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[Hurricane_Chris]

From the looks of sales charts in Japan the Nintendo DS seems to be taking sales away from the GBA line. No matter what Nintendo says about 3rd pillar the Nintendo DS seems to have effectively become a GBA line replacement. Who knows if the same phenomena will occur in the USA and Europe (as far as I can tell in the US the DS hasn't hurt the GBA line as much as Japan).

With this in mind I started wondering if Nintendo was really serious about this 3rd pillar idea, why not introduce a new "Brand". Similar to the way Toyota has the Lexus/Toyota/Scion brand, Sony has the Sony/Aiwa brands. If Nintendo is serious about trying new and unique ideas why don't they create a brand and go after it. If something is successful it becomes absorbed into the main Nintendo line, if it fails it doesn't tarnish Nintendo's image.

Taken a step further, why doens't Nintendo use a differnt brand for differnt types of games that they'd never make under the main Nintendo brand? Sort of the way Disney uses Miramax (Miramax is Disney's right?)

Nintendo keeps saying how the industry is in trouble and they sometimes go out of their way to be different...New brand(s) seem to be an easy way to try out wild and wacky stuff and only take the sucessful stuff back into the main company.

Anyways, what do you guys think?

 

[Guns N' Poops]

Pokemon Company

 

[koam]

Stingyness vs Risk battle

 

[Hurricane_Chris]

Pokemon Company

Pokemon Company's beginnings are the opposite of what I'm talking about. Pokemon Company came from a Nintendo product (I believe). I'm talking about Nintendo brands to try or do Nintendo's "revolutionary" "innovative" stuff and make games that one doesn't expect from Nintendo without the risk of tarnishing the main Nintendo line, but with the ability to absorb the successes back into the main company.

 

[Link316]

cause their profit first mentality is preventing them from taking risks

 

[SpoonyBard]

iQue

 

[Enigma]

Because introducing a new-brand is the same rhetoric as saying DS isn't a new Gameboy. Sure it gives you great cover if it fails and you claim it wasn't Gameboy, but the reality is it is the GB sequel and the less semantics involved, the better.

Now should they create a different publishing line (New Line) so they won't feel guilty advertising Metroid Prime and kiddifiy the commercial with cute CG so as not to offend the parents? Absolutely.

 

[bitwise]

iQue

hjahaha.

anyways, children are finicky. [

 

[monkeyrun]

it's just a matter of time when Nintendo introduces a slimmer GBA, then ppl will buy it all over again.

Anyway, when Nintendo puts the GBA slot into the NDS they knew the consequences, and it really isn't such a big problem for them, GBA games will sell, so will DS games.

 

[CrimsonSkies]

It's called playing it safe.

 

[Gchaime]

1. Nintendo is a very strong brand.
2. The DS fits nicely under the nintendo brand.
3. Creating a new brand as strong as the Nintendo-brand will cost millions and millions of dollars (just look at what MS is spending trying to establish the Xbox brand).

So why waste millions of dollars by creating a new brand when you got a excellent brandname, that fits the product fine and is loved and known by millions.

Just ask yourselves, what product would you (or Johnny Average, who doesn't piss away his youth by religiously reading internet MB's about videogames) buy: the nintendo DS or the Unknowncompany DS?

 

[jdforge]

Isn't the newish developmet studio in Tokyo set up for this exact reason ?

Nintendo brought in a bunch of talented developers from other companies to develop new IP ?


Correct me if I'm wrong - But I'm sure I read this before. I know that the 1st game from the new studio was Donkey Kong : Jungle Beat - So the seem to be atleast experimenting with stuff. Here's hoping....

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Isn't the newish developmet studio in Tokyo set up for this exact reason ?

Nintendo brought in a bunch of talented developers from other companies to develop new IP ?

Nonono. You're talking just about new ideas. ddkawaii is talking about making those new ideas appear as if they're not Nintendo, so as not to immediately attach themselves to pre-conceived notions people have about Nintendo.

 

[COCKLES]

C________ B__________

 

[Link316]

So why waste millions of dollars by creating a new brand when you got a excellent brandname, that fits the product fine and is loved and known by millions.

cause it never hurts to diversify especially when your current brands are getting less and less popular, ask yourself where would Sony and Apple be now if they never created the Playstation or the iPod

Just ask yourselves, what product would you (or Johnny Average, who doesn't piss away his youth by religiously reading internet MB's about videogames) buy: the nintendo DS or the Unknowncompany DS?

they could've kept the "Nintendo DS" name and still give it some distinction from their other products, all they had to do was leave their same old franchises off the DS and just introduced new series on it

 

[Drinky Crow]

"Playstation 3 Series"

 

[Kon Tiki]

I had a dream, ya I know dreaming of a video game, that DK was replaced in DKJB with a panda bear. Panda Panda Asian Meat would of been a cool game.

 

[Gchaime]

cause it never hurts to diversify especially when your current brands are getting less and less popular, ask yourself where would Sony and Apple be now if they never created the Playstation or the iPod

But that is exactly what they did. Just as Sony created the SONY playstation and Apple the APPLE Ipod. They created the Nintendo DS, a new brand, but with the corporate name attached on as an endorser.

they could've kept the "Nintendo DS" name and still give it some distinction from their other products, all they had to do was leave their same old franchises off the DS and just introduced new series on it

Please note that this is the ''why doesn't nintendo create new brands''-thread, and not the same old ''I'm so sick of al this rehashing, why doesn't nintendo create some new franchises"thread. (Although technically franchises like mario are brands blablabla)

 

[JJConrad]

But that is exactly what they did. Just as Sony created the SONY playstation and Apple the APPLE Ipod. They created the Nintendo DS, a new brand, but with the corporate name attached on as an endorser.

The same thing happened in the Pennant Chase thread. People were "complaining" that Nintendo shouldn't have put their name in the title, without realizing that EA does the exact same thing.

I guess Nintendo just can't be ignored.

 

[pkasho]

thing is, ppl see the "Nintendo" part more than the "DS" part

 

[Slayven]

I would kill for a new kid icarus game

 

[Shard]

What is with all of the Nintendo hate recently?

 

[mj1108]

What is with all of the Nintendo hate recently?

Are you new here? :lol

 

[Senretsu]

I don't think very many companies are going to be creating new brands, 2005 is going to be the sequel to year of the sequels (2004).

 

[Gaia Theory]

In essence, the DS is a new brand.

 

[nubbe]

C________ B__________

I agree

Capcom and Bandai

 

[Meier]

They made one with Starfi but they're being bitches and wont let us play it =(

 

[cvxfreak]

cause it never hurts to diversify especially when your current brands are getting less and less popular, ask yourself where would Sony and Apple be now if they never created the Playstation or the iPod

What do you think the DS is? It's not the GameCube, it's not the GameBoy Advance, just like the iPod isn't the iMac and so on.

they could've kept the "Nintendo DS" name and still give it some distinction from their other products, all they had to do was leave their same old franchises off the DS and just introduced new series on it

Or how about do both? Having Super Mario 64 DS and Sawaru Made in Wario didn't stop Nintendo from creating Band Brothers or Chokkan Hitofude.