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Businesses Nintendo Entertainment Games

Cisco Eyeing Tivo/Nintendo for Buyout? 216

Posted by Zonk from the that-would-be-weird dept.
We've already covered Cisco's push into the home electronics market, but CNet is reporting that they may be planning even bigger purchases to come. The article speculates that Cisco may be planning on purchasing Tivo or Nintendo to add to their growing portfolio of companies. From the article: " Another possible acquisition candidate for Cisco is Nintendo, the No. 3 game console maker in the U.S. A stretch? Not really. Microsoft, which is emerging as a key competitor to Cisco in the home entertainment market, is already in this market with the Xbox 360. Gaming has already proved to be a strong application for broadband, so it makes sense that Cisco would want to own a game device to help drive more traffic on its network. With its popular GameBoy product, Nintendo would also provide Cisco an entree into the mobile-handheld market." Some commentary at GameDailyBiz, which finds it unlikely that Nintendo would sell to Cisco.
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Cisco Eyeing Tivo/Nintendo for Buyout? More

Cisco Eyeing Tivo/Nintendo for Buyout?

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  • Didn't Microsoft try to buyout Nintendo a while ago and get spit on?

  • Nintendo of America (Score:1, Informative)

    by damsa ( 840364 )
    If Nintendo does sell to another company, they probably sell Nintendo of America rather the whole company itself. As NOA is more of a distribution arm of Nintendo rather than content creation.

    • Re:Nintendo of America (Score:5, Informative)

      by mausmalone ( 594185 ) on Tuesday January 31, 2006 @01:16PM (#14607997) Homepage Journal
      If Nintendo does sell to another company ...
      Just stop right there, really. Nintendo has been surrounded by rumors of a buyout ever since the NES was released. All of the rumors are crap, and Nintendo themselves have countless time reaffirmed that they'd go out of business before they sell the company.

      Part of it is the pride they have in being an independent company since 1889. In Nintendo's eyes, Cisco is a fucking infant.
  • First off, Nintendo will never be bought, they'd leave the marketplace before that. Second, Cisco?

  • Great... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Lectoid ( 891115 ) on Tuesday January 31, 2006 @12:43PM (#14607669)
    Am going to have to get another CCNA (Certified Cicso Nintendo Administrator) certification.

    • Good luck...I hear this year's exam has a lot more flying turtles than the previous one.
      • They don't so much as fly as sort of make floating hops. There are the rare red turtles that can actually remain aloft, but they are very hard to find and tend to be stationary or slow moving. Trust me, the green turtles with wings are the ones you really need to watch out for. Those and the moles.
      • My instructor said nothing about flying turtles. Great. Do you know what section of the curriculum that was?
        • Yeah, he probably spent all of his time on Kingdom of Hyrule. Look up "Mushroom Kingdom" - it should be in the text. You can probably skip all the "warp zone" stuff, though.

    • Re:Great... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by __aaclcg7560 ( 824291 )
      The requirement for that certification is to unpack the Nintendo and hook it up to the TV.

      When I was working at Atari, every job applicant was asked if they knew the basics of hooking up a game console to the TV, and everyone said "yes" to get hired. (The same question was asked about working 80 hours a week, but that was a different story.) About half of them couldn't tell the difference between a coaxial cable and their rear end, much less where each one goes. I kept telling management that they should
    • I'm currently sitting a CCNA, and there's no module on Mushrooms. Might be in the midterm though.
  • I know that Cisco is a big company and all, huge even, but so is Nintendo. Wouldn't it be just as likely to see Nintendo buying out Cisco?

  • TiVo not for Sale until after the Trial (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 31, 2006 @12:44PM (#14607682)
    TiVo is sueing Dish over "time warp" patent. Smith Barney thinks TiVo has a 70-90% chance of winning the case. Why would TiVo enter any equity agreement when it is likely to be worth much more soon after the trial ( March 2006 )?
    • If Tivo is actually that likely to win the trial, the stock market will already have factored this into the price.

      You can't beat the market that easily...

  • This is news? (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by tomhudson ( 43916 )

    so it makes sense that Cisco would want to own a game device to help drive more traffic on its network

    Cisco doesn't own the network in question ...

