WHEN MARIO WALKED AMONG THE GIANTS
Copyright 2004 www.tombraiderchronicles.com

[ October 12th 2004 ]

Nintendo's press conferences at the Los Angeles Electronic Entertainment Expo has always been more raucous than those of its competitors. But recently the company seems to be trying a bit too hard. Earlier this year, for instance, Reginald Fils-Aime, the new executive vice president for North America, stood before journalists and declared, "My name is Reggie and I'm about kicking ass."

Then he showed footage from souped-up new versions of classic Nintendo heroes, like the gold-armour-clad heroine of Metroid Prime: Echoes and the daring fur ball Fox McCloud from Star Fox 2. The wildest applause of all was reserved for a trailer for the company's new Legend of Zelda game, which reduced some of the seemingly grown men in attendance to tears at the sight of their hero, Link, all grown up and rendered in stunningly believable 3-D.

Was Nintendo trying to recapture the glory days, back in 1998, when it owned a quarter of the U.S. market and sold five of the top 10 videogame-console games? What's clear is that those glory days are gone - not only for Nintendo, but for all Japanese game publishers. The North American videogame market - the world's largest - has been taking off in recent years, but Japanese publishers aren't reaping the rewards - their share of the U.S. market has plunged to 29 percent in 2004...

Read the full article at MSNBC

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