Minoru Arakawa and his team debuted the Nintendo Entertainment System at the Consumer Electronics Show in June of 1985. Going on sale the holiday season of that year, the NES went on to sell more than 61 million units. Four short years later, Nintendo introduced the Game Boy. Originally bundled with Tetris, Game Boy became a phenomenon selling over 150 million units. By 1991 Nintendo had dethroned Toyota as Japan's most successful company, earning about 1.5 million dollars per employee. Having generated a substantial profit, research and development teams at Nintendo had a clear vision concerning the successor of the NES.
Nintendo launched the Super Nintendo Entertainment System on August 23rd, 1991. The SNES continued to build off the success of it's predecessors. With the name brand establishment of the NES and Game Boy, Nintendo sold through more than 49 million units of the 16bit powerhouse well into 1996. As a need for the next generation console loomed, the vision of Nintendo's R&D teams was brought to fruition once again in the form of the Nintendo 64. Once again Nintendo built on the strength of it's name brand, and had also developed a game system fitted with more powerful componentry than the previous offering. However, although Nintendo sold nearly 33 million N64s the faith in their name brand was shaken both in Japan and the USA. The labyrinthine software structure of the N64 demanded vast teams of game development personnel and large monetary resources to be dedicated toward creation of a single game. The cartridge format utilized for the N64 was considered dated compared to the emerging CD-ROM as Sony's Playstation enticed developers and consumers alike. Development teams inside Nintendo began to germinate a new direction for their next console.
In November of 2001 the Nintendo Gamecube found its way into the homes of gamers across the USA. It was designed as a safe step for Nintendo with few innovations and drastically lowered development costs. Nintendo also featured Gamecube games on a proprietary optical disk in order to avoid paying licensing fees to the DVD consortium while providing a medium with storage capacity enough to rival it's competitors. After all, the Gamecube sold under 22 million units worldwide. Nintendo needed to take a risk. With the realization of an imperative need for change Nintendo gambled big on an audience ignored by the gaming industry: non-gamers. They designed a game system anyone could play, with low manufacturing costs and very little resources needed for software development.
Nintendo debuted the Wii for sale just in time for Christmas 2006. The Wii was an instant smash. Gamers bought them, casual gamers bought them, as well as non gamers. Nintendo had created its own consumer market similarly as they had done with the NES. People were talking about the Wii, asking their friends to play it with them, and buying them for their parents. UPS delivery men were being followed by mothers through malls all over the United States waiting to see if they could garner the opportunity to quiet the persistent requests of their children. Men who were long time video gamers were introducing their wives and girlfriends to their favorite pastime for the first time, and Nintendo began to generate a massive profit. The Nintendo Wii has sold over 86 million units to date and has created a new eager audience of gamers. Many long time gamers however, have felt abandoned by Nintendo as their desire for cutting edge hardware has gone largely ignored.
But not to worry, the research and development teams deep inside Nintendo have been burning the midnight oil for a few years now, and their vision will be revealed this Tuesday, June 7th.
It's a time to be excited indeed. Nintendo finds themselves in a climate most like the era of the SNES. They have a large fan base and a large coffer from which to invest. They have taken large risks and have been met with both failure and grand success. For the first time since the development of the SNES they are at a pinnacle from which can be seen the past and the future. They have the resources to design and manufacture a machine composed of the latest hardware that gamers and developers are demanding. They have stowed a margin large enough to reward us with a gaming experience that is powerful and modern while at the same time innovative and fresh. They have reclaimed their brand faith and are in a most favorable station. As Nintendo fans we can only prepare so much for what Nintendo has in store for us. Now we wait. And the best place to wait may be e3.nintendo.com.