    Oh, right. Slashdot. Pointless rumours for nerds.

    The only reason for Cisco to buy Nintendo is so they can in turn be bought out by someone with more money than brains.

  • They sell shortening now, too; to grease the way for their other mergers and acquisitions.

  • Changes to TiVo if bought by Cisco (Score:5, Insightful)

    by raitchison ( 734047 ) <robert@aitchison.org> on Tuesday January 31, 2006 @12:46PM (#14607697) Homepage Journal
    So if Cisco were to buy TiVo what would be the result? Here are some possibilities:
    1. Mandatory Jazz music soundtrack while in Menus and while fast forwarding.
    2. Higher cost (everything is worth more with a Cisco label on it).
    3. Different TiVo features will now be ala-carte, pay extra for HMF (again), pay extra for IR Blaster funcionality.
    4. The only networking configurations that will be supported is if EVERY piece networking & voice component in your house is a Cisco product, your'e on your own if you have a D-Link or SMC broadband router or a Motorla set top box.

  • New name (Score:4, Funny)

    by rmsmith ( 930507 ) on Tuesday January 31, 2006 @12:51PM (#14607749)
    Cistendo? Nintenco? Nincisco? Nisco? Nintencis?
  • Unless Cisco offered a very high price for Nintendo, I doubt Nintendo will sell (and, even then, it's questionable.) While Nintendo may be slightly behind the XBox in America, putting them at No. 3, they're No. 2 in Japan, and No. 1 in worldwide handhelds. Even with the low price, they still eek out a small profit from their hardware, so they aren't hurting financially. Of course, I'm not a big exec, so there may very well be a transaction of some sort. If there is, it's more likely that Cisco will get th
  • #11 on Cringely's 2006 predictions:

    11) TiVO will be bought by another company.

  • Network? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Call Me Black Cloud ( 616282 ) on Tuesday January 31, 2006 @12:55PM (#14607793)
    Cisco would want to own a game device to help drive more traffic on its network.

    What network is that? I thought they made hardware. Wouldn't the traffic be carried by the DSL or cable providers?

    • Re:Network? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by sucker_muts ( 776572 ) <sucker_pvn@hotmCHICAGOail.com minus city> on Tuesday January 31, 2006 @01:33PM (#14608188) Homepage Journal
      Wouldn't the traffic be carried by the DSL or cable providers?

      Certainly.

      And when they start to get much more traffic (I presume online gaming with those newest games does need some bandwith), they definately need to start updating their switches/routers. Which Cisco sells.

      A no-brainer actually...
      • But how will an acquisition of a gaming company lead to more network hardware sales? That's like an oil company buying a theme park with the idea that people driving to the park need gas, so gas sales will rise. There are other hardware providers, just as there are other oil companies.

        More homes are going to broadband and the demand for bandwidth will only increase. I don't believe that by buying a networked game manufacturer they will increase the demand for connectivity, above the increase that would

        • If this rumor were true--and I have very real doubts that it is--my assumption is that Cisco wouldn't be doing it for the hardware end of things. Like you said, the hardware uses whatever bandwidth the hardware uses and it doesn't matter if it's owned by Nintendo or Cisco. (If you're a real conspiracy theorist I guess you could say Cisco would deliberately make the hardware inefficient.)

          However, the owner of Nintendo as a game manufacturer WOULD be able to drive things like the creation of more games wi

    • Cisco would want to own a game device to help drive more traffic on its network. What network is that? I thought they made hardware. Wouldn't the traffic be carried by the DSL or cable providers?

      New! New! New! all Nintendo revolutions double as WANs and provide NetFlow! And, erm, they all run IOS.

  • I truly hope not (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rAiNsT0rm ( 877553 ) on Tuesday January 31, 2006 @01:00PM (#14607844) Homepage
    Seriously, I could not imagine a worse scenario. Nintendo is the only game company left who places fun, gameplay, and design over advertising, hype, and corporate greed. The gaming industry is dying slowly and turning into a mini-hollywood and the pervasiveness of ad's in games and lack of innovation in favor of sequels and making the biggest grab for money and power does nothing to further gaming.

