Sort of off-topic, but how gradual or otherwise has Nintendo's shift from being proudly 'purely games' to proudly 'multipurpose' been?
I've noticed it very distinctly since last E3 I guess, when Reggie talked up their place at the center of the living room heavily, and I suppose before that with some of the 3DS presentations. But were they this heavy on it before that?
I'm not complaining, I think it's sort of necessary given the current environment, but just a thought that struck me watching this ND in particular. Back in the good old days, they used to contrast themselves heavily against Sony on this front but it seems they realised they were pissing against the wind a bit. But it makes certain decisions elsewhere all the more puzzling.
Makes you wonder if this has something to do with the oddly quiet launch. There's been such a lack of advertising, such patchy stock allocation, with 'casual friendly' supermarkets, in the UK at least, getting next to nothing while Game has stock to spare, that I wonder. What if it's about stamping out problems and building content for the first few months? I'm sure Nintendo hoped for sell-outs, but there's been nothing to suggest there were delusions that the console was going to fly like it's 2006. Word of the device would have been unavoidable if that were the case.
With the controller as it is, Netflix and similar, TVii, the first useable console browser and now Google Maps...If the bugs are exterminated, content (Twitter? Facebook?) keeps being added and the cost of entry is maybe £200 for Premium, it's going to look like an awfully tempting all-in-one device by the time the other consoles launch at £300+. The telling thing will be how Nintendo advertise over the coming months - if games have to share the stage when they decide to indulge the mass market, we'll know they're really going to push this as 'The Box'.