| rakugakist said: I feel like many of you on here are too young, or simply don't remember Miyamoto's contributions to Nintendo hardware. And wow, the WiiU isn't as successful as the Wii. Nothing to do with Miyamoto, it wasn't advertised correctly, given a horrible name, and most people didn't realize it was even a brand new console. Miyamoto develops the software, but lets not give him any input on the hardware he is working for? I don't get why there is so many cheers for this. Am I just completely off the wall? I guess so... |
I think there are several factors being discussed here under the one banner.
I don't want Nintendo producing a console for the west, nor do I want they creating a console just for Japan. Their approach needs to be more balanced, particularly in the realm of home consoles where the Japanese market has shrunk to almost nothing. Software similarly so. I want Nintendo to produce their classic Nintendo-esque franchises but if they aren't going to create a third-party friendly environment the onus is on them to either develop or outsource the development of software that, at least superficially, caters specifically for the western market and for the older demographic. They've even got franchises in their catalogue that would largely fit the bill, but they don't use them.
I personally have no problem with the Gamepad, I quite like it but I also see the perspective that it can be seen as superfluous, particularly so when many of Nintendo's own franchises make little use of the pad besides for off-tv play. That aside, interface is one thing, the silicon is another. The WiiU console did not need to be so small and did not need to work on 35watts of power. Who actually asked for that? Why did it need to be Power PC based? Why only 1gig of RAM for games? Even if it could be argued that all these things were vitally important to produce the small, efficient console demanded by the Japanese market... that's only 20% of their market. I'm not a hardware guy but Nintendo could probably have produced a larger console with 2-3 times the power, with more RAM. This could have been achieved using largely off the shelf (X86) parts, saved money on R+D associated with their custom silicon and had something that could have easily gotten third party ports both due to the alignment of architecture and the fact that the console was in the same ball park as the PS4 and XB1, power-wise. So when I'm pleased about Miyamoto not being involved in hardware, I'm talking about the silicon, of course it makes sense for the game designers to have a say on the interface.
I'm all for Nintendo innovating, I'm all for them trying new things, I'm all for their unique software, I don't mind them experimenting with interfaces but they also need pay some attention to the fundamentals. A completely unique interface and hardware are fine when you are the market leader but when it falls flat you are left with a console that simply won't measure up in the eyes of the average consumer, and when pitted against the new market leader and second placed console, looks like the odd man out. Miyamoto, by his own admission, doesn't play games. I think it's probably part of what makes him a great game designer but also part of the reason I don't feel he is well positioned to be contributing to a global console strategy.
I say:
- Get the best hardware you can get for your pricepoint $300/350, using largely standard parts.
- Get your dev tools sorted out from the outset (WiiU copped alot of bad press for this from the outset)
- Unify your console and handheld environments so where applicable cross buy and cross play can occur (why can't I play 3DS games on my Gamepad?)
- Sort out your virtual console, properly, once and for all. It's a virtual goldmine that's presently being used as a chamber pot. (I want to play F-Zero GX at 720/1080p) - put a couple of decent sized teams on this, designers and coders, and give me access to your back catalogue ( I want to play it)
- Miiverse is great, MK8 online is great, Splatoon is great! But also give people the online features they demand. I'm a parent, if I don't want my kids using voice chat I'll turn it off! Cross-game chat, I don't care but some do.
Do these things right, then ON TOP OF THIS give people something they don't expect. Then people will buy your home console, then some of the third parties will start to come back and then things can get interesting.
(this ended up being much longer than I initially anticipated)
