Okay, confession time. I'm not all that interested in 3DS' launch lineup.
That's not to say I actively hate it, though. Far from it; I've already identified a good half-dozen games that I'd either like to play or am, at the very least, curious about. As a whole, though, what I'm seeing is pretty port- and remake-heavy, and even looking past that they're often of a franchise I'm just plain not keen on. I've gone so far as to cast my eyes about what we know so far and wonder if Nintendo might just plain be out of ideas.
But all that said, this launch lineup is in fact very interesting to a not-insignificant number of consumers. Some have been itching for Nintendo franchise revivals from years back. Others are intrigued by series that they once played on Nintendo systems, but had to follow to the competition. Many of them are excited about the prospect of playing them portably and in 3D. A significant number of them are combinations of all of the above.
Why I'm writing today is this: I think I've identified why they're being catered-to so intensely at the outset. I think Nintendo hopes those early customers will do a little something for them and the 3DS. Not a hard job, mind, and probably not even one they'll realize they're doing. I think Nintendo hopes they will be accidental ambassadors for the 3DS.
I've had pieces of the puzzle tumbling about in my brain for many months now. The first piece is one I've talked about before: StreetPass. Nintendo—specifically, Hideki Konno, producer of many key titles and Nintendo's reputed online champion—was talking last E3, at the 3DS' blowout, about the 3DS' built-in Tag Mode feature. Tag Mode, for the uninitiated, is a feature that debuted in the original Nintendogs, one of Konno's babies. On the old DS, you'd take the game, start up the special mode (called "Bark Mode"), close your DS to put it to sleep, and go out walking in public. Should you pass by another player with Nintendogs in the same mode, your systems exchange data and your virtual pups visit the other player's game. It worked great on the streets of Japan in Nintendogs' early days, but—and I am painfully aware of this, as I tried it myself—getting it to work in the States with our much lower population density was very difficult.
StreetPass takes this to a whole new level by building Tag Mode into the system as a system service. Whether your 3DS is closed or you're even playing other games, StreetPass is on the lookout for other 3DS systems with which to exchange data with, for any StreetPass game you have ever played. It's reasonable to expect that the 3DS' default mode isn't even "off" but sleeping in StreetPass, much like a mobile phone keeps its wireless eye out for cell towers. All this works together to give StreetPass a much better chance at working even places like suburban shopping malls, but it's still not the complete picture for widespread success.
I'll explain what I think Nintendo plans to do about this in a moment, but let me take a brief diversion to speculate a bit on Nintendo president Satoru Iwata's upcoming GDC keynote address, described thusly: "In this keynote address, Mr. Iwata will talk not only about how video gaming has evolved, but also his views on where we go from here." The last part is important. Where does Nintendo intend to take gaming, with the by-then-launched 3DS as Nintendo's prime focus? I don't think it's a stretch to suspect that Nintendo wants to create a social effect of their very own via StreetPass, and through that realize a population saturated with 3DS much like, if not above and beyond, the dramatic market-expansion efforts that the DS itself achieved.
Getting there is the trouble. Nintendo has been frank since E3 2010 about how it's going to be difficult to sell the 3DS and its glasses-less 3D effect through traditional media. Demo stations in the video game departments of stores can only go so far, of course. To convince people to buy into 3DS, they need to see it. And that's where the accidental ambassadors are going to come in—the army of early adopters that are already convinced they want a 3DS based on game styles they are familiar with and have long-cherished—many since childhood.
These people have their deposits down on 3DS already; they had been waiting desperately for GameStop to open up the preorder queue for months. With the strength of games familiar to them that they are already prepared to spend their money on, Nintendo has their ranks. But... there's another problem here. If the posts they've been making on message boards are any indication, many of them are not the slightest bit interested in StreetPass. When they get their systems, they intend to make a beeline for the system settings and make sure "off" means "off" in the interest of maximum battery life, and then either leave them at home or bury them in their bags. (I should note that I believe StreetPass isn't going to be a notable drain, by the way. I've witnessed DS systems in sleep mode and Tag Mode and they simply don't run down like they do when they're being used.)
