Ok, here's the story. I, like most other people, started out as a Nintendo fan. I have or have had all the systems. NES, Super NES, Nintendo 64, Gamecube, Gameboy, Gameboy Colour, Gameboy Advance and Virtual Boy. I don't have aDS yet because it doesn't interest me in the least, at least not yet.
Well, lately, I've been swayed over to Sony fandom. I have a PS2 and a PSP(which rocks so heavily, although the games could be a lot better).
Part of me wants to see Nintendo succeed, but they're so damn infuriating! They're too damn slow to change, they don't give a damn about third-party companies(so the total amount of games being released for the Gamecube leaves something to desired, and their lack of more mature titles resulted in me buying a PS2.
So forgive if I'm more than a little skeptical of their new console, codenamed Revolution. For Nintendo's sake, it had better live up to it's name. Otherwise, it'll get squashed by PS3 and XBOX 360.
So far, I like what I've heard, which isn't much. Online play(finally...and free no less). Backwards compatibility with the Gamecube and a DVD-playback acessory(pretty much a necessity considering both PS2 and XBOX already did this, and their successors will as well. Downloadable games sounds like a fantastic idea. Hopeit doesn't end up costing too much.
Let's look at the games shall we? Mario, Zelda, Metroid Prime 3, Smash Bros. and Donkey Kong. Damn, sounds like they're coming out with their heavy hitters pretty early on in the new system's life-span. Sounds promising to me.
I like Nintendo's low-key approach as far as technology is concerned. They're looking to make a system that runs great, but is affordable to everyone. According to reports I've heard, it doesn't look like I'll be able to say the same for PS3 and XBOX 360. Also, the hi-def issue really isn't an issue for me. Great games will be great, with hi- def or without.
If I've come across as a Nintendo fanboy throughout this rant of mine, relax. I'm not. I have serious doubt when it comes to their business model. I don't feel like delving into that right now. Maybe later.
So now I come finally come to my question, which I should have asked about ten minutes ago now: Are there any other Nintendo fans here, besides me, that want to see the company that single-handedly saved the video game industry 20 years ago to return to prominence?

P.S. Sorry about the length of this. I didn't mean to ramble on so long.

On their business model: Nintendo's profit margin is 20%. By comparison, General Electric's margin is closer to 11%.

On the rest, I really don't care anymore. Having grown up in the 'golden age' of videogames, I'm just another one of the dwindling group that thinks popular culture is ruining the industry. Perhaps we're just cynical, but the rants have been done to death, so I'll not give my spiel on it again.

It would surely be a lot more interesting if Nintendo succeeds with their Revolution. It's always better with more participants in the next-gen battle B).
I don't think that this time it will be like Gamecube because the gamecube didn't have much difference in their hardware with the other consoles at that time. This time Revoution was said to be something "new" apart from PS3 and XBOX 360. That is going to be the key to Nintendo's prominence.

I'm still a big Nintendo fan even though I haven't bought a GC or DS. I go back to the NES and even had a subscription to Nintendo Power for a few years. As much as I love Nintendo though, I don't see it beating Sony anymore.

As for next gen. systems... I already see it as Sony > Nintendo > MS.

I used to love Nintendo. I used to subscribe to Nintendo Power and I kept them piled up after I read them over and over again. But as years passed by, I realized that the games are always sequels to the game before. Either an N64 game remake, a Final Fantasy remake for the GBA, more Pokemon games that get repetitive, and silly childish graphics for an advanced system, the Gamecube. These days, I prefer Sony's Playstation2 since the games are still good to play again and again. Mario Kart Double Dash and Mario Tennis were disappointing, thought Super Smash Bros Melee was pretty good. I just wish we can go back to the NES or SNES days when Mario and Donkey Kong were the thing... now there are too many characters that symbolizes Nintendo.

I like Nintendo a lot for their party games... Super Mario Kart, Mario Party. That's one thing that a lot of console systems don't have. Of course, I don't play as much games as I have in the past, and I'm a little more penny-pinching now, so I don't know if I'd get the new system or not.

"On their business model: Nintendo's profit margin is 20%. By comparison, General Electric's margin is closer to 11%."

The reason their profit is so high is because their production costs are so cheap. Example, Gameboy Advance, leads to Gameboy Advance SP, and now the recently announced Gameboy Micro. Three handhelds, all virtually the exact same technology, and people eat it up, hence the large profits Nintendo makes. That's also one of the complaints Nintendo fans have, and that's that Nintendo is slow to change and that's what allowed Sony to take control of the console race with the PlayStation.
But anyway, yes, Nintendo claims to be coming up with something different with the Revolution, and let's hope it works out.

