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[NormalFish]

I'm not saying emulators are cool, Buuutttttt......

This video is clearly prescriptive and you definitively watched the whole thing and understood it.

 

[J@hranimo]

I agree with this 100%. Really can't see how anyone would think different.

 

[PandaShake]

I forgot this thing existed until I get reminded by all the posts about people unable to get it.

 

[blankempathy]

Did anyone really expect amiibos or the nes mini to really be such hot items? In a world where these emulated game systems are looked down upon or sold in drug stores as cheap last minute gift items? While I do get sick of not being able to get certain nintendo things at launch people need to calm down too. Scalpers know how nintendo operates and go out and buy up stock to resell on eBay because they know some sucker will buy those items marked up by 5x the cost. I fully expect the mini to be readily available eventually. Just like most amiibos are as well. They've continued to restock rarer ones. Hopefully pokemon moon and Sun is a sign that nintendo is more willing to go all out if they expect something to do well. Also I agree they should open preorders soon to gauge demand for the switch.

 

[LordRaptor]

This video is clearly prescriptive and you definitively watched the whole thing and understood it.

Except;

The subject of emulation is a tricky one, especially taboo in traditional games media where you're often not supposed to mention its existence and you certainly can't be seen to be endorsing it. It's a bit like Voldemort

Either way, it's not my job as part of games media to be protecting these fucking companies, because they sure as fuck don't care about anyone else, so in that spirit: Voldemort, Voldemort, Voldemort.

What did I not watch, or not understand?

 

[Mr. Nice_Guy]

Over the last decade virtually any "limited edition" of a game or console I've wanted to get has been pretty easy to acquire, except from Nintendo. They are the only company I know that can put out limited editions of games that sell out of preorders minutes after going up, and never have anymore become available. They've been in the business longer than almost anyone, they should know better.

 

[kaioshade]

"Special Edition" is code for "limited", so yes.

There it is then. Then i have no issue with those selling out if they're limited. Still doesn't excuse the Nintendo Classic Mini.

 

[xeroborn55]

i would have bought a BF 3ds but couldnt find one at walmart, target, or best buy and i missed the few minutes where they were available online.

that was the first time i was interested in purchasing a nintendo product in 20 years (havent owned a nintendo console since the n64).

my brother would have bought two for his kids for christmas but couldnt find any either.

no matter the reason thats just bad business.

 

[NormalFish]

What did I not watch, or not understand?

Voldemort is discussing emulation, not endorsing it.

 

[Kintaro]

BTW, Thanks for the shout out to retail workers there Jim.

 

[LordRaptor]

Voldemort is discussing emulation, not endorsing it.

No, Voldemort in that rhetorical flourish is emulation itself.
If you had watched the video you claim I haven't, it is pretty unambiguous what the message is.

 

[Gator86]

Nintendo is, and has been, terrible at everything outside of making games for years. The thing I associate with Nintendo more than anything else is scathing incompetence.

 

[Cheech]

I can rationalize them underproducing the NES Classic, because hey, they didn't take preorders. It's something they've never done before, so maybe they just didn't know or couldn't get the mfg capacity. Probably the latter. Whatever.

Underproducing the Mario 3DS makes *no* sense, though. Here you have this end-of-life console they've already been making for years with a very nice library, it's Christmas and all they have is Pokemon, so why not sell as many back catalog 3DS games as you can? I can't even fathom how much money they left on the table by making that Mario 3DS impossible to get. The eShop even had a good sale going on over Black Friday that people aren't going to participate in because they either couldn't get a console, or already had an older 3DS and were pissed because they couldn't get a Mario console so spent their money elsewhere other than with Nintendo.

I personally think it's more along the lines of gross negligence to their shareholders other than anything intentional. But if I had a large stake in the company, I'd be way more pissed at their supply chain management than anyone who can't get a Mario 3DS or NES Classic before Christmas.

 

[adversarial]

Y'all gotta read that interview with Itagaki. Haven't watched this Jim video yet, but am curious if he mentions that interview. Itagaki explains that the scarcity exists so the people at NOA get bonuses when things sell out.

I feel like a lot of people are overlooking this.

Wouldn't this kind of end the "Is it intentional or incompetence" discussion?

