Has Nintendo forgotten the core?

IGN asked Nintendo's VP of Corporate affairs if Nintendo has forgotten the core. Naturally, she said no:

Nintendo cares a great deal about our core gaming fans who have enjoyed Nintendo products and games for many years, and we continue to develop with this consumer in mind. But what we've done, in the simplest terms, is to look at the video game market in a different way. Contrary to some of the feedback I've received from game enthusiast media, we have not shifted focus to the casual market, but, rather, have expanded our efforts to include them.

She continues:

This may sound like typical blah, blah, blah "corporate speak," but we really are about making games for everyone. Different players, even among those who describe themselves as "hard core," have different tastes. Some like racing games, while others are into role-playing games. We're breaking down the barriers that separate the core and casual gaming groups. We think the two can coexist peacefully and play together. And since I am a self-described member of that expanded audience, I sure hope that's true!

My take
1. One of the biggest challenges for lifestyle marketers is balancing "the core" with growth. As the brand gets bigger, the core consumers often feel left behind. They can be bitter, because they feel like they're the ones who got the brand to where it's at, only to be forgotten as more profitable (and less critical) new consumers start paying attention to the brand. These tensions are inevitable, but managing them is tough.

2. I'm not a PR expert by any means, so I'm doing a bit of armchair quarterbacking here, but I thought her second response was a lot more effective than the first. Like she said, the first part did sound like "corporate blah blah," which is exactly what the core doesn't want to hear. On the other hand, she sounded great when she used authentic, natural language.

How Consoles Die

Edge magazine has an excellent feature entitled "How Consoles Die":

Death, they say, is part of life.

But in the case of game consoles, sometimes death is just death. Here are 12 of the industry's most notable dead consoles. Some whimpered in their last days, some went out in a hail of gunfire and glory and some were DOA. In any case, here's our tribute to the dead.

My take
Whether you're a gamer or not, there's a lot to be learned from the successes and failures of consoles. They're most definitely lifestyle brands, but require substantially more capital and R&D expertise than apparel, music, or other lifestyle goods. That means the barriers to entry are much higher for competitors, and the stakes are higher. In particular, pay attention to Nintendo's rise, fall, and resurrection (thanks to the Wii).

Read more here

Amazon offers Persona 4 accessory set

Via RPGamer:

Fans of Altus's upcoming PlayStation 2 RPG Persona 4 are now able to purchase an exclusive set of items related to the game at Amazon.com. Deemed the Social Link Expansion Pack, this set will include an extra-large t-shirt which features the Persona Konohana Sakuya, a soundtrack CD featuring songs not found on the CD packaged with the game, a Persona 4 2009 calendar, and an eight-and-a-half inch tall Teddie plush.

My take
First of all, this is cool because Persona is a great series and I'm excited for the fourth installment. But this is most interesting as evidence that RPGs, which were once a tiny niche market, are becoming a larger, more meaningful opportunity for publishers and developers. The genre is far more popular in Japan, and they've been getting extras like this for over a decade, but until now they were rare in the US. Games like Halo and GTA have been huge for years, but the RPG market is growing along with them. It won't ever be as big as action games, but RPG fans are incredibly loyal and passionate. For the right brands, they're a great base of evangelists to build on. Keep an eye on companies like XSEED, Atlus, and Nippon Ichi.

Dragonforce bite the Guitar Hero hand that feeds them

Via 1UP comes an interview with British power metal band Dragonforce in which they make it clear that they're sick of talking to kids about Guitar Hero:

You may have achieved immortality by getting 100% on "Through the Fire and Flames" in Guitar Hero III, Chris Chike, but that doesn't mean the authors of the fan-favorite and blisteringly difficult song want to keep hearing about it. In an interview with Metal Injection (embedded above), DragonForce guitarist and co-founding member Sam Totman made it explicitly clear they don't want any more Guitar Hero questions. "Yup, definitely. Don't ask if I can play my own song in Guitar Hero, because I've answered that question about five times a day," Totman said when asked if he was sick of Guitar Hero-related inquiries. But that didn't stop the band member from also crediting the game with giving his British group more popularity in the U.S. "It's made more people like us... it's definitely helped a lot, yeah," Totman said.

My take
1. I've watched Dragonforce go from a run-of-the-mill European power metal band (there are lots of them) to a mainstream phenomenon with American high school and college kids. This is entirely due their presence on Guitar Hero. Turning their back on their fans who have come to them through the game is the worst possible thing they could do.

2. Stepping back one level, Dragonforce represents the role that games play in the contemporary marketing mix. Avenged Sevenfold and Taking Back Sunday also saw big spikes in popularity after appearing on the Madden soundtrack. Games are now a huge brand-building platform in the same way that movie soundtracks used to be, and represent a source of income for bands in a post-filesharing economy. For example, rock fossils like Motley Crue and The Offspring are remaining relevant and gaining new fans by releasing albums as downloadable content in Rock Band (see here and here).

Read more at 1UP