Nintendo Should Become Marvel

We all know that although Nintendo is far from the financial dire straits of Capcom, Square Enix, and even Sony, the company has definitely seen better days. The 3DS is outpacing the Game Boy Advance but is far, far below the selling rate of the DS, the WiiU is a total disaster with very little to look forward to in 2014 even despite the higher-profile lineup, and the brand image itself has also taken a couple hits within the gaming community.

Super Mario isn’t quite moving as much hardware as in the past, the third-party companies are inches away from fully abandoning the WiiU ship, and even though the new system is going the same interactivity path of the Wii (which was a huge smash) the formula is definitely not working the second time around. The Mario franchise, the Wii Fit franchise, the Pikmin franchise have all come out for the new system but missing that essential fanfare that we had seen in the Wii when involving these games .

Pikmin 3’s sales are laughable. New Super Mario Bros. U and Super Mario 3D World lacks the initial launch success of not just Grand Theft Auto 5 but even Smash Brothers Brawl, a Wii game from multiple years back that managed to move plenty of hardware sales. The brand isn’t powerful anymore, as the gaming community has far too many other options and many of them at far cheaper prices. Flappy Bird, a phone game that uses sprites from the Mario games was selling at $50,000 a day. Donkey Kong Country, a franchise that once upon a time was the best in the entire business, has a new installment that is quietly coming out with barely any press.

With all the gloom and doom, Nintendo announced that they might become more lenient with their first-party brands and franchises. They are considering branching them out into non-video game ideas more often. The head honcho of Nintendo Iwata was quoted in a magazine recently discussing how Nintendo might need to remove some of their strictness to increase exposure and profits.


If it were up to me, Nintendo should look into the history of another company that ran down a similar path.



Marvel.



It might be harder to remember this now, especially with Disney running the show, but Marvel once upon a time was struggling to remain relevant when its main source of income was a medium that was being replaced by competition. In the mid-90s, because of struggling sales, bad decisions, and horrible bosses the company actually declared bankruptcy.

But Marvel was able to rise up and make a comeback because they changed their image, expanded its audience, and branches out their licenses to movies, more video games, more television shows, and much more merchandise. They licensed their IPs to an entire theme park, and the rest is history. Now the main Marvel characters are household names, and some of the biggest movies in history come from Marvel characters. The biggest worldwide smash of 2013 was Iron Man 3, and the third-biggest worldwide hit in history is The Avengers.

Marvel is worth far more than the 4 billion Disney spent on them. Nintendo can go down this same route too.

Nintendo is already worth 14 billion. They will be fine for a while. But if they truly expand their IPs into new directions, then their value would increase, their image would improve, and it could potentially become the necessary rebirth that would allow for companies to have newfound faith towards the innovative company.

Imagine Nintendo selling the film rights to Disney for that long-anticipated ACTUAL Super Mario movie. Imagine Dreamworks getting the rights to an Earthbound movie. Imagine cinematic versions of Metroid, Star Fox, Legend of Zelda, Kid Icarus, and F-Zero.



Oh, and let’s not forget that Pokemon reboot.


Imagine seeing television shows of Kirby, Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, Wario Land, Animal Crossing, Donkey Kong, and other characters that already had their movies. I can see Disney XD and Adult Swim jump all over some of these IPs.

Imagine Marvel or DC working together with Nintendo and us being able to get comic book variations of massive franchises like Zelda, Metroid, Super Mario, and Pokemon.

Imagine finally getting more Nintendo merchandise. Most of the Nintendo-based merchandise is fanmade, and to an extent far more creative and made with much more craft than the usual shirts from the company.

Now, keep your imagination flowing. Imagine seeing Nintendo-based apps and small games for mobile phones, Apple products, tablets, and Galaxy devices. Nintendo has far too many IPs to have to resort to one of their heavy-hitters to be put in a phone. I can see bringing back some old-school SNES games to become the next Angry Bird or Flappy Bird. Tetris Attack is one of the most addicting games ever made, and giving it the smart phone connectivity features could give it a brand new audience for a new generation of youngsters. A slew of their handheld franchises like Professor Layton, Brain Age, Big Brain Academy, Wario Ware, and Advance Wars could also find new life in tablets and phones because of its accessible simplicity.

