Why Nintendo is winning (Birdmen and the Casual Fallacy)




Posted by Speedfreak

I found this blog entry by chance, it's called "Birdmen and the Casual Fallacy". It talks about why Nintendo is winning and will continue to win because most developers have no idea what is going on, specifically how what they perceive as a "casual gaming boom" does not exist. It also explains how there really isn't any such thing as a casual gamer, and the definition of that has changed consistently over the years (a belief I've long held but failed to explain to any satisfactory degree in the past). It's a VERY long read, but if you're at all interested in business or want to be a developer yourself it's imperative that you read this.

Personally, it's made me realise that perhaps Wii won't end up being a pile of crap for the forseeable future and that games with SNES and N64-like levels of depth might could make a huge comeback (YESSS!!!!).

[quote]Centuries ago, men attempted to fly by putting wings on their arms and flapping really hard. Logically, in their minds, it should have worked. Birds fly. Birds have wings. Therefore, having wings should mean man will fly.

The gentlemen, puffed with pride, failed every time. Had they examined the nature of flight, as opposed to the nature of birds, they would have realized the concept of lift (as Bernoulli did). One must examine the physics of the flight rather than putting feathers on one’s arms in imitation of birds. The descendants of these birdmen are with us today. In the gaming industry, they represent some of the highest gaming executives and esteemed analysts.

Nintendo is flying high. Rather than examine the nature of this flight, the birdmen are mesmerized by the feathers. The analysts and executives do not see the concepts of disruption and don’t even understand the Blue Ocean principles (though they think they do). The feathers they see on Nintendo’s ascent are casual games. Therefore, they surmise, if they make casual games then they will be flying high with Nintendo.Here's the link: [URL]http://malstrom.50webs.com/birdman.html[/URL]




Posted by Linko_16

Read this on ZeldaPower. The author is bothersomely self-important, but it's an article worth reading.




Posted by Speedfreak

I'd be that arrogant if I knew I was more right than 99% of en entire industry.




Posted by WillisGreeny

So the word of the day is "disruption".