Game over
Subtitle: how Nintendo zapped an American industry, captured your dollars, and enslaved your children
By: David Sheff.
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: Random House; Random House Publishing Group
Published: 1993
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 445
Subjects: Nintendō Kabushiki Kaisha; Electronic games industry; Nintendo video games
Description: "Gradually Americans have become aware that the game is over: The Japanese have already landed. A Trojan horse has been smuggled into one out of every three American living rooms ... by our children." "Through its video-game system, Nintendo has dominated a growing industry, projected to be worth $6-$7 billion in the United States in 1993, and has transformed itself into one of the world's most successful and influential corporations. As Nintendo Co. Ltd., ruled by its formidable chairman, Hiroshi Yamauchi, racks up huge profits, people in the electronics industry are wondering why American companies have such a small market share of this field. In Washington, congressmen, meeting in closed-door sessions (which they follow with self-serving press conferences), have charged that Nintendo alone is responsible for almost 10 percent of our trade deficit with Japan." "These are the most obvious results of the Nintendo invasion, but there are more. "Q" ratings, which indicate the popularity of politicians, movie stars, and other public figures, showed that by 1990 the Nintendo mascot, Super Mario, was more familiar to American children than even Mickey Mouse. To some this is an outrage that symbolizes the next phase of this insidious invasion. Japan has already captured American wallets; the country's minds, beginning with those of its children, appear to be next." "Fads have come and gone before, but this one is different. Kids are obsessed by video games; they conspire with one another about game strategy, draw pictures of the characters, and compose video-game adventures for their homework. The intensity with which they play and with which they submerge themselves in Nintendo culture is noticeably different from the attention they pay to television. Parents, psychologists, and teachers all worry about the post-television generation of children - the Nintendo generation."

"The success of the Nintendo invasion, as related by journalist David Sheff after two years of research, is one of remarkable invention and marketing, but it also depends on a ruthless scorched-earth policy rarely seen in any industry. As one of the author's sources put it, the company uses "whatever is required - threats, intimidation, coercion." As Mr. Sheff reveals in this sobering expose, Nintendo is not content merely to have swallowed up the toy and electronic-game industries, but now has its sights set on the entertainment, consumer electronics, communications, and computer businesses. As these industries approach the twenty-first century, more and more analysts have come to the same conclusion as did Apple Computer president Michael Spindler, who was one of the first to become aware of the problem. When, in March 1991, he was asked which company Apple feared most in the 1990s, Spindler answered, "Nintendo."" "Game Over is a remarkable book about a remarkable company."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [429]-432) and index.
Table of contents: label: Acknowledgments
title: xi; label: 1. A New Leader of the Club
title: 3; label: 2. In Heaven's Hands
title: 12; label: 3. I, Mario
title: 37; label: 4. Inside the Mother Brain
title: 57; label: 5. Coming to America
title: 80; label: 6. For a Fistful of Quarters
title: 107; label: 7. Reversal of Fortune
title: 131; label: 8. Enter the Dragon
title: 158; label: 9. The Gooch Who Stole Christmas
title: 187; label: 10. Game Masters
title: 213; label: 11. The Big Sleep
title: 236; label: 12. Game Over
title: 261; label: 13. From Russia with Love
title: 292; label: 14. The "Tetris" Song
title: 315; label: 15. Sonic Boom
title: 349; label: 16. Borders
title: 390; label: Epilogue: Forest of Illusions
title: 422; label: Selected Bibliography
title: 429; label: Index
title: 433