Allan Deonarine

Nintendo vs Apple

Nintendo has been enjoying record success during the most recent console cycle. With the Wii and the DS selling like hot cakes, the risk they took on motion controls and touch screen gaming seemed to have paid off. However, Nintendo's fortunes have taken a sharp down turn recently. The Wii's sales have dropped significantly and their freshly launched 3DS has not been selling a well as predicted.

There has been a lot of discussion as to the cause of Nintendo's recent woes, most of which seem to center around the idea that motion gaming is a novelty and that there is no compelling reason to own a 3DS.

Increasingly in recent years the smartphone is becoming a convergent device. It has already replaced my point-and-shoot camera, my iPod, my GPS, and my PSP. Why carry around all that when your smartphone can do most of those functions, if not the best, at an acceptable level?

As for the games on the mobile space, there is a huge price gap between a 99 iPhone game and a $40 DS cartridge. Granted the games on the 3DS have a high production value, but is that really necessary for a game you want to pick-up and play for 5-10min while on the subway or waiting for a bus?

At the 99¢  price point, developers are allowed to take more risks and have come up with some truly innovative games for the smartphone, but on the 3DS, publishers are not willing to invest the $5-10 million on a game unless they know it will be a success. The market is filled with a bunch of remakes and squeals as a result. Nintendo's President recently apologized for the companies' failings in an open letter. It was surprising to hear a executive speak so frankly on the matter.

In a world where everyone will soon own a smartphone that can do most of what they want reasonably well, I fear that the dedicated gaming hand-held is going the way of the Dodo.