Nintendo has always lead the way
The video gaming industry, much like many other industries, generally adopts copycat-like philosophies. As soon as one game producer introduces a new idea, most other companies often jump onto the bandwagon. But not Nintendo; this video game developer generally does its own thing. And having been willing to shake things up and take risks Nintendo has come up with revolutionary new ways to play games.
Game play and players all the way
For many years, Nintendo has put game play and game players firmly in the top priority spot, treating game achievements as a means to advance and extend game play rather than using points as a reward for playing. The fact that Nintendo’s focus has been on game play, however, has also resulted in the fact that the cinematics and storyline of their games have generally been on the ‘light’ side. One annoyance that gamers have experienced is that the consoles have been region-locked, causing problems for players importing games from other countries.
Local multi-player versus online gaming
While the bulk of the gaming industry started focusing on online gaming to accommodate the demand for this type of gaming, Nintendo focused primarily on the Wii, which features local multi-player experiences. This concept has been expanded on with the Wii U, exploring the options of asymmetric local multi-player through Wiimotes and GamePad Tablets.
Other gaming developers realized that Nintendo was on the right track when it developed the Wii and especially the Wii Sports, enabling people to play games together with their friends and family which proved to be tremendously popular, offering a great alternative to the violent games that are common in other gaming.