Nintendo + more news

3 minutes estimated reading time

Nintendo

Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata Promotes Game Consoles Over Smartphones – NYTimes.comThe president of Nintendo told video game developers Wednesday that smartphones were driving a trend toward lower quality, and economically unsustainable, video games. – So much to unpack in this Nintendo speech. Mobile gaming is about more accessible gaming, filling in shorter slots of time like a commute or a cigarette break at work. This is very different to the kind of games that Nintendo makes now. Secondly, smartphones might be an outlet for very old Nintendo games.

Nice Nintendo tie-in

What this speech conceals is how Nintendo can change our idea of what a games console actually is. This is where Nintendo can innovation since it can’t ‘out perform’ gaming PC rigs or Sony and Microsoft games consoles. Lastly, Nintendo can create family moments. Something that isn’t possible with mobile gaming or Xbox and PlayStation libraries.

Consumer behaviour

Competition for Brides Fuels High China Savings – China Real Time Report – WSJIf you reduce your savings, you doom your son. – One has to remember that in China families have an ‘ancestral home town’ and will contribute to the upkeep of clan halls. The demise of a family has an even bigger significance with the weight of those ancestors on them. Not even the cultural revolution could completely wipe that out

Economics

Say Goodbye To The China Price : China Law Blog – expect things to get more expensive

Survey Shows China is Number One…in Riskiness – WSJ – American managers think that China is due a hard economic landing

First Asia Harris Poll Released Comparing Attitudes in China, Hong Kong, India, Sinapore & the US – PRNewswire – interesting perspectives in this research. India has a hill to climb with few people aside from Indians believing in its future economic leadership position despite its demographic dividend

Japan

Monocolumn – Here come the gals [Monocle] – Monocle on Tokyo Girls Collection. What they miss out is also that TGC is an entertainment spectacle and compensates for the very different retail distribution model in Japan. This year was interesting because of the involvement of YouTube to stream the event

EUROPA – Neelie Kroes Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda Addressing the orphan works challenge IFRRO launch of ARROW+ – Europe likely to get competitive advantage by innovating on copyright law

Luxury

Wanted: Chinese Consumers for Luxury Survey – Scene Asia – WSJ“The stereotype of [Chinese] people wearing the big Dolce & Gabbana or Versace logo — that isn’t true anymore,” said Mr. Atsmon. “It’s not that the consumers are changing. It’s that the new consumers are less concerned about being flashy.” – really interesting stuff about how they enticed survey respondents

China’s High Luxury Tax Under Fire – Jing Daily – this would likely adversely affect the desirability of foreign tourism to Chinese consumers

Retailing

JNKsystem.com  : HUF San Francisco Closes – I remember six years ago paying a pilgrimage to HUF and the Timbuk2 shop on Hayes as I spent an unplanned weekend (due to work) in San Francisco. Interesting that he is moving away from retail and distribution whereas the likes of Stüssy, Norse Projects and BAPE are vertically integrated

Tokyo Girls Collection x YouTube for live-steam fashion – Tokyo Girls Collection partners with YouTube for its real-world | real-time | e-commerce | m-commerce fashion show

Telecoms

Hong Kong Company Moves Swiftly on Ultrafast Broadband – NYTimes.com – even at 60-odd USD PCCW’s gigabit home broadband, let alone Hong Kong Broadband Network’s 24.99 embarrasses the UK