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There is something about Nintendo

I was reading gaming bible Edge magazine this month. Legendary programmer Jeff Minter was banging on about the new generation of games consoles, and mentioned something about some of his non-gaming friends enquiring about the then-upcoming games console, the Nintendo Wii. In passing he also mentioned that they both owned a Nintendo DS handheld console each, as if somehow the assumed ubiquity of Nintendo’s latest portable device meant that it doesn’t bestow the title of ‘gamer’ upon its owners.

The DS Lite - the smaller, newer, and better version of the DS - is selling out everywhere. Over Christmas shops were struggling to keep up with demand and some buyers were forced to resort to the murky underworld of eBay. The same appetite for DS Lite’s exists in Japan, where stores are restocking and selling out in record time (especially when you consider the ‘Lite’ was released in Japan 10 months ago). The DS is based around a pen-like stylus and touch sensitive screen, which has created a new craze in mini-games and a new interactive interface for players to enjoy.

In December, hot on the coattails of the DS’s success and just in time for Christmas, Nintendo launched its latest TV-based console, the Wii. While Sony and Microsoft, the major players in the last console war, have been striking blows upon each other during the gestation of their own consoles, claiming their respective system is the most powerful and more visually stunning, Nintendo has quietly gone about its business, developing a quirky, yet somewhat revolutionary new console.

But before we discuss the Wii, let’s just take a look at its fearsome adversaries…

Microsoft released its XBOX 360 in March last year and has enjoyed good sales; surpassing 10m-shipped units in December ’06 (an ambitious self-imposed target). The 360 is a powerful console which delivers brilliant graphics and, because of its one-year head start, already has a large catalogue of impressive games to tempt buyers.

The development of Sony’s PlayStation3 has taken longer. Racked by impractical over-ambition and technical problems, the delays meant that the new PlayStation arrived to market expensive and late. It is however an astonishing piece of hardware. Running much quieter and cooler than the 360, the PS3 is built around radical new processor technology and uses Blu-ray, Sony’s new Hi-Definition storage medium. If the next console war were a battle of pure power and cutting-edge technology, the PS3 would easily rout the opposition.

The economic reality of the gaming industry means that the PS3 may never reach its full potential. Large publishing houses will develop their major titles across all the platforms. This means that the 360 and PS3 versions will inherently be the same games, just tweaked here and there. Only 360 or PS3 exclusive games will be developed and optimised for the relevant console. It may take some time before programmers are familiar enough to get the most from any new console architecture.

In comparison to these polygon-crunching powerhouses, the Wii appears, and please excuse the wordplay, a little weedy. Essentially just an enhanced Gamecube (its fairly unsuccessful predecessor), the console would hardly cause a blip on the radar were it not for two important factors.

The first is the revolutionary new user input device. Rather that using a game controller with a small analogue joystick and various buttons, the Wii uses a wand-like interface (similar in appearance to a VCR remote), which uses internal motion detection technology to track the user’s movements. In essence the Wii Remote (as the ‘wand’ is called) is able to empower the gamer to physically mimic the game characters movements (with the actions communicated to the console). Tennis games become exercises in swishing arms around, and boxing games are energetic bouts of punching air. It’s an extraordinary experience, and the physical exertion required has meant it has actually been defined as exercise - quite the remedy for Britain’s increasingly overweight and unhealthy kids.

The second point is the Nintendo factor. Nintendo are the single most important gaming company in the world. Nintendo’s main franchises – Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Metroid, and more recently Nintendogs – are titans of the gaming world. No series of games have been as universally critically acclaimed as the Zelda series, and Mario stands tall as the industry’s defining icon. Add into the creative mix an unquenchable commitment to quality and easy playability, and you have one of the most attractive and approachable entries into gaming imaginable. It’s no wonder that non-gaming people are taking their first dip into the gaming pond with the Wii and DS.

While Sony and Microsoft carve up the established gaming fraternity (and yes, gamers are still overwhelmingly male) between them, Nintendo seeks to open up new, broader, and potentially more lucrative markets with its new console. Competitively priced, and bundled with a five-sport introductory game that showcases perfectly the Wii Remote’s potential (the addictive Wii Sports), the Wii is easily the most affordable and assessable of the new generation of games consoles.

A child playing Wii

As kids (including me – a 28-year-old kid) opened up their Wii’s on Christmas morning, for the first time, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, were compelled to take up a controller and play a videogame. Other parents, who for so long have avoided buying their kids a games console, for fear of exposing them to violence and laziness, are plumping for Nintendo’s more active alternative.

Nintendo has taken gaming out of the bedroom and put it into the living room. This is why the Wii will be a profitable and successful product. The Wii may not knock people’s socks off with its graphical might or awesome multi-channel sound, but it certainly pushes at the boundaries of user interaction and our experience of gameplay. Motion sensing technology has been marketed before, but it took Nintendo’s brave approach - putting the concept right at the centre of their new console - and impeccable creativity to pull it off.

That’s the Nintendo difference.