garretslarrity said:
Soundwave said:
garretslarrity said:
hershel_layton said:
The 3DS is a disappointment when it comes to specs. 240p screen, mediocre battery life, ridiculously low RAM amount, and so on.
It is now 2016, and I think the wide range of options for a handheld device is very beneficial for Nintendo...that is, if they pay attention.
Now, without a do, here are the specs I think Nintendo's next handheld should be.
1) a 720/1080p screen(and a lower resolution screen for the bottom[if they make the handheld like the 3DS])
2) No less than 1 GB of ram. 2 or 3 is recommended
3) A processor along the lines of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 400/600 series(slightly less wouldn't hurt).
4) No 3D. The gimmick isn't needed. Even the "improved stable 3D'' is still flawed. Besides, 3D isn't that much of an attraction point for people nowadays.
5) Improved OS. The 3DS(and Wii U) really need a better OS for their future replacements. Getting a friendcode and needing the other person to add you is extremely frustrating. An ID and message board would be much better( and if people care so much, they can put restrictions for the kiddies).
6) Reasonable price tag- Nintendo screwed up when they made the 3DS $250 in the beginning. If they're making a regular sized handheld and a larger version, they should make the prices at the most 200.
Now, some of you may think the specs I am recommending will make the NX handheld too much. However, many gadgets nowadays can easily have said specs(and better) for a low price. Demanding top-tier specs is out of the question. However, after seeing many budget tablets and phones be much more powerful than the 3DS and only cost along the lines of $50-200 is ridiculous.
Hopefully Nintendo doesn't stick with weak hardware.
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I disagree with your design philosophy. What makes handhelds, specifically Nintendo handhelds, successful is that they are cheap. You could say the same about consoles, but to a lesser extent than handhelds.
1. Way too high. Even with their handheld screens getting larger, that kind of resolution is not necessary. It would look nice, but come at the cost of 1. more powerful components to run the system at that resolution 2. a more expensive screen and 3. lower battery life due to #1. They could include a larger battery, but this just further increases the costs on top of what #1 and #2 already have. Low resolutions are the way to go with handhelds.
2. This I agree with. We saw with the 3DS how it was limited by the amount of RAM (with games such as Smash and Monster Hunter 4 having to disable the web browser and Miiverse to play the game), and unlike with having a more powerful CPU, having more RAM does not consume more power and lead to decreases in battery life.
3. I don't know exactly how powerful those CPUs are, but just keep in mind what I mentioned earlier, how adding a more powerful CPU not only increases costs due to the CPU itself, but by the additional power it requires.
4. This I agree with you on 100%. It increases the costs, requires more resources (which therefore increases costs again) and consumes battery for both the aforementioned reasons.
5. Of course.
6. Absolutely. Just realize you can't have this if you want an HD screen (or two of them for that matter) and a powerful CPU. It's one or the other, and I think the reasonable price tag is by far the better option for Nintendo and its customers.
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Nintendo handhelds are losing popularity, they're really only "massively" successful in Japan, the erosion of their marketshare in the US and Europe is bordering on a full-on collapse if you study their actual hardware shipments in these regions and look at what even the GBA and GBC sold here (if you want to discount the DS).
What's happened is the smartphone/tablet thing wasn't a "one time" thing. Imagine being kicked in the balls. Now imagine being kicked in the balls like four times in a row. That's more like what's happening to Nintendo with portables, smartphones was the first kick in the balls, then came the iPad (tablet), and then the huge kick in the balls .... cheap Android tablets. Kids can now get tablets for $99 that play tons of games (if it had just stayed at the iPad for $500 a pop, Nintendo might have been OK).
This is also why the first half of the 3DS' life cycle was relatively OK, they were still insulated from phones and tablets. No 10 year old was going to have their own iPad, it was a luxury item at first only for a select audience when it first came out. The iOS shop really didn't even gain traction until 2010, there were no cheapo tablets until about 2012/2013. But we've seen since about 2013 that 3DS sales have nose-dived like crazy even despite the introduction of big games like Pokemon X/Y and the 2DS.
Ask yourself if "cheap" is the be-all, end-all for Nintendo portables why is the most expensive 3DS model, by far the best selling one?
The actual market for 3DS these days are actually adults, not kids (outside of Japan). If it was kids, the 2DS should be the best selling model as its basically Nintendo painfully marketed "for kids 3DS model" right down to the cheap Fisher Price plastic design. Nintendo's adult fans are the ones saving their ass right now, not kids. Those 30-year-old grown men buying Princess Peach Amiibos? Those guys are the ones saving Nintendo's ass right now, not little Johnny, little Johnny is more impressed with the PS4 and trying to trick his mom into buying him GTA4.
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My response to the OP was based solely on hardware design, specifically about where to make cuts in order to find the ideal balance between price and power. Never once did I mention games, marketing, or demographics.
I agree that the issues you layed out in your post are present. However, you do not explain how making the system more expensive fixes any of those issues.
P.S. If you're wondering why the 2DS is the least selling model, it's not because it's the cheapest. It's because the damn thing doesn't fold.
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The reason why I'd advocate for a *slightly* more expensive portable, is I think Nintendo desperately needs to add value to their product and differniate from cheap tablets. Also with the advent of Nintendo IP on cheap tablets and smartphones themselves, you do run that risk of a lot of people saying "well I already got a Mario game on my smartphone, I don't need to pay even $170 + $40 for that on Nintendo portable".
Nintendo apps on phones/tablets already serves the need for the low-end/casual part of the market. So the dedicated Nintendo portable in this environment must adapt to go higher end IMO.
You need whatever hook you can to say "well can that cheap tablet do this?". I would advocate then for a fairly high end chip *with* the express clause here though that Nintendo chooses a smart chipset design that will scale down in cost quickly (similar to what Sony did with the PS4). So now wacky/weird propitary design.
With a high end chip, what that will open the door for are games that are "console quality", in fact the portable may even be able to function as a secondary mini-console type of thing (the graphics are so good you can stream them to your TV lets say). I think that wouldn't be a bad idea either. Then the "full" NX console has permission to be something really high-end, which is exactly what Nintendo needs to be competetive in today's console market which is largely adult driven and based in NA + Europe.
The regular 3DS still folds though too, and the full size 3DS outsells that model by a good margin too (even that cute N3DS with the candy color SFC retro buttons). So something has to be up there.
I would say a price point of $219.99-$229.99 would allow Nintendo to get an unreal cheap if they are willing to accept a good quality but cheaper end screen (which would still be a huge upgrade on the 3DS) and sell the thing at cost to begin with. I'd push for that direction. I'm not saying make something crazy like a $300-$400 portable.
$220 for something you can use as a home console, a portable, has pretty good graphics (not PS4 quality, but equal to or maybe even slightly better than a Wii U), has all the main Nintendo IP (3D Zelda too), and can run Android apps ... I mean for $220-$230, that's a pretty good freaking value, way more than a 3DS at $200, I just think that has a better chance even if some things seem initially counter-intuitive to how Nintendo has made portables in the past.
Just make damn sure you have some great games upfront, like that new Zelda game and Splatoon 2 not too far afterwards.
