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DélioPT on 19 January 2015
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zorg1000 said:
DélioPT said:
There isn't a market for Android like consoles, either because people or used to their tablets/smartphones or when it comes to TV gaming, consoles are way better at that. Maybe even both.

As far as i know, no console like that has succeeded, despite having "giants" like Google and Amazon behind them.
If all that console has to offer is what people can find somewhere else, then nothing will change.

What Nintendo needs is to go where the consumer is: create a tablet of it's own or make a partnership with Apple or Samsung.
Not only would they offer every game on the Android market, but they would create their own games for that market (smaller games that is). Which they could also provide on the handheld and home console, if the tablet tech would be found on them aswell.
Imagine Nintendo making Super Mario 4, NES style, or even Link to the past 2, Super Metroid 2, etc.


Ur first 2 paragraphs are kinda why I believe Nintendo can find success for such a device. Current Android based microconsoles haven't seen a huge amount of success, I think a large reason for this is the lack of truly defining software, which is Nintendo's largest strength.

On one end of the spectrum u have low-budget, casual style, time wasting games that are usually free or $1, Phones/Tablets have this market covered. On the other end, is the high-budget, mainstream, blockbuster style games that are $60, Playstation/Xbox have this market covered. Their is certainly a middle ground between these two markets but in the last 5-10 years it has died down significantly, basically being reduced to 3DS as the only successful device with a strong emphasis on mid-budget gaming. Wii U could fall into this category but the hardware/software is priced too high and the software output is not strong enough. By releasing a $150 microconsole with $10-40 software and software output on par with the next handheld than I believe Nintendo can successfully break into this market.

They have the low-budget $10-15 titles like Dillon's Rolling Western, Pushmo World, NES Remix, Dr. Luigi, Mario vs Donkey Kong, etc. Then they can have the $20-30 mid-budget titles like their Donkey Kong, Kirby, Yoshi, Paper Mario, Mario & Luigi, 2D Zelda, 2D Metroid, Animal Crossing, etc. And they can have the $40 high-budget/big-hitter titles like Zelda, Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Pokemon, Mario platformers, Metroid, etc. Along with strong indie support, strong Japanese 3rd party support and child-friendly Western 3rd party support.

But things aren't that simple.
There's a reason those type of games disappeared from home consoles: everyone wanted to offer AAA experiences and now no one settles for less.

The market for those type of games might exist on handhelds because people are ok with that; they know that handhelds can't rival home consoles and they know there are technical issues that prevent such type of offering.
You'll see that as mobile devices grow more powerful, that same tendency will show up.

But the difference might be that there are so many users of smartphones and tablets, that there might just be a sustainable market for those kind of games. Just not on home consoles.
People have a clear picture of what mobile gaming is and what home console gaming is.
If Nintendo decided to go that way they wouldn't be able to appeal to anyone in particular - just like Wii U in 2013.

And who would support Nintendo's micro console when android machines from Amazon and Google can't even pull big numbers. And we are talking about big, powerful brands, who are well known in the mobile gaming crowd.