noname2200 said:
That's merely Nintendo being itself. This is the same company that used parts made in the 70's for its first home console. It's the company that released the Gameboy when technology like the Game Gear were available. Consider that the Wii was the most expensive system Nintendo had ever released, and that they manufactured more of them from day one than they have any prior system, and you'll realize that the only reason they were hedging their bets is because conservatism is in their DNA. Remember, they were barely leaving the generation where they had to stop manufacturing their newest home console, two years after its release. I also must point out that your N64 example has its timeline reversed. The N64 controller was the first home console to use an analogue stick. Dual analogues didn't come along until after its release.
As for the idea that the system might have done better with third-parties if it was beefier: perhaps. It's fun to speculate, anyways. But as this article points out, the industry as a whole was (and still is) pursuing a direction that's not healthy. The system's success demonstrates, indisputably, that the general market placed less value on horsepower and more on accessibility and games with a wider appeal. That others, and eventually Nintendo itself, chose to ignore this message is unrelated to the subject matter. |
What I meant with the N64 was conservatism in that they took a new paradigm but didn't take it to the logical conclusion, one stick vs two.
Anyway the conservatism has good points and bad so one can't say that nothing good came from it like for instance ensuring good battery life with the Gameboy instead of including a more powerful screen/backlight.
The industry itself is a strange one I have to give you that. The actions of the big publishers could almost be described as deliberate given they would have wanted to shut out the smaller developers from the majority of the game funding and hence secure a larger share of the pie even if it was self destructive. However this has changed the market and smaller/agile developers are fighting back which presents problems for all of the big three given the vastly increasing market of free to play and/or cheaply developed games, especially on PC and Apple ecosystems. The Wii U tablet is likely a response in part to this growing trend towards a dumbell shaped market where free or next to nothing competes with expensive AAA experiences with nothing in the middle.
Tease.