 

[Briarios]

Either they're doing it on purpose or they are incompetent. Regardless, it's not a good look for Nintendo, and they deserve the criticism they're receiving.

 

[DooMAGE]

Nintendo is, and has been, terrible at everything outside of making games for years. The thing I associate with Nintendo more than anything else is scathing incompetence.

In the end what matters are the games. lol

 

[Markitron]

Are people expecting that there won't be any pre-orders for the Switch?

I was under the impression that Gamestop were already taking pre-orders.

 

[packy34]

In the end what matters are the games. lol

Yeah, but it sure would be nice to have one of those new $99 3DS models (that they also under-shipped) to play Pokémon on. I just barely missed it at 2 different gamestops on Black Friday... and neither had long lines. They both got less than 10.

Absolutely no reason for that.

 

[Kintaro]

Are people expecting that there won't be any pre-orders for the Switch?

I was under the impression that Gamestop were already taking pre-orders.

Nope. No pre-orders.

 

[bomblord1]

Is Current Gaming Culture 10 persons on Reddit and 15 on NeoGAF?

Outside these boards, everyone preorders. Even on these boards my numbers may be correct.

It's big enough that retailers are stating it as a cause of reduced sales numbers

“The market cannot turn around now. Pre-orders and the first couple of weeks sales are enormously important to both publishers and retailers but there has been some appalling results this year due to Black Friday, and customers waiting to see if the games are broken or if the scores are decent,” said one retail source.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/black-friday-is-the-worst-thing-to-happen-to-retail/0175821

 

[dynamitejim]

Same shit with 3DS screen types. Dual TN, Top IPS/Bottom TN, Top TN/Bottom IPS, Dual IPS...who does this shit? IPS screens are clearly preferable and they can't be more costly given they just randomly put them in the same SKUs. The two screens have properties that make them very different and they just put them out there like they don't give a fuck. There's no way to even calibrate them on an OS level. It makes me worried about how they'll screw up the Switch.

 

[tryagainlater]

Although I think it's ridiculous that anyone could be too impatient to wait a few months for a re-release of a 30 year old console, Nintendo understocking their products can be annoying. Their games either never drop in price or get more expensive.

 

[Kthulhu]

In the end what matters are the games. lol

Not if I can't buy them.

No, Voldemort in that rhetorical flourish is emulation itself.
If you had watched the video you claim I haven't, it is pretty unambiguous what the message is.

Saying emulation isn't wrong =/= saying go and pirate old games.

 

[Gator86]

In the end what matters are the games. lol

Except for those times when you can't support a console entirely on your own and it flops, collapsing your markershare entirely. Nintendo's games aren't worth dealing with Nintendo.

 

[Tizoc]

It's not like they have a bunch of products coming out this holiday season either. They essentially have pokemon and the NES classic and that's it.

Super mario maker 3ds is releasing later this week isnt it?

 

[zelas]

And yet there are still some who say the demand is just that overwhelming, smh.

If Nintendo really is leagues above every other developer as they and certain fans believe, they should trust their products to sell themselves rather than bringing their gimmick mentality to retail distribution.

 

[LordRaptor]

Saying emulation isn't wrong =/= saying go and pirate old games.

"I'm not supposed to mention emulation and I'm not supposed to endorse it, but fuck those companies because they don't care about you, emulate, emulate, emulate"...?

 

[NotLiquid]

Honestly I can't say I'm all that surprised about NES Mini scarcity. I just dismissed it as a ROM box like a bunch of other dozen plug n play devices and I didn't expect it to actually be as sought out as it is, even though yes - they should get on the ball quicker.

 

[MisterHero]

This.

Also - despite the "well known demand" - Jim did a video on what a waste of money the NES classic was, how NES games aren't worth the price and that you should just download the ROMs when it was announced.

Fuck him if he really said that. And here I thought he was doing a good thing.

 

[NormalFish]

No, Voldemort in that rhetorical flourish is emulation itself.
If you had watched the video you claim I haven't, it is pretty unambiguous what the message is.

The point of that segment is that games media avoids discussing emulation explicitly, drawing the Harry Potter metaphor. That is not a prescriptive statement. The whole point of the video is that games companies outside of the PC space are not doing an effective job of competing with piracy which is, regardless of your moral standing, an acknowledges issue throughout media. The music industry has found ways to compete through services like spotify and Pandora. Television and film through Netflix, Hulu, crunchy roll, hbo go, etc.

