NINTENDO-MICROSOFT?
April 25, 2000

As expected, the speculation of how Microsoft will use its money to penetrate its way into the gaming industry (much like Sony did, Microsoft will do this... it's just a question of how) is making the rounds.

What exactly are the latest rumors saying about the world's second richest company's plans? Apparently that they're trying to make a deal with Nintendo (after deals with Sega and Sony fell through).

Basically, if Nintendo were to agree, Dolphin would be able to play X-Box games, and X-Box would play Dolphin games. How would this benefit Nintendo? Money. Is there any amount that's enough, though? Other than money, Microsoft can't really offer much to Nintendo (Microsoft's strongest territory - North America - is also Nintendo's strongest, and Nintendo already has more than enough game development talent).

Assuming both played the same games, with a choice between Dolphin and X-Box, it would come down to which could offer more than just games. Since Nintendo wants Dolphin to focus solely on games (no surprise, considering that most people who buy Nintendo systems do so for the first and party games), the only reason people would actually have to choose that over X-Box would be price. This would more or less kill off Nintendo's chance for victory in the market (and since they're both vying for the same position with the same software, it would probably also kill off Microsoft's chances).

Since this would be more harmful to Nintendo than beneficial, don't expect it to happen... in fact, most people are better off dismissing it as interesting speculation that won't happen. Nothing short of an outright purchase of Nintendo by Microsoft would make them team up in this way.

Of course, if Microsoft did purchase Nintendo, there would be one too many consoles in Microsoft's stable, and they'd have to decide which to axe. (After all, why make two when they both serve very similar purposes? It just divides the market.) As it is, Microsoft already needs to determine if they want to get rid of WebTV (having purchased WebTV Networks in 1997) since WebTV doesn't offer anything X-Box can't.

Source: N2HQ