HappySqurriel said:
1. Being the most expensive on the market at a point in time is not necessarily a problem, especially if your system is not unusually expensive for a new system and the systems you will be in (more) direct competition with have yet to be released to the market. After all, the PS2 was the most expensive console on the market when it was released and is the most successful home console that has ever been released. On top of this, the underlying question is "how long will it be the most expensive system?"
2. On the Wii U's touch screen not being unique in the market that may not be a problem and could be seen as a benefit. Between the Nintendo DS, smart phones, and tablet PCs the touch screen has rapidly become one of the most common user interfaces that people use to play videogames; and as a result users and developers have become very comfortable with them. Unlike when the Nintendo DS was first released Nintendo doesn't have to convince gamers or developers on the viability of the touch screen; and they don't have to convince gamers or the developers of the value of having a secondary display anymore. Since the experiment has been completed, developers can take what they know works to make their games better immediately. In the context of interactive entertainment, I suspect why Nintendo was able to be more successful with creating these edutaiment games on the Nintendo DS than they were on the Wii was because a touch interface is better suited to this approach. This isn't to say that the Wiimote isn't a solid approach for broader games, and I'm glad that they're keeping the Wiimote with motion plus because I want to see what developers can do with that,
3. On the topic of the controller price, you can quite regularly find 7 inch color touchscreen LCD ebook readers for under $100 and 7 inch tablet PCs for under $150 which both require far more and more expensive components than the Wii U controller. Certainly, these are not big-name products, but it should demonstrate that Nintendo may be able to sell the Wii U controller with a game at a similar price range to what Guitar Hero sold for. |
1. i have to disagree at launch the prices were wii $250 360 $400 ps3 $600 and this is in a market where the consoles were the consoles were generally priced around what the wii was originally priced at imo there's no doubting that the wii's price helped it to attain its success
you mentioned the ps2 which was at the time ( i believe ) priced the same as the xbox but that was a different situation as the consoles were all priced within a similar range - gc $150 ps2, xbox $200... i'd hardly compare a $50 difference to what happened this gen sony's console was $350 more expensive and the 360 was $150 more expensive
2. agreed
3. well i'm no expert on the parts used in these devices myself but i believe nintendo's hesitation to confirm whether the controllers will be available for purchase seperately may contradict what you're saying that doubled with the fact that standard controllers these days cost $50, controllers that don't have a cam, mic, touchscreen etc built in but i do understand what you're saying about ereaders being comparable ( although the least expensive that comes to my mind is the kindle which retails for over $100 without a cam or colour screen )... i guess that regardless we'll have to wait and see what happens