Do you really not get that?

Fuck him if he really said that. And here I thought he was doing a good thing.

He did not. Go watch the video.

 

[Kthulhu]

The point of that segment is that games media avoids discussing emulation explicitly, drawing the Harry Potter metaphor. That is not a prescriptive statement. The whole point of the video is that games companies outside of the PC space are not doing an effective job of competing with piracy which is, regardless of your moral standing, an acknowledges issue throughout media. The music industry has found ways to compete through services like spotify and Pandora. Television and film through Netflix, Hulu, crunchy roll, hbo go, etc.

Do you really not get that?

Apparently they don't.

 

[RibMan]

100% agreed with Sterling. Excellent point about how toy companies manufacture demand.

 

[packy34]

"I'm not supposed to mention emulation and I'm not supposed to endorse it, but fuck those companies because they don't care about you, emulate, emulate, emulate"...?

I think you're taking random Jim jokes a little too seriously.

 

[Bacchuster]

Yeah, but it sure would be nice to have one of those new $99 3DS models (that they also under-shipped) to play Pokémon on. I just barely missed it at 2 different gamestops on Black Friday... and neither had long lines. They both got less than 10.

Absolutely no reason for that.

My local Meijer was sold out of the 3DS bundle in minutes; apparently they only got 8. Don't worry though, they still have 22 Tom Nook amiibos (yes I counted).

 

[LordRaptor]

Do you really not get that?

His summary conclusion is literally invoking Voldemort as a callback to how you're not supposed to mention him.
I don't pretend that that is a comprehensive summary of the arguments he presented, but his conclusion is "Just emulate". Followed by a huge fucking false equivalency about ContentId being stealing.

 

[Graphics Horse]

Anyone thinking that they missed out on the biggest shopping weekend of the year to increase sales potential is a few pogs short of a boglin.

 

[Gator86]

Same shit with 3DS screen types. Dual TN, Top IPS/Bottom TN, Top TN/Bottom IPS, Dual IPS...who does this shit? IPS screens are clearly preferable and they can't be more costly given they just randomly put them in the same SKUs. The two screens have properties that make them very different and they just put them out there like they don't give a fuck. There's no way to even calibrate them on an OS level. It makes me worried about how they'll screw up the Switch.

This is a spectacular example. What legitimate company does this? They're just cobbling things together and throwing them out the door.

A day later, I'm still waiting on an email from Nintendo to finish setting up my 3DS, a process which treats you like a toddler. Who knows if it will arrive. Nintendo!

 

[NathanS]

I do agree that it's very unlikely that they intentionally create manufactured scarcity, but as others have pointed out- a lot of these problems can be solved by opening up pre-orders very early to gauge actual demand.

It's likely a combination of very conservative manufacturing/shipping and ignorance of consumer demand, especially on social media. I think it's more an indication of how Nintendo is very conservatively run, where NCL might not understand or care what's been seen on social media in NA. But early pre-orders would solve a lot of these problems.

A lot of it comes from not running their own supply chain.

I still feel like a lot of folks are missing some key points. Nintendo does not manage a supply chain. They never have. There used to be many more middle men companies that handled a lot of distribution and this was how Nintendo was set up.

Until recently they were still set up in this manner and it was a major reasoning behind the region locking of 3DS and WiiU and regional distributors were being cut out of sales because folks were importing. See the pre-DSi Ds.

You have to take in to account this fact. Nintendo only wants to order and ship what they can sell to retailers because they don't warehouse this stuff themselves.

This is one of the key components of their conservative ordering. It also happens to have the added benefit of causing scarcity, but scarcity isn't a primary driver of demand. So yeah Nintendo is being conservative with their shipments and trying to balance it gently against having a hot hard to find product. I am more convinced it is an unintended benefit in their eyes.

You can make the arguement that no smart business would leave money on the table.Honestly, I believe if Nintendo had more of an actual supply chain operation this would be less of an issue.

