| gigantor21 said: I agree with almost everything, but there are a few that are really dicey IMO: - No way in hell is Nintendo putting out a WiiU-level handheld so soon, especially at $200. There's always significant "lag" in their hardware compared to what their competition puts out. I expect it to be above the Vita in performance, but not by a huge amount, in ordeto ensure a $200-or-less price range. - Nintendo is definitely going to stick with physical media. I highly doubt they'd go further than Sony and MS in that regard when their handling of network features is so woefully behind. Doubt they'd add 4G functionality for the same reason. |
Remember that the Vita launched a little over three years ago with near PS3 level hardware with what was even then reletively older tech at the time. It frankly doesn't have to stretch too far past the Vita's specs to reach that power goal, and the Vita is already $200 now. And even that price is being severely inflated. The thing launched 3 years ago and has only had a $50 price drop? No, they're likely selling them at a handsome profit now as they let it die.
I think that their entire firmware infrastructure is being completely overhauled. That's going to be their gimmick and that is what they're currently investing the most R&D on. I didn't put this in the predictions because it's a very vague thing to describe, but I think you're going to see a platform with heavy emphasis on the OS and UI as opposed to the hardware. You can already see little seeds being planted now, but you're going to see very forward thinking innovations in that regard. When Nintendo says that they'll be looking at platforms like iOS and Android, I think that the streamlined and simple convenience that they bring will be a big thing on the next handheld. You will see a lot of influence of those in the new OS, and that's what they'll use to sell the platform.
It actually feels weird that this thread predicts the hardware so, because I think actually that 90% of the "revolution" will come from the firmware and the UI. It's like when Apple came out with the 5S, and it came with a fingerprint scanner. No one cared about the fingerprint scanner; they cared about the complete UI overhaul that iOS 7 brought. This is a similar thing, only there isn't that "NintendOS" yet. That will debut with the next handheld.
In that way, I think they'll be branching off from what Sony and Microsoft do. It's very clear that Nintendo's primary motivation for this unified platform is to be able to thrive in a self contained ecosystem. They want to create an ecochamber where they can still release a steady stream of software, independant of 3rd party support. That really killed them with the Wii U, and they want to avoid that ever happening again. That's not to say that the hardware won't keep 3rd party in mind, but that this whole move is being made to make sure they can survive 3rd party abandonment forever should they not show up again.
So in that way, I don't think they see it as "catching up with Sony/Microsoft" as much as catching up with smart devices in general, which frankly steamroll both.
I used "revolution" in quotes because it isn't anything new. They'll literally be copying iOS and Android for the most part. The difference is that these have never been implemented on a major game console or applied to video games like this before. 4G is part of that. It's using a convenient feature commonly reserved for cell phones and tablets to enrich the handheld experience, allowing you to access the online everywhere, which is extremely important for a mobile device like that. You'll see cloud saves, meaning that you could start playing a game on your home console, save it, and then pick up right where you left off on your handheld while you're on the go. That is the kind of thing I see Nintendo pushing.
