A few decades ago the masses believed video games were a waste of time for lackadaisical youths to pacify themselves while ignoring their responsibilities as both kids and young adults. As more and more people started understanding the benefits of gaming so too did the perception of what a video game is and, most importantly, the benefits gaming can bestow on a person’s life changed. Hi, my name is James Bullock and I am a gamer who has spent the better part of his existence testing the laws of physics, exploring the vastness of a world ruined, and been a champion inside various arenas courtesy of digitized worlds both driven by reality and created through pure unbelievable ingenuity unlike anything seen by human eyes. And as a gamer I’ve discovered something else video games provide: life lessons. Today I examine how proper innovation at E3 can be the beginning of grand success.
Dare to be Different (Nintendo at E3 [2006])
So many times the phrase, “This will revolutionize video games as we know it,” has been thrown around to the point that people take it as nothing more than a marketing ploy never living up to the bold claim. In 2005, Nintendo added itself to the long list of developers & companies proclaiming they were on the verge of revolutionizing video gaming (once again). It was at E3 2005 where Nintendo introduced a piece of what was to be their next console – codenamed “Revolution” – a motion controller that appeared to be nothing more than a remote made for someone’s TV & a odd joystick. Of course, after gaining quite a bit of intrigue from the gaming community with this single showing of a peripheral that might make the “Revolution” something worth buying, Nintendo kicked over the proverbial bucket the next year with a re-branding. No longer would it be called “Revolution”. The fall of 2006 would witness the dawning of Nintendo’s Wii. People around the world couldn’t help but laugh at Nintendo naming their upcoming console something so insult-worthy. Petty “hardcore” gamers went as far as to claim they wouldn’t purchase a console featuring a name like the “Wii”. But Nintendo did have a revolution in mind. Just like the Wii logo, Nintendo’s upcoming console represented people coming together to enjoy what their games could offer. Rather than just sit around on their couches, players could interact with the game and each other thanks to the motion controller the system’s core was based around – allowing even non-gamers to experience what this new fangled video game hubbub was all about. And Nintendo knocked their idea out of the park.
The Wii gained praise from critics and consumers alike for being a true next generation step forward compared to the “Gamecube” and easily affordable. Even a lack of support for high definition video output and limited network infrastructure didn’t hinder sales and actually reinforced the fact Nintendo’s Wii was a gaming-only console made for gamers new and old, of any age, featuring software for hardcore gamers and those just wanting to bowl without wearing those potentially fungus-infested shoes. The end result was Nintendo’s highest selling console in history (outdoing Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s Playstation 3) and the company’s competitors trying to play catch-up and jump on board with this whole “motion gaming” phenomenon (or, dare I write, “revolution”); proving that proper innovation & thinking outside the box to mean the difference between being a winner or an also-ran.
Have you learned any major life lessons from E3 or any video game for that matter? Leave them in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.
