Strategic Gaming

Nintendo grows further from fun and games, closer to the practical and utilitarian

by Ryan Block
via engadget

Nintendo's as cagey as tech companies come, but the WSJ is reporting on a recent and unusual high level, high impact strategy presentation where in top 'Tendo execs revealed what's described as a change in its current business model: using its foothold in the video game market to sell casual gamers and non-gamers products focused more on utilitarian functions. You know, boring stuff -- like, stuff that's not games. What they want to sell Nintendo wouldn't specifically say, but they're focusing first on the flagship portable, the DS, rolling out what the WSJ describes as "features [that] will be useful in places like train stations, amusement parks or museums and [that] could be accessed wirelessly," as well as a new "television-programming feature for the Japanese market... to check television listings, run searches by keyword and genre, and highlight each family member's favorite programs." Maybe this pseudo-DVR like functionality will somehow play into their forthcoming 1seg tuner, but precisely how the rest of this completely underwhelming and disappointing news will manifest itself is currently up to one's imagination -- something Nintendo's apparently lost. We have heard, though, they might be getting back into the playing card business, and possibly in keeping with that vertical integration, opening up a string of Nintendo themed casinos. Not a bad business to be in.