I think the 720 and PS4 will fail sales wise if there is no hook

[megaman79]

Soundwave said:

OoSnap said:
@ Soundwave

Most gamers don't care much about graphics. The fact the Wii is on cusp of selling 100 million, the DS dominated the more powerful PSP and the 3DS doing the same with the more powerful Vita attests to that.

I know gamers on forums love their high end graphics but the mass market doesn't care and I have no doubt Sony and Microsoft have caught on and that is why I speculate their next consoles are not going to be as powerful as a lot of its fanbase expect.

I wouldn't doubt Microsoft and Sony are brainstorming or considering a new gaming concept or control interface instead of just offering more powerful hardware. I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft and Sony (more so Sony) came out with their own tablet gamepad.

As I said before if Nintendo acquires most multiplats and if its competitors brings nothing new to the table that would appeal to the mass market then Wii U will easily dominate next gen despite being the weakest console.

With development cost being higher I seriously doubt 3rd parties are going to neglect the Wii U as they did the Wii. Plus Nintendo seems to be much more aggressive getting 3rd parties on board. They already have (timed?) exclusives such as Rayman, Lego City, P 1000, Zombie U, and DQ X and a lot of multiplats.

Because Wii U is likely to be the least expensive, have most 3rd party multiplats, have its tablet gamepad and asymmetric gameplay concept, Nintendo is going to easily dominate next gen. This I have no doubt and I am going to stick by this prediction for years to come. Of course this could change if Wii U doesn't get the major multiplats and/or Sony/Microsoft brings something creative.

Microsoft and Sony should be worried because having just a more powerful hardware is not going to cut it. They need to pull out sonething creative if they want their next gen consoles to sell as much or more than its predecessors.

If gamers don't care about graphics why do the Call of Duty games sell 20 million on the HD consoles versus like 2-3 million tops on the Wii? No one wants to play the Wii version with crappier graphics, that's why.

Online Communities were an advantage for the 360, and launching first also ingrained this market. Not to mention money-hatting on exclusive dlc.

If anything, Microsoft's Kinect is the more recent product hit in this cateogrey, but really all of this is becoming Apple's domain. Its not Apple's domain, its the game developers. Profit share is infact one of the areas where MS and Nintendo can beat Apple on this issue btw.

The next gen is probably from a casual POV going to be more about who (if anyone) can get the next set-top-box done before Apple takes over with iTV. Apple won't take over anything, and you have no reasonable evidence to suggest this will happen with iTV. As for winning the TV Market, its irrelavant to the majority of the audience who just want to play games.

And quite honestly, Microsoft is probably the best positioned to challenge there. Nintendo has good ideas, but they rarely follow through with non-gaming aspects (the 3DS eShop still feels like something straight out of 1996).

Furthermore, what do you really think Nintendo are offering with the WII U? It is theoretically the first home console that doesn't even need a TV. It is an all inclusive device for content delivery to a TV less household, and that could be more valuable than any kind of set top box.

Nintendo is basically competing against Apple for the soccer mom/hipster audience. Sony/MS have a more reliable audience of core gamers who live, eat, breathe gaming and will buy a new game console because they have to have the new games. Soccer mom? Does she really need that $300 Wii U? She already has Wii Fit which she last used in 2009. You don't know this fact. Next thing you'll tell us how Just Dance's massive success is from people who've never bought JD before.  That type of consumer is just likely to walk out of the store with an iPad mini or whatever instead of a Wii U. Not if its cheaper, eg. Amazon Kindle.

I think Nintendo will have a good launch period just because there's nothing new and the 3DS/Vita have failed miserably in North America to ignite the market (again casual gamers are not coming back to the 3DS, they have smartphones now). But 1-2 years from now it wouldn't surprise me if Wii U is already running out of steam.

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