top boxes in some cases, to um, 641 00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:51,800 Speaker 1: you know, the social networks that all have these casual 642 00:35:51,880 --> 00:35:55,480 Speaker 1: games that are available. Nintendo has no longer got a 643 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:59,439 Speaker 1: lock on that. So it's they're actually in a way, 644 00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:02,040 Speaker 1: you could say their competition is way more fierce in 645 00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:04,280 Speaker 1: that area than it would be if they were competing 646 00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:08,000 Speaker 1: against Microsoft and Sony. Well, now I would argue that 647 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:11,600 Speaker 1: that Nintendo is finding itself at a crossroads. UM. It 648 00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:15,240 Speaker 1: has announced the Wii U, which is the next version 649 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:19,520 Speaker 1: of the Wi. Um Yukoy had said, as you will 650 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:22,399 Speaker 1: recall from the last podcast, that Nintendo was the kind 651 00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:25,920 Speaker 1: of company that takes mature technology and utilizes it to 652 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:28,640 Speaker 1: create new products, which is exactly what they did with 653 00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:31,080 Speaker 1: the WI that enabled them to hit a lower price 654 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:34,359 Speaker 1: point out of the out of the gate um. And 655 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:38,720 Speaker 1: people criticize the hardcore gamers who liked the Xbox three sixty, 656 00:36:38,719 --> 00:36:41,880 Speaker 1: who liked the PlayStation three because it had UH full 657 00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:46,560 Speaker 1: on her high definition graphics UH, criticized the we because 658 00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:51,080 Speaker 1: it only had the lower definition. Um, well, it's still 659 00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:54,480 Speaker 1: high deaf, but it's UH DVD resolution, not the ten 660 00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:59,560 Speaker 1: A DP. It was seven UM and or seven or 661 00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:04,560 Speaker 1: seven twenty I away lines of resolution. It's not it's 662 00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:07,279 Speaker 1: not top of the line. Yeah, And the we U 663 00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:10,839 Speaker 1: is aimed at the high def market and it has 664 00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:14,920 Speaker 1: a again, they've reinvented the controller. It has a it's 665 00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:18,279 Speaker 1: a much bigger controller that has additional functionality has its 666 00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:22,560 Speaker 1: own screen UM. But they're also like combining the d 667 00:37:22,719 --> 00:37:27,360 Speaker 1: S I with the UM and some people really like it, 668 00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:29,120 Speaker 1: some people really don't. We'll have to see when it 669 00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:31,359 Speaker 1: actually gets out on the market whether it succeeds or not. 670 00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:35,520 Speaker 1: But the DS is competing with smartphones and other devices, 671 00:37:35,719 --> 00:37:38,680 Speaker 1: and people have pointed out, and rightfully, so, why would 672 00:37:38,719 --> 00:37:40,840 Speaker 1: I pay thirty dollars, which is sort of the price 673 00:37:40,880 --> 00:37:43,719 Speaker 1: point for a new DS game, when I can get 674 00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:47,640 Speaker 1: the same exact game for my smartphone for five dollars, 675 00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:51,640 Speaker 1: And and my smartphone does stuff other than play games. 676 00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:54,120 Speaker 1: So some people say that perhaps Nintendo should get into 677 00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:58,799 Speaker 1: the smartphone business, or perhaps Nintendo should re reevaluate it's 678 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:02,520 Speaker 1: it's line on not licensing out it's it's prime core 679 00:38:02,600 --> 00:38:05,279 Speaker 1: material to other companies. We should also point out the 680 00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:10,280 Speaker 1: three D S, which launched in is another Nintendo slow starter. 