Video Gaming Evolution: Why The Wii is Winning

The video gaming industry has been around for only a short while in the scheme of things. First arriving in the midst of the 1970s when the computer age was just around the corner and not really finding a grip until the mid 1980s when Nintendo broke through the wall that was consumer trust, at home video gaming was for a long time a novelty. It was a really expensive toy with a limited consumer base and limited technical applications.

It’s been a long time since those simple days of 8-bit turtle stomping and mushroom consumption. And in those days, the industry has exploded. Today, video gaming is a multi-billion dollar industry with as many games released every month as were released in certain years a couple of decades ago. But, what does it mean to the entertainment industry at large. Video gaming is no longer the fringe industry that it once was. It stopped being so when the major electronic and software giants like Sony and Microsoft jumped on board and started mass producing.

So, what does that leave us then? It leaves us a burgeoning mega-industry that is trying with every new generation and every new piece of software to outdo itself in all the things that big business deems most important – numbers. Every new game and every new console is bigger and more powerful than the last, with more incredibly graphics, more intense soundtracks, and more encompassing worlds.

Those are the ideas that Sony and Microsoft like to throw around, trying to wow their consumers with the biggest and best output from their products. But, after a generation later we see something completely different develop. Nintendo changed its corporate strategy and decided that innovation was infinitely more viable than power and strength. It’s like the Tortoise and the Hare, wherein the Hare is an overpowered, supercharged race car, and the Tortoise is a quaint family vehicle with plenty of space and comfort, both competing for best new vehicle in Family Circus. What Nintendo did right was read its audience.

Sony and Microsoft have only been looking at the industry in the sectors in which it is evolving, the older demographics, 20 and 30 something males. However, the industry was not built on that demographic, and Nintendo did not become what it is today by catering to older, technology hungry men. What Nintendo did was innovate and offer new technology that wowed kids of all ages and adults alike. And their new machines, the Wii and DS both return to this mentality, abandoning the concept of trying to "look cooler" and "more powerful" than the other guys.

It’s about making a product that parents will see and think, "oh cool" and buy for their children. The Nintendo Wii has become something of a cultural phenomenon not because it’s the best console around, but because it’s the most inclusive console around. Kids want it because it’s the cool new toy. Parents want it because they know they have to get their kids a game console and it happens to get them up and exercising. Even the 20 and 30 something crowd likes it, because it’s made by Nintendo and it’s the next big thing.

That kind of thinking is winning the race in sales, and yet the industry is still a monstrous pit of money, a free for all for everyone who has the resources to sink into it. Sony and Microsoft will make do in the long run, but they will need to alter their strategies.

In Japan, the gaming industry has developed in a rather different direction. It’s always been about diversification and crossover success. The reason Sony succeeded so well was not because it was the better console or more powerful, but because it was the more established brand name and was able to snag big name titles and innovative software. Microsoft never stood a chance in that market, and Nintendo only faltered for a short while.

Today’s generation is clearly going to Nintendo and it’s because of their innovation. Dance and music titles have always been big in Japan, along with interactive games. Nintendo has more or less cornered the market on all things interactive with their new consoles.

And as major franchises start to jump the Sony exclusivity ship and join forces with one thought lost Nintendo and new man on campus Microsoft, it’s looking more or more like the other major draw in Japanese gaming is up for grabs, that of licensing and crossover success. While film, music, and television crossover has long been a hit or miss (and very often only miss) concept in America, Japanese gamers have embraced franchises solely reliant on their cross-entertainment brethren.

Major pop stars pen songs for video games, sometimes even appearing as characters in games. Anime and television series are turned into long running franchises, and the movie industry often picks up video game franchises for its own new ideas.

Regardless of the turn in Japan, a major indicator of the future of home gaming ever since they invented it 30 years ago, video gaming is changing. For a while it was a race to see who could make the biggest and best. Now, people are changing their minds and hoping to find the most fun and creative games around. It looks like the next few years might be really good for Nintendo.