First and foremost, Nintendo has officially confirmed that a Wii successor will be debuted at E3 this summer and most importantly, that it will be a playable version so I imagine they will be giving a demo. That sounds like more than just posturing to me. The Wii Successor, nicknamed "Project Cafe," is supposedly due out in 2012, which would be about 6 years from the release of the original Wii. This has traditionally been a pretty standard timeline for the industry (Playstation 1994, PS2 2000, PS3 2006 - Xbox 2001/2002, XBox360 2005 and many more examples of the 5-7 year timeline). This has yet to be considered with PS3 and 360 though b/c their improvements would be marginal whereas I think we'd all agree in terms of graphics and gaming capabilities, the Wii could stand for substantial improvements. From what I read, people are saying it's likely to have a Gamecube style controller with some kind of touchscreen functionality added to it. It'll also naturally be an upgrade to HD though 3D is still unlikely. It's also speculated that Nintendo wants to enhance the online nature of gaming beyond just being able to play against your friends or strangers, though I am unsure just what that would be. I am really unsure why KIMaster thinks Nintendo would not be able to surpass the PS3 or 360. Yes, the Wii hardware is inferior to those 2 systems, but it's not like Nintendo's going to make a new system using the same old parts. Surely technology in the past half dozen years has provided us with the capabilities to create something superior to what Sony and Playstation has and it's not as if Nintendo employs idiots for engineers who don't understand this stuff and can't stand on the shoulders of giants and create something great. Here's one report regarding the hardware specs. While it's fun to speculate and just WHAT Nintendo is doing, I'm also rather interested in WHY they are doing it right now. By releasing a less capable system when 2 others were trying to put out as much power as possible, Nintendo was able to capture a market of casual gamers that no one realized was as large as it is through an easier user UI and lower price point. Now they seem to be moving in the opposite direction. I'm wondering if Nintendo is going to attempt to market the 2 systems concurrently (at least for a while). In a way this kind of makes sense, at least to me. First, even in a few years from now, the casual gamer market that the Wii and its titles depend upon would be reluctant to purchase a new system. Next, Nintendo would have a decided advantage in breaking back into the Hardcore Gamer market by releasing a more powerful system ahead of its competitors. Additionally, if it is backwards compatible, any Hardcore Gamers will likely sell their Wii consoles to more casual people, thereby creating new users to purchase Wii titles. Pure speculation on my part, but I could envision Nintendo attempting to have the best of both worlds. *Sorry I didn't call anyone an idiot and tell you all to eat a bag of dicks. I'll try better next time.
Yeah I don't see why a technology company like Nintendo wouldn't be able to produce a powerful console if they wanted. They specifically targeted casual gamers and got them in droves with the Wii. But I think, like many of us predicted, they produced something that was much more than a fad for casual gamers. I read a report that Wii sales have fallen off sharply while PS3 and 360 are still relatively strong. Theyve missed out big time on the huge franchises that dedicated gamers buy by the assload*, CoD, Madden, Etc. I do hope they try and keep coming out with innovative ideas but as a business they'll move back to where the money is. Anyway, I hope this PSN shit is settled before I get back. I want to play some muuuaaafuuuckin Call of Duty with ya fools. Getting Socom 4 is a priority but fuck without broadband Ill wait on that one (honestly I never played through any of the first person campaigns for Socom, or CoD for that matter). It really is turning into a huge fiasco for Sony. Haterz have long memories but I wonder, in the end, it'll actually effect sales and their long term online plans. There will be no end to flame wars on internet message boards but as long as players are satiated I don't think they'll really give a fuck long term. This is unless they get some jerkoff charging shit to their credit cards. *paging doctor frylock!
