Spring Break
What if ... wealthy Microsoft had bought out an ailing Nintendo?
Paresh Jha
Issue date: 10/22/08 Section: Focus
Imagine a videogame world without Sony and Microsoft. Imagine if it was still only Nintendo and Sega like the old days of the early '90s. What if "Halo" were released for the PC or Dreamcast before the conception of the Xbox? These are the scenarios that could have been realized if certain decisions went one way or another. It's time to enter the twilight zone of videogames, where we examine what could have been.
The Nintendo Playstation?
Yes, believe it or not there was a point where bitter rivals Nintendo and Sony were working together on the first CD-equipped console. The original plan was for Sony to assist in development on a Super Nintendo Entertainment System with a disc drive. This would have made the Super Nintendo a console with disc playback and storage capabilities. Unfortunately, the collaboration went south because Nintendo was afraid of Sony having too much control in the partnership.
Regardless, imagine a world that could have existed with this kind of team-up.
Sony and Nintendo are today's videogame superpowers. Had this happened, there likely would never have been a Sony-only system.
The SNES "Playstation" would likely have been followed up and it's safe to assume that all this HD hoopla and other technology would have been accelerated as well.
That goes to show you that a change in videogames could even change other aspects of entertainment and innovation.
It also means that Sega might have still been in the console wars since it was the Playstation 2 that wiped out the Sega Dreamcast.
Who knows, Sega might have collaborated with Microsoft. After all, Microsoft worked with Sega on the Dreamcast to bring Windows CE to the console.
Microsoft and Nintendo
The going got tough for Nintendo after they dissolved their relationship with Sony. The Nintendo 64 did reasonably well but the Gamecube was a fiscal failure. During this hard time, Microsoft and Bill Gates were keen on "saving" Nintendo by acquiring the company. In an interview in 2004 with the German magazine Wirtschafts Woche, Bill Gates was quoted as saying, "If Hiroshi Yamauchi [then-president of Nintendo] calls, he will be directly transferred to me."
The Nintendo Playstation?
Yes, believe it or not there was a point where bitter rivals Nintendo and Sony were working together on the first CD-equipped console. The original plan was for Sony to assist in development on a Super Nintendo Entertainment System with a disc drive. This would have made the Super Nintendo a console with disc playback and storage capabilities. Unfortunately, the collaboration went south because Nintendo was afraid of Sony having too much control in the partnership.
Regardless, imagine a world that could have existed with this kind of team-up.
Sony and Nintendo are today's videogame superpowers. Had this happened, there likely would never have been a Sony-only system.
The SNES "Playstation" would likely have been followed up and it's safe to assume that all this HD hoopla and other technology would have been accelerated as well.
That goes to show you that a change in videogames could even change other aspects of entertainment and innovation.
It also means that Sega might have still been in the console wars since it was the Playstation 2 that wiped out the Sega Dreamcast.
Who knows, Sega might have collaborated with Microsoft. After all, Microsoft worked with Sega on the Dreamcast to bring Windows CE to the console.
Microsoft and Nintendo
The going got tough for Nintendo after they dissolved their relationship with Sony. The Nintendo 64 did reasonably well but the Gamecube was a fiscal failure. During this hard time, Microsoft and Bill Gates were keen on "saving" Nintendo by acquiring the company. In an interview in 2004 with the German magazine Wirtschafts Woche, Bill Gates was quoted as saying, "If Hiroshi Yamauchi [then-president of Nintendo] calls, he will be directly transferred to me."
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Merls
posted 10/22/08 @ 5:50 PM EST
No No No, Nintendo cancelled the snes cd because of the sega cd dip shit, Then that inturn pissed sony off. So back to your earlier comment about nintendo being the 1st to release a cd console 'your chattin rubbish'
Theres loads more wrong with your story, i dont have the energy to teach you. (Continued…)
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