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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Bold (Couldn't help myself) 3DS Successor Predictions!

spemanig said:
DrasticDracon said:

Good points, but even if Nintendo went full digital (which I doubt they'll even do), they'd likely not care enough to include a generous card, no matter how necessary the storage is. They've just dropped the charger in NA, so they aren't afraid to disclude important contents anywhere. Look at the Vita as a wonderful example; it isn't digital, but they still won't include any sort of card! And I believe only certain Vita-branded cards are compatible with it. Companies will cut costs even if the reason seems dumb to the consumer.


There's no way they can have a unified platform without going all digital on at least one of their consoles. They can't have a unified platform with both carts and CDs. Guess which one is going?

The charger isn't the same thing. Bad decision or not, expecting people buying the New 3DS to largely be upgraders is a valid alibi. It's at the end of it's cycle and it's reasonable to come to that conclusion.

They already sell digital download cards at retail. My first 3DS game was Luigi's Mansion, and I was offered a download card instead of a physical cart at gamestop. They're already doing this sort of stuff.

It wouldn't be cutting costs. The NFC cards would basically be a form of amiibo.


Why can't they use carts again? 

The Vita + Vita TV already does this, I can take a Vita cartridge, play it on my Vita, plug that same cartridge into my Vita TV (well Playstation TV) and play the same cartridge on my TV. 

In a couple of years they'll be able to make DS/Vita sized cartridges that are 32GB, the same storage as a Blu-Ray disc, so even if they wanted to port the biggest Wii U title to sell again, it would be no problem to share it between the home version and the portable. 

Removing the cartridge slot is kinda pointless, it doesn't really save any space or cost (whereas ditching the disc drive is huge space savings and a cost savings too). 

Have digital for those who want it, but retail isn't going away and Nintendo is more stubborn about retail than probably most companies. CDs/discs are what are becoming obsolete though, now that carts have caught up to discs in storage space, they are smaller, load faster, and more practical for a fusion platform where the games need to go portable on a moment's notice. 

Also retaining the (by then 12-13 year old) dual screen layout and 3D screen I think isn't really bold. That whole setup just screams "oh hey, remember this thing that used to be popular before smart devices"? It's like seeing a Blackberry phone with a physical keyboard these days, yes a few diehards still chest thump at that layout being superior, but for most people the response is "2005 called, it wants its phone back" and wouldn't be caught dead with such a device. 

The whole DS and Wii brands and layout just need to die. They had a good run, but they just bring an association with Nintendo that their hardware is stuck back from a decade ago. Even if the engine has been overhauled, people aren't excited by it. It's time to move in the 2010s with something fresher than that. 



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I agree with many point, but the digital one is so wrong. PSP Go proved that people are still not ready for a 100% digital service. And don't think things have changed that much since it launched, cause digital sales for Nintendo games are usually under 10%.



Bet with Teeqoz for 2 weeks of avatar and sig control that Super Mario Odyssey would ship more than 7m on its first 2 months. The game shipped 9.07m, so I won

I agree with almost everything, but there are a few that are really dicey IMO:

- No way in hell is Nintendo putting out a WiiU-level handheld so soon, especially at $200. There's always significant "lag" in their hardware compared to what their competition puts out. I expect it to be above the Vita in performance, but not by a huge amount, in ordeto ensure a $200-or-less price range.
- Nintendo is definitely going to stick with physical media. I highly doubt they'd go further than Sony and MS in that regard when their handling of network features is so woefully behind. Doubt they'd add 4G functionality for the same reason.



Have some time to kill? Read my shitty games blog. http://www.pixlbit.com/blogs/586/gigantor21

:D

spemanig said:

I just want a place to look back to when the device is announced so I can see how close I am to being correct on my predictions. I'll probably be completely wrong. Feel free to bookmark this so you can assault me with just how wrong my predictions really are, now with sold proof! I'm not really going to explain much how I came to such conclusions, as I'm sure I've argued all these points and aggrivated enough of you in other threads. I'll definitely answer some questions here and there, however. I made edit some more in later as I remember them. Here we go!

