stingermck

Totally agree. The NES generation wants to play on other systems, while the DS generation is switching to tablets and cell phones.

But instead they will release some crazy console.

Cut the shit Nintendo.

dsa_shea

I think they just over saturated the market with too many different Amiibos while making some of them too limited and the collectors finally blew their tops trying to keep up. In the end, I think Lego will be the only one standing and that is because there are a ton of already established Lego collectors out there. And even with the collectors out there, I still see an abundance of the Lego stuff on the racks at the stores. I would be willing to bet that Skylanders ends after this year's release or is significantly altered. I am interested to see how this NX turns out but with my daughters' WiiU that I ponied up for a year and half ago collecting dust for the past six months, it will be very hard to sell me on getting one.

fujishig

Amiibos did extremely well, considering they don't actually do anything. Imagine when they integrate it with the Pokemon license, on an actual Pokemon game.

In a way the Pokemon Go craze just shows the strength of their IP. They already had a game exactly the same but without Pokemon, and it was nowhere near this popular.

dsa_shea

I'm not sure Pokemon Go would be as popular if it cost people money to play or to buy the balls to catch the Pokemon. Yes, they would sell some Pokemon figures but I think to the toys to life craze is starting to fade.

fujishig

Wasn't the projection in the billions for Apple alone off of Pokemon Go? I figured that was mainly in app transactions. though I don't think Nintendo gets a cut, since their contribution is that peripheral that's just been delayed to September.

I read some people talking about an opportunity to bring the Pokemon Go money onto their own system, but this is still a separate console, and nobody wants to pay a monthly fee for cell service for a game system (see the vita).

mattysemo247

If Pokémon cost ANYTHING to download, it would be a completely different story. Trying something that is free is one thing, but even spending 99 cents on an app isn't worth it for most people.

dsa_shea

I play Candy Crush a lot and I am on level 1850 something. If I had to pay to get boosters, that are almost a necessity for certain levels, then I would have stopped playing long ago and I really enjoy the game.

Sonny Corinthos

Unfortunately, we have sunk a lot of money in the Wii U when you consider all of the games, Amiibos and Disney Infinity figures and starter packs we have bought over the last two years.

I'm not interested in giving Nintendo any more of my money. Besides, with the Wii U gamepad, we can watch TV while our daughter plays her favorite games on it. This really comes in handy during football season.

dsa_shea

I'm in the exact same boat as you. My daughter wanted it so bad a couple of years ago but now that she is 13, she has very little interest in it and rarely plays it. I'm a little nervous about the gamepad staying on the charger for days and days without being used and killing the battery. Would you just recommend setting it off to the side until she is ready to play?

Jeremy517

It stops charging when full, so you can leave it on without harm.

dsa_shea

Thank you! I was unsure about that.

Adam Tyner

Eurogamer posted a pretty terrific article this morning titled NX is different, and different is Nintendo's best option.

A couple of excerpts:

fujishig

It's mainly software at this point, and Nintendo has shown they don't need the latest hardware to compete. If you I think about it, both the dual screen and 3D gimmicks aren't all that great; a lot of the system's best games would be just as good without those. But it still killed the PSP/Vita whether it was because of install base or because the vita development cost was just too high to be worth it.

fumanstan

It's funny to continue to hear the argument that Nintendo shouldn't compete with Sony and Microsoft when they already haven't for the last two generations to pretty mixed results, and arguably disastrous results from the later half of the Wii's life through the Wii U.

Not that i'm arguing otherwise, it's just odd to keep hearing that come up the same way it did before the Wii U as though it's new for Nintendo.

I think the idea of a hybrid device is neat, if the home console part can be boosted from the portable part. For instance, whatever dock it attaches to can up the performance. There are laptops and now some small PC's from Alienware/Razer that do something similar. I think that would be neat

Deadman31

I would always buy Nintendo home consoles if they didnt make things so complicated. I'm too old to stand there holding a controller while swinging a fucking wand around. The Wii caused me so much anxiety I hardly played it. Simplify the controls and come out with some real sports games/3rd party games and I'll buy. Like they used to many moons ago.

kefrank

This is a funny take, because the Wii's motion controls were widely considered more intuitive and accessible than the 18-button controller schemes popular on other consoles. I know what you mean though.

Adam Tyner

I agree to a point, but it's like...if a filmmaker were to say "there's all this talk of superhero fatigue at the box office, so I made a 4 hour documentary about Balinese basket weaving instead, and it inexplicably didn't make a dime!", the conclusion wouldn't be "you should've made a superhero movie instead".

