| shams said: I agree in that I think the Wii will follow the DS 'upgrade' model. They will NOT drop the price - at all - until sales significantly start to dip. Then I think you'll see a 'Wii HD' or 'Wii+' released at a little over the current price point. Then the Wii will get a price cut at the same time, and most of the Ninty fans will start upgrading. The amazing thing with the DSi is that DSi games will NOT RUN on a DS!! So it really is a new handheld (it has extra RAM, as well as the camera and other features). The Wii+ could follow the same pattern. I'd love to see the next Wii go back to carts - but this won't happen for the Wii+, as backwards compat is so important (it must be able to play Wii titles). ... I'd expect lots of onboard RAM, and special Wii+ (only) downloadable titles. Its a great way to migrate to a DL-only world - have the retail Wii titles, and the online only Wii+ titles. They *could* stick extra VRAM on it, extra RAM, crank up the clock speed on the GPU/CPU, upgrade the output to 720p, controller will come with M+. Even a 1080i upscalar and/or HDMI plugs, or better FSAA. Lots of options really. Opens the door for them down the track to release a ultra-cheap Wii+ WITHOUT a drive (might be half the cost, if not less) - DL titles only. By then they would have a good catalog of DL titles. ... Doesn't anyone think it wierd that Ninty have NOT released any really significant WiiWare titles of their own? They have obviously been working hard on DSi titles - but I wonder what else they have coming. Or maybe they are leaving it to 3rd-parties for now... |
The problem for all console manufacturers going DL only is that, at the current margin structure, it would take away the biggest stream of gaming income the retail stores have. Stores essentially do not make money out of selling consoles. For a company to go DL only, they would have to increase the retail margin significantly, and by significant I'm talking about 15-20% increase in the retail price. That way, retailers would be able to make money from the consoles and there would be incentive for them to sell the HW only. But that would lead to any manufacturing price reductions becoming pretty much nullified, and in fact could actually increase the price. That's not an easy step to take. There's a reason why the DL markets for current consoles offer mostly small games, and even Sony has only a few full size games available. They can't risk angering their retailers.
