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People who weren't kids in the 80s may have heard of Nintendo, but they usually don't fully understand how ubiquitous the NES was, and what a fundamental component of our childhood the system and its software became.  I think that part of the reason that so many of today's thirty-somethings are such avid gamers is that Nintendo showed us as kids how great videogames could be, and its universality cemented gaming as part of our generational identity.

With my kids and Wii, I can see it happening again.  It's quickly becoming a cultural framework for their generation, and once we get to the point where every household that wants a Wii has one (and how long might that still be?) I think Nintendo may again achieve the universality they enjoyed in the 80s, when you didn't play videogames, you played Nintendo.

Case in point: there's a new building in our neighborhood that has a somewhat ostentatious vertical blue stripe that glows at night.  (Geeks already know where this is going).  Ever since the stripe was added, every time we walk by the building at night, 5-year-old Nemo says, "Look papa, that building has an update!"   The other night he added, "or maybe it got a message from one of its friends."

The coolest thing about this is that because the best software franchises of my generation are still here thrilling his generation, that cultural framework is something that I can share with my son, instead of scratching my head at his interests in bewilderment as parents are often stuck doing.  For example, Nemo's preschool is housed in a church that has recently finished a significant organ transplant (isn't that what they call that?).  As I was taking him into school a few weeks ago, we could hear some seriously forté, slightly ominous, slow-paced organ music coming from behind a large double door at the top of some stairs.  This immediately triggered a game memory for both of us, and I said, "Hey Nemo, I wonder if that's Ganondorf playing the organ behind that door."

Now, while some may consider it inadvisable for a parent to intentionally blur that critical fantasy/reality line in a young boy's mind, the fact is that when kids are pretending, they know what they're doing, and they can have very firm ideas about what's real and what's not.  As if to prove my point, Nemo laughed and said, "Naw, it's probably just an old lady." 

It appears that mysterious and arcane forces (like the impending end of Q3 and the subsequent shopping frenzy) have allied themselves to give Geeks an confluence of events that may not happen again in our lifetimes.  Here, in the same week, we are expecting major product announcements from Apple and Nintendo.  If my great-grandchildren can still speak to we fleshly beings, I'm sure I'll tell them tales of this exciting moment.

While Apple is expected to announce a 'true' video iPod and movies in the iTunes store, some rumors fly as far as the tivo-killing set-top boxes or iPhones that are almost certain to seize their respective markets, almost anything could happen once Steve gets to the 'one more thing' slide.  Given the number of people involved, it's quite impressive that Apple retains the ability to not only announce, but also instantly launch a product that people weren't expecting.  If Apple's rumored PVR Mac is ready, this would certainly be a logical event (It's Showtime!) at which to announce it. 

The information that Nintendo is expected to announce answers far more specific questions.  When will Wii launch, how much will it cost, what will be in the box?  That's all we want to know.  The launch is almost certainly sometime in October, although it looks like Nintendo still has to hire people to stuff the boxes.  The cost has been rumored to be as low as $150, although Nintendo has launched its 4 previous consoles at $199 and that's worked out pretty well for them.  Plus, with the competition squarely in the $300-$600 range, they've got plenty of price advantage at $199.  While $150 would be extremely aggressive and sure to make a splash heading into the holidays, it's a solid and frequently-made point that Nintendo is unlikely to price the Wii at only $20 more than the DS lite handheld.  Of course, if they really wanted to make some waves, they'd drop the DS lite to $99, launch the Wii at $150 with a solid Wii-DS link title, and advertise that you can get a Wii, a DS lite, and that new game for the cost of an XBox 360… and you could get TWO such kits for the cost of a PS3!  However, while Nintendo clearly wants to make waves with the Wii, they'd rather make money.

Which brings us to the most hotly debated issue.  What will we get in the box?  My money's on the prevailing thought of the console, 2 controllers with nunchaku attachments, and Wii Sports.  At $199, that is an unheard-of value, and really harkens back to the megahit NES of the 80's, which sold 60 million units over its lifetime into a market with far fewer gamers than there are around today.  If Wii Sports really is bundled with the console, and the Wii is the smash hit is seems poised to be, Wii Sports could be positioned to finally eclipse Super Mario Bros. as the best selling (although bundled) video game yet.  If I recall correctly, it will also be the first console to launch with a bundled game since the Super Nintendo in 1991.

The other option is that we could get a 2-controller, Wii Sports-bundled $199 set at launch for the early adopters, and see a $149 bundle with a single controller and no game for next Christmas, when the ball is really rolling and manufacturing costs are dropping like a stone.  In any case, Nintendo has all the hype and is positioned to be making a killing on the Wii when Microsoft and Sony are still struggling to get a handle on manufacturing costs and collect their first dimes of profit.  Nintendo excels at making money in this business, and I am so ready to help them achieve that goal.  Only a few days until all our questions will be answered… 

Now that it’s fairly well established that the Nintendo Wii is going to be awesome, I’ve been thinking about what changes we might see over the Wii’s life cycle. Revised versions of consoles launching a few years into the life cycle have become somewhat expected; even the venerable Nintendo and Super Nintendo both had late revisions as they moved into the budget category at the end of their lives. The revised slimline PS2 was actually hard to come by when it launched, although both the Slimline PS2 and the Gamecube v2 actually had less functionality than their original models. The revised PS2 dropped compatibility for the poorly-supported hard disk attachment, although it included an ethernet port that the original lacked, while the revised Gamecube actually dropped the digital a/v out port.

