| Soundwave said: To be honest a one year head start should be a blue ocean if used properly. Your console is automatically unique by being the first next-generation machine, Nintendo screwed that up by giving people a last generation machine (PS3/360 sold 150 million consoles already -- if that ocean is any redder, you'd be swimming in pure blood) and rolling the dice on a gimmick controller again. Nintendo and MS honestly overcomplicated this whole console generation, it's like three guys who are all trying to get one girl's attention, but two of the guys resort to showing off in front of her and trying gimmicks rather than just approaching her, whereas the third dude (Sony) just walks up to her, starts up a conversation, gets her laughing and ends up being the guy that takes her home while the other two guys (MS and Nintendo) look on dumb founded. The PS4 is more of a blue ocean product (a genuine next-generation leap above the PS3/360) than the Wii U is (another 360/PS3 level console with a giant screen on an otherwise traditional controller). |
The Wii is the definition of a blue ocean console. That's why it did so well, it wasn't trying to be traditional, it wasn't trying to be too new. It came at the right time and it didn't go after the "hardcore" market.
The PS4, despite it's success so far, is not a blue ocean console, full-on-full. It's going after that "hardcore" market, it has a traditional controller (albeit, with a new addition), and it has a lot of the same franchises from the PS3.
A lot of the problem with Nintendo's home consoles seems to happen when they try too hard to emulate past success, though. (i.e. GameCube trying to be a lot more "hardcore" when trying to attract third parties, Wii U trying to be too much of a GameCube while throwing in some really awkward Wii spices into the mix.) Wii was different, NES was an all new thing (even though it was a different market then), and N64, even though it's not all too successful, innovated in 3D graphics and new directions with franchises.