-----

1. The handheld will share a name and branding with the home console "brother." Much like the "i" in iPod, iPad, and iPhone.

2. The handheld will have the same OS as the home console "brother."

3. The handheld will be cross compatible with most, if not, all games on the home console brother.

4. The handheld will have two screens.

5. The botton screen will remain a touch screen.

6. The top screen will remain a 3D screen. It will carry over the improvements made by the New 3DS.

7. The top screen will boast a 720p equivilant desplay. (I know there's a discrepency with calling the screen 720p because of the nature of the 3D screen)

8. The handheld will retain the clamshell design of the 3DS.

9. The handheld will retain the new shoulder buttons added to the New 3DS in the same configuration, for a total of four shoulder buttons.

10. The handheld will have an equivilant to two analog directional inputs. Wether those will remain the circle pad or an analog nub like the Vita is up in the air.

11. The right analog will not be a nub like the c-stick is on the 3DS. It will mirror the left analog input.

12. The next handheld will, quite obviously, keep the Dpad, as well as the ABXY buttons.

13. The analog inputs will be parellel to each other, and be positioned above the Dpad and ABXY buttons.

14. The handheld will launch with two form factors: A standard model and an XL model.

15. The handheld will feature a rumble pack.

16. The handheld will feature an NFC reader, just like the Wii U and New 3DS.

17. The next handheld will not have a card slot. It will be a digital only device.

18. Collectable boxed NFC cards (or an NFC device of some ilk) will be sold at retail stores with a "download NFC function" for specific games, replacing retail copies of games. It works the same as a download code. One use only. You put the card/amiibo/whatever on the reader, and you get the digital game.

19. The new handheld will come with either a 64GB SD/MiniSD card, or a 132GB SD/MiniSD card.

20. The new handheld will be approximately as powerful as the Wii U is. A little more or a little less.

21. The new handheld will have backwards compatability with the eshop. Almost every digital Wii U/3DS game will be downloadable on the new handheld.

22. The unified platform will be the new "gimmick" and will be what the marketing for the handheld will focus on the most.

23. If there is another physical hardware "gimmick," it will be the same across both the handheld and home console.

24. The new handheld will have some system that allows you to access online functions without the need for Wifi, for free. 4G, or an equivilant. (It will be integrated into the cost of individual games behind the scenes, much like buying books on the Kindle Fire allowed for a free 3G connection)

25. The new handheld will released for no more than $200.

26. The new handheld will come out sometime in 2016.

-----

Oh god. I'm ready to get ripped apart! If I'm going to eat crow because of this, then this thread is the bowl... Have at me!


1. Agree.

2. Agree. Specially if they want to solve the period of software drought.

3. I hope that is true.

4. Nintendo has no reason to ditch the two screens. I wouldn't be if they add touch capabilities in both.

5. Yes.

6.No. Nobody will really miss the 3D effects. It will be sacrificed to improve battery life or power.

7. Can a screen the size of the 3DS reach 1080p? I think they might want to get it to play WiiU-level games.

8.  That has to be a must if they want to continue the doublescreens. If not, the design would be similar to the 2DS, and it's a bit unconfortable.

9. No idea.

10. Yes, something similar to the N3DS.

11. No. Similar to the N3DS. Recycling parts will save money and cheapen the handheld.

12. Yes.

13. No idea.

14. No, a model per year.

15. No, that eats a lot of battery and can damage some parts.

16. Obvious. The Amiibo functions will be expanded even more.

17. No way. Look at the PSP Go.

18. No idea.

19. Nope. They will charge of SD memory cards on customer. At least that is better that the Vita cards.

20. Yes. Al of my yes. They cannot slack off on handheld power when Tablets and mobiles are growing so much in power.

21.Yes. It will have a 3DS mode, just like the WiiU has a Wii mode.