Nintendo has so many IPs, so many in-house franchises, so many ideas; it’s been foolish to not distribute them in multiple ways up until this point---especially when the company’s brand name is taking a few hits. With the movie industry and television industry being bigger and more available than ever, this is Nintendo’s chance to display its creativity to the world through more than just games—but other forms of entertainment like movies, television shows, internet shows, comic books, etc.

Just like Capcom and Square Enix, Nintendo must think outside the box to increase exposure and give their upcoming systems and games a chance to be in the limelight for a longer period of time. What better way to promote the upcoming Kirby game than a successful television show on Disney Channel? What better way to get us excited for the next Metroid game than to back it with a high-budgeted production hitting cinemas worldwide just the week before? Sometimes all it takes is a big movie to move units in the gaming industry. Toy Story 3 the video game sold 4 million copies across all platforms in 2010, and that game wasn’t even anticipated.


You are sitting on a gold mine Nintendo. Just because your games aren’t selling doesn’t mean that your IPs outside your usual industry will also fail.

Seriously, we would all pay good money for a Peter Jackson Legend of Zelda movie.

Can a Halo Movie save Microsoft in Japan?

Microsoft’s original XBox was in deep trouble from the start, as the Playstation 2 was clearly, truly, madly, deeply running away with the race. All the third-parties were joining Sony, while Nintendo was countering with its heavy arsenal of first-party and second-party properties. There honestly wasn’t much of a reason of get an XBox.




Until Halo, that is.



Halo saved Microsoft gaming, saved the XBox. The original XBox would sell just south of 25 million copies. Between the two Halo games, they sold a total of a whopping 13 million copies. The ratio between Halo sale and system sale was almost 1:2. The franchise is the flagship of Microsoft gaming and represents it well with acclaimed game after acclaimed game. It has been around for over 10 years, and the franchise hasn’t lost much steam even in the midst of all the imitators.

But in Japan, it still can’t seem to find its audience. Halo 4 sold only 40,000 copies, hardly making a ripple in the industry. Now, we all know that Microsoft and the XBox struggles mightily on Japan, but because of its sheer style and genre, it makes minimal sense as to why it has yet to catch on.

After all, science fiction does extremely well in Japan in all types of fields. In the anime field, you have the likes of Neon Genesis, Cowboy Bebop, Dragonball, Pokemon, Astro Boy, among others sell millions upon millions of copies—and these are all whether science fiction or contain heavy themes of science fiction.

We have Miyazaki and his arsenal of science-fiction/steampunk movies make extremely good money in his native country. Howl’s Moving Castle made 190 million in Japan alone, and let’s not forget the success of earlier Miyazaki sci-fi like Castle in the Sky. Now before you bring up that Halo could not work cinematically in Japan because of its American origin, consider this:

The American Transformers trilogy has grossed over 110 million in the Japanese market. Avatar was Japan’s biggest movie in 2009 with 186 million. The Matrix trilogy in Japan made over 150 million.

Over the decades, there’s always been a warm spot for science fiction in the entertainment world of Japan, so all Microsoft has to do is convince the nation of gamers that Halo can appeal to their senses in the way Avatar, the Transformers, and the Terminator have despite being American products.



So about that Halo movie…? The one that has been discussed for years upon years with dozens of names attached?



The Halo movie could be the way to re-introduce the franchise to Japan. Microsoft can financially back this project while finding a good studio and a good cast to make the type of movie it deserves to be. Halo has all the science-fiction goodness contained in other projects that have indeed made money in the Fast East Coast. It has the mythology, it has the complexity, and it has the energy of your best animes, so why not successfully translate it to film and get the nation excited for the next Halo game?

The entertainment industry is wound tighter than ever, with games becoming movies and movies becoming games far more often than in the past. And now the successes are becoming interchangeable. The Transformers franchise revived its toy industry. The Lego Movie and the Lego video games have breathed brand new life to the Lego brand. Argue all you want about the Prince of Persia movie from Disney, it still made 336 million dollars around the world. And lastly argue all you want about Resident Evil in cinematic form, it’s almost made a BILLION in its history.