I do think the Wii is going to continue to be marketed for a while after Nintendo releases their new system. They know that casual gamers aren't going to run out and buy the new system right away. Hardcore gamers have no problem upgrading, but casual gamers will see their systems as something they've invested in, and they'll be annoyed if Nintendo doesn't continue to support the Wii for a while after their new system comes out. This can be seen by the fact that they're releasing a new Zelda title that is specifically designed to work with the Wii motion controls, but it won't even come out until later this year. They know they can still milk those first-party properties for the Wii, and as long as they can, the system will remain relevant. Plus, if for some reason their Project Cafe completely bombs, they can fall back on the Wii for a while and go back into development for a new system. It obviously wouldn't be ideal, but keeping the Wii relevant at least gives them something of a safety net. That being said, financially this is just the right time for them to make a new system. Like I said earlier, a lot of their system's profits come from first-party games. No other video game system has the kind of first-party titles that Nintendo can boast, and those games rarely drop much in price from the time they are released, unlike PS3 or 360 games that generally drop in price after a few months on the market. Hell, Mario Kart for the Wii is still $50. A game that has been out that long for the PS3 or 360 would only be 20 at this point, maybe less. Nintendo knows they've got the market cornered in this regard, but at the same time, they also know that people won't run out and buy a new Mario Kart or Smash Brothers for the Wii. They'll buy it for a new system, though. Finally, I think Nintendo is in the business of throwing out anything and using any crazy-ass idea and hoping it catches on. Sometimes it works out great (see: the Wii and DS), and other times it fails miserably (see: Virtual Boy). Can you think of any other developer that has created as many console and hand held systems as Nintendo? NES, SNES, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, N64, Gameboy Advance, Virtual Boy (what a cluster-fuck that thing was), GameCube, DS, Wii, DSi, 3DS and now Project Cafe? That is 13 systems that this company has created since the mid 1980s, and I'm not even counting all the minor upgrades they've done (like the top-loading NES or the DSlite). Now, I'll grant you that they've been in the home video game market longer than any other competitor, but at the same time, that is a lot of fucking systems, and they're usually more than just token upgrades, but rather unique systems that incorporate some crazy-ass idea. A touch-screen in the controller? Sounds right up Nintendo's ally, and it isn't all that different from their DS and 3DS controls. Honestly, it wouldn't shock me to hear that you can use your 3DS as a controller for whatever they call the Project Cafe system. Even Sony, between their main systems and hand helds, has only created 3 PlayStations, and two PSP variations; and even those have used the same controls since the very beginning. Their new consoles and hand-helds rarely show a lot of innovation, but rather just upgrading the hardware to match what others are doing. I give Nintendo credit for going out of its way to be different.
It can, but not within the next few years. The reason is simple enough; developing a new console costs billions and billions of dollars, and while a giant company like Microsoft and Sony can afford to do something cutting edge, Nintendo simply doesn't have enough money. It's not a question of their engineers being skilled or not, but rather, not having the necessary billions in their account.
Based on what I know right now, there is absolutely zero incentive for me to get an Nintendo Whateverit'sgoingtobecalled. I have a 360 with a Kinect, a PS3, and a laptop that can do some decent gaming. I can't justify spending, at a bare minimum, $399 for a console, an additional controller (with a 6 inch touchscreen) for let's say $99, and a couple of games at $60 a pop. The only way I drop that kind of money on another console is if my mind is utterly blown away like it was when I saw a tech demo of some guy holding a nunchuk and Wiimote like a bow and arrow and shooting a monster. I ended up getting a Wii, then sold it a few months after getting nothing but shitty gimmick games. If Nintendo has a strong launch library, and enjoys 3rd party support like it did in the SNES days, I'm in. If not, I can still be blown away by stuff like LA Noire and Battlefield 3. Edited for above post: Considering that the Wii has sold over 85 million units as of March 2011, in addition to the DS hardware and software, I would argue that the last time Nintendo was swimming in this much money, everybody was playing Super Mario World on their SNES.
To be fair to Sony, the lack of innovation between their consoles speaks to how well their core design is. If it isn't broke, don't fix it. They don't do much beyond upgrading the hardware, because they don't need to.
And it's still peanuts compared to what Sony and Microsoft are worth. Even nowadays, the video games market is only a small segment of the giant consumer electronics industry. Sony and Microsoft are huge international companies with a plethora of different products. Nintendo is a much smaller company that makes games and nothing else. More specifically, Sony made $88.2 billion of revenue in 2010, Microsoft made $62.48 billion of revenue in 2010, and Nintendo made just $15.76 billion of revenue in 2010. You see how that disparity causes problems in financing billions of dollars of R&D (research and development) for a new product?
I see what you're saying, but think about what the companies are doing. For Sony and Microsoft, they make a lot of shit. Computers, software, TVs, Blu-Ray Players, a ton of minor electronics and not to mention how much money Sony is blowing on 3D. You know what Nintendo makes? Video games. That's 15.76B with most of that going back into video games. I'm not a Nintendo fan boy, I sold mine this summer for the Move. I don't think they're going to fuck around on the hardware this time. And they win Japan if they release an HD Monster Hunter with a solid online platform.
