Nintendo on TV

      " Like Donkey Kong?" a character asked on tonights Warehouse 13. " Ya, expect nobody plays Donk..." The first character stares at her and she doesn't finish the sentence. Yes, some people DO play Donkey Kong. Of course, the person saying that nobody does is an Xbox player. In the U.S., it can't be denied (as much as I wish I could) that Xbox is more popular than Nintendo. And Yet....I have noticed something very interesting lately....

    Three shows lately have mentioned Nintendo, not by name but by Nintendo brand names or by showing the games. Tonight Warehouse 13 showed Donkey Kong and awhile back, the TV show Resurrection showed the first Donkey Kong game. Not too long after that, Resurrection showed a kid and an adult playing the Wii U. Oh and just yesterday, the show Once Upon A Time had a kid want to go back to his room to get his Gameboy. Its very interesting to see different shows mentioning Nintendo a bit. Still, there is one thing that I don't like about the attention and thats the inaccuracy of some of the appearances.

   On Resurrection, when Donkey Kong is shown, its shown on a CELLPHONE. Let me repeat that: ON A CELLPHONE. Donkey Kong isn't available on a cellphone. Well, unless you have an Illegal Rom on a cellphone. The character that had the game on his cellphone was a Federal Agent, so I doubt he'd download an illegal rom. This appearance of Donkey Kong is NOT the first time the Kong has "appeared" on a system that in reality he doesn't belong on.

    Years ago, on the TV show Angel, the vampire Spike was playing an Xbox. You couldn't see what he was playing but you could clearly hear the sounds of the first Donkey Kong game. Yes, I realize the people who do this kind of thing are probably not gamers but there is such a thing as RESEARCH. Even tiny details for a show, like a video game appearance, should be researched. Not taking the time to make sure you know what you're talking about (when you do a TV show that reaches millions) is very lazy.

   Remember I mentioned the Gameboy earlier? The gameboy is no longer a system that is out. So having a kid want to go back to his room to get his GAMEBOY seems like a VERY dated reference. Why not his 3DS? Or even his DS? Why a gameboy? Either the people who write the show only know about the Gameboy and none of the other systems or they like Retro gaming and threw that in there. I think its very likely that the Once Upon A Time writers are not gamers and so went with the only portable gaming reference they knew. I love the show, but thats pretty lazy. Still, its very interesting to see Nintendo make a comeback to network television.

   Nintendo on a TV show is not a new thing. I was rewatching House recently and it was very cool to see him playing a Nintendo DS. He switches over to a PSP later on but yes, House M.D. starts out with Nintendo games (and we even see Metroid Prime Hunters in one episode). Also as I mentioned with Angel, using Nintendo wrong in a television show is nothing new too. It has been quite a while, for me at least, since I've seen Nintendo on a TV show. More often that not, we see Xbox mentioned on shows or the Playstation. Its nice to see Nintendo get some love (or not in Warehouse 13s case).

   Nintendo does need to get into the spotlight again with the general public. I hope we see them mentioned more on television shows (yes I WANT to see more Nintendo product placements). I also hope Nintendo decides to become more aggressive with their marketing like Sony & Microsoft is!

  Oh and lets see Nintendo back at E3. On stage! Please!

  Next time: I'll try to write a blog entry about what I hope to see at E3.