This was an unexpected treat. Wired's Chris Kohler makes a guest appearence on 1UP with a meaty and in-depth look at the landmarks that have made Nintendo one of greatest gaming companies in the world (despite a few missteps.)

Chris Kohler writes,

"
It would be difficult to argue that Nintendo is not the most important and influential game company of all time. No matter what you think of its personalities, its business practices, or its products past and present, Nintendo has been the central player in the relatively short history of the industry. Where other game makers enjoy a single era at most in which their products or philosophy were an unqualified success, only Nintendo has had three: The domination of the 8-bit era, the worldwide phenomenon of Pokémon, and the more recent blindside victory of Wii and DS.

And yet, the company is a bundle of contradictions. It constantly reinvents itself with the times, embarking on massive shifts in strategy to capture new markets -- or stoically resists change even as the rest of the industry passes it by. It develops wild new game concepts -- but is ultraconservative about expanding its development umbrella. It occasionally fails in the sphere of public opinion and marketshare -- but still generates bigger profits than any other company.

And on occasion, it gets very, very lucky."

Daigoji_Gai via 1up.com »