I think it's crystal clear by now that, whatever Nintendo does with it's next handheld and console, it will be done through one unified platform: NNID. Cross buy will probably be a guarantee, as will cross save, and the system will be at least somewhat cloud based to allow for the security needed to allow for this sort of integration. What I don't know though is how can they do all this without Power PC?
That is to say, the next consoles that Nintendo makes kind of have to be based off of whatever hardware the XBO and PS4 are using. It would be a death sentence not to. I don't think that future iterations of Playstation and Xbox, should they appear, will ever again stray away from the "like a PC" hardware they are using now. That's just the future of consoles, and Nintendo missing out on that for two generations would absolutely kill any hope of third party support for them. But without Power PC, how can Nintendo make the Wii U's successor backwards compatable, yet still cheap but powerful enough?
They talk about not dividing prior Nintendo owners with new ones, but to do that, they absolutely need to make the hardware transition as simple as possible, and though I know literally nothing about hardware or computer jargon, I think I can put it together that changing up the hardware so drastically yet again won't make that easy.
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People like to shit on Apple, but when I buy an app, I know that I have it "forever" with no hiccups. (I know it's the same on Andriod) I don't have to run an emulator app running iphone 3G firmware just to use an older app. That needs to happen with the next console, but they also need to stay modern, and I just don't see how both can be easily possible.
I hope it's just my lack of computer knowledge, but I don't think it is. I'm all for Nintendo having a self sufficient platform, just like Disney with it's Disney Channel, but they need to be able to do that without alienating third parties. I will alway say that Nintendo does best when it's an exclusive box, but being a box full of exclusives isn't the same as being a box without multiplats.
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Having an immortal Virtual Console is the start of that. I personally don't mind paying $5 for the original LOZ because it's worth it, but I need to be able to take that with me on every Nintendo device I have from then on. I'm not rebuying it for another $5 on the Wii U, then another $5 on the 3DS. I feel like Nintendo agrees, but the constant shifts in hardware means they have to reemulate the same game over and over again to the point where it just doesn't make financial sense to offer it up for free time and time again. They need to one and done it, with with yet another hardware shift, I don't think they can.
I actually think that's why we haven't seen GCN games or N64 games yet. It must obviously take much longer emulate those games, but they haven't even finished rebuilding the NES and SNES libraries. Actually, this may explain why they are putting DS and GBA VC games on the Wii U instead of the 3DS.
If the next Nintendo handheld and console are truely meant to absorb what the Wii U is starting, Power PC or otherwise, it would make sense to put all of that on the Wii U. Wasting dev time putting them on the 3DS would be just that, a waste, since they wouldn't be transferrable (with ease) to the 3DS successor. They will be, in theory, transferable from the much more architecturally similar Wii U. It still doesn't explain the GB virtual console though, but hey, I tried.
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All of this is to say that I'm sure Nintendo is thinking of all this and has a solution planned. I just hope it's not a stupid plan. I love Nintendo more for their potencial than their execution much of the time, but it actually feels like they might get it right next time with the things they're saying now. I just hope they're smarter than me and have already figured out a way to cleanly absorb the Wii U into their unified platform without sticking with Power PC.
