What do you want from the next Nintendo Handheld?

[DanneSandin]

RolStoppable said:

DanneSandin said:
I think people are either too unimaginative or just wanting more of the same thing - which is the wrong way to go!

What Nintendo needs to do with their next handheld is something NEW, something we haven't seen before. Multi touch and dual screens and dual analog sticks aren't enough.

If handheld consoles are to survive, they need to evolve. They need to offer something smartphones CAN'T, and before this is accomplished all your wishes are moot.

Maybe it'll be haptic touch screens, maybe it'll be some sort of hologram, or whatever. It needs to offer something new. But except for that, I think most thing's have already been mentioned, and launch with GAMES! A console needs GAMES!

That kind of thinking is what led to the inclusion of stereoscopic 3D in the 3DS.

Let's not overcomplicate things. Smartphones don't have buttons, so that alone already generates a huge difference for many game genres. Those joypad shells that can be bought seperately won't take off, so smartphone games won't be developed for them as virtually every developer will focus on addressing as many smartphone owners as possible. Additionally, there's content differentiation. You won't find Mario, Zelda, Pokémon etc. on smartphones, so there's that.

So what a dedicated gaming handheld has to do is not add things, but remove everything that it doesn't need. What's left is a pure gaming machine that is easy to operate and has a low entry price.

The 3DS is fundamentaly flawed because they DIDN'T have that thinking: it's too much like the og DS without really adding anything new. The 3D didn't give you a new experience; it didn't really add something to the gameplay mechanics. Don't get me wrong; I love my 3DS - it's the first handheld system I've ever owned - and I think it has far better games that the og DS, but what did it really add? An analog stick and 3D. That's not revolutionizing. The DS did touch screen right and added a second screen. THAT'S how you design something new!

You are kind of contradicting yourself, Rol; "Let's not overcomplicate things. Smartphones don't have buttons [...] what a dedicated gaming handheld has to do is not add things, but remove everything that it doesn't need." Don't you see that those two things are the same? Don't overcomplicate; remove ALL buttons. Handhelds don't need to add, but subtract - and what do you get then? A smartphone. A touchscreen and nothing else.That's all you need really to game in this day and age. Smartphones are as simple and "pure" as it gets.

What you forget is by adding you improve. analogstick: added. D-pad: added. Motion control: added. Dual screen: added. Touch screen: added. If you remove SOMETHING you need to ADD something else. That's how it goes. What people have wished for in this thread is a HD DS with two analog sticks. That's hardly any different from the handhelds we have today, and you think that will sell more than current handheld systems? No, it won't.

And we're seeing that Mario, Zelda and Pokémon isn't enough to really push handhelds any longer. 3DS will never sell past 100m, 80m seems far more likely. It probably will just pass the 50m mark this year, maybe 55m - tops. And that's all fine and dandy. 80m isn't a bad number. But what about next gen? If all we/the market get is yet another DS system without anything EXTRA added, we'll see further decline in the numbers.

I do agree with you fundamentally though; Nintendo needs something simple, something easy, something cheap. But they also need something new, something that can't be found anywhere else, something novel, or next gen will be the last handheld gen.