22. No. Whatever the new gimmick is, it will come alongside the Fusion idea.

23. Yes.

24. Also yes. They really need to reach tablet and mobile capabilities.

25.Y es. They can't afford another 3DS release fiasco.

26. No. They need time to develop all of the platforms, both the handheld and the home console will be released after 2016.



You know it deserves the GOTY.

Come join The 2018 Obscure Game Monthly Review Thread.

I agree with (and want) almost everything except for predictions 17 and 26.



 

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Why would you go to all the trouble of having the same interface/OS/games for a handheld and home device, but then cause headaches for developers by making one device dual screened and the home device is going to be primarily single screen (the TV, and sorry the Wii U's failure largely illustrates the stupidity of that concept, unless human's grow a third eye sitting on a couch they can only view one screen at a time).

Who even likes the dual screen setup? Like honestly which game in the last 5 years has used it in a profoundly interesting way? I remember I had my little cousins come over and I gave one a tablet to play with and the other one got my 3DS and the one that got my 3DS looked like I had asked him to eat his vegetables. 3D is old hat too, that was something that was cool maybe 6 years ago when Avatar came out, now it's losing its appeal. 

Even kids don't like the dual screen setup. One big, vibrant full touch panel is more intuitive and allows developers to focus all their energy on one display, rather than 90% of games having a secondary display that does nothing but show the map and eat up battery needlessly.

If Nintendo was ever going to start start taking some design risks now is the time. In 5-6 years honestly their handheld userbase could be easily down to 30-40 million if they keep sticking to designs/principals that are over a decade old now. The world has moved on and is leaving them behind.

The dual screen design just screams "hey! Remember when Britney Spears was the biggest pop act, George Bush was president, and Sopranos was the best show on TV? Yeah we're the company stuck in a decade+ ago". It's a bad idea, the gains don't outweight the optics, people will see even an 8 inch iPad mini with a much higher resolution screen and then look at that Nintendo handheld with two smaller screens and chuckle at it.  



spemanig said:

There's no way they can have a unified platform without going all digital on at least one of their consoles. They can't have a unified platform with both carts and CDs. Guess which one is going?

I actually was wondering this when I first heard about the unified platform rumor. With that idea though, how would we be able to play the same game on both devices w/o buying them twice? iCloud-like system that lets you download the game on the handheld after installing the game on your home console? That would be awesome. If not though, Soundwave's idea for cartridges on both devices might work.

The charger isn't the same thing. Bad decision or not, expecting people buying the New 3DS to largely be upgraders is a valid alibi. It's at the end of it's cycle and it's reasonable to come to that conclusion.

Actually. the charger makes quite a valid point. Nintendo's reason for excluding the charger, a crucial accessory, was that they wanted to keep the MSRP down. You defined a high capacity (64 GB or more) memory card as pivotal to a digital-only handheld, so wouldn't it seem likely that Nintendo would abstain from including a high capacity SD card, especially if it cost more to manufacture than the charger? And I actually don't disagree with Ninty's charger decision.

They already sell digital download cards at retail. My first 3DS game was Luigi's Mansion, and I was offered a download card instead of a physical cart at gamestop. They're already doing this sort of stuff.

I never argued against this. I only ever referred to SD cards.

It wouldn't be cutting costs. The NFC cards would basically be a form of amiibo.

What I meant by cutting costs was Nintendo not including a big SD card with their next handheld, much like leaving out the charger. NFC chips for activating digital games isn't a bad idea if they aren't costly to manufacture.





LipeJJ said:
I agree with many point, but the digital one is so wrong. PSP Go proved that people are still not ready for a 100% digital service. And don't think things have changed that much since it launched, cause digital sales for Nintendo games are usually under 10%.


