Mr Khan said:
Soundwave said:
Mr Khan said:
Soundwave said:
I think in retrospect they should've just spun the Wii off entirely into a casual/fitness brand, with only casual and fitness style games along with maybe some Mario spin-offs (Mario Party, Mario Dance, etc.).
Things like Sin & Punishment, Metroid Prime 3, Xenoblade, Red Steel 2, Conduit, etc. never really sold great on the Wii even despite its mammoth userbase, Skyward Sword under-performed as well.
What I would've done in hindsight is released a "New Wii" around 2010, which would basically be the same as the original Wii with a new cheap GPU processor that would be able to run newer games in 720p (same visual fidelity more of less though). No tablet controller. New updated OS with more storage, better browser, eShop with hundreds of back catalog games available for download + easy access to Virtual Console. $169.99 at launch, scaled down to $129.99-$149.99 quickly.
This would be a quiet/soft launch and I'd keep a small team at Nintendo to work on a handful of new casual games for the system yearly. All casual stuff. I'd turn Wii Fit into its own channel with updating fitness challenges and lifestyle reccomendations.
In 2012, I'd launch a traditional Nintendo console that would be on par with the PS4/XB1 with a one year head start and devote the core Nintendo teams to making games for that. No gimmick controller (tablet pad), the audience and focus for this platform would be clear -- mainstream gamers who like to play deeper game experiences.
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But you're not going to beat Sony and Microsoft at their own game. If they wanted to branch off, the path would've just been to stick with the Touch Generations brand, since that's where the profit margins are.
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I do think Nintendo could have actually finished a decent no.2 this gen above MS, if they utilized a year head start properly with an adequetely spec-ed machine that allowed for easy PC ports. Too late for this gen now though.
I know I'd rather have 40-50 million "New NES" systems sold versus the 17-18 million the Wii U is going to crash in at, even if we assume the PS4 wasn't going to be caught, there was still plenty of room here for Nintendo to take advantage. But as usual they were asleep at the wheel and let Sony/MS just get away with 7 year lifecycles for no good reason. They could've taken advantage very easily, especially with MS' blunder of banking on Kinect for their first year.
The casual market was always doomed long term anyway though IMO, once that audience was introduced to the concept of $1 apps/freemium to get their 20-30 minutes/every 2nd-3rd day gaming fix ... Nintendo never had a chance. So there goes your whole "where the profit margins are", Touch Generations games like Brain Training and Style Savvy flopped on the 3DS too because no one needs/wants a Nintendo platform for that type of experience anymore.
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I'm of the mind that the third party problem for Nintendo is more or less un-solvable, pending Sony or Microsoft's outright exit from the market. Early head start and easy porting or no, they weren't going to get the right games from third parties.
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They did actually have most of the big market IP. Assassin's Creed, Batman, Call of Duty, Madden, FIFA, NBA 2K, Need For Speed were there from day one. If they had pushed they likely could have gotten GTA as well.
The problem is what's the incentive for anyone to buy a Wii U for these games? There's no generational leap, if Nintendo had a full year where they had the best versions of these games without question (noticably better too), they would have seen considerable benefit.
They should have worked more closely with Ubi Soft as well to ensure Zombi U was a very high quality game.
They could have done it. But every time you miss your window of oppurtunity, it's very costly. Now Nintendo is pretty much cemented as being irrelevant to the mainstream console market as far as the development community and non-Nintendo fans go. It's a costly mistake.
