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Soundwave on 06 