I really respect GameTrailers for the videos that they make and the reviews they post. I guess it’s kinda cool that they have a partnership with SpikeTV that will carry over for E3 because of Viacom ownership. Even for the past few years I’ve looked forward to their Bonus Round pre-E3 coverage. This year was no exception. However, please watch Chapter 3 (Nintendo) from the following link.
My main objection will be made clear after the jump.
The analysts here make the claim that Nintendo’s biggest competition in the handheld market is Apple. No questions there, especially on the eve of the iPhone 4 announcement (which yes, does look pretty cool). However, the solution to this kind of competition that the analysts propose, and how it involves Nintendo and the 3DS, is basically this: Nintendo needs to have a phone component in the 3DS to keep them competitive with the iPhone.
While the solution may have been in jest, it comes of as sounding serious due to how much time they gave the notion. However, there are a few things that are inherently wrong with this idea and why Nintendo will (at the very least, should) never attempt such a feature.
– If Nintendo can’t even get a competitively reliable online gaming system in their corner, what makes a phone service any more feasible? I understand if they partnered with some low-level company like T-Mobile, but if you’re a gaming company, you have to do what you’re best at well before you tackle another gadget facet. And let’s face it, Nintendo’s online system could use a major improvement.
– A phone feature goes against EVERYTHING Nintendo preaches upon with its intended audience. The idea of friend codes means you have to be friends first in order to share your code. Wii Speak isn’t a headset for solitary purposes; it’s designed so parents can also hear what their kids are doing online. If Nintendo doesn’t want you to meet new people online, much less communicate with them…isn’t that somewhat of an inherent feature for a phone to have? It’s just terribly contradictory, is all.
– Nintendo STRIVES to innovate! Reggie, Iwata, and everyone else at the company preach it all the time. So why would they give the 3DS a phone feature, just to follow a competitor’s trend? At this point, it’s ludicrous to think of Nintendo as playing catch-up, which is exactly the reason why they are jumping into this glasses-free, 3D handheld market first.
It’s just a concept that bothered me today and I felt like I needed to informally write about it. Thoughts?