    Nintendo stays true to its roots, and wavers for no one or no money. They have a quirky business set-up but it works, to turn that into a carbon copy American corporation would ruin everything that makes Nintendo Nintendo. I would be deeply saddened to hear news of Cisco purchasing Nintendo, and I can only hope that the Revolution is a great success and sale of the company would be out of the question. That would be the darkest day in gaming of all time.
    • "Nintendo is the only game company left who places fun, gameplay, and design over advertising, hype, and corporate greed. "

      Considering Nintendo's the only profitable big game hardware company (at just games) out there, I'd instead claim that their focus on fun, gameplay and design makes them much better at corporate greed than the others. (See also: Apple.)

      I mean, how greedy can Sony really be when they're shrinking and losing money by the $billion?

  • Cart driving the horse (Score:5, Funny)

    by null etc. ( 524767 ) on Tuesday January 31, 2006 @01:01PM (#14607857)
    Gaming has already proved to be a strong application for broadband, so it makes sense that Cisco would want to own a game device to help drive more traffic on its network.

    Uhm, yeah. That makes just about as much sense as an asphalt producer buying Ford so that its cars would drive up the demand for pavement.

    • A better analogy might be an oil company pushing SUVs, which does indeed make sense.

      Geoff

    • Real world example (Score:3, Interesting)

      by bstadil ( 7110 )
      As dumb as it sound but something like this has actually happened. Michelin the French tire company realized that they would sell more tires if people drove more. So what did they do? They made a tour guide called Guide Michelin. [a9.com]

      It had information that the driver needed but its reason d'etre (pretentious moi!) was the longer scenic routes that were offered as an alternative. While we are at it the early US car companies financed roads as well.

  • Wont happen (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Bethor ( 172209 ) on Tuesday January 31, 2006 @01:03PM (#14607880)
    As someone who has been working in Japan for several years, in the game industry, I cant begin to explain how ridiculous this sounds.

    Nintendo is a 107 year old company. It has been lead by the same family for generations, and their mployees are extremely proud. They were there before video games existed, and they most likely will be there long after video games are gone.

    I am not sure if its a cultural thing, but the assumption that everything is for sale is quite irritating.
  • when Nintendo puts its next console online, it won't be hacked? Can someone explain to me what Cisco would be doing in the game console market?
  • "Microsoft, which is emerging as a key competitor to Cisco in the home entertainment market"

    Maybe I'm out of touch, but what does Cisco have already in the home entertainment market? I don't see linksys type devices really counting . .even their gaming wireless adapters are more support devices for things in the home entertainment market. I wouldn't consider them part of the market themselves since they themselves don't bring entertainment?

    Someone educate me?
    • Maybe I'm out of touch, but what does Cisco have already in the home entertainment market?

      Just off the top of my head, I know they own Scientific Atlanta, which is pretty much the big gun of set-top CATV boxes. They've lost a little to Motorola in the digital cable area, but they're still a major player.

  • Please no, not nintendo! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by monopole ( 44023 ) on Tuesday January 31, 2006 @01:11PM (#14607953)
    It would be just like Palm and 3COM, elagant and beatuful designs crushed under a layers and layers of clueless management and indecision strangling innovation until the design is irrelavant.

    Why don't they buy SEGA instead. We can finally get ehternet adaptors for our dreamcasts!

  • Driving network usage? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by peterdaly ( 123554 ) * <{petedaly} {at} {ix.netcom.com}> on Tuesday January 31, 2006 @01:13PM (#14607972)
    Cisco is all about the network.

    Theory 1:
    I bet small changes could be made to Tivo to make it much more of a video on demand box. These changes could be done in such a way that the Tivo is much more dependant on the network for it's content. High network utilization is good for Cisco.

    Thoery 2:
    They own Scientific Atlanta which (last I knew) is one of the major vendors of cable set-top boxes. Including Tivo in a set-top box would be good for sales I would think, even if it's just because Tivo has a good "brand."

    Theory 3: (Theory 1 + Theory 2) = Theory 3.