Can a Halo movie honestly propel the sales of its upcoming games in Japan? It is indeed a long shot, but it really doesn’t hurt to try, since there isn’t much else Microsoft can do over there. Its XBox One will be creamed by the PS4 over there, its XBox 360 was outsold by the PS3 by 8 million copies and the Wii by 11 million. Don’t even ask how badly the Nintendo DS took down the XBox 360.

In order for Microsoft to succeed in Japan, it needs to attempt to reach them in a different way. 10 years have passed and they have barely caused any sort of noise in the Japanese game industry. Perhaps a cinematic way of reaching them, a cross-breeding exercise in entertainment can get the ball rolling. The XBox needs Halo to succeed, so in order for the One to make money in Japan, it needs Halo front and center being the mascot, being your top reason to purchase the system. Being a very American company, Microsoft doesn’t have the starting appeal that Nintendo and Sony has. It needs that boost, that jump-start.



Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, or the Wachowski Duo helming and crafting a Halo movie that will focus heavily on Japan can be that solution.

And we all know somehow Tom Cruise will be attached to the project......

How a New York Yankee Strategy can make the XBox One a Sports Gaming Powerhouse

The XBox One hasn’t quite received the welcome that Microsoft was anticipating. Even after backtracking on its DRM issue that became a PR disaster of epic proportions the gamers have not quite warmed up to it like they have the PS4. While it is closing in on the WiiU it seems to have lost a lot of ground against Sony, just like what happened to the 360 in the last three years of its lifecycle.


It is trailing the PS4 by around 13% market share, and as soon as both systems release in Japan expect that trailing to increase dramatically. After all, the XBox and XBox 360 together has sold only 2 million, which is less than even 1995’s Sega Saturn. There is no hope in Japan for Microsoft, and its grip on Europe is weakening as Sony is owning the European market since its release.



The desperation has gotten so bad, Microsoft sunk to purchasing PS3s off of gamers towards their XBox Ones. It looks quite bad.

So Microsoft as a big company might have to pull a New York Yankee move and throw money at a solution in order to have any sort of a shot at avoiding being silver or bronze in yet another race. The XBox branch has yet to win any market since 2001, which is something the competitors can claim and acknowledge. It is time for a huge, huge move.

Guess what Gaming World: the licensing behind FIFA and the NFL expires in 2014. The NCAA football license still exists. MLB has an open audition for its license after Take-Two bailed out.



Microsoft, this is definitely, and wholeheartedly your shot at gaining some major traction. The sports market is up in the air and can definitely be conquered.



Look at this potential scenario: with EA causing trillions of problems with the Madden franchise (a well-known fact for years now) the NFL might look at other potential suitors. Enter Microsoft with already its nice friendly deal with the NFL involving special exclusive features within the XBox One. Microsoft throws in a heavy amount that EA can’t match and an amount that the NFL could not possibly say “no” to. Now only the XBox One and future installments can publish NFL video games in a legal monopolizing way.

The NFL is the most successful league in the United States, and is accompanied by the most popular sport in the nation. The NCAA license is also out of EA’s hands since EA didn’t want to deal with the current player-student-athlete controversy that is gaining more hostility in recent years. What is to stop Microsoft from getting the ability to make BCS video games and even potentially linking them with the NFL games? That would be more legal monopolizing that could potentially make good money.

With Microsoft owning these licenses, they can pick and choose which lucky company gets to develop the game and make good money for themselves, while Microsoft racks the rest of the profits through their publishing. Imagine with the XBox Live bringing the world of Fantasy Football to the next level. Imagine being able to link these games with ESPN online and really go more in-depth with the gameplay and the actual NFL season.

10 years ago with football gaming at its peak, between NFL 2K5 and Madden 2005 over 11 million copies were sold. And the NFL is far far bigger now than it was back in the early 2000s. Being the only hardware with the NFL license can guarantee you potentially at least 300 million a year if granted they manage to sell 5 million copies a year and consistently maintain its quality. And I assure you Take-Two Interactive, the folks behind the wildly-successful NBA 2K series, would get a phone call the second Microsoft buys the license.