Interestingly, Nintendo dropped the digital port — required to play gamecube games at their highest resolution — for cost-cutting reasons, although they quietly offer to replace your digital-portless-gamecube with one from their private stockpile if you bought a gamecube expecting to get component video out of it. So, those two revisions could both be considered downgrades.

There haven’t really been any upgraded console revisions yet; from one perspective, releasing a revised console with better features is a great way to piss off anyone who bought the previous revision, and it’s not good to fragment the universal compatibility of a console and its software, which is still a big edge over PC gaming. However, Nintendo has shown that substantial hardware revisions can be successful; some of your most hardcore fans might even buy a new one just to get that new feature. The catch is that Nintendo has restricted this practice to the handheld space so far. From the Gameboy to the Gameboy Color, from the Gameboy Advance to the Gameboy Advance SP, and now from the DS to the DS lite, these have all been successful — but not insubstantial — revisions to established hardware platforms, some even creating forks in the software market that might have seemed inadvisable.

One of the big arguments about the Wii back before the excitement about the software had begun to build was that it would be the only console in this next generation that had no support for HD television resolutions. It was such a frissom, even among the fanboy faithful, that I remember being incited to send a contact us email to Nintendo complaining about their decision, which I wouldn’t usually do. While it’s now more clear that Wii isn’t really intended to be competitive with the next generation at all, the fact remains that many potential Wii buyers (myself included) have invested in HD displays, and we don’t even decide what to have for lunch without thinking about if it would look better in HD. I don’t think that HD support is a dealbreaker in any way for the potential Wii buyer who just wants to play Super Mario Galaxy, but you combine these early-adopter market dynamics with Nintendo’s established upgrade habits, and I think there’s a possibility that we may someday see a Wii-HD as an upgraded model with HDMI out and support for HD resolutions.

Nintendo has also shown that you can introduce new hardware features midway through a products life cycle without creating true software compatibilty problems; look at the Gameboy / Gameboy Color transition, where titles started supporting both formats, with color only available on the properly equipped units, of course. HD could just be one of those little icons on the back of the game case that shows what peripherals the game is compatible with and how many players can play at once, etc.

I think the market success of the Wii will make the business case for a Wii-HD, maybe in 2008 when sales are really starting to hit their stride and HD is that much further along the adoption curve. Let’s face it, all us launch day saps will line up all over again just to see Monkey Ball in 1080p, won’t we?

The internets have been afire the past few weeks with venting, acceptance and denial about the final name of Nintendo’s next videogame console, formerly known as the Revolution, and now known as Wii.

Yes, Wii. If you’re saying Wuh?, Nintendo of America was expecting that you would say that, so they helpfully provided 150 words to attempt to explain it to you:

Introducing … Wii. As in ‘we.’ While the code-name ‘Revolution’ expressed our direction, Wii represents the answer. Wii will break down that wall that separates video game players from everybody else. Wii will put people more in touch with their games … and each other. But you’re probably asking: What does the name mean?

Wii sounds like ‘we,’ which emphasizes this console is for everyone. Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii.

Wii has a distinctive spelling that symbolizes both the unique controllers and the image of people gathering to play. And Wii, as a name and a console, brings something revolutionary to the world of video games that sets it apart from the crowd.

So that’s Wii. But now Nintendo needs you. Because, it’s really not about you or me. It’s about Wii. And together, Wii will change everything.

Now, you could put me in the crowd that hoped it was all a joke, but that would have been very out of character for Nintendo, and just because the trademark hadn’t shown up yet didn’t mean that they had not secured it. In our workshops, and just in conversation, I do a lot of talking about videogames to nongamers, and it has without a doubt gotten much harder to talk about Nintendo’s next console with its nutty new moniker. The story used to be the promise of the intuitive controller and the virtual console; right now, it is tough to get past the Wuh? effect.

There’s no doubt that the name is unique, googlable, and viral; it makes it clear that Nintendo is on a different playing field from the Xbox 360 and the PS3, and that’s a good thing. However, the name is just such a head scratcher, and rings of bad such bad decision-making to most ears, what I really wonder is, how big of a fit did Perrin Kaplan throw when this news came down from Osaka.

I guess I’m making the assumption that this name is not the product of an english-speaking marketing genius as Gabe and Tycho envision; it just seems exactly like the sort of thing that a high-end Japanese marketing firm would come up with, sort of like Calpis (the beverage), or Pumpkin Poo (the restaurant). Say ‘Nintendo Wii’ in that deep, serious, Japanese commercial announcer voice, and it makes a little more sense.

From a management perspective, I enjoy pondering the clues about Nintendo’s political structure and power balance that might be gleaned from the fact that they appear to be rolling with a name that no english-native executive could possibly have agreed to unless deluded or under duress, although that’s common. Did it matter what NOA thought about the name? Did they have to pretend they liked it? Does it just not matter what any of the territories think? Was there ever even a conversation including Iwata-san (or at least his sinister agents) in which it was clear that they were considering naming the console Piss? Or perhaps, Piis.

In the end, I think it’s unlikely that the name will seriously hurt US sales, and it’s possible it may help sales (which is, after all, the idea), and it will feel familiar in time. It’s safe to say that most of us talking about it so furiously these days have already made up our minds about whether we will or whether we won’t, um, get a Wii, and most of us already decided to buy one no matter what it was called.

Also, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, and the fact that it was announced 3 weeks before e3 says that it’s here to stay, and, if you’ll notice, the venting is almost done, well, venting. I think we’re going to see some great stuff for the, er, the Wii, this week and the, uh, wiiaction will be yesterday’s news.