681 00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:12,440 Speaker 1: It has not done nearly as well in the market 682 00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:14,640 Speaker 1: as they had hoped. That, of course, is the d 683 00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:17,800 Speaker 1: S system, the handheld gaming system that has the glasses 684 00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:23,239 Speaker 1: free three D effect, using essentially a variation on a 685 00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:26,360 Speaker 1: lenticular display. If you'd like to see one. Taking apart 686 00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:28,880 Speaker 1: you can see that on our website. Yeah, I I 687 00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:33,000 Speaker 1: we bought one specifically for me to demolish, and I did, 688 00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:36,160 Speaker 1: and there was much wailing and nation of teeth. But 689 00:38:36,239 --> 00:38:39,240 Speaker 1: the yeah, the three DS was sort of Nintendo's approach 690 00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:43,000 Speaker 1: to try and combat the smartphone casual gaming market by 691 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:45,960 Speaker 1: introducing this new element three D, which was not available 692 00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:49,279 Speaker 1: on most other systems. But it just has not taken off. 693 00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:51,719 Speaker 1: And a lot of people who have enjoyed the three 694 00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:55,080 Speaker 1: DS have told me this is anecdotal, but they have 695 00:38:55,120 --> 00:38:57,160 Speaker 1: told me that they've just turned the three D off 696 00:38:57,200 --> 00:39:00,160 Speaker 1: because it's just more of a problem than than Uh. 697 00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:03,680 Speaker 1: It doesn't it doesn't enhance the gameplay for them. So 698 00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:06,560 Speaker 1: the Xcel, however, has done reasonably well. It's as with 699 00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:09,600 Speaker 1: a larger screen. Yeah, and uh, I we need to 700 00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:12,399 Speaker 1: start wrapping up this, uh this episode. But I did 701 00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:14,480 Speaker 1: want to point out one other thing. We've been talking 702 00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:16,520 Speaker 1: about lots of different people, and I do have a 703 00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:19,680 Speaker 1: kind of a tragic ending for one of the folks 704 00:39:19,719 --> 00:39:23,600 Speaker 1: involved in this story. Um Yakoi, the guy who was 705 00:39:23,680 --> 00:39:26,280 Speaker 1: the designer who came up with the game Boy design. 706 00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:28,520 Speaker 1: He also designed the Virtual Boy, so not everything he 707 00:39:28,600 --> 00:39:32,080 Speaker 1: touched turned to Gold, he decided to leave Nintendo in 708 00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:39,239 Speaker 1: and he went to found his own company, but unfortunately, tragically, 709 00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:42,160 Speaker 1: he died as a result of a car accident in 710 00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:47,120 Speaker 1: he his car rear ended a truck on a highway 711 00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:49,040 Speaker 1: and when he got out to inspect the damage, he 712 00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:51,720 Speaker 1: was struck by another driver and died as a result. 713 00:39:52,560 --> 00:39:54,880 Speaker 1: So that was something I thought I mentioned. It was 714 00:39:54,920 --> 00:39:58,600 Speaker 1: a person who really was instrumental in the design of 715 00:39:58,640 --> 00:40:01,400 Speaker 1: a lot of early Nintendo US and his design elements 716 00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:05,839 Speaker 1: carried over into current generation Nintendo products, and I thought 717 00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:09,439 Speaker 1: it was it was important to remember him. And Uh, 718 00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:12,160 Speaker 1: it's sad, of course, the way, um, the way that 719 00:40:12,200 --> 00:40:14,560 Speaker 1: all turned out, but I thought it was something that 720 00:40:14,600 --> 00:40:18,279 Speaker 1: we should definitely touch on. So it'll be interesting to 721 00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:20,920 Speaker 1: see what happens to Nintendo in the future. Recently, as 722 00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:24,480 Speaker 1: of eleven, the company has been struggling financially. Uh, it's 723 00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:26,960 Speaker 1: just it's one of those things where the video game 724 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:30,240 Speaker 1: console market saturation has caused problems. The three DS sales 725 00:40:30,239 --> 00:40:35,279 Speaker 1: have caused problems, but the company has returned from setbacks 726 00:40:35,400 --> 00:40:38,080 