Although Executive flame wars like those routinely highlighting mega-gaming blogs can be a lot of fun (after all, who doesn’t enjoy reading about Sony’s crackpot comments or Microsoft’s clueless retorts?), ultimately they just make the companies involved look a little…juvenile. We all love to laugh at (insert company name here) when they make fools of themselves, and when they do, the blogs love it because they get page traffic like there’s no tomorrow.
But what these things ultimately end up engendering rarely reaches beyond the level of pissing off Group A, Group B or both. It doesn’t take much effort to find a PS3/360 related flame war on the net, after all.
Then enter Nintendo, who’s Wii has become the utterly undisputed champion of this generation, nearly matching the combined sales of both its competitors, a goal it will likely reach this quarter. When we see mention of Nintendo in the press it’s usually in the context of how their new system and its software is helping someone. The elderly. The sick. The Injured. The Children.
One of the best examples I’ve seen of this is a posting on mega-gaming blog Kotaku today, proclaiming that Wii Fit Helps Paralyzed Girl Walk Again. I’m sure it’s overstated, I’m sure it had more to do with her doctors than Wii fit itself did, but the effect on perception is profound all the same.
In all of these cases, what do we see that we don’t get from the other console vendors by either their press releases, their advertising or their flamebait, crackpot commentary? We see situations that virtually anyone, no matter what their belief system, their politics, their affiliations–can open their hearts to. Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, a Christian or an Atheist, you almost can’t help but feel an affection, admiration or appreciation for anyone or anything that helps people. We all know someone–or of someone–who fits into one of these categories. A grandparent. A friend. Our own children. And when we see that something reaches out, takes a little of the pain away and delivers a smile to someone for whom perhaps it seems that nothing else could, that in turn puts a smile on our faces, a warm place in our hearts, and an opening in our wallets.
I think some things are very clear when it comes to Nintendo and its Wii. It’s not selling on the power of flashy visuals and it’s not catering to the Home Theater enthusiast crowd. It doesn’t do movies, it doesn’t tantalize us with cleverly named processors or promises of 50 million dollar game budgets. Instead it’s reaching toward something far more universal and meaningful than what its competitors are: our heartstrings.
It tugs at our nostalgia with its Virtual Console. It tugs at our sense of family, friends and fun with its playful games that demand a group. And in the media, in our public perception, it tugs at our sense of purpose because–whether its true or not–it reaches out to help those who need a hand–and a smile. In the end, maybe that’s more powerful marketing than any buzzwords or polygon counts can ever be, because while only some of us care about detailed games, practically all of us care about people who suffer more than seems fair.
