What do you want from the next Nintendo Handheld?

[DanneSandin]

RolStoppable said:

DanneSandin said:

A somewhat late reply...

Im trying to argue that with the rce competition from smartphones, Nintendo really stupid phones erased this partith next handheld. Making great games just isnt going to cut it this time around (is obvious with the 3DS), or else hh will become niche and probably rely heavily on Nintendos 1st party games.

I agree that smartphones suck to game on. I tried to illustrate that thats gaming when its as simple as it gets...

the point of the innovations I mentioned wasnt that they were all a part of the 3DS and Wii U, but that innovation usually adds some thing to the current standard.

smartphones and nintendo dont offer games thats anything alike, but they do compete over the same audience: people, and people seem to prefer cheap games over great games. That is why I think Nintendo should do something new, something we hsvent seen yet, with their next hh. I feel like novelty is what will sell portables as long as theyre competing with smartphones. Perhaps they would be better of going full out as a sort of mid tier gaming platform, like you mentioned in another thread. A $100-150 platform with $20-40 games. 

The 3DS hardware is detrimental to the success of Nintendo's handheld business, so I don't agree that the 3DS's lack of success proves that making great games alone doesn't cut it. The 2DS came into existence because Nintendo knew that the 3DS is a problem. They didn't manage to solve the problem, of course. The 3DS isn't unlike the Wii U, as in the hardware is holding back everything. That doesn't mean that there weren't issues in Nintendo's software strategy for both systems though. It's not just that the market doesn't care about 3D, the market rejects it. So Nintendo has a trend working against it.

Nintendo's handhelds have always relied heavily on first party games, because there just aren't many developers out there who can make good handheld games with broad appeal. So the existence of smartphones isn't causing a change in regards to that.

Regarding innovations, the eShop and actually marketing it has the potential to be such an innovation. Nintendo shoved their puzzle games on the eShop where they are now invisible to the general public. Those games are also available for a small price. Nintendo needs to get the message out that handhelds have evolved and are connected to the internet nowadays.

Lastly, the pricing. Historically, Nintendo handhelds have launched between $100-150 and had $20-30 games. It's only the 3DS that came with a significant price increase. Because of that you can't look at the 3DS and go into panic mode that doing the same thing isn't working anymore; rather Nintendo is failing because they decided to change their strategy dramatically. A ninth generation Nintendo handheld that launches at $130 with $20-30 games, plus a broad selection of cheaper eShop and VC games, would be the norm rather than a radical new strategy. And with smartphone game developers not daring to challenge most Nintendo IPs, the games available on a handheld can be considered something special.

While I agree that the 3D in the 3DS can be seen, and has been seen, as a fad and something unwanted, Im not sure that alone can explain the decline for the entire handheld market. The Vita was poorly handled as well, but we now have two systems that is selling far worse than their predecessors, and Im having a hard time believing it all comes down to overpricing and the use of 3D.

If handheld became increasingly niche, less 3rd parties will develop for it leading it to become even more niche. It will become a vicious cycle. That may still happen if 3rd parties feel like theres a much bigger audience on smartphones (which there is).

I wouldnt call the eShop an innovation. Sure, its new for Nintendo, but Apples had Appstore for quite a while, and android has its thing and xbox a d ps as well. Where is the innovation? Sure, games on the eShop might rival some of the mobile games price points, but there are hundreds of free games for mobile, AND you dont have to get a separate piece of hardware to play them. THATS what ha dhelds is going up against.

and I cant argue over your last point. Youre probably right, and its something nintendo should do the next time around. Although, I do wonder, if the market is in fact skrinking, that means less hh games are being sold all the while when dev costs are rising... Im not too sure Nintendo actually can afford to drop the pricing to $20-30