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There's a great deal more factors aside from the rise of the iOS platform that are relevant to Nintendo's poor performance. - Extremely strong yen. - 3DS is a

There's a great deal more factors aside from the rise of the iOS platform that are relevant to Nintendo's poor performance. - Extremely strong yen. - 3DS is an expensive platform in the youth space at a time of economic uncertainty. (They've since price dropped to ~$169) - 3DS appears to be a mere Nintendo DS 0.5 update until you actually experience the 3D in person. - Weak 3DS games. - Nintendo got over protective parents concerned by stating themselves that young kids (Nintendo's core market) shouldn't play the device. - The Wii is dead. The iOS platform is popular but we have to consider how many of the folks engaging in iOS gaming were likely to buy a 3DS in the first place. I'm not convinced yet that we're seeing a mass switch over. I think Nintendo does have to treat this competition very seriously, but I think some of the other points I listed above have had a larger negative impact on the 3DS and Nintendo's recent performance than the rise of iOS gaming.

plnewman 15y ago
I'm actually pretty underwhelmed by the 3D on the 3DS. I was really looking forward to it but it doesn't seem to add anything to the games. Market saturation is another one. Nintendo is traditionally strong in it's home market, but I was watching a TV program in Japan prior to the 3DS launch saying that one in four Japanese owns a DS. Hard to imagine they can sell more hardware units.
- jerf 15y ago
  The genres that ought to really benefit are mostly not out yet. Which is one of the general problems the device has. I'm going to end up getting one because my DS Lite is biting the dust after 5 years of service, and they've structured the prices so that I have no real reason not to just go for it. (I have a significant enough DS backlog that it isn't economical for me to just abandon it, either.) For me, the touchstone game will actually be Super Mario 3D Land in mid-November. Does 3D solve some of the problems that have plagued 3D platformers since day one, like the extreme difficulty in judging depth that we've just sort of hacked around but is still a problem, or not? If it doesn't add anything to that genre, stick a fork in it, 3D is done, or at least portable 3D. But I'd like to see it before I make that call. Even Ocarina of Time isn't a good judge, because that was built for 3D-on-2D screens like everything else. SM3DL will have been built for 3D from the beginning. If that doesn't cut it, nothing will. It's still possible for the 3DS to follow the DS trajectory of recovering from an initial release slump, but only if there's some sort of real benefit to the 3D beyond the first two minutes.
  - w33ble 15y ago
    Nintendo has said that none of the games for the system are allowed to require 3D to play, so I don't know if you should expect anything too groundbreaking there. I think the 3DS's biggest problem is the overwhelming success of the original DS. Damn near everyone owns one, so people are still making titles for it. Aside from the 3D feature, this leaves little incentive to upgrade, unless your original DS is on its last leg and you still want to play those games. Otherwise, you've still got a working system, a stockpile of games and you still have access to newly released titles. Until there are some worthy 3DS exclusive titles, sales will continue to be pretty slow.
- glhaynes 15y ago
  I'd say I'm satisfied with the 3D. But there've been a few times that I've been playing for 20 minutes and only then noticed that the 3D switch was set to "off" the whole time and then thought "oh yeah". That kind of puts it into perspective for me [err, no pun intended]. That and it's awfully tough to spend $35 on games that I end up playing way less than $1.99 games. Still happy to pay $35 for a Mario or a Zelda, but that's about it.

plnewman 15y ago

I'm actually pretty underwhelmed by the 3D on the 3DS. I was really looking forward to it but it doesn't seem to add anything to the games. Market saturation is another one. Nintendo is traditionally strong in it's home market, but I was watching a TV program in Japan prior to the 3DS launch saying that one in four Japanese owns a DS. Hard to imagine they can sell more hardware units.

jerf 15y ago
The genres that ought to really benefit are mostly not out yet. Which is one of the general problems the device has. I'm going to end up getting one because my DS Lite is biting the dust after 5 years of service, and they've structured the prices so that I have no real reason not to just go for it. (I have a significant enough DS backlog that it isn't economical for me to just abandon it, either.) For me, the touchstone game will actually be Super Mario 3D Land in mid-November. Does 3D solve some of the problems that have plagued 3D platformers since day one, like the extreme difficulty in judging depth that we've just sort of hacked around but is still a problem, or not? If it doesn't add anything to that genre, stick a fork in it, 3D is done, or at least portable 3D. But I'd like to see it before I make that call. Even Ocarina of Time isn't a good judge, because that was built for 3D-on-2D screens like everything else. SM3DL will have been built for 3D from the beginning. If that doesn't cut it, nothing will. It's still possible for the 3DS to follow the DS trajectory of recovering from an initial release slump, but only if there's some sort of real benefit to the 3D beyond the first two minutes.
- w33ble 15y ago
  Nintendo has said that none of the games for the system are allowed to require 3D to play, so I don't know if you should expect anything too groundbreaking there. I think the 3DS's biggest problem is the overwhelming success of the original DS. Damn near everyone owns one, so people are still making titles for it. Aside from the 3D feature, this leaves little incentive to upgrade, unless your original DS is on its last leg and you still want to play those games. Otherwise, you've still got a working system, a stockpile of games and you still have access to newly released titles. Until there are some worthy 3DS exclusive titles, sales will continue to be pretty slow.
glhaynes 15y ago
I'd say I'm satisfied with the 3D. But there've been a few times that I've been playing for 20 minutes and only then noticed that the 3D switch was set to "off" the whole time and then thought "oh yeah". That kind of puts it into perspective for me [err, no pun intended]. That and it's awfully tough to spend $35 on games that I end up playing way less than $1.99 games. Still happy to pay $35 for a Mario or a Zelda, but that's about it.