Last week, Nintendo announced that they would be discontinuing the NES Classic. If you didn’t know, the NES Classic is a miniaturized version of the original NES that comes complete with 30 games. The system was so popular that stores have been unable to keep their shelves stocked. Nintendo may be unable to keep up with production, which might indicate why they are discontinuing it. However, I believe there are other reasons at play.  Theories abound as to why Nintendo discontinued the NES Classic. I wrote a piece outlining my belief that Nintendo increased market demand to maximize profits when shortages were first reported last year. While I cannot prove this, the news of the discontinuation seems to provide additional evidence. Another idea is that Nintendo realized they could make much more money selling the old NES games individually through the Switch and Nintendo Store, rather than 30 at once in the Classic. This is possible, but I think they will be missing out o...

My reaction when I first saw the Nintendo Switch was something like this: “Here we go again. Nintendo trying to push innovation and continuing to abandon the standard console model.” Since the release of the Wii, Nintendo has placed more value in designing innovative systems instead of adhering to the standard box top set that Sony and Microsoft have. The Wii utilized motion sensor controllers instead of the generic double stick gamepad, the Wii U upped the ante by giving the controller a screen to second the one on the television set. Because of their desire to be the black sheep of the console family they have trouble attracting third party support and instead, rely on their own household names like Mario, Zelda and Pokemon to fill their library. Their constant efforts to push ingenuity and be different has resulted in Sony and Microsoft being the first choice of consoles for developers to build their games. Despite all of this Nintendo has remained competitive in t...

 The holiday season is always chaotic and a mix of emotion for me as I am sure it is for many others. It’s the time where you either love to see your family or you pretend to, and you give them gifts accordingly. Looking back on it, as a child the holidays represented more than gifts and giving, it represented the one time of year where my sister and I bonded and understood each other and a large part of the reason for this is because of video games. Growing up my sister and I both loved playing video games. She had an original Game Boy with Super Mario, Tetris and Kirby. It was one of her most prized possessions and she loved it, secretly I did too. I would have to wait until she was gone to sneak into her room and play it or if I was lucky, she would let me play it when she was home. She was pretty good at sharing when she wanted to and we both had a good time playing, that is when we weren’t fighting. My sister and I were almost always at odds. We bickered and fought...

Yesterday Nintendo released the NES Classic in the United States. Gamers everywhere salivated at the thought of being able to relive their childhood memories by playing NES classics like Super Mario Bros, Punchout and The Legend of Zelda. But in typical Nintendo fashion they bungled the release. The NES Classic sold out in every store within minutes of opening and some did not even receive any. Stores that were lucky enough to have some were only given a limited supply, some as few as ten. So why did Nintendo fail to anticipate the excitement of the release? simple they didn't. Nintendo has a history of failing to understand supply and demand. The Wii was one of the hottest systems to own 8 years ago. But Nintendo was never able to keep up with demand. During the holiday season 2009, they doubled their supplies but were still unable to make sure stores across the U.S. were stocked. Similarly the Majora's Mask 3DSXL went out of stock in mere minutes after its release. N...

I recently wrote an article on the importance of remakes and why they are more than just a money grab. Since then then I have put more thought into the pitfalls that follow their success. Replaying the BioShock series and diving back into Call of Duty 4 is great but they do not add any new ideas. I fear that the growing amount of remakes is a sign that game publishers and studios are losing confidence in their own creativity. To explain this further I want to use Hollywood as an example. Movie studios have recently been criticized for regurgitating the same principal ideas into the movies they create. Every year a new super hero movie comes out and it is largely the same premise. Good guy with super powers fights bad guy with super powers to save the world, with some change ups in between. Super hero movies are fun and provide entertainment plus revenue for movie studios that desperately need it. But they do not add anything new and creative to the silver screen. A super hero ...

When I was in elementary school Pokémon was my life. I remember when the first kid brought Pokémon cards into class. Everyone was amazed and I think we all went home and begged our parents to buy us some, I know I sure did! So when I walked into my classroom the next day with my new starter pack I thought I was going to be the best there ever was! But to my surprise many others had the same starter pack and the same idea. After that period of my life Pokémon has taken a backseat to many of my other gaming interests. I will pick up a new game here and there but I never invest the time and energy into making my Pokémon the best. When Pokémon Go came out it reinvigorated my interest and got me excited for the next games in the series, Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon . So if you are like me, and you grew up in the privileged generation that experienced the original 150 Pokémon, you can understand me when I say that the new generation of Pokémon absolutely suck! Ok maybe suck is too har...