| Mr Khan said: Again, the issue is money. The added cost of adding in Wii U functionality, if it is really as easy to port to as all that, would mean that most ports would be (against the cost of porting only) profitable, and anything to add to the bottom line will be good over all, even if its relatively insignificant in the big picture. The late ports of the early Wii U will likely get a lift simply by being launch-period titles (where early adopters are starved and take what they can get, like the original Red Steel), which should account for that. |
I think this is assuming a lot. If it's as cheap and easy as all that, I don't know why every game isn't ported to every single thing it possibly could be, but that doesn't happen for some reason. For that matter, why is it like pulling teeth to get Nintendo of America to localize games that are already being localized in English elsewhere? Estimates vary pretty wildly on how much it costs to port a game, from something like 15-20% of development costs to Capcom saying it takes a six figure budget just to port an arcade game for XBLA/PSN (sounds like bullshit, especially considering the source, but who the fuck knows). I'm not as sure as you are that people will shell out full price for games that will have been first released months ago like (the apparently atrocious) Ninja Gaiden III and Darksiders II just because they're launch titles. I guess there's some potential for sales among people who forswear anything other than Nintendo consoles, but as these titles don't really strike me as being aimed at Nintendo fans, I'm very doubtful.
The Wii seemed perfectly positioned to succeed. It's easy to say that in retrospect, I guess, but I'm still not seeing who the Wii U is aimed at. If anything, it seems like Nintendo wants a piece of the "core" pie. There's just too many questions, though. Can they go after the core without giving up the expanded audience? Or have they already surrendered the expanded audience to Apple's iWhatsits? Will the core even buy the Wii U with a new generation of systems just around the corner, other than to perhaps have around as a secondary console for Nintendo games just like they did with the Wii? I don't know, man! I just don't know!
But to get back to the OP, I think it's clear that Nintendo isn't even close to having next gen sewn up at this point.
