Editorial (external): Nintendo’s Roaring Nine

[steven787]

ClaudeLv250 said:

RolStoppable said:

shams said:

Truthsayer said:
I am just concerned that the next console race won't be quite so good for Nintendo. Microsoft and sony will clearly have motion sensing controllers. Nintendo must make third party friends NOW!

I wouldn't worry... imagine this scenario:

- Wii 2.0 is launched 12 months before other 'next-gen' consoles (say 2010)
- $199 price point
- WiiSports II launch title
- gfx around 50%-75% caps of a 360
- 10m units within first 6months of launch
- supports Wiimote + WiiBalanceBoard units

???

The DS II is going to be much more interesting.

Your scenario is scaring me. This is exactly what Nintendo should not do, if they want to keep 3rd party support.

Same here. It's sounding too much like 360, and holding back potential. I'm pretty sure Wii Too will be able to compete with PS4 and Xbox 720 on the graphics front now that Nintendo has the confidence and money to support it. After all, Gamecube was graphically superior to Dreamcast and PS2 but was still cheaper than the competition (and they still made a profit).

 

They need to be flexible.

If in 4-5 demand is still high, they need to go with small increments (like the portable line).  I don't think they should ruin what they got going for them by releasing something that they are going to lose money on.  They only have gaming, it's not like they can fall back on an OS or Movie Players.  To nintendo they need to make a profit on every piece of hardware and software.  Instead of being "charitable" like MS and Sony; Nintendo should use those resources to develop platforms that are more cost effective and rely on features that gamers (and soon-to-be-gamers) will actually be able to make use of and afford.  There will still be plenty of non-gamers for Nintendo to convert at the end of the Wii life cycle.  What are they going to do to keep more gamers coming in? Better graphics wont do it.  Losing $200 per console won't do it. 

Imagine if instead of putting in a three core processing MS Decided to put all the losses from manufacturing and warranties that they put that money into developing games for all different types of gamers.  Instead of jumping onto the casual bandwagon, with a remake of a board game, invested in developing a game that would be worth people paying $300 for?  What if they hadn't shot themselves in the foot with the budget shoppers by releasing multiple skus, basically scaring off any one who doesn't want to pay more than 299 for a console.  What if they spent the money to make it smaller so that JPN gamers would have room for it.  There are so many things wrong with their model.  They are going after an admittedly small segment, so they should have optimized to make a profit off of each console.  NIntendo's situation is even more precarious because they have so many different audiences that they need to make happy; but at the same time safer because they can fall back on different audiences.  All lot of "What if's", but bear with me.

Where does this put us in the Next Gen for Nintendo?  I think it is Nintendo's best interest to push the Wii as is, as long as possible, then release a slim or a media center version.  Just like they do with the portables.  Drag it out for a while, keep ignoreing what the competition is doing, there are plenty of customers for every one.  Are you trying to win customers or beat the competition?  Nintendo did it right by trying to win and maintain customers, they need to keep that model.