| richardhutnik said: Exactly what does going down the rabbit hole of improving graphics gain you in the marketplace? Nintendo showed NOT pursuing this path has been beneficial for them. So, one has to ask what do they gain by doing this. And DON'T think as a videogame fanboy either when trying to answer this. |
Its not been successful because graphical improvements are bad, its been successful because the gameplay fundamentals they make are so good. In many ways their success has come inspite of the differing performance levels and this has not been a positive influence as it introduces dissonance in peoples minds about which system is appropriate, hence the large numbers of multi-console owners.
In the next generation it will be even more difficult to see a 3* improvement in performance due to diminishing returns. They have an advantage in that any system they release will be a huge jump over the previous generation and their support out of the gate will be astronomical. The PS3 showed how far you can get on goodwill alone, the next generation Wii console will likely show us how far you can get with effective leveraging of said goodwill.
By not selling their systems at a loss they are even more dangerous if they give people freedom to use their systems as they see fit. The likely next generation Wii will probably be as much a personal computer as console. Its easier to sell people a system and then sell them games than it is to sell them games to sell a system. Its the most obvious way to expand their market by making a console less proprietary and freeing up the imagination as to what tasks it can perform. This is the reason why I believe the Wii 2 will crush all next generation because Nintendo will learn from the successful tactics of Apple etc and throw open far greater possibilities.
Tease.
