By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
Soundwave on 29 January 2015
Edit Thread
Alby_da_Wolf said:
binary solo said:
curl-6 said:

Of course it's not, it only turned 2 a few months ago.

Even modern Nintendo isn't stupid enough to alienate what fans they have left by doing a Saturn and pulling the plug too soon. Plus, they still need to recoup the system's R&D costs and first year losses.

A replacement in November 2017 would be ideal, giving it a normal Nintendo console lifespan so buyers don't feel shortchanged. 

But 4 years (Nov 2012-Nov 2016), is also a reasonable generation time. Launching in Nov 2016 does not make Wii U's lifespan outrageously short. And if Wii U tanks this year hitting the next gen in 2016 is a chance for a complete refresh, including ditching the childish Wii name.

Although MS put a lot of money and resources into it, a 4 year cycle contributed to make the first version of XB360 horribly buggy.
Risking to throw Ninty's reputation for reliability down the sink wouldn't be a good bargain.
Moreover, releasing so early and with the usual Ninty conservative approach to HW power and profitability could result in a half-assed console, but half-assed in HW power would be the smallest problem, the biggest one is the possibility of a half-assed concept, either wrong or not refined enough. With neither noticeable HW power increases nor big and desirable new concepts, features and HW innovations, people and devs would simply say about it "so what?" and the new console would end up catering again for just those 20-30M die-hard first party Ninty fans.

It wouldn't be buggy if it's basically the same chip/architecture as the next Nintendo handheld. 

There won't be another traditional Nintendo console I don't think, I think people aren't getting that but it'll be fairly obvious in about 12-18 months if not sooner. 

They are shifting to a different model per Iwata's comments, more like the iPhone/iPad setup ... Apple doesn't care which of the two you buy, as long as you buy one you have access to the same apps and ecosystem and the performance/experience on both devices is relatively the same. 

This approach will let them sell a way for people to play all the Nintendo games at home on their TV if they want (if they don't then they can buy the handheld) and the device likely will be quite cheap and profitable from day one, unlike the Wii U. 

It could be reasonably more powerful than a Wii U too, two Apple A8 processors (the ones in the iPhone 6) put into a tiny box would outperform a Wii U I think, three would be a good deal more powerful and this is a 2014 component, Nintendo will likely be able to get something better than that for 2016. 

In this scenario though it doesn't really matter if the next 'console' only sells about 20-25 million for Nintendo. It would profitable all the way for one. For second there would also be another 55-70 million portable owners too ... so none of Nintendo's games would be stuck selling to only 20-25 million because every game could sell to both (same way iPhone/iPad apps can be sold to consumers on both devices in most cases).