If consoles sales are all about the software, then what's the point Wii U's second screen?

[cyberninja45]

richardhutnik said:

badgenome said:

richardhutnik said:

Is it the case of drowning in a blue ocean you insist on creating?  What I saw now is that both Microsoft and Sony ended up preparing the interface end around, with their own offerings.  If it ever ended up being critical, they could respond.

Their second screen options are a bit of a hedge against that, but I wonder how successful they'd be if it came to it. On the one hand, it's not something that comes with their systems which limits the appeal to developers. But on the other, tablets and smartphones are things that most people have anyway. It's not like trying to answer the Wiimote with proprietary devices like Kinect and Move.

I guess it would really depend on why the Wii U would have caught on. If it's just a second screen, they're probably okay with tablet and phone support. But if it was something like off-screen play or a situation where you'd need a Gamepad like combination of touch screen and buttons, only Sony could really answer it and the Vita/PS4 combo is a pretty expensive one so wouldn't be successful.

Nintendo probably thought it would be a big killer app feature and they could have the lowest price offering in the area.  They probably did the same with thinking about 3D on the 3DS and found out that it was the price offering and incremental upgrade in an area where they have little competition in dedicated gaming handhelds, that did it.  They also have been holding on to trying to find ways to not bleed a ton of ink to try to win over people.  I am sure the Gamecube had them hurt a lot, and they have been going the blue ocean path.

I still now have visions of the Wii U merging with the DS line in the future, and them combining platforms.  The 2DS is a tip off for me.  This combining of portable and handheld, could be be very interesting though.  

It would be very unwise for nintendo to merge their handheld and console platforms,  keeping it separate is a much better business option (could you imagine if a wiiU sales situation came up with their combined platform and their was no handhled to fall back on), I don't know why people expect them to do this.

OT as I have said since the wiiU was initailly showcased back in 2011 that tablet controller thing is what is going to kill the console and nintendo should have never made it their main controller option, mainly because it is a couple of steps backward from the wiimote. I still cannot understand what they were thinking.