Nintendo: Lateral Thinking with Withered Technology (fun over specs)

3 points

4 years ago

There is something very magical about how Nintendo doesn't focus on powerful specs as much as fun gameplay, and I remember reading about this philosophy. The systems are made from existing mass produced hardware (the Wii was basically a slightly more powerful GameCube with novel controls: the GameCube's Gekko PowerPC Processor, a modified PPC750CXe, is only 486MHz while the Wii Broadway Power PC Processor, a close to stock PPC750CL, is 729MHz. That pegs the Wii processor at roughly 67% more powerful than the GameCube.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpei_Yokoi#Lateral_Thinking_with_Withered_Technology

He articulated his philosophy of "Lateral Thinking of Withered Technology" (枯れた技術の水平思考, "Kareta Gijutsu no Suihei Shikō") (also translated as "Lateral Thinking with Seasoned Technology") in the book Yokoi Gunpei Game House. "Withered technology" in this context refers to a mature technology which is cheap and well understood. "Lateral thinking" refers to finding radical new ways of using such technology. Yokoi held that toys and games do not necessarily require cutting-edge technology; novel and fun gameplay are more important. In the interview he suggested that expensive cutting-edge technology can get in the way of developing a new product.

Even recently the Switch was basically just an Nvidia shield. Thoughts on this, and have you seen this philosophy in use anywhere else? I see that somewhat with installing linux on buying/using computers deemed too slow.