Business+Perspective

=**Business Perspective**= =** by SeRonne Anderson **= =**NINTENDO**= Perrin Kaplan, vice president of marketing and corporate affairs for Nintendo of America states: “Inside Nintendo, we call our strategy “Blue Ocean.” This is in contrast to a “Red Ocean.” The “Blue Ocean Strategy” is to strive to be different and be less expensive. The goal is not to out perform its competitors, but to create a new market space that will eventually make competition irrelevant (for more information on “BOS” check out the link).

Nintendo’s roots in the video game industry began in 1974, but it was not until 1977 that they began to make its own video game console – four systems to be exact (Magnavox Odyssey, Video Entertainment System, Channel F System II, and Phillips Odyssey).

Nintendo moved into the video arcade game industry in 1978, which produced little success. It was not until Nintendo launched the Game & Watch in 1980, and the release of [|Donkey Kong] in 1981, which was designed by [|Miyamoto], that Nintendo began to see worldwide success and a huge boost in profits.

The [|Nintendo Entertainment System] was superseded by the Super Famicom. The [|Nintendo 64], most notable for its 3D graphics capabilities, introduced the analog stick and multi player for up to four players instead of two. The Nintendo [|Game Cube] followed, and was the first Nintendo system to use optical disc storage instead of cartridges. The most recent home console, the [|Wii], uses motion sensing controllers and has online functionality, used for services such as Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, [|Virtual Console] and Wii Ware.

Today, Nintendo Company Ltd. is the longest-surviving video game console manufacturer to date and is considered one of " The Big 3" in the gaming industry alongside [|Microsoft] and [|Sony].

=**NINTENDO WII**= =**The Business Strategy**=

The Nintendo Wii is all about business. I say this because too many companies compete and innovate their product features and specifications instead of focusing on what is more important: the consumer. That is not the case with the Wii.

The Wii focuses on how the player feels while playing, which is not usually done by new and improved specs. Currently, the game controller can sense movement. There are rumors that the Wii will start to incorporate the players face in the game to get them more emotionally involved.

If you look on the Wii website you can see that they have a video gallery that does not feature media about their products, but it does feature their players. You get to see them do numerous activities that one will experience during game play – ducking, swerving, punching, smiling, and grimacing. This gives an understanding of how the game actually makes them feel.

Since the Wii did not focus on having better graphics than their two competitors Sony and Microsoft, they could dig deeper into what their consumers actually wanted – thus, a smaller, quieter, and energy efficient console was born.

Obviously, Nintendo has surpassed the need to be technologically innovative and has entered an entire new playing field: user experience.

Currently, Nintendo has been able to maintain its lead against its competitors, who seem to be slowly catching up thanks to their own motion controlled devices. As of March 2011, Nintendo has passed the 35 million mark in the USA.

**VIOLENCE IN VIDEO GAMES**
With the increasing competition between gaming companies, the advancement of technology and game content is changing: mainly the graphics. With these improvements, the content of the games become very detailed and realistic. In terms of violence, images of blood, flying body parts, and gore are now incorporated in games like never before. This has caused numerous people to become concerned about the effects video game violence has on youth and society.

Some people wonder why there are so many violent games, and the answer is quite simple. Violence sells. Gamers enjoy the action that comes with these violent games. Since the gaming market is all about profit, advertisers and producers create more violent-oriented games to ensure their consumers are satisfied. Violence has been prevalent since the beginning, existing in games such as Space Invaders. At that time when you killed an enemy, they would simply vanish in a cloud of smoke or small explosion. Today when the enemies’ die they do not simply disappear, it is more realistic, they bleed or explode, and the gamer sees a grotesque image of a corpse remains with the gunshot or other wounds left behind.


 * Blasting the Myths to Smithereens! **

· Violent crimes committed by youth have been decreasing since the 90s. At the same time, video games have been rapidly increasing. This is the exact opposite of what should be happening if there was actually a causal relationship. · Many games with violent content is sold in the U.S. and foreign markets – which is lower than that in the U.S. This suggests that there are other relevant factors that must be considered to understand the cause of any crime. · Numerous authorities, including the U.S. Surgeon General, have examined existing research and have concluded that there is no causal link between violent video games and violent behavior.

No matter what reason people try to use as a scapegoat for violence, video games with violent content will continue to be as profitable as it has been.