"No one else can match the environment we're creating for expanding the game experience to everyone. Our path is not linear, but dynamic," said Iwata in a very forward-looking sound bite.
Comparing his company to Pepsi in the 1980s, Iwata illustrated how the cola company went from market leader to follow-up drink. Coke, sweet, delicious Coke, had Pepsi beat with cola. So what did it do? Became number one with sports drinks (Gatorade), bottled water (Aquafina) and snack foods (Frito Lay, including Doritos). So, widening the audience meant more options to us, and of course, more money for them.
Above: Four not-so-lucky attendees (including Sim-creator Will Wright, far left) solve Brain Age problems in front of an alarmingly excited crowd at GDC 2006.
We all thought the Nintendo DS was a two-screened nightmare, inferior to the PSP in every way when it debuted. Now, the damn thing's sold 10 million units, the three Brain games have sold five million copies in Japan alone and the Wi-Fi Connection has logged one million users in record time. Breaking the mold paid off.
And that's what the Revolution should do, too. Its one-of-a-kind controller and gameplay-over-graphics approach could very easily suck up a whole new audience that hasn't played a game in years - or ever.