I think Nintendo has this covered, too, though, with something they just unveiled very recently: Game Coins. (Japanese name, by the way. It might be called something totally different stateside.) They're virtual rewards for using the 3DS as an advanced pedometer by sticking it into your pocket or bag. Game Coins can be spent in any game that supports them, to unlock whatever kind of rewards the game sees fit to implement. Here, I think, the early adopter will be led to carry his 3DS around. He had already decided that he wasn't going to hit anyone up on StreetPass, but he'll be inclined to carry his 3DS in an accessible place so that it picks up his steps for earning Game Coins. The immediate effect from this is that when he runs into people he knows, he'll have his 3DS ready to show off (as early adopters are wont to do); but even if he isn't a shower, he might get asked about it if someone notices the 3DS on his person or being played. Seeing the 3D in person, of course, sells itself.
There's recent precedent for this kind of thing, actually—and with Nintendo, no less. Rewind yourself an eternity in Internet time to holiday 2006. Remember what you were all buying back then? That's right, a Wii with The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. So those early adopters had reason to buy into Wii early and in good numbers. But they also had another thing in the box: Wii Sports. The game was already there and the holidays were around with all the requisite visitors, so it got tried out, and helped start a phenomenon. Without a critical mass of early adopters being ambassadors for the system, the Wii may have launched more slowly or more expensively, and—much like the 3DS' 3D screen—it was really something that people had to try for themselves.
The other win for Nintendo in having the early adopter carry his 3DS with him all the time, though, goes back to StreetPass. Now, the early adopter may have already convinced himself StreetPass is a non-starter, but if Game Coins can motivate enough of them to carry their 3DS with them everywhere... slowly, surely, the air will start to fill with StreetPass transactions. As more and more players jump on board, they'll be immediately encouraged by encountering random passers-by and, even above and beyond Game Coins, find themselves motivated to StreetPass as much as possible. The great part about this is that when Nintendo and others do start moving into their bigger ideas (from a game perspective) on 3DS, the StreetPass network has already had a great shot at being established—and as such, new adopters should find themselves being immediately rewarded for StreetPassing.
All thanks to early adopters.
So, yes, while it's still true there isn't a whole lot that I'm really excited about on 3DS as of yet, I can't help but be drawn to the ideas that I see taking shape. I was indeed a little afraid, especially after the highly-creative launch of the DS, that 3DS' launch would mark a time when Nintendo and others didn't really have any new ideas with which to create the kinds of novel games I love to play. But now that I look at it much harder, I'm thinking, hey... they really do have an incredibly neat, and potentially really cool, idea here. One that I can see a company with such a proven track record of creating novel experiences going to town with. It makes me want to have a 3DS from the outset, even without any really killer games, just to be a part of it.
But all that said, this launch lineup is in fact very interesting to a not-insignificant number of consumers. Some have been itching for Nintendo franchise revivals from years back. Others are intrigued by series that they once played on Nintendo systems, but had to follow to the competition. Many of them are excited about the prospect of playing them portably and in 3D. A significant number of them are combinations of all of the above.
Why I'm writing today is this: I think I've identified why they're being catered-to so intensely at the outset. I think Nintendo hopes those early customers will do a little something for them and the 3DS. Not a hard job, mind, and probably not even one they'll realize they're doing. I think Nintendo hopes they will be accidental ambassadors for the 3DS.
I've had pieces of the puzzle tumbling about in my brain for many months now. The first piece is one I've talked about before: StreetPass. Nintendo—specifically, Hideki Konno, producer of many key titles and Nintendo's reputed online champion—was talking last E3, at the 3DS' blowout, about the 3DS' built-in Tag Mode feature. Tag Mode, for the uninitiated, is a feature that debuted in the original Nintendogs, one of Konno's babies. On the old DS, you'd take the game, start up the special mode (called "Bark Mode"), close your DS to put it to sleep, and go out walking in public. Should you pass by another player with Nintendogs in the same mode, your systems exchange data and your virtual pups visit the other player's game. It worked great on the streets of Japan in Nintendogs' early days, but—and I am painfully aware of this, as I tried it myself—getting it to work in the States with our much lower population density was very difficult.