Speaker 1: in the past, so we can't we can't just discount 727 00:40:38,120 --> 00:40:40,040 Speaker 1: Nintendo and say that they're out of the game. Like 728 00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:42,560 Speaker 1: they're they're also ran. At this point, there's always the 729 00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:46,319 Speaker 1: chance that they're going to reinvent the home video game 730 00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:50,280 Speaker 1: market yet again. Yeah, and it's it. It's uh. Well, 731 00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:53,279 Speaker 1: just before we recorded this a few days ago, they 732 00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:56,319 Speaker 1: announced that their earnings were going to be less even 733 00:40:56,320 --> 00:41:01,880 Speaker 1: than they had predicted before. UM, which is some mumblings 734 00:41:01,880 --> 00:41:06,040 Speaker 1: of doom and gloom around the industry. But um uh, 735 00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:08,239 Speaker 1: you know, they could also end up as saga. Did 736 00:41:08,920 --> 00:41:12,240 Speaker 1: you wonder what the creators of Mario and Link and 737 00:41:12,239 --> 00:41:14,840 Speaker 1: and all those other characters Kirby and so many of 738 00:41:14,840 --> 00:41:19,000 Speaker 1: the others that we love, UM would would do. I mean, 739 00:41:19,320 --> 00:41:22,120 Speaker 1: Sega found as it got out of the video game 740 00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:25,600 Speaker 1: console business that it still could make great video games, 741 00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:29,200 Speaker 1: uh some not so great UM, but still sell them 742 00:41:29,239 --> 00:41:32,840 Speaker 1: to uh markets and reach out through other people's hardware. 743 00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:35,400 Speaker 1: And I think they've been somewhat successful in partnering with 744 00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:39,400 Speaker 1: Nintendo UM to do that. Uh. So it is possible 745 00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:41,600 Speaker 1: that even if Nintendo gets out of the hardware business, 746 00:41:41,680 --> 00:41:44,399 Speaker 1: they could still end up making fantastic games around their 747 00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:48,920 Speaker 1: their wonderful characters. UM. So hopefully, you know, if they 748 00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:51,600 Speaker 1: find a way to UM that they'll find a way 749 00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:53,879 Speaker 1: to continue one way or the other, but they're still 750 00:41:53,880 --> 00:42:03,120 Speaker 1: not They're still not out of it yet. Oh Hi there, 751 00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:06,040 Speaker 1: how are you? I hope you enjoyed that classic episode 752 00:42:06,080 --> 00:42:09,520 Speaker 1: tech Stuff. Next week, I'm going to dive into what 753 00:42:09,560 --> 00:42:12,160 Speaker 1: the company has been up to since two thousand and eleven, 754 00:42:12,640 --> 00:42:15,080 Speaker 1: and there's a lot to talk about, things that are 755 00:42:15,320 --> 00:42:19,880 Speaker 1: both fun and interesting and exciting and some very tragic 756 00:42:20,560 --> 00:42:22,879 Speaker 1: UH situations as well, And I'm going to cover all 757 00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:25,160 Speaker 1: of that in the next episode where we really dive 758 00:42:25,239 --> 00:42:27,960 Speaker 1: into what Nintendo has been up to and what is 759 00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:30,359 Speaker 1: the future of the company, what does that look like 760 00:42:30,680 --> 00:42:33,800 Speaker 1: and can anyone really predict what's going to happen next? 761 00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:37,080 Speaker 1: So that will be the focus of next week's episode. 762 00:42:37,080 --> 00:42:40,879 Speaker 1: Make sure you joined to hear the exciting conclusion of 763 00:42:41,160 --> 00:42:43,600 Speaker 1: a series that has been five years in the making 764 00:42:43,680 --> 00:42:47,160 Speaker 1: as it turns out. If you have suggestions for future episodes, 765 00:42:47,239 --> 00:42:49,600 Speaker 1: or maybe it's a guest host that you think would 766 00:42:49,600 --> 00:42:52,120 Speaker 1: be awesome to have on the mic with me, or 767 00:42:52,200 --> 00:42:55,399 Speaker 1: someone I should interview in the future, please let me know. 768 00:42:55,600 --> 00:42:58,640 Speaker 1: The email address is text stuff at how stuff works 769 00:42:58,719 --> 00:43:02,000 Speaker 1: dot com or draw me align on Facebook or Twitter 770 00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:04,960 Speaker 1: to handle at both of those. Is text stuff hs 771 00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:12,359 Speaker 1: W and I'll talk to you again. Releases For more 772 00:43:12,360 --> 00:43:14,680 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics, is it how 773 00:43:14,719 --> 00:43:25,520 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com