Healthcare Technology Featured Article

March 04, 2014

Nintendo's Out to Get Gamers Healthier Under New Business Plan


Back in the eighties and throughout much of the nineties, Nintendo was the name to reckon with when it came to home video gaming. Sure, Sega was there as well, but Sega was commonly the “also-ran” in the market, often spotted lagging behind its more successful competitor. When Sony and Microsoft got in on the action with the PlayStation and the Xbox, however, the game changed. Ever since, Nintendo has found itself looking up at the rest of the field. There were times when that changed, but after the Wii U, Nintendo's fortunes started looking grim, and that's got Nintendo considering three words: quality of life.

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has put out a new direction for Nintendo, with an eye toward improving gamers' quality of life in ways that gamers can find enjoyable. While the letter released by Iwata, describing the plan to shift Nintendo's corporate outlook, is a bit sparse in terms of details, Nintendo's recent past certainly underscores the need to head in a new direction in order to reclaim success as a company.

Nintendo's hardware sales for the Wii U have been seen visibly lagging, and game launches are few and far between. Even Nintendo's mobile business, in the form of the 3DS, has also suffered, and that's got shareholders calling for some kind of change, either to its hardware strategy or to its overall business model. Iwata has been seen shooting that down somewhat, pointing out in his letter, “We believe that we can capitalize the most on our strengths through a hardware-software integrated platform business, and therefore this type of dedicated video game platforms will remain our core focus.” Further, Iwata's letter noted that the company would “continue to provide products and services which pleasantly surprise people.” Unfortunately, he offered little more detail than that.

There is a precedent for this approach, however, and some gamers are looking at the Wii for answers. Back in 2009, Nintendo introduced a device known as a “vitality sensor,” which was originally designed to measure a gamer's heart rate — it was a sort of finger clamp — and incorporate that data into the game, adjusting to how fast the gamer's heart was beating. Coupled with the Wii's unusual control scheme, which tends to get gamers out of their seats and more into the game on its own, the complete package looked just as much like an exercise machine as it did a gaming machine.

There's a possibility that Nintendo will revive this concept and turn its gaming machine into not so much a gaming console (something designed to compete with the Xbox and PlayStation) but rather something that can stand on its own, regardless of the other two systems. If Nintendo takes this route, it might be able to get out of being the third wheel in the ongoing console wars and instead focus on delivering fun, healthy experiences as an living room exercise console.

Naturally, Nintendo would do well to work with other firms on this, but the company certainly has the intellectual property available to deliver fun gaming experiences while improving users’ cardiovascular systems. Only time will tell just what Nintendo's new face looks like, but a healthy gaming system might be a niche worth exploring.




Edited by Blaise McNamee
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [Free eNews Subscription]




SHARE THIS ARTICLE



FREE eNewsletter

Click here to receive your targeted Healthcare Technology Community eNewsletter.
[Subscribe Now]