• smeg
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    6 months ago

    At the heart of Yokoi’s design philosophy lay a concept he called “lateral thinking with withered technology.” Yokoi’s design philosophy can be summarized as an approach that emphasized finding novel uses for existing, inexpensive technology. His philosophy arguably runs counter to conventional game industry wisdom where newer, flashier, cutting-edge technology is (assumed) better.

    I think this is still Nintendo’s philosophy. I see a lot of people complaining that the Switch is “outdated hardware” compared to PlayStation and Xbox, not understanding that they’re not trying to make the same thing.

    • BluesF@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Those people aren’t the switch’s target demographic at all. The target market love it, I guarantee.

    • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      Moreover: Nintendo is a toy company. They seek novelty, which is why they keep doing goofy shit. That’s why the Switch has detachable controllers and motion-control nonsense instead of being baby’s first Steam Deck.

      The fancy description is “blue ocean strategy.” They don’t want to compete. They want to be the only company that offers [blank]. They want to sail off to some unexplored territory and be the only one there.