Anyone else feel that Nintendo has next gen locked up?

[Mr Khan]

badgenome said:

sethnintendo said:

Sorry, I was looking for someone that spoke of the consoles' graphic power and decided to attach myself to you since I like you the most.  Seems like the new generation of gamers expect home consoles to be on par with current computers.  That thinking is pure idiotic.  You might as well be a PC gamer only if you think like that.  Asking for the most bleeding edge tech in a home console system is only asking the company to set themselves up for failure.

No, I agree. It's strange that people still assume that putting out an underpowered console means doom, especially when Nintendo has made money hand over fist doing just that. But Nintendo seems to be banking on similar third party support to MS and Sony this time around, and I'm not sure third parties won't basically abandon them in a year or two if Vigil's recent statement that Wii U is merely on par with the PS3/360 is true. Still, like I said, that the Wii U's gimmick just doesn't strike me as a very good one is my real concern. Hopefully there's a "Wii Sports" in the works for it that will show everyone why this is such a brilliant thing, but for right now I'm just not seeing it.

But I don't really want anyone to fail out of the console market. Both Sony and Nintendo have shown bad tendencies when they've been dominant, and Microsoft has shown horrible ones without ever being truly dominant. The competition has been nothing but good, IMO.

Two points will make the critical difference

1: Third party studios are having a hard enough time with the costs of HD development as it is. If PS4720 are really as above and beyond as all that, it's going to be insanely expensive, and they'll be forced to release a Wii U version (and likely a Vita version and an iOS version) of everything just to stay afloat

2: Tying in to point 1, the Wii U will at least have similar capabilities to the next generation consoles, even if they are stronger. Part of the problem with Wii wasn't simply the power gap, but the lack of programmable shaders and other things that meant that portability was a big issue. Wii U should at least be in the pipeline, so they won't be left behind completely.

My thoughts on the matter are that, like every other Nintendo console, Nintendo will sink or swim based on outputting great games. If Nintendo can really take advantage of the head-start they're getting and retain third party parity, then they could essentially be PS2 to Sony and Microsoft's GC and Xbox1: who cares if you're stronger because we're strong enough and already have most everything people want (outstanding Nintendo games attract hardware sales, the console being in the right technical ballpark allows third party support, but the strong userbase is what keeps third party support, and then suddenly you have the father of the family choosing to get a Call of Duty box just for himself, or a Call of Duty/Mario/Wii Fit box for the whole family. The choice will quickly become obvious).

If Nintendo fumbles with Wii U first party software output, however, the coming generation will simply be yet more divided than the existing one, but Nintendo seems to have learned the lesson from 3DS, so fingers crossed.