Is Nintendo always going to be behind Microsoft and Sony in graphics?

[Michael-5]

Gilgamesh said:

The Wii U is coming in 2012 with graphics possibly on par with the PS3 and X360, in 2012 - 2014 we should see both the Xbox 720 and PS4 out with a bigger graphic leap. So is Nintendo always going to be behind the competition in graphics?

Back in the day, Nintendo was always leading edge on graphics. It really depends where the market goes, every generation marks a big change. This upcoming generation marks when Nintendo first pushed the next generation, Nintendo almost always launched last before.

I mean this generation, there really wasn't 1 strong leader in sales, all 3 consoles will end up between 25-40% of the market. It was also the first generation where Sony was leading in graphics and Nintendo was last graphically.

Last generation, Microsoft only entered the console war, Sega dropped out, and the Gamecube was competing for best graphics against X-Box.

The generation before that Sony entered the console war, and with an inferior machine, it outsold Nintendo, and Sega.

Then before that Nintendo was always ontop, with sales and graphics, and always released their console last. Also Atari made consoles too.

 

However trends are emerging. It seems the cheapest and least powerful system will usually sell the most (Wii, PS2, PS1), so it makes sense that Nintendo wants to be here. Nintendo will probably continue making the least graphically powerful system, and Microsoft will likely make the most powerful, just because Nintendo is the smallest company by far, and MS is the biggest (Nintendo's worth is like 4 billion, where Sony is 30 billion, and MS is probably 100 billion or more). Also Microsoft makes OS for most computers, they probably have relationships that allow them to produce systems cheaper.

I mean with every progressing generation, games and systems cost more and more to develop. Nintendo's been bankrupt before, they probably want to play it safe.