The problem with Nintendo is that is has no solid 3rd party devs making games for it, if you look at the Wii's best-sellers library, you've got Wii Fit, Wii Sports, Zelda, Mario, and to an extent Metroid. Those are all made in house by Nintendo, excluding Team Ninja's Metroid abortion. If Project Cafe is Nintendo's response to trying to get the hardcore gamer back into it's fold, it's going to flop because it will have no other games, and as much as I like Zelda games, one franchise is not going to make me run out and by a new system.
How many people are still playing the Wii? Mine sits in the corner gathering dust because I'm too busy with my PS3. No one else I know actively plays the Wii anywhere near the amount they play the Xbox or Playstation. Also what was the last great game that came out for Wii that wasn't a Nintendo crutch (Zelda, Mario)? Why do you think Nintendo will all of a sudden jump on the more-serious gaming band wagon? They've never made a product that wasn't cartoonish and cartoonishly advertised. And thats fine, they own that gaming niche. If they try and change their image, theyll lose their demographic and will fail to capture the PS3 and Xbox enthusiasts.
Don't overlook the fact it's not as if hardware more powerful than the 360/PS3 is rare or expensive these days.
I'm ignorant on everything surrounding Project Cafe out of lack of personal interest, but couldn't that be one of its selling points? Maybe one of the primary changes Nintendo is making from the Wii to the Cafe is adding an emphasis on 3rd-party devs and introducing non-Nintendo games. That's all purely speculation on my part, and as IWSJ mentioned, that would be unprecedented for Nintendo. Still, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt there. Otherwise, I agree that it could be a failure. Even with hardware performance being equal, hardcore gamers will still largely prefer PS3/360 games over Nintendo's.
Well here's the problem. If they are going to try that, then they are going to have to nail down some kind of exclusivity with the third party developers they are working with or buy an established studio and put it to work for them. If they don't then all they will get is basically a port of a game as it's released on the PS3/360. If that's the case, no-one is going to buy the console since they already have another system they can play it on. The bitch of it is that as of now, 3rd party developers aren't interested in exclusivity much anymore since if they release a game on all platforms, the odds of bigger sales increase, much like what happened with the Mass Effect series.
Oh? What is this cheap to develop and produce console hardware more powerful than the 360/PS3 that you have in mind?
Realistically speaking, if one was inclined and knowledgeable enough, it wouldn't cost much to build one's own console. It doesn't take much beyond a Blu-Ray/DVD drive, a processor, some RAM, and an operating system. The crux is how easily one could program their own OS to run the whole thing, as well as knowing enough about electronics to wire and solder everything appropriately. Technically, it is possible. Now, producing a console of equal or greater performance than the PS3/360 for mass production is another issue entirely.
Peyton Hillis wins the Madden 12 vote. Whoa. And awesome. Very unexpected, but I loves me some Hillis. Hopefully the recognition he gets from it could propel him to a Pro Bowl, if he has a season as good as last year.
Well, no kidding. Any idiot can rig some some existing stuff together to create a powerful home-built console. The point is to make one that is substantially better than the current gen and that wouldn't cost a fortune to mass produce. Focus- Pretty crazy game-breaking glitch found in MK9; <a class="postlink" href="http://shoryuken.com/content/mk9-parry-counter-repeat-glitch-4368/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://shoryuken.com/content/mk9-parry- ... itch-4368/</a> There are glitches in every game, and this is like the fifth one that has been reported, but the first one that has huge ramifications for gameplay.
Sorry to get in the middle of your pissing match (ewwww, warm) but I just wanted to come in and brag that since August of last year when I started as an associate/keyholder of my locally-owned video game store, I had previously been promoted to manager of that store and now I have gotten another promotion to Accounting Manager/bookkeeper of the whole corporation! The shit couldn't have worked out any better if I'd planned it. I get a raise, the hours are normal working hours and I don't have to deal with customers! Yay! For serious, I had this older redneck couple come in a few weeks ago and they were throwing me pissed off side-eye before they crossed the threshold. They laid two PS games and one GameCube on the counter and said "Yayah. These won't work on our Xbox." in their hideous hick speak. I explained that it was because they weren't Xbox games. "We know that nowwwww." the man hissed while gnashing his tooth at me. They were PISSED. It was hysterical.
Is there an online database or some other way I can go about finding locally-owned video game stores in my area? I'd rather not trade in or buy games with GameStop, or even Best Buy if I can help it. I've looked around, but I can't find any such stores in my town. I'm thinking I'm just not looking hard enough.