    -Pete

  • Better yet, buy them both. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Kesch ( 943326 ) on Tuesday January 31, 2006 @01:16PM (#14608004)
    I vote that someone buy both TiVo and Nintendo. I don't care that Microsoft is pushing for the X-Box an all-in-one media center. The holy grail of media centers will be my new NinTeVo Revolution Series 3.

    I'm looking forward to the Japanese imports such as "Doodle Doodle Doodle" where you have to draw mustaches as fast as you can on the incoming TV feed.
    • ah man, I'd buy it like a shot! Instead of shouting at the politcos on the TV, I could express myself more creatively.
      It'd be even better if it could map the 'art' so that everytime someone previously drawn on reappears, the modifications persist also...
  • And I don't mean that in a bad way in any way whatsoever. I've taken almost 30 weeks of Japanese language/culture classes, and I've learned a lot. One big thing I've learned is how strong a sense of cummunity the Japanese have. While most US corporate bosses might think individually and be willing to sell a company at the right price and loose a few thousand jobs in the process, outsource, and do a lot of other things that, I don't think a Japanese company would do that because it wouldn't benefit the gr

  • This makes no sense... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Xepherys2 ( 174396 ) <`ten.syrehpex' `ta' `syrehpex'> on Tuesday January 31, 2006 @01:26PM (#14608110) Homepage
    First of all, how is Cisco competing with anyone in the home entertainment market? Because of Sci-Atlanta and Linksys? Yes, you can play games on the internet via a Linksys router, and watch cable TV via a cable box. These do not make you a player in the home entertainment industry. In fact, Sci-At has been making cable boxes for DECADES, and I never search out their brand over someone elses. Does anyone even CARE who makes a cable box?

    As for the purchase of Nintendo... I say fat chance. Aside from the fact that Nintendo is no small company (in Japan, they are still QUITE large) with a LOT of IP to purchase in the deal, I believe the cultural background of Nintendo would prevent them from selling to such a company... or really selling at all unless they were in dire straights.

    Honestly, the whole article doesn't really seem to have much base in reality. Can anyone enlighten me if I missed out on something really big?

  • Buyout rumors are fun! (Score:3, Funny)

    by saboola ( 655522 ) on Tuesday January 31, 2006 @01:30PM (#14608155)
    Disney/Pixar to buy out Nintendo so Apple can aquire a games console platform to move into the living room. Taco Bell to buy out Depends diapers for adults because the two seem to go hand in hand after a stuffed burrito. See, I can do it too, it's a lot of fun.

    • Disney/Pixar to buy out Nintendo so Apple can aquire a games console platform to move into the living room.

      Before the announced switch to x86 I was hoping Apple would partner with Nintendo so that OS X included a revolution emulation environment and could play all Nintendo games, out of the box and even use the same game controllers. It would provide Nintendo with a larger market for games (the licensing of which is still most of their profit) and it would provide Apple with a counter to the argument th

    • so Apple can aquire a games console platform to move into the living room.

      Pippin flopped [wikipedia.org].

  • If memory serves me correctly Cisco is playing by the Microsoft rulebook. If you can't create great new technologies, BUY THEM!!! Now all we have to do is wait for Microsoft to buy Cisco and Bill Gates will finally have ULTIMATE POWAR [bitstorm.org]!!!!

  • Oooh! Oooh! More buying options! (Score:3, Funny)

    by ReaveT ( 917974 ) on Tuesday January 31, 2006 @01:45PM (#14608332)
    Cisco should buy Nabisco too! Then they could call the company: Ninabicisco!

    After that, it's only a matter of buying the rights to John Travolta's movies, and they could then be a true media company:

    Ninabicidisco. Home entertainment, home networking, home food, and home music. A true media conglomerate.
  • If not the company then the old library.
    There is a market for the old style fun to play video games.
    Add an emulator on a Tivo Box and offer a game subscription. Could be a nice little piece of change.

  • Only the first time around, it was called "AOL/TimeWarner."

    There was a lot of leveraging of synergies going on back then, and lots of money being spent, but the end result was less than stellar.

  • Cisco: Nintendo... You are my bitch. Nintendo: No... No... That's not true! That's impossible! Cisco: Search your stock holdings. You know it to be true. Nintendo: Nooooo! Nooooo!

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