I really liked your article about the book Alone Together. I didn’t read the book yet, but your text iluminated me about it. I have some doubts. What I understood from the Iwata about the Wii U is that he isn’t trying solve the problem of “isolation”. What I see is Iwata speaking about follow a trend, “Now that people are isolating themselves, let’s change the way they play video game”. Nintendo thinks they are giving to the people what they want: privacy. I don’t see this like a solution, but a preview from a trend. The solution for the isolation in the games was the Wii.
I’ve only begun to write write about it. Posts about the chapters will be coming soon.
The U Pad was a candidate for the Wii at one time (a controller with a touch screen) due to the popularity of the DS. In Wii controller mock ups, a controller with a touch screen was very common. So we know Iwata didn’t read Alone Together and say, “Let us make the U Pad!” It appears Alone Together was something Nintendo added to make the marketing message stronger.
Innovator’s Dilemma and Blue Ocean Strategy are SUBSTANTIAL business books. Alone Together is pop psychology and is nothing about business.
Another reason why I so disagree with Turkle’s premise goes to the age old complaint that video games create ‘addictive’ behavior. Games have always been popular throughout the ages. Sports are games, are they not? Riverboat games were extremely popular at one time. My grandmother, who grew up before refrigeration and before many other things, taught her grandchildren the joy of gaming due to her many card games. And it appears her lineage going back also played games.
Game playing is a natural behavior of the Human being. This is contrary to David Sheff’s “How Nintendo Destroyed Our Children” belief. These NES children have grown up and believe they were blessed to have grown up with the NES. They believe video games contributed greatly to their childhood and is why they have such awe for the people who made those games.
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