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Post by wanderingshadow on Feb 9, 2010 12:19:33 GMT -5
I was reading this article over at Cracked.com. They start out talking about Nintendo making cards and trying to branch out to various other products. In 1964, the Summer Olympics were held in Tokyo. Card games were seen as low-brow and childish and the Japanese were putting on their best face for the world, so sales fell. Yamauchi liked Gunpei Yokoi's Ultrahand and the company began focusing on toys. You know the rest. So, what do you think? Is this a plausible idea? |
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Post by Fryguy64 on Feb 10, 2010 7:25:53 GMT -5
In 1964, the Summer Olympics were held in Tokyo. Card games were seen as low-brow and childish and the Japanese were putting on their best face for the world, so sales fell. Yamauchi liked Gunpei Yokoi's Ultrahand and the company began focusing on toys. You know the rest. So, concerned that their card games were childish, Nintendo stepped up production on children's toys?!? I'm not saying the olympics didn't have an affect on Japanese businesses at the time, as they almost certainly did, but that particular premise seems flawed... |
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Post by Shrikeswind on Feb 10, 2010 12:16:50 GMT -5
Not necessarily. Nintendo may have started making toys as a more wholesome alternative to cards, since you can't really bet on ragdolls.
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Post by wanderingshadow on Feb 11, 2010 12:18:47 GMT -5
Well, the article's exact words about the perception of cards were "low-brow and childish." I guess gambling might be seen as low-brow, but not childish.
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Post by Manspeed on Feb 11, 2010 17:17:29 GMT -5
Well, gambling is illegal in Japan from what I understand, so...
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Post by Shrikeswind on Feb 11, 2010 23:27:14 GMT -5
Drinking was illegal in the US at one point but people still did it. And gambling is weirder, since it's not always beer or tea. Any game where more than one person can play or spectate can be bet on. Cards have a reputation with gambling, which would make Nintendo look seedy but technically innocent. Come the Tokyo Olympics, this reputation would probably not be a good one to have in a Japan looking to seem ethical, so naturally, one would change focus to something less notorious, like toys. This theory is plausible.
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Post by Fryguy64 on Feb 16, 2010 10:32:44 GMT -5
Cards aren't immediately associated with gambling, but gaming, and besides... gambling is not illegal in Japan and to the best of my knowledge it never has been.
Doubly besides... do you really think a man like Hiroshi Yamauchi would have worried about how foreign representatives during the Olympic games might perceive his playing card company?
What is a lot more likely is that the Tokyo Olympics fostered aggressive Japanese corporate expansion, and Nintendo found itself with an aggressive corporate mind at its head, ready to move the company in any direction he saw might bring him profit.
Nintendo did well with playing cards, but they were one of many playing card manufacturers and the profit margin was low. There were a lot of toy manufacturers as well, but competition for the next "big product" was fierce, and with several keen minds within his company, he was confident (and arrogant) enough to believe he could compete. And he did. The Ultra Hand was a huge-selling toy.
This is what I like to call the Yamauchi Equation. Take any speculation about Nintendo's business practices in the past and then add Hiroshi Yamauchi. It's amazing how many theories fall apart.
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Post by Shrikeswind on Feb 16, 2010 20:44:55 GMT -5
What are you talking about? Name one card game you can't bet on. Hell, it's possible to bet with a Tarot deck (and it's alot more interesting since the standard Tarot deck has 78 cards.) The most basic card game to exist can be bet on! In fact, it often is. Everything from Poker to Klondike (the game called "Solitaire" standard in all computers) has what's called Vegas rules. Cards as a whole are SERIOUSLY connected to chance, and anything affiliated with chance is affiliated with gambling.
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Post by Fryguy64 on Feb 19, 2010 7:17:16 GMT -5
Name one sport you can't bet on! That doesn't mean tennis ball manufacturers are involved in a seedy business.
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Post by wanderingshadow on Feb 19, 2010 14:53:10 GMT -5
Cards aren't immediately associated with gambling, but gaming, and besides... gambling is not illegal in Japan and to the best of my knowledge it never has been. According to this, gambling is illegal in Japan. The relevant chapter is on page 39. After a little digging, I found that this is provided by Japan's cabinet secretariat. Further, America's marines mention that it's illegal to bring lottery tickets or advertisements of a lottery to Japan. I can find as reliable a source for this, but the general consensus seems to be that western playing cards were banned from Japan in 1633 when Japan cut itself off from the world. One of the reasons being mantioned is issues with them being used to gamble. |
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Post by Shrikeswind on Feb 19, 2010 15:15:33 GMT -5
I never said card-making was a seedy business, just to point out.
Anyways, the difference is that when you gamble on cards, you're betting on the outcome of a game where there is no skill involved, it's pure chance. When you gamble on, say, boxing, you're betting on the outcome of a game where the boxer with the greatest skill is likely going to be the winner, and you have records to draw conclusions from, so while you'll make a fat wad of cash off Glass Joe for even a buck, if you put money on Super Macho Man, you'd better put more money up to begin with if you want to make some cash. The sudden involvement in skill is what makes it harder to associate boxing with gambling.
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