I'm sure you all saw that clever thing I put there in the title. Purposefully capitalizing the N and X in the word next. I wanted to point that out because I feel it was clever and deserved a mention. Now look at that title again, you see it now? Good. I hope you enjoyed the shit out of that title. Moving on...
Let's start this off by saying, the Wii U was boring. Not to me, I loved my Super Mario Maker. However, it was evident by the constant NX threads that everyone was tired of the Wii U. They have played their Splatoons and Marios and want something new. Like more Splatoon and more Mario. And we aren't gonna get that and we know that well. Why is this important? Because as we all know how Nintendo changed that with the NX. We found at E3 2016 that NX stood for Nintendo eXtreme. They handled marketing fairly decent, using 90's-like ads to sponsor their home console (that's right, it was a console) and every Nintendo eXtreme come with a free copy of Super Mario Galaxy 3D Sunshine Land Universe 64. However, as of February 27th, 2017, it has only sold 500,000 copies since its May launch (yes, they opted for May vs. Nov/Dec). I doubt it'll sell more in the future and though the future looks bleak, Mr. Reggie Fils-Aime did make an announcement about the next console coming from Nintendo. The XN.
Since the announcement of the XN exactly 1 month ago, speculation has run wild. I think it's most important to see what the NX did wrong and how Nintendo can fix this with the XN:
How the XN can improve upon the NX in 9 steps:
- Make it more affordable. The Nintendo eXtreme costed $666.69 and later increased to $1,337.42 with the release of the Zelda: Ocarina of Space bundle. I believe the XN should be absolutely free.
- Marketing. While the marketing for the NX was certainly better than the Wii U, it still only used 1 commercial and it featured President Donald Trump singing the Super Mario Super Show ending theme. We could use more commercials than that, STEP UP YOUR GAME NINTENDO!
- Change your marketing slogan. I'm sure they thought it was clever in the boarding room, but the slogan "NintenDOESN't what NintenDON'T doesn't make any sense and makes me want to gouge my eyes out.
- Bundles. The Zelda: Ocarina of Space bundle was great, however, the initial bundle that featured the Virtual Boy Classics HD60FPS bundle was not so great. No one wanted that garbage.
- STOP THE AMIIBOS. Fuck, I shouldn't even have to mention this since it is pretty much a given. The Nintendo eXtreme was focused soley on Amiibos and was used more for Amiibos than it was for games. The fact that Amiibos are now $90 a pop is insane, the fact they're now just cardboard cut outs of popular Nintendo franchises is an insult. The fact you need to buy an amiibo just to turn off or on the system is a turn off for me too.
- Make it weaker. The NX is the most powerful machine ever concieved by man. But that came at a cost, it's too expensive and only rich people with too much money can buy it. Make it to at least PC level.
- I don't want to make a 7th reason.
- Cut back on the 3rd Party support. Jesus Christ, did they go overboard with 3rd Party. Rock* making GTA Party, Naughty Dog making Uncharted Kart, and Ubisoft making Super Smash Ubi (in part of their joint effort to help fund UbiLand in Malyasia by 2020). I mean, Playstation and Xbox aren't even getting games right now the 3rd Party is too high.
- Add gimmicks. The NX is the most gimmickless console ever with it basically being a super computer with a GameCube controller. The PS4 and X1 have perfected VR and AR respectively and have innovative 1st party games as a result.
