Nintendo has clearly worked wonders with the games industry in the past few years, going from ‘underdog’ to outdoing the gargantuan opposition. Sponsoring Channel 4 comedy shows and music festivals to holding nationwide tours is clearly something Nintendo would not have been doing back in the GameCube days when they struggled to even get stores to sell their product.

Perhaps one of the biggest factors in their new found success is the ‘Touch! Generations’ line of video games. By changing what is perceived as a ‘Video Game’ in the public mind, Nintendo have cleverly invented a brand which, so called ‘casual’ gamers, can trust will be aimed purely at them.

Not only has this new brand helped Nintendo reach out to new customers with a range of games aimed at people of any age and of any walk of life, it has also helped pioneer a new style of play which can be seen with both the DS and the Wii. Both the touch screen and the movement based inputs have changed the way games are played, both casual and ‘hardcore’.

One of Nintendo’s ways of spreading their word is through road shows and live events where potential buyers/gamers can actually try out and see for themselves how easy and fun it is to immerse yourself in a good video game. This weekend, the ‘Touch! Generations’ tour was setup in a nearby shopping center full of potential newcomers to video games and the brand. Setup was a large, three sectioned showcase complete with multiple DS units and many different games.

As any journalist would do, I approached one of the attendants (His name was Jon) for a chat about the days events. One thing that particularly struck me was how the event was being run by the exact sort of person Nintendo were aiming for with their marketing. The helpers at the event weren’t dressed up in fancy suits or gigantic Mario costumes, they were just like someone you would expect to see in a shopping center or be a potential buyer of a ‘Touch! Generations’ game.

The theme of the event was to ‘dare’ to try something new, exciting, relaxing or to train your brain. With games on show including best sellers; Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training, 42 All Time Classics, Tetris DS, Nintendogs, Big Brain Academy, Actionloop, Electroplankton, Sudoku Master and Picross DS, you could really see how Nintendo has been working on the brand for a rather long time. Pamphlets complete with pictures of casual gamers were given out to shoppers describing each of the games as well as outlining the general aim of the ‘Touch! Generations’ series. Sadly, Nicole Kidman wasn’t on hand for a quick round of Tetris but it certainly was interesting to see other peoples reactions to the games.

One thing that did strike me most about the event was the age restriction placed on playing. I spoke about this with the attendant, who promptly informed me that Nintendo purely wanted the games to be played by people over the age of 18. Although a little unfair on the surface, this decision actually makes a lot of sense. This was an event for people who may have never gamed before. An event that was to have completely the opposite feel than the previous Nintendo Wii try out in the same place back in November. Gamers from all over visited the ‘Wii Move You’ tours to get their first glimpse of the brand new console and revolutionary technology - today’s ‘Touch! Generations’ event was to introduce ‘daring’ shoppers into trying out something new in a relaxed environment where they could try out something new with other people in their position.

Nintendo have certainly done many great things over the past couple of years. Their re-jigging of the games industry has really dealt a massive blow to games developers and publishers, leaving them almost clueless on how to counterattack. With events like this happening up and down the country and word spreading across the world - how will Sony and Microsoft adjust their image to appeal to the casual, as well as the already well established, yet turgid, ‘hardcore’ audience?

Nintendo, just like Shawn Ryder, are daring you. Daring you to try something new and to enjoy yourself with video games. With games in the ‘Touch! Generations’ series, it won’t be long until we are all feeling good, all of the time.

Popularity: 1% [?]