From the posts I am reading here and elsewhere, Nintendo cannot win no matter what audience they cater to be it the "Blue Ocean" of foggies and little sisters, the hardcore 18 to 24 year old basement dwellers, the lapsed 24 year old+ gamers, etc.
Attitudes are hardening before the finished product is fully displayed. Speaks volumes. Lost before the race begun.
Here is my take:
The winner of the "next gen AKA the next 5 years" will not be contingent on a new console, but on catering to the existing market. I am sure many of you are just thinking life is all jack daniels and wet panties from your life in college, but out here in the real world there is no 60k/year job for you regardless of your major be it business, nursing, or metaphysics. Too many are unemployed and have been hunting for jobs months if not years before you graduate.
Here and elsewhere we focus too much on the "industry," while ignoring the ecosystem in which the "industry" exists.
If a father with 2 kids, a mortgage, and a job cannot put aside $300 to purchase a console come Christmas, then it won't matter what "specs" the Wii U, PS4, or NextBox will have.
What will matter for him is how he can substitute. This means what games he can buy for the PS3, Wii, or Xbox 360 for his children come Christmas time. Yes, they will be disappointed, but if he gives a damn, then they will understand and still love him.
Nintendo is risking a lot by putting out a new system in such dire economic times. The 3DS is my proof right now. I believed and predicted it would change the discussion around 3D. Instead, I have been dead wrong where some weeks it is selling on par with the PSP and other weeks it is selling less than the PSP. Need I say more?
From all that I am reading, this economy is going to get worse. I see no hope and change from Barack Obama. All I see is a selfish struggle to "get mine" and fuck you if you cannot get yours. It is an all or nothing, tribalistic environment now.
There ain't no Blue Ocean because the economy has forced us back to our primal, tribal instincts of self and family first. If this continues, then it won't matter what "specs" or even "launch library" Nintendo provides for the Wii U.
There will not be a market for it if bills need to get paid.
