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[moi]

They say it's mostly for security reasons.
Not really for "quality".

[PompiPompi]

Err, security against what exactly?

[mewse]

Security against their development kits being stolen or otherwise going missing.

They also have policies that the kits aren't allowed to be kept somewhere visible (that is, they need to be under desks or inside cabinets, not sitting on top of desks).  Based on conversations with people in the industry, most companies seem to ignore this policy (and I've personally had to carry one through international customs, explaining what it was to border security agents who were justifiably concerned about the anonymous black box of electronic components), but technically every company signs a contract agreeing to hide the kits before Nintendo will actually sell them to that company.

This seems in line with Nintendo's "locked premises" requirements;  just trying to avoid having the kits go missing due to theft or etc.

[PompiPompi]

Still, I don't see the point of this. Maybe I am getting sometthing wrong though.
Doesn't Nintendo control who gets to publish\sell online games on their console?
Are they afraid someone will steal the kit and work on an underground homebrew game that would be illegal to sell and won't be supported by Nintendo's online store?
I don't see the issue of a kit being stolen, unless the Kits are suppose to be returned at some point.
I think the main benefit for them doing this is filtering a lot of would be developers out.
Otherwise it doesn't make much sense, but that isn't impossible either. People do insensible things.

[DjangoDurango]

It might possibly be a held over attitude from way back in the day when anyone could develop for a console and there was tons of unlicensed crap and the market for games actually crashed because of the rampant poor quality and over-saturation of titles. By being more draconian with the dev kits, Nintendo may hope that they would keep the number of titles on the market down. It wouldn't necessarily be about quality because anyone with enough money could buy a dev kit if they really wanted to, but about making sure that they are still the gatekeepers when it comes to releasing on their machines.

It seems ridiculous now since the market and industry is a lot different than it was in 1983, but I guess it's working for them still.

[jquave]

Sorry to revive an old topic, but our company has 4,400 sq ft of office space and a great security system, 17 employees. But Nintendo rejected us with no reason specified. Just said 'try again in 6 months'. Anyone ever had that experience?

[Gimym TILBERT]

Have you seen the gdc talk of nintendo? where they lament that production have been too big and that small team that are able to put personality in game became rare, that in such context finding the next miyamoto is rare?

Now you know

[J. R. Hill]

Who in the world programs in their garage?  That's like, really far from the bedroom.  Unless you live in the garage, I guess.

[John Lee]

Alright, guys, we can stop pretending. We all know what this is really about:

Bob's Game.

[Manuel Magalhães]

Bob is the greatest troll on Earth.

[C.A. Sinner]

i dont think bob is a troll

[Tuba]

Sorry to revive an old topic, but our company has 4,400 sq ft of office space and a great security system, 17 employees. But Nintendo rejected us with no reason specified. Just said 'try again in 6 months'. Anyone ever had that experience?

Do you guys have any games published? Anyone experienced?

Only company I know that have a Nintendo license with no previous games is 2D Boy, but it was founded by ex-EA employees.

I worked on a small company in Brazil that had a Nintendo license, it took around 2 years for it to get one.

[J-Snake]

My office weighs 4 pounds and is mobile.

[jquave]

Sorry to revive an old topic, but our company has 4,400 sq ft of office space and a great security system, 17 employees. But Nintendo rejected us with no reason specified. Just said 'try again in 6 months'. Anyone ever had that experience?

Do you guys have any games published? Anyone experienced?

Only company I know that have a Nintendo license with no previous games is 2D Boy, but it was founded by ex-EA employees.

I worked on a small company in Brazil that had a Nintendo license, it took around 2 years for it to get one.

We have 2 team members who have worked on AAA Xbox 360 titles, we've released 3 games in the past 2 years for iOS, and a graphics designer who released Wii titles with another company.

[Faust06]

The derail on this thread was more interesting than the main topic.

It's unfair to say Nintendo is inflexible in their approach, with the risks they've taken, but that's the impression I have of their potential future strategy. At this point they're going to fight to keep that old-school sovereignty of their own console/platform, and that's the way we like it. Like Sony and Microsoft they'll probably offer their own games-on-demand service at a delayed pace to compete with the likes of OnLive, but their library and scope is much narrower, and the same goes for their handhelds versus phone apps.

While Nintendo seems more and more like a strong niche developer (you buy a Nintendo console effectively only to play Nintendo games, unless you're a casual), as if they'll turn into a Sega or popular publisher like Square-Enix at any moment, I'm not sure I believe that would happen what with their seemingly unending success. The 3DS ended up making a killing after a rough start, for example, and everyone seemed to believe the mobile market would kick its ass. I wonder if the wide appeal they've earned will last, or if nostalgia is doing much to keep them afloat. I'm not sure I can question their judgement.