Obvious Diversion

It is clear that Nintendo is getting itself some design religion for the next generation of devices and their inspiration is none other than Apple.

The Nintendo Revolution picks up on the design cues of the Mac Mini in that it’s simple, small and sleek. The addition of the blue light adds a nice layer of cool.

The Gameboy Micro follows the path of the iPod Mini both in idea and name. Take an unquestionably successful platform and then shrink it down to a smaller, sexier form without giving up any of the expected features. The array of colors for the the Gameboy Micro will probably outnumber the iPod Mini.

Lastly, there’s a great interview running over at Electronic Gaming Monthly with Reggie Fils-Aime where he says

I own an iPod, I believe that for a music library that is by far the best device. There are better, smarter devices out there that can connect my iPod to an amplifier to play music on my home stereo, than to go buy a $500 machine that does a whole bunch of other things that I don’t need.

Nintendo is designing machines that focus on gaming. Much as the iPod outsells devices that handle music and video and much more, Nintendo is hoping that their devices focused on gaming will be more successful than those that combine gaming and video and much more. So, what will win: a gaming machine that does much more or a gaming machine that just plays games. I’m betting on the latter regardless of which of the three major players ends up on top. Additional features, prepare to be ignored.