Nintendo Ready To Fight Apple iPhone With 3D Gaming Device

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Portable gaming pioneer Nintendo is under siege from the iPhone platform. Although the Nintendo DS is a decent hardware device in its own right, the iPhone has steadily eaten into its market share. As detailed in a recent Touch Reviews article, Apple’s share of the mobile gaming market has grown 500% in the last year. Traditional gaming companies realize the threat the iPhone platform presents them.

Perhaps its with this in mind Nintendo recently announced some rather ambitious future plans for the Nintendo DS. As detailed in an article in AppleInsider, Nintendo plans to release a 3D successor to the current DS. Unlike current 3D systems, the new Nintendo 3DS will not require glasses for the 3D effect. If Nintendo is able to get this device to market in the next year as planned, it would certainly do a lot for helping Nintendo fight back for some of the lost gaming market.

While generally available, glasses-free 3D device would certainly be novel and revolutionary, I have my doubts about whether it would claw back the market lost to Apple’s mobile devices. The main strength of the iPhone platform (iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad included) is its ability to be both massively versatile and incredibly applicable to a specific task at the same time. What I mean by that is the iPhone was not designed for a particular task and given enough hardware power to do most any task. So the iPhone wasn’t designed to be a phone or a PDA or a gaming device; it was designed to be able to do all of these things and more. In fact it can do anything a developer can imagine within the confines of the platform. The new Nintendo device may be 3D and have backwards compatibility to a catalog of Nintendo games but its still a single purpose device. More and more these days consumers are looking for one device that converges a host of tasks and the iPhone does that well in most cases.

Would the novelty of 3D push you to purchase a single use device over the iPhone? Do you prefer to have a group of single use gadgets or one or two that combine all of your needs? Let us know in the comments.

  • stephennorthcott

    I think you make some refreshing observations here Erin. I was going to write something about this, and touch on the fact that Nintendo now have a bit of a battle facing them. My interest was why did they make this announcement now? But it doesn't really warrant a full article as it's kind of my idle musings!

    Not only do Nintendo have a very very old console, in terms of it's hardware. They also have a gimmick in their motion control system that both Sony and Microsoft are set to better in coming months. Couple that with Sony and Microsoft gaining market share, and dropping prices, and to me the Wii is in a very precarious position.

    Nintendo must be all too aware with the gains Apple are making in the mobile space, that they are under siege from every side.

    They've never been too forward at coming out with new hardware unless pressured. Back in the day they kept the colour GameBoy under wraps for a long time while they could still milk the black and white market.

    Couple all that info above with the very clear message they are pushing that this new handheld will play old games – much like the colour GameBoy “colourised” old cartridges – it seems they want to bolster confidence in their place in the market from both developers and consumers.

    I think the Wii is the hula-hoop of the games industry, and it's had it's day.
    I also think that this new 3DS will not pan out quite as Nintendo hope.

    Overall I think that in the next 12 months we are going to see a suprising shift in where the focus on hardware and gaming is….

    But that's just my 2c. Must get some code written….

    Stephen.

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