I'm actually glad that you bring up the PSP Go, because I think there's a lot of misinformation about exactly why it failed. What you have to remember is that the PSP Go launched at the tail end of the PSP's life cycle, well after the PSP's sales started to dip significantly. The PSP Go didn't fail because it was all digital; it failed because no one wanted the PSP anymore. And as we can see with the Vita, no one wanted any Playstation handheld by that point.

A big selling point for the PSP, wether people like to admit it or not, was its multimedia capabilities. You could watch full movies on the go and play games. Remember, this was before the iphone launched. It was completely new technology in a completely untapped market. The PSP Go was using those same selling points well after the iDevices had settled in. It was released in a market with far superior, cheaper, and more convenient options. That's why it didn't sell.

Not because it was all digital.



Handheld and home console to come packaged together, with handheld functioning as home console's primary controller and home console providing the conduit through which all games must be downloaded (downloads chiefly stored on home console hard drive and transferred to handheld as and when needed). If applying the principle now, it would effectively mean that Nintendo stopped packaging Wii Us with gamepads and replaced them with New 3DSes instead.



gigantor21 said:
I agree with almost everything, but there are a few that are really dicey IMO:

- No way in hell is Nintendo putting out a WiiU-level handheld so soon, especially at $200. There's always significant "lag" in their hardware compared to what their competition puts out. I expect it to be above the Vita in performance, but not by a huge amount, in ordeto ensure a $200-or-less price range.
- Nintendo is definitely going to stick with physical media. I highly doubt they'd go further than Sony and MS in that regard when their handling of network features is so woefully behind. Doubt they'd add 4G functionality for the same reason.


Remember that the Vita launched a little over three years ago with near PS3 level hardware with what was even then reletively older tech at the time. It frankly doesn't have to stretch too far past the Vita's specs to reach that power goal, and the Vita is already $200 now. And even that price is being severely inflated. The thing launched 3 years ago and has only had a $50 price drop? No, they're likely selling them at a handsome profit now as they let it die.

I think that their entire firmware infrastructure is being completely overhauled. That's going to be their gimmick and that is what they're currently investing the most R&D on. I didn't put this in the predictions because it's a very vague thing to describe, but I think you're going to see a platform with heavy emphasis on the OS and UI as opposed to the hardware. You can already see little seeds being planted now, but you're going to see very forward thinking innovations in that regard. When Nintendo says that they'll be looking at platforms like iOS and Android, I think that the streamlined and simple convenience that they bring will be a big thing on the next handheld. You will see a lot of influence of those in the new OS, and that's what they'll use to sell the platform.

It actually feels weird that this thread predicts the hardware so, because I think actually that 90% of the "revolution" will come from the firmware and the UI. It's like when Apple came out with the 5S, and it came with a fingerprint scanner. No one cared about the fingerprint scanner; they cared about the complete UI overhaul that iOS 7 brought. This is a similar thing, only there isn't that "NintendOS" yet. That will debut with the next handheld.

In that way, I think they'll be branching off from what Sony and Microsoft do. It's very clear that Nintendo's primary motivation for this unified platform is to be able to thrive in a self contained ecosystem. They want to create an ecochamber where they can still release a steady stream of software, independant of 3rd party support. That really killed them with the Wii U, and they want to avoid that ever happening again. That's not to say that the hardware won't keep 3rd party in mind, but that this whole move is being made to make sure they can survive 3rd party abandonment forever should they not show up again.

So in that way, I don't think they see it as "catching up with Sony/Microsoft" as much as catching up with smart devices in general, which frankly steamroll both.

I used "revolution" in quotes because it isn't anything new. They'll literally be copying iOS and Android for the most part. The difference is that these have never been implemented on a major game console or applied to video games like this before. 4G is part of that. It's using a convenient feature commonly reserved for cell phones and tablets to enrich the handheld experience, allowing you to access the online everywhere, which is extremely important for a mobile device like that. You'll see cloud saves, meaning that you could start playing a game on your home console, save it, and then pick up right where you left off on your handheld while you're on the go. That is the kind of thing I see Nintendo pushing.