Nintendo does need to do something different from Microsoft and Sony. The Wii U was not the right kind of 'different'. It's the wrong kind of everything. (I say that as someone who loves the Wii U too!)

They might actually have all their ducks in a row this time. As you said, there was a span of entirely too many years where Nintendo was in a tailspin. The way they structured their teams was a nightmare as the Wii's lifespan was drawing to a close. They didn't have the resources to keep propping up the Wii as the Wii U and 3DS were underway. The 3DS was such a swing and a miss at launch that it was all hands on deck, depriving the Wii U of desperately needed resources and putting the console in an even more precarious position. Both the Wii U and 3DS suffered from a lack of vision, a lack of ambition, and the weight of Nintendo's arrogance in the wake of their predecessors' colossal success. The DS and Wii were innovations; the 3DS and Wii U were just Nintendo coasting with no real destination in mind. Nintendo had their heads so far up their asses that they were caught off-guard by the challenges of HD game development, despite armies of Japanese developers complaining about the same thing for years and years prior to that.

I'm of the opinion that the Wii U's biggest competitor wasn't Sony or Microsoft's consoles but the 3DS. Why spend $300/$350 on a console and $60 per game when you could get the same franchises, similar gameplay, etc. on the 3DS for a fraction of the price?

They banked on the marquee draw of the Wii to sell the Wii U, but there was zero momentum by the time 2012 rolled around (since Nintendo all but abandoned the console two years prior), no one with any common sense would've signed off on that name, the marketing was somewhere between tin-eared and non-existent, and it was oriented around a gimmick that Nintendo couldn't convey competently or be bothered to take advantage of all that much. The list of mistakes drones on and on without end.

With just one device, Nintendo isn't competing with themselves anymore. They've streamlined themselves to one platform for hardware/software (well, aside from mobile). Despite the 3DS underperforming and the Wii U straight-up flopping, that's still close to 75 million pieces of hardware between 'em. That's more than the Xbox One and PS4 combined. Even if the NX does still suffer from a gen-over-gen drop, there's an excellent chance that they'll still wind up with a hell of a userbase.

fumanstan

I don't necessarily disagree, but don't completely agree either. If doing something different from Microsoft/Sony simply refers to the tech/graphics arms race, then yeah Nintendo probably can't keep up. If it also means the gimmicks and different ways to play that Nintendo keeps pushing, I'm not sold on that either given how hit and miss those seem to be.

I admit i'm probably a bad judge of Nintendo though as part of that is me getting older and finding less interest in the Nintendo stalwarts that they bank on to sell their games. I bought a 3DS and it collects dust after realizing Mario Kart and Smash Bros aren't doing it for me anymore.

Adam Tyner

I'm with you.

It doesn't help that I'm not a handheld gamer, and if the form factor and all for the NX is compromised so it can be a handheld first and "console" second, that might be a dealbreaker for me.

Kelkee

Seems like another not very well thought through console by Nintendo.

The bread and butter for Nintendo are their classic games and catering to the generations of gamers that those games and franchises appeal to.

They should have been working on securing up all licensing for their back catalog. The entire thing. Every single game. Across all their consoles and portables.

They should have been working on emulation. Something capable of emulating every console/portable and running every game in their catalog thru a piece of software that can be delivered to any device.

They should have been working on a paywall or service to deliver these games to this new console and allow some form of online network and community.

They should have been working on a light weight console that connects to this service and lets you pay for any game in their catalog and emulate it properly on a big screen in your home. It doesn't need massive storage, or high end specs. Keep it basic, functional and low priced. Bundle in services or make special editions at a higher price points.

They don't need to be making a portable device. Use existing devices to deliver content you package up and sell with an app and deliver thru an app store. That's how you do portable gaming today.

Then sit back and make billions.

orangecrush

They sold nearly 60 million 3ds units worldwide. Their portable system hasn't been their problem the last 5 years.

pinata242

I don't disagree. The NX should be a VC hub with the ability to play new games whether by cartridge or purely digital. That controller needs to connect to, if not cradle, our portable phones and interface with an NX app and all the games I own. You could buy adapters to mount the controller to whatever phone it is you own.

I do want to play Nintendo games, past and present, wherever I am.
I do not want to carry an extra device just for that purpose. I can live with a controller in my bag.

Rob V

You freaking nailed it!

starseed1981

You win this thread.

Kelkee

True, but Nintendo is taking huge financial loss for some reason.

Today they don't sell. Their main console is not selling and the portable market is fading out.

Honestly why go to the effort to make proprietary hardware and try and sell it when everyone has this already in the palm of their hands?

Shutdown the portable unit manufacturing and focus on existing technology without all the overhead. There is no need for it today.