4 ms·
>was that Game Consoles were marketed more as toys than computers, right? Well, even if one wanted to, a marketing exec really couldn't advertise Nintendo NES
by jasode 8y ago
>was that Game Consoles were marketed more as toys than computers, right?
Well, even if one wanted to, a marketing exec really couldn't advertise Nintendo NES as a "general computer" since it had no keyboard nor ability to connect a disk drive and printer. The "toy" aspect was an intrinsic property of NES (the "E" in Nintendo _E_ntertainment System) rather than a marketing angle. Therefore, its focus on gaming dictated the type of commercials you could run to advertise it.[1]
From what I remember, the Nintendo NES was the first console where the quality of the games closely matched the real arcade versions.[2] Donkey Kong was a prime example. The NES version looked, sounded, and played like the real thing. (This wasn't true arcade games licensed & ported to Commodore 64, Intellivision, Atari, etc.)
The combination of low price point with higher quality games I think were the key factors for its success.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDFvkWY6tJU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDFvkWY6tJU
[2] https://www.google.com/search?q=donkey+kong+arcade+original&source=lnms&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=donkey+kong+arcade+original&...
- dfxm12 8y agoWell, even if one wanted to, a marketing exec really couldn't advertise Nintendo NES as a "general computer" since it had no keyboard nor ability to connect a disk drive and printer. This was a conscience choice by Nintendo of America though. The Japanese counterpart of the NES has the hardware and software capabilities of a computer, like a disk and cassette recorder, BASIC, and a keyboard. These were never released in the US.
- thisisandyok 8y agoThey made it as far as prototyping those devices, before the NES was released. http://nintendo.wikia.com/wiki/Nintendo_AVS http://nintendo.wikia.com/wiki/Nintendo_AVS
- qbrass 8y agoThe Nintendo Famicom is an abbreviation of Family Computer. You could get a keyboard and BASIC as an accessory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_BASIC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_BASIC