Re:My Prescription for Nintendo
by ZenoArrow on Sunday January 26, 2014 @04:52AM
(#7124594)
Buying Oculus would be a great move for Nintendo, but I don't think they will for a couple of reasons:
1. They've already been burnt from trying to enter the VR market early with the Virtual Boy. I understand that times are different now, but the memory of the previous failure would definitely have some influence.
2. VR doesn't fit in with Nintendo's ethos of social gaming, which runs deep in the company. The idea that Nintendo seems to have with the majority of its products is to bring people closer together, here are some small touches that highlight this... Famicom (family computer), N64 (four controller ports), Gamecube (handle on console so can easily move, including to bring to a friend's house), Wii (all the casual games), I could go on. VR isolates us, we're physically there but our attention is not.
Perhaps Nintendo will do something with multiplayer VR (requiring more power than single player VR), or with AR, but I do think it'll take more than just a shrewd business decision to get Nintendo back using VR.
Re:My Prescription for Nintendo
by erikj on Sunday January 26, 2014 @04:57AM
(#7124608)
Nintendo already bundles an AR-based game (which is called, er, "AR Games" [1]) with every Nintendo 3DS console since the launch, so it's definitely one of the directions Nintendo actively researches.
1. They've already been burnt from trying to enter the VR market early with the Virtual Boy. I understand that times are different now, but the memory of the previous failure would definitely have some influence. 2. VR doesn't fit in with Nintendo's ethos of social gaming, which runs deep in the company. The idea that Nintendo seems to have with the majority of its products is to bring people closer together, here are some small touches that highlight this... Famicom (family computer), N64 (four controller ports), Gamecube (handle on console so can easily move, including to bring to a friend's house), Wii (all the casual games), I could go on. VR isolates us, we're physically there but our attention is not.
Perhaps Nintendo will do something with multiplayer VR (requiring more power than single player VR), or with AR, but I do think it'll take more than just a shrewd business decision to get Nintendo back using VR.