Nintendo Aims Broad With Revolution

Expanding the market is going to rely on bringing in newcomers and lapsed gamers, says Reggie - again.

Put Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime in a room these days and sooner than later the conversation will turn to the stagnation of video games. Nintendo feels games are stuck in a rut, simply being gussied up without making them better. The company also thinks it has the answer.

"We've determined that the videogame market is ripe for revival," Fils-Aime said in a column at trade magazine Brandweek. "And we're looking to make it happen by reaching out to the millions of players still on the sidelines, including those over the age of 35."

Of course, this isn't new. Nintendo has been harping on this theme for the last few years, but we're starting to see the fruits of the company's effort - and more importantly, gamers are snapping up those fruits.

Nintendogs for DS was a worldwide hit and the upcoming Brain Training games look to repeat the success. While Nintendogs helped bring women into games, Brain Training is doing the same with older people.

The DS is just part of the solution, though. Fils-Aime says the second piece in the puzzle is the Revolution, which will ease neophytes and lapsed gamers into the fold through its novel, remote control-shaped controller:

"We've pulled the wraps off a new game interface for our upcoming console, code-named Revolution, that break down the barriers of complexity that bar newcomers from test driving our products, while featuring the most advanced gaming experience ever."

"We're expanding our market by disrupting it."

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games