StreetPass takes this to a whole new level by building Tag Mode into the system as a system service. Whether your 3DS is closed or you're even playing other games, StreetPass is on the lookout for other 3DS systems with which to exchange data with, for any StreetPass game you have ever played. It's reasonable to expect that the 3DS' default mode isn't even "off" but sleeping in StreetPass, much like a mobile phone keeps its wireless eye out for cell towers. All this works together to give StreetPass a much better chance at working even places like suburban shopping malls, but it's still not the complete picture for widespread success.
I'll explain what I think Nintendo plans to do about this in a moment, but let me take a brief diversion to speculate a bit on Nintendo president Satoru Iwata's upcoming GDC keynote address, described thusly: "In this keynote address, Mr. Iwata will talk not only about how video gaming has evolved, but also his views on where we go from here." The last part is important. Where does Nintendo intend to take gaming, with the by-then-launched 3DS as Nintendo's prime focus? I don't think it's a stretch to suspect that Nintendo wants to create a social effect of their very own via StreetPass, and through that realize a population saturated with 3DS much like, if not above and beyond, the dramatic market-expansion efforts that the DS itself achieved.
Getting there is the trouble. Nintendo has been frank since E3 2010 about how it's going to be difficult to sell the 3DS and its glasses-less 3D effect through traditional media. Demo stations in the video game departments of stores can only go so far, of course. To convince people to buy into 3DS, they need to see it. And that's where the accidental ambassadors are going to come in—the army of early adopters that are already convinced they want a 3DS based on game styles they are familiar with and have long-cherished—many since childhood.
These people have their deposits down on 3DS already; they had been waiting desperately for GameStop to open up the preorder queue for months. With the strength of games familiar to them that they are already prepared to spend their money on, Nintendo has their ranks. But... there's another problem here. If the posts they've been making on message boards are any indication, many of them are not the slightest bit interested in StreetPass. When they get their systems, they intend to make a beeline for the system settings and make sure "off" means "off" in the interest of maximum battery life, and then either leave them at home or bury them in their bags. (I should note that I believe StreetPass isn't going to be a notable drain, by the way. I've witnessed DS systems in sleep mode and Tag Mode and they simply don't run down like they do when they're being used.)
There's recent precedent for this kind of thing, actually—and with Nintendo, no less. Rewind yourself an eternity in Internet time to holiday 2006. Remember what you were all buying back then? That's right, a Wii with The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. So those early adopters had reason to buy into Wii early and in good numbers. But they also had another thing in the box: Wii Sports. The game was already there and the holidays were around with all the requisite visitors, so it got tried out, and helped start a phenomenon. Without a critical mass of early adopters being ambassadors for the system, the Wii may have launched more slowly or more expensively, and—much like the 3DS' 3D screen—it was really something that people had to try for themselves.
The other win for Nintendo in having the early adopter carry his 3DS with him all the time, though, goes back to StreetPass. Now, the early adopter may have already convinced himself StreetPass is a non-starter, but if Game Coins can motivate enough of them to carry their 3DS with them everywhere... slowly, surely, the air will start to fill with StreetPass transactions. As more and more players jump on board, they'll be immediately encouraged by encountering random passers-by and, even above and beyond Game Coins, find themselves motivated to StreetPass as much as possible. The great part about this is that when Nintendo and others do start moving into their bigger ideas (from a game perspective) on 3DS, the StreetPass network has already had a great shot at being established—and as such, new adopters should find themselves being immediately rewarded for StreetPassing.
All thanks to early adopters.
So, yes, while it's still true there isn't a whole lot that I'm really excited about on 3DS as of yet, I can't help but be drawn to the ideas that I see taking shape. I was indeed a little afraid, especially after the highly-creative launch of the DS, that 3DS' launch would mark a time when Nintendo and others didn't really have any new ideas with which to create the kinds of novel games I love to play. But now that I look at it much harder, I'm thinking, hey... they really do have an incredibly neat, and potentially really cool, idea here. One that I can see a company with such a proven track record of creating novel experiences going to town with. It makes me want to have a 3DS from the outset, even without any really killer games, just to be a part of it.