The next Nintendo Handheld needs to be more powerful

[zorg1000]

Soundwave said:

zorg1000 said:

 

I don't see them trying to compete head on with Sony/Microsoft, I see them trying to blur the lines between what mobile & console game are, something that falls into its own middle ground market that can appeal to both sides of the spectrum.

To say Wii's success was solely due to a miracle controller is both naive & ignorant, it was a major factor but far from the only one, a controller doesnt mean shit without the right marketing, price, and software to push it. Besides who ever said Wii levels sales are required from the console portion to be a success?

 

If they're making a dedicated video game console .... I'm sorry but the reality that they're going to have to accept is they ARE competing with Sony/MS whether they want to or not. Wii could alter that because the controller brought in tons of casuals, but that doesn't happen without that controller. 

Kids know the XBox and Playstation brand, they're not going to buy a "Nintendo" that's 1/2 the power of the other two and has 10 games versus 2000 for the PS4 by that time just to save $50-$100 on a five year hardware investment. 

Third parties won't support an underpowered Nintendo console ever again either. After Wii U, EA, Activision, and many others are out for sure for that type of proposition. 

There would HAVE to be a mind blowing, industry altering controller for your equation to work. 

I don't think they could even get to GameCube level sales. Just being "cheap" isn't good enough.

Like I don't mean to sound rude about it, but I'm just being real here and not looking at it from "Nintendo fan" rose tinted glasses. This is a system no one but Nintendo hardcore fanatics would buy realistically. NX needs to be much more bold and change many more aspects of Nintendo's (flawed) hardware equation that exists today. 

The Wii did not sell because it was "cheap". At $250 it wasn't even that cheap (about $300 today after inflation, so the Wii U today is the same price and actually comes with 2 free games instead of 1). You could get an XBox 360 for $50 more from day 1 back then too. The reason it sold was because the controller absolutely offered an industry shaking revolution that attracted a completely new audience that was having basically 0 games made for it. 

If Nintendo has *that* idea just waiting in the wings, great, try that again, but my guess is they don't, and if they don't, that's not the end of the world but they have to start thinking outside of the box. 

 

Yes, they will compete in the general sense that every consumer product competes with one another in some form but that does not mean they are in DIRECT competition. Are $300 laptops direct competitors to $1000 Macbooks? What about cheap $100 android tablets, are they competing directly with the $800+ Surface Pro or iPad Pro? Does the $200, 32", 720p TV compete directly with the $1000, 50"+, 4k TV? Do cheap sub-$100 off contract phones compete directly with the flagship Galaxy or iPhone? The answer to all these questions is no, they are similar products but clearly aimed at different demographics just like NX will be to PS/XB.

Casual is not a demographic, it's a stupid term that "hardcore" gamers came up with to discredit sales of devices and games that dont cater specifically to them. And again, controller was not the only selling point of Wii, the combination of software+marketing+price+aiming at a demographic that the others were neglecting were huge factors as well, without those things a controller is useless. So yes the Wii Remote was a major factor in the success of Wii but it was not even close to the only major factor. And once again, why does the console need to replicate the sales of Wii to be a success?

Japanese & indie developers will be on board, Nintendo has strong relations with these types of developers. As far as Western 3rd parties, there are basically 6 major western publishers, EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Warner, Bethesda, Take Two. Bethesda & Take Two have never supported Nintendo in a meaningful way so not having them doesn't really affect Nintendo. As far as the other 4, they will surely give at least minimal support at the beginning and further support will rely on whether or not their games sell well and are profitable, at the bare minimum it just gets the kid/family friendly titles from them that Nintendo currently gets. So worst case scenario is that Nintendo has a strong software output of Nintendo games+Japanese games+indie games+kid/family friendly games.