MrBrightside919 said:
All valid things ... but a platform need not have good specs but good games, but rather it's the games that will make it sell. The (3)DS outsold everything else (together ... adding every console and handhelsds of the last two generations put together) precisely because it had features and incentives for its uptake.
But it's the games that make a console.
Which is problematic for nintendo. Has always been the case. You can have lower specs ... but you have to make 3rd Party devs interested. Wii had some fantastic games, just not enough of them. No More Heroes, Okami Remake (And it is a case where motion controls make the game so much better an experience ... barring the nunchuk dodge. Gah ... pointless trying to use the dodge rolls. Red Steel 2 was a fun game, but it was hampened by having a shocking first release game that was, being charitable, a piece of shit.
Monster Hunter Tri, The Last Story, Xenoblade Chronicles, Pandora's Tower ... noticing a trend? They were all games released at the brink of this current generation, back when the Wii was economically unviable a product. One of the saving graces for the Wii U is that it is entirely backwards compatible, but that didn't stop them from importing over some REALLY stupid things, like limiting the disc region playback options.
That being said, given that it's merely been a year (which is bad, horrible in fact, but still better than the Wii game release schedules) and the WiiU is getting the big hitter games. Now whether Nintendo will continue this path of helping middling dev teams with console devkits and helping bring 3rd Party games to the light of day in exchange for exclusivity, we may end up seeing some really good titles.
The problem with this, of course, is that none of these options are convertable into launch titles for the next generation of Nintendo home console. Arguably Nintendo may decide to do the Sega thing And merely pump out games, or perhaps refrain and stick to portable platforms where they have NEVER been challenged.
Nintendo have dominated handheld gaming for nearly 25 years. Let that sink in.... 25 years, they have been uncontested as the single most successful console producer of all time SOLELY for their handheld systems. In that space of time Sony have released four home consoles, and none of them, put together, have matched the combined sales of gameboys or the DS.
Nintendo handheld hardware did not even slump with the advent of consumer accessible smartphone technologies. People still faithfully slip their DS into their purse, or backpack when going to uni, or at high school ... It doesn't matter if you're 4 or 40, it seems like everyone has love for the DS. When they first came out (when I was a lowly post grad) I saw doctorate holding lecturers hazardly navigating the steps of University Mall playing the DS. To say they were selling like hotcakes was an understatement.
They weren't that powerful, but they were marketed well and had a plethora of great titles of which the experience of playing is still leagues beyond even the best of mobile gaming has to offer.
The Nintendo DS also benefitted from the fact that Japanese mobile phone networks, of the time, were still only basic CDMA networks ... and Japanese mass produced phones were 8 years behind what we had in the West. I still have my Softbank prepaid phone when I had to spend an extended stay there, and I've been told that all I need is a new SIM and it will still work even ten years later.
Point is, Nintendo can be successful regardless of the tech specifications ... they are the most successful electronic entertainment company of all time. Sometimes experience and good marketing, of which we both know Nintendo are capable of, is all you really need to create a successful product. Not necessarily the best hardware.
Just look at iPhones ... they lag behind in specs to the Samsung Galaxy and Note series of mobile phones, but I'd much rather have a cut of the market share of Apple's iPhone over the Samsung Galaxy and Note mobile phone market uptake. People are willing to pay more money, for technology that is easily observable as to be inferior in quality.
Which is why I think the DS was a success. The DS was the closest thing to 'chic' that the electronic entertainment industry has ever had ... it was also the reason why the original Wii did so well, it had that chic quality to it. It had chic marketing, inexpensive but catered to the modern lifestyles of even the most busiest people. That level of elegant sophistication. With soft lines, and consumer friendly titles.
After all,it was only 5 years ago every gamer (casual or otherwise) was eating out of their hands. It would be foolish to write Nintendo off slowly ecause they left a bad taste in our mouths with the original Wii.
But I am far more forgiving of Nintendo than I am Sony or Microsoft ... Nintendo has heart, and that was easy to see with the brilliant 32 years of gaming joy they have brought to us. After 32 years of entering the home console race, Nintendo has given us the very definition of modern gaming in all aspects and elements. They are the first to innovate, but never compromise on the tradition of excellence (as plain to see in all their 1st Party games).
Question is, after 32 years do you think either Sony or Microsoft will be as consumer friendly as Nintendo have been all these years?