P.S. I'm hoping someone can verify this me. In 1992, the big news for Nintendo was a CD-ROM attachment for the Super NES. I read somewhere that Nintendo ended up selling the rights for that attachment to Sony, and that CD-ROM attachment ended up becoming what would later be known as the PlayStation. I'm hoping someone can verify this info for me.

Nintendo Rlz

"On their business model: Nintendo's profit margin is 20%. By comparison, General Electric's margin is closer to 11%."

The reason their profit is so high is because their production costs are so cheap. Example, Gameboy Advance, leads to Gameboy Advance SP, and now the recently announced Gameboy Micro. Three handhelds, all virtually the exact same technology, and people eat it up, hence the large profits Nintendo makes. That's also one of the complaints Nintendo fans have, and that's that Nintendo is slow to change and that's what allowed Sony to take control of the console race with the PlayStation.

You mention this like it matters. Nintendo makes more money than ALL OF SONY, and comparitively, Sony does the same thing. PSOne, PS2 SCPH-7000x, DVD players share chassis. monitors share picture tubes, LCD panels, and electronics, portable CD players share chassis, etcetera etcetera.

Also note that the Gamecube is Nintendo's first system that isn't based on solid-state media. Cartridges cost a LOT more to produce than CD's and DVD's.

P.S. I'm hoping someone can verify this me. In 1992, the big news for Nintendo was a CD-ROM attachment for the Super NES. I read somewhere that Nintendo ended up selling the rights for that attachment to Sony, and that CD-ROM attachment ended up becoming what would later be known as the PlayStation. I'm hoping someone can verify this info for me.

You're... somewhat close. Nintendo and Sony had a partnership in which Sony would develop a CD add-on for the SNES that used 32-bit CPU's, but negotiations between the companies broke down leaving Sony with a near-finished prototype.

After Sony released the Playstation, Nintendo tried to push the NEC PC Engine a bit, but it was too little, too late considering the PC Engine still ran with an 8-bit main architecture.

I feel the same way you do. I LOVE Nintendo. But I am too skeptical of this "Revolution."

A little over two months ago, George Harrison said, "Looking ahead towards early summer, Nintendo GameCube fans will soon get their hands on Geist, Nintendo Pennant Chase Baseball, Killer 7, Rainbow Six: Lockdown, Medal of Honor: European Assault, Batman Begins, Fantastic Four, and more. And that's just in the month of June alone."

Since then, Killer 7, Geist, and Lockdown have all been pushed back. Pennant Chase has been all but cancelled. Does Nintendo expect us to forget about statements like this? What kind of business model allows a company to delay half its product and replace it with news that their upcoming system will underperform against the competition? The only games Nintendo players get this month are third party games, and Nintendo has shown us that they don't place any kind of priority in keeping their third parties satisfied. What kind of a controller makes up for business decisions like these?

I'm also a big fan of Nintendo. Since my 5th birthday I've played for almost ten years on ONLY Nintendo systems. But now that the Revolution is coming, I don't know what to think about Nintendo's innovate ideas. I'm surely buy the Revolution, because the Nintendo DS impressed me - and it still does impress me -, but I'm also thinking about buying a Playstation 3 and/or Xbox 360.

Yeah I want to see Nintendo at the top of the marketing sales, and yeah I want a Revolution full of innovaty - is that good english? - but I also want to play games on a 'normal' way; no touchscreens etc, etc.

I might buy a GameCube if the price drops just a little lower or I get a job.

Nintendo sux lol...... they cant find any new ideas.....its been a 100 years and theyre still on Mario.... pathetic....

I used to love Nintendo. I used to subscribe to Nintendo Power and I kept them piled up after I read them over and over again. But as years passed by, I realized that the games are always sequels to the game before. Either an N64 game remake, a Final Fantasy remake for the GBA, more Pokemon games that get repetitive, and silly childish graphics for an advanced system, the Gamecube. These days, I prefer Sony's Playstation2 since the games are still good to play again and again. Mario Kart Double Dash and Mario Tennis were disappointing, thought Super Smash Bros Melee was pretty good. I just wish we can go back to the NES or SNES days when Mario and Donkey Kong were the thing... now there are too many characters that symbolizes Nintendo.

lol, I did the same growing up.

Nintendo has done nothing but let me down nowadays. Hell, it's not even worth a "why I don't like it anymore" discussion. I was really hoping that them and Sony could take out that Microsoft bull----. :S

nintendo sux lol...... they cant find any new ideas.....its been a 100 years and theyre still on Mario.... pathetic....

Haha, what a ****ing retarded reason.