Nintendo is unwilling to spend the extra money to make more or stock product locally and are okay with the potential disenfranchisement of some customers in exchange for no inventory costs, less retailer rebates and the chance to have the ahed to get product.

http://www.usgamer.net/people/Tebunker

 

[jmdajr]

Seems about right.

 

[Empyrean Heaven]

There it is then. Then i have no issue with those selling out if they're limited. Still doesn't excuse the Nintendo Classic Mini.

Yes, but they shouldn't be selling out within minutes is what I'm saying. Yes, part of it is a shitton of resellers bought these up, but that doesn't mean one needs to go out of their way to get one.

 

[Dsyndrome]

What's Nintendo's excuse for FE: Fate's scarcity (the full game) if they magically meet demand eventually? That game's never coming back.

They do this shit time and time again and people still fucking defend it.

 

[Schnozberry]

My local Meijer was sold out of the 3DS bundle in minutes; apparently they only got 8. Don't worry though, they still have 22 Tom Nook amiibos (yes I counted).

It seems like a common stock number for individual stores. The Best Buy here in Austin, TX that I frequent got 30 of each color, and said they got the most out of any store in their region.

 

[Tobor]

It's one of two possibilities:

1. Intentional scarcity. This is ignorance on the part of Nintendo management. Fad toys like the NES Classic need to sell before the holiday. There is no additional software sales to make later. You pump the channel and make your bucks during the holiday season.

2.Legitimate inability to manufacture enough to meet demand. This is ignorance on the part of Nintendo management and especially their supply chain management. This should have been like the D-Day landing at Normandy. Flood the fucking channel with product.

Either possibility leads to the same conclusion. Ignorant Nintendo management. The more things change the more they stay the same.

 

[Glass Shark]

Nintendo simply doesn't believe that increased financial risk results in increased financial reward.

Most companies operate the same way, this is not a unique trait. And if they put the time and effort into market research then they would know that the mainstream demand for this thing was enormous. Ever since they announced it, people all around me who haven't played a video game in decades were saying they were excited to buy one, and now they're pissed they can't.

 

[Graphics Horse]

What's Nintendo's excuse for FE: Fate's scarcity (the full game) if they magically meet demand eventually? That game's never coming back.

They do this shit time and time again and people still fucking defend it.

Scarcity of retail games is an interesting tactic that actually has a genuine strategy to it that doesn't involve secretly peddling stockpiles on eBay; it promotes digital sales which are much more profitable for them.

 

[Schnozberry]

It's one of two possibilities:

1. Intentional scarcity. This is ignorance on the part of Nintendo management. Fad toys like the NES Classic need to sell before the holiday. There is no additional software sales to make later. You pump the channel and make your bucks during the holiday season.

2.Legitimate inability to manufacture enough to meet demand. This is ignorance on the part of Nintendo management and especially their supply chain management. This should have been like the D-Day landing at Normandy. Flood the fucking channel with product.

Either possibility leads to the same conclusion. Ignorant Nintendo management. The more things change the more they stay the same.

You can wipe out all of the profit margin from selling low cost hardware by flooding retail channels and having to do retailer buybacks/rebates and pay warehousing costs when things don't clear out.

 

[Parapraxis]

Fantastic episode! I absolutely loathe Nintendo's retail practices. The artificial rarity bs needs to stop.

 

[Wolfgunblood Garopa]

Same shit with 3DS screen types. Dual TN, Top IPS/Bottom TN, Top TN/Bottom IPS, Dual IPS...who does this shit? IPS screens are clearly preferable and they can't be more costly given they just randomly put them in the same SKUs. The two screens have properties that make them very different and they just put them out there like they don't give a fuck. There's no way to even calibrate them on an OS level. It makes me worried about how they'll screw up the Switch.

They may have a less than ideal situation with their contract manufacturers. Nintendo probably has a few different display CMs, maybe one or a few of them have quality issues or Nintendo just took the lean manufacturing thing too far and they really just aren't stocked to build units so they build them up with whatever they can get at a moment's notice.

 

[Kthulhu]

Scarcity of retail games is an interesting tactic that actually has a genuine strategy to it that doesn't involve secretly peddling stockpiles on eBay; it promotes digital sales which are much more profitable for them.

My tinfoil hat theory is Sony and MS are doing mandatory installs to get the same result.

 

[Rflagg]

That ending lmao.