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burninmylight on 22 November 2013
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Osc89 said:
burninmylight said:
Osc89 said:
For this to work, they need to fit a Wii U into the GamePad. They would have to shrink down the hardware and they definitely would need to drop the disc drive, so they would lose physical backward compatibility. If they really wanted to go this route they would be pushing digital sales a lot more.


All of that might not sound so crazy in four or five years. And I think Nintendo would use carts for retail games; I don't see it going all digital next gen, even if Sony and MS were to.


If they went with a "third pillar" they would be more likely to do it in around 2-3 years, and if they went with a direct Wii U replacement that would be 3-4 years anyway with the current sales. Either way it's going to be a mid-gen console as they can't hold out with the Wii U as long as Sony & MS will be able to with the PS4 & XB1. Given that, they will have to offer backwards compatibility to make it look compelling against the other two consoles libraries, which means they need a big digital push now.

I don't think a digital console will be crazy at all at that time, especially if Steam consoles get any kind of attention in the meantime. It's more that if they are considering it they need to put a lot more work into their account system and would really need a much bigger hard drive in every Wii U released from now. But they aren't doing either of these which means they probably aren't going for a hybrid console.

Yeah, I thought about it after you said 2-3 years. A third pillar would make more sense sooner than at the very end of the Wii U's life. I think it would release at a time well after the 3DS's momentum has slowed down quite a bit and it's maximized it's share of the market.

Also, it appears they are starting to move toward a universal account system. Next month, 3DS will get Miiverse and you will be able to use your Nintendo Network ID on it, as well as pooling your funds from 3DS/Wii U. There's still a lot of work to be done, but at least it's a sign that progress is being made.

As far as memory solution goes, I don't see what putting more memory in the Wii U now has to do with a new console later. A newer console would inevitably have several times more space.

I'm not saying I think Big N's next console would be this hybrid, I'm just saying I would like it if it went this route, and some of the advantages of doing so.