And I have not even gotten to the FIFA license yet. The FIFA license goes out in 2014, even though there is a tougher chance of snatching that from EA since this franchise is actually very successful. Nonetheless, money talks and if Microsoft really wanted to strangle the European market, they would seek after the most popular sport in the world and make it a Microsoft exclusive. Can you imagine FIFA 15 being an XBox One exclusive? And your only other soccer choice being potentially MLS/Random Non-Popular League Soccer for the PS4 and Mario Strikers 3 for the WiiU? That would definitely draw in some new sales for the third Green Machine.

Lastly, we have the MLB license out in the open and The Show for the Playstation systems being your final major option. Although you can’t strangle the license like you can the NFL and FIFA license, this is still an opportunity to transform the XBox One into the ultimate sports gaming machine.

One of the best-selling franchises in all of gaming is Madden (nearly 100 million). One of the best-selling arcade games in history is NBA Jam. Soccer video games have sold over 180 million copies over the years (Surprisingly, the low-key Pro Evolution Soccer has 80 million copies sold). There is a Japan-only baseball franchise by Konami that by itself has sold 20 million copies. Sports are just as popular, inclusive, and accessible as ever, and the sales can definitely follow that type of success. Look at what sports video games have accomplished over the years. Arguably the Dreamcast remained alive as long as it did because of its stellar, stellar sports titles.

Microsoft is lagging a bit behind Sony but 2014 is the year of opportunity now that the sports-based licenses are dropping like flies. Microsoft has the money and the resources needed to make a major move in the sports gaming market. If they want any chance to compete in the non-USA markets just as heavily as in the United States, they need their soccer (England, Europe), they need their baseball (Japan, United States, Central/South American market), and most importantly they need to wring football away from EA (United States, small group in Europe) to become your only option to play NFL game.

The XBox One needs a good niche to draw in a new crowd that is outside the United States. Shooters and Western RPG/Actioners won’t do the trick alone. Sports games however…we might be on to something………

The Continuing Rise of Sony

For the few of you that continue reading this blog, you’ll notice the lack of articles about Sony.



The reason is very simple: Sony has not screwed up as much as the competitors in recent years. Especially Nintendo.



And their reward? Winning the 2013 Holiday Season and being a few months away from taking first place in the Eighth Generation race.


Sony, led by a great marketing campaign, excellent forward momentum, good arsenal of third-party games has won the holiday season even though there weren’t many exclusive titles for its newest system or its latest handheld. It already is closing in on the WiiU hardware sales and is slowly but surely separating itself from the troubled XBox One (still recovering from its summer of controversy).


The Playstation Vita will definitely lose against the 3DS, and may not even reach the sales of the original PSP. But the Vita is gaining traction in Japan and is handedly outselling Nintendo’s WiiU. A victory is a victory, even if it’s coupled by a couple losses. Let’s also add its sales have increased by over 160% in Europe since the release of the Playstation 4, so there might be a growing market in the England-and-beyond-Europe community.


Sony became smart by making the Vita a piggyback to the Playstation 4 as opposed to a full-on competitor against smartphones and Nintendo (the hardware fight has been pointless for two decades now. Nintendo owns this and it is their battle to lose). So the Vita is an expensive niche that can serve as a controller or a nice accessory to the reasonably-priced PS4.


PS4 has sold 4.7 million copies, and has survived the I-am-accidently-competing-against-my-own-system PS3 crossing the 80 million threshold and still making good money thanks to the mammoth success of Grand Theft Auto V an FIFA 13. And this is with only one of the PS4’s best-selling games being an exclusive, with Killzone on the list. So imagine what happens when Uncharted, Gran Turismo, God of War, Little Big Planet, and whatever Naughty Dog has up their sleeve releases. The main difference between Microsoft and Sony is that while Microsoft has more third-party power, Sony has made excellent strides in the first-party department.


And let’s recall that it has not even come out in Japan. Outselling the XBox 360 9 to 1 last generation, Sony has a lot of forward momentum heading through 2014 as the third-party hasn’t abandoned them like they have Nintendo, and they have yet to unleash their big weapons. It is a good time to be a Sony fan.


With the dust finally settling from 2013’s Black Friday and Holiday Season, it is definitely Sony’s victory as the PS3 continues selling, the Vita is earning a new life as a niche product, and the brand-new PS4 is inches away from overtaking the WiiU and becoming the top dog of the Eighth Generation.




Well done, Sony.

The Final What-the-heck-are-you-doing-to-the-Virtual-Console-Nintendo Post

This will be my final article about the Virtual Console in this blog, because quite frankly I can’t take it anymore.


I am allergic to stupidity and my sinuses are clogging my nose so badly I have to sound like a serial killer to get some air in my lungs. Nintendo announced that they will be releasing DS games on the WiiU Virtual Console as a way to entice gamers to purchase the system to play games on what is currently the biggest success story in the history of Nintendo gaming—and arguably all of gaming.


Before we get to why the announcement was dumb in every single conceivable level, let’s point out why Nintendo probably went with the route of the DS going to the WiiU:


1)    The Nintendo DS is the second most successful gaming machine of any kind in history
2)    The Nintendo DS lifetime sales totals past 150 million, with only the PS2 in a very, very weak sixth generation selling higher
3)    The software totals pass 811 million, which is the best out of any handheld in history
4)    Six of the 30 best-selling games in the history of gaming are on the DS, with New Super Mario Bros.’ 30 million being the prime example
5)    There are 10 video games for the DS that sold over 10 million copies

It makes sense. Deliver all these acclaimed and popular games for download to theWiiU, a system that can work as a duel-screen handheld on steroids. It makes sense. But there is only one problem:



You forgot about the NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, Nintendo Wii, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, Virtual Boy, and the Nintendo arcade games. You forgot about the Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, and Sega CD. You forgot about the Atari, the Jaguar, the Neo-Geo, and practically every single system between the years of 1980 and 2005.

You forgot about the fact that not only does the WiiU not offer widescreen play for your older games (which is absolutely stupid considering that the Wii did this), but the Virtual Console output for the WiiU remains sitting at less than 100 games, when between the years of 1985 and 2005 there are over 3,000 games to choose from---and I am not even including the handheld games that precede the Nintendo DS.

As an analyst, I am baffled. As a former fan that recently broke off all connections with Nintendo, I am furious. Nintendo there are literally hundreds of good games you are skipping out and have yet to release in the download market. You have totally forgotten the existence of the Nintendo Gamecube which comes with a slight irony because everyone else did too back in the day. And there are tons of excellent games within the Gamecube library that could bring a breath of actual fresh air to the WiiU.

How you ask? Well, the Gamecube barely sold north of 21 million copies, which is a laughable fraction compared to what all three systems of this previous generation sold. It’s a small install base. Now look at the sales of the Gamecube “classics”:


Eternal Darkness: 440,000

Star Wars Rogue Leader: 973,000

Super Mario Sunshine: 5.9 million

Viewtiful Joe: 275,000

Metroid Prime: 2 million

Metroid Prime 2: 800,000

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: 1.64 million

Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour: 1.2 million

F-Zero GX: 650,000

These are all well-known games that honestly weren’t bought or played all that much. Just throwing half of these games into the Virtual Console limelight along with the should-have-already-come-out classics of the SNES and N64 would have been a perfect holdover for when Nintendo software-wise catches up with the rest of the gaming industry. After all, can you name 5 big games coming out for the WiiU in 2014?

Nintendo is once again dropping the ball on the Virtual Console business. They have been doing this to us for many, many, many years and it is amazing how many mistakes they have made along the way. They should have made one of their major branches within the company focus solely on bringing these games to the WiiU. And let’s not also forget the 3DS, which is STILL lacking Game Boy Advance games as well as SNES and N64 games. It would be a great apology to the hardcore fanbase that grew up with these classics and would be a nice homage to the few folks that did purchase and enjoy (allegedly) the Gamecube.

