| Ji99saw said: It's an unappealing piece of hardware that is almost exclusively marketed to children an young adults in a world were COD and GTA5 are the chart toppers and they refuse to embrace 3rd party or take a different approach than just Mario and friends. I can guarantee more mario and friends on this new nx system and the cycle repeats itself |
I truly believe that this is why the NX shouldn't be a new console. The rinse and repeat formula for hasty console releases is only going to put Nintendo in the same position Sega was in the late 90's. We've seen the trends, excluding the Wii, every subsequent console that Nintendo has released has sold worse. All things equal, unless Nintendo has a brilliant idea for the NX like they did with the Wii (ie. catching lightning in the bottle) it's fair to expect the NX to sell worse than the Wii U (just think about that for a second!)
I was listening to yesterday's Nintendo Voice Chat on IGN when it occurred to me that there really isn't an easy path for Nintendo to put out a killer console and regain substantial market share. The Fusion idea could be a hit but we are already seeing something similar with the Vita TV and that concept isn't selling well (because nobody wants a dedicated handheld anymore, even one that hooks up to your TV). It also doesn't necessarily fix Nintendo's 3rd Party problem and there will still be software droughts (it just means that Nintendo will have 3 month software droughts on a unified platform instead of 6 month droughts on separate platforms). Finally, the Fusion is a big risk for Nintendo because if it isn't popular then Nintendo won't have a handheld device to bail them out (like the 3DS is currently doing for the Wii U).
I also don't think that releasing a powerful console is the solution for Nintendo either. First, I don't think Nintendo can compete in the technology world against Sony and Microsoft. Furthermore, the Xbox One is not selling well as it is, so I don't think there is room for a third player to release a clone of the PS4/XOne at this point.
That said, I don't think that the future looks dark for Nintendo, at all. The mobile world is a huge opportunity for them and I really think that the NX should be a new handheld platform that integrates the quality of life concept that Nintendo has been speaking about. Dedicated handhelds are in trouble, but if you can integrate some quality of life concepts (maybe a heart monitor?) that aren't currently available on smartphones then you can give people a reason to buy it alongside their smartphone.
As for the Wii U, if Nintendo doesn't have a brilliant new idea for a console then why rush to replace it? Nintendo has a very loyal 10 Million user install base on the Wii U right now. Graphically, the Wii U is powerful enough to make the games that Nintendo wants to make (who wants a more realistic version of Mario Kart, anyways?) I say that, for the time being, Nintendo should keep releasing Wii U games like Mario Maker and earning money from software sales. They should cut costs on the Wii U by finding a way to use the 3DS screen as a replacement for the gamepad and sell a $100 Wii U. Meanwhile Nintendo should slowly move its focus away from home consoles and into the mobile and quality of life world. I'm not saying that Nintendo shouldn't keep its foot in the home console business, but I don't know why the Wii U needs to be replaced in the short-term in order for Nintendo to do that.
