I have kids, who have Nintendo consoles, and who like Nintendo's games, and I pay pretty close attention to their net usage and what they see on their consoles.
It might well be the case that I'm enough a firewall that their sinister marketing isn't making it into my home, but I haven't personally seen it. I'd be interested to hear more specific examples of what you mean.
I'm not claiming they're not doing anything wrong, just that it's not consistent with my own experience of Nintendo. Their console seems to be more respectful of my kids than most other platforms (although the fact that there's not a good way to block the Youtube app is a glaring omission - you can password protect the eShop and prevent it from making it onto their device in the first place, but there should really be a way to block a specific application, and nothing I've tried in their parental controls has worked).
Where's the marketing in what I've said? They make good games. Their console isn't full of ads or micro transactions or other bullshit. They made good games when I was a kid and they still do now. The console is more family friendly than the other two big ones.
Do they market to kids? Of course. They make big budget kids movies. They sell t shirts and posters and toys. But I'm just not seeing what's so sinister here.
It might well be the case that I'm enough a firewall that their sinister marketing isn't making it into my home, but I haven't personally seen it. I'd be interested to hear more specific examples of what you mean.
I'm not claiming they're not doing anything wrong, just that it's not consistent with my own experience of Nintendo. Their console seems to be more respectful of my kids than most other platforms (although the fact that there's not a good way to block the Youtube app is a glaring omission - you can password protect the eShop and prevent it from making it onto their device in the first place, but there should really be a way to block a specific application, and nothing I've tried in their parental controls has worked).