My birthday wishlist…a kind of rant
Not really a rant, not a real wishlist but as I approach my 40th birthday next month, I thought I’d come up with a few things that I’d love to get…and I have a feeling some of you will want the same.
So here’s my short list, in no particular order, which I may add to:
- Nintendo to publish their games on other platforms: Sales are declining and yet the big N continues to be stubborn about not developing their franchise titles for other platforms. I’d LOVE to play Zelda (any version) on my iPad…I’m well aware of the hacks/jailbreaks/etc to do this somewhat but it could be so much better if they simply offered it legitimately on the App Store
- Nokia to stop pissing away their market position: Stop being like Palm and giving up your position…suck it up and populate your great hardware with Android – I still think the N97 mini has a better camera than the iPhone 4 and that it would be a killer platform for Android. The dumbphone market isn’t going to keep floating the corporate boat for much longer.
- 3D TVs to lose the glasses: I recently got to check out Panasonic’s latest 3D offerings and they were extremely impressive but there is no way I’m paying $200 per pair of glasses so my friends & I can watch Avatar….I don’t spend that much on sunglasses either. During the Olympics I got to see a few glasses-free sets and they were cool…plus Nintendo has a glasses-free 3D DS coming out next year so it’s not like it’s technically impossible (as some would lead you to believe). At first I thought the whole 3D TV thing was a fad but after seeing the output from the consumer level 3D camcorders, I may have to revise that thinking – it was easily the most compelling content I’ve seen in 3D and it was just the Panasonic camera rep’s little girl playing in their backyard…families are going to love that way more than watching Pixar movies in 3D
- Media companies to realize that Canada wants your content too: I’m so tired of visiting my friends in the US and seeing what they get to play with that we can’t up in Canada due to region locking (and presumably licensing issues). If you can’t get that shit sorted out, and let us legitimately pay for or access your content, we have a simple solution for you: we’ll just steal it..perhaps you’ve heard of bittorrent? Make it hard/impossible for us to watch your stuff, we’ll find workarounds. I’m talking to you Hulu, iTunes, Netflix, all the US TV Networks, BBC, etc.
I don’t think this list is too unreasonable and not too ‘old guy on the porch’ ranty…just a few observations I have about the current Canadian landscape.
A lovely list!
With the launch of Netflix Canada, this really drives your point home about licensing and region-locking. The price is right, but not so much if it’s only old content.
I agree about Nokia too. The hardware is great, but the software leaves something to be desired. Android would be a great move, but they liken it to Finnish boys peeing their pants to stay warm in the winter. (Did you read that quote?)
I don’t think Nintendo will change their position. They’ve always aggressively protected their first-party franchises.
Michael: I did see that Nokia quote about staying warm in the winter…Nokia might have to do that if their business takes anymore of a hit…here’s hoping the upcoming CEO switch will shed some sobering light on the situation.
Nintendo is going to have to do something…the money printing machine is starting to break down so they are going to have to start looking at new options other than the Wii 2.
John: To be fair, people said the same thing about Nintendo toward the end of the GameCube and how they were getting clobbered by PlayStation and Xbox. Along came the Wii and they were on cloud nine again.
Now, there’s the PS Move and Xbox Kinect to compete with the Wii casual gaming thing, so I fully expect Nintendo to do something crazy like how they did with the Revolution… er, Wii a few years back. People will once again say Nintendo is doomed and then Reggie, Shiggy, and Satoru-san will come forward with something laughable that turns out to be incredibly profitable.
To be honest, though, my Wii mostly collects dust these days. I’m all about the 360.