The Nintendo DS being added to the Virtual Console WiiU is not going to do any favors to the company. But expanding their efforts with the dozen systems that precede the Nintendo DS would. Once again, this is the last time I discuss the Virtual Console, because by now you are all aware that I firmly believe it’s an excellent idea being executed excruciatingly poorly.




Stop letting us down on this Nintendo, it is beyond embarrassing and is a major potential source of income being wasted.

Nintendo and Smartphones: The Relationship That Should Happen

Nintendo, listen very closely.





There is a way to make money, increase the exposure of your product, and it can all be done at a minimal cost.





You need to listen closely, because you are very good at neglecting new technology and shun a unique ides or concept that isn’t yours. The concepts of CDs and online play were new technologies that you didn’t acknowledge and it ultimately hurt you. Listen, closely.



Time to accept the smartphones. Seriously.



The smartphones is the final frontier in the Nintendo gaming industry that has yet to be touched. The androids, IPads, IPhones, LGs, and other phones that make regular phones look extremely ancient is the final corner that you have yet to scratch to profit. You can assume that these phones are attempting to kill your business with the 3DS, but truth be told the 3DS currently:



1) Has the best-selling video game in the world with Pokemon X/Y
2) Is the best-selling console in the world
3) Has sold over 42 million copies
4) Has 85% of the handheld gaming market share.


The 3DS is not in danger, your profits are. This message to you isn’t an attempt to save the WiiU (Because it requires far more than smartphone dependency for this to happen), it’s an attempt to gain some extra money while spreading the exposure of your IPs and potentially even provide a more stable business model that doesn’t rely so much on nostalgia.


It is time for Apple, Samsung, and all the other phone-making companies to have access to your old catalog of video games from the NES to the end of the SNES, maybe even the N64. It is time for you to have the ability to purchase Super Mario Land 2 from the online store on your Galaxy, and then buy a small attachment piece resembling a controller of some sort so you can get your Mario fix on your phone during break, while waiting for someone, etc.


It is time for IPads to have the ability to have a Nintendo section in the App Store so you can download Link to the Past and then purchase a controller that connects to the USB port so you can play the game in high quality in the larger screen. If not Link to the Past then maybe one of the hundreds of Nintendo games released in the 80s and 90s.


Worldwide the amount of smartphones shipped in 2013 reached a staggering 990 million copies. I don’t even have to post another statistic to prove just how important it is for Nintendo to make any sort of effort to reach out to this audience. These smartphones are as powerful as ever and are more than capable of playing Nintendo games with no issues whatsoever. For crying out loud, Vice City can be played on phones nowadays. Surely it can crank out Mario Kart 64 with no issues whatsoever.




Some can argue that with the games being available on phones, it will diminish the sales of the Virtual Console on the WiiU and the 3DS. But the 3DS and WiiU should not be dependent on old games to be reliable and relevant, it’s the new software that runs the sales of the consoles. I assure you the Playstation Network’s list of old games is the reason why the PS3 snuck into second place in the seventh generation and wound up only 20 million sales behind the Wii. And I assure you that the Virtual Console in the Nintendo Wii itself, which was ultimately uninspiring, was not the main reason why the console sold over 100 million worldwide.


Virtual Console, still layers underneath its potential, should be icing on the cake, not the flavor of the entire cake. But this icing should be shared on multiple platforms to give Nintendo some of the necessary extra money required to cover the losses of the current generation. This icing should be shared to give fleeting franchises like Metroid and Zelda some new life and some new recognition amongst the casual crowd. It may seem unlikely, but there is a heavy percentage of the world that has yet to play Link to the Past and Super Metroid, two of among the greatest games ever made and cornerstones of their franchises.


It is very simple: sell your old games at cheap prices towards hardware with an install base of nearly a billion people. They do not have to be new games, they do not have to be totally updated. Just a bit of tweaking, maybe use some outside help with the emulating, and the possibilities are wonderful. If just 4% of smartphone users downloaded Yoshi’s Island at $5 then that would make Nintendo a total of:


Get this:


$198,000,000.


Just one game.




Nintendo, why are you not doing this?