| Soundwave said: Based on what? What would a person who doesn't care much for Nintendo franchises be attracted to by a system that is basically a PS4 (at best, we hope) with another touch screen controller, but 3 years late to the market, giving Sony all kinds of time to build up a massive library, have time to price drop, etc. etc. You need to have a better answer here than "well they'll make the name more unique than Wii U". Nintendo has a fundamental disconnect with the general console market right now in that they really have not been able to appeal to the general console market since the SNES era ended, aside from a few years with the Wii, where they were able to bring in *adults* who were casual players that weren't interested in the N64 or GameCube. An audience that they subsequently lost to smartphones/tablets (in 3 years flat no less). This isn't about making Nintendo fans happy, Nintendo fans will see the new 3D Mario and go gaga in glee (though even there I suspect the vast majority of them will buy the handheld NX, not the console one). But the question really is what is new here with the hardware concept that's going to impress anyone who isn't really impressed with Nintendo right now. Another late-to-the-party console with a touchscreen controller, I just don't see being a winning formula when it's failed so miserably this gen. |
The selling point won't be the touch screen, just like the selling point isn't two screens on the 3DS or analog sticks on literally everything. It's there to make the system better when its useful and needed, to interact with the NXDS seamlessly, and to maintain BC with the Wii U, DS, and 3DS. The selling point will be the firmware, the ecosystem, and the account. I wasn't kidding when I said that Nintendo's new membership program will literally be the most important announcement they make about the NX, because that is what sells it. The relationship you form with Nintendo through your NNID which will be tied to the membership program. They'll buy the NX or NXDS for the same reasons people buy iphones over Androids. Noth because the phones are "better," but because Apple has cultivated an ecosystem that connects with other Apple products and that ecosystem is simple, and high quality. That's what Nintendo will do with the NX.
Unlike Club Nintendo, it won't be opt in. You will have to have an account to interact with anything Nintendo in the future. ...Which is why they are launching it along side their first mobile game. They'll guarantee 100m+ people will have an account with the new program before the NX hardware even launch, and have these people form new relationships with the brand through the ID. When the NX releases, many people will already be apart of the ecosystem just because of those mobile games.
It's all about making Nintendo cool as a brand again, and Nintendo is going to start by making it cool to be apart of the Nintendo Network. I may think Splatoon is a raw deal, but I think its content rollout will be highly indicative of how Nintendo plans to build their mobile games. They want to build massively popular games that remain culturally relevant for a long time. And they'll want these games to be social. That's how you make it cool. You get people interactive with each other passively. That's why Words with Friends worked, and that's what they'll try to do with their mobile games, only they want people playing these games long term. Just like people check social media daily and massively, they want people to play Nintendo daily and passively.
People like to scoff at mobile like it has no tie-in to console/handheld gaming or like it's not important, but it does and it is, and it especially will with the NX. Once Nintendo's branding is refreshed with the new membership program and their mobile games, the same way they refreshed it with the Wii marketing wise, they will swoop in with the new, forward-thinking unified platform that'll be part of an ecosystem many people will already be apart of and caught up with. By the time the NX is announced, Nintendo, as a brand, will be elevated because a massive amount of people will be have positive experiences with Nintendo's brand fresh in their minds thanks to the games and, in turn, thanks to the membership program. So in the same way someone with an iphone will more likely look at the iPad for a considered purchase because of those positive interactions with iOS, Apple, and their Apple ID account, Nintendo is working to get that same relationship with the masses using their membership program and the NX.
