On Releasing New High-End Console Models....

[DoesWhatNintenDont]

I never bought into Nintendo upgrading the Wii like many people have. They have never made any major changes to their consoles except redesigns much later in their life span.

I also am not a big handheld gamer, but I've certainly seen the woes of the "handheld of the month club" when it comes to Nintendo constantly reinventing their portable systems.

For me, while I'm not keen on the idea, I don't mind companies redesigning their consoles for aesthetic reasons, production costs, or even improvements for functionality.

The whole trend of creating mini-PC's with the consoles now bothers me some.
It almost seems like Sony and MS are more interested in their other potential markets more than they are keeping focused on games. At least this is what all the hoopla over new versions of the consoles seems to be to me as a gaming vet.

But I do suppose that as long as the primary integrity of the systems are kept intact, that is all versions can play the games released for the system, then frankly I don't care in the end. It sorta becomes like how I felt about the handheld market: To each his own.

If you don't want to buy the new chartreuse color system, then don't. I suppose the added options for new colors and minor additions don't bother me much. Options aren't bad to have, as long as the systems work equally in regards to gaming. Let the companies take risks and get the headaches of having to keep up with the plethora of options.

But if a trend occurs that when major components are left out only to be integrated years later ( HDMI for example ), I can see how that would sour some customers, including myself, which would most likely lead me to only buy systems later on.

Thing is this would be a terrible sales tactic for game companies if they keep up the multi-media trend, as they depend on the "hardcore" gamers to help break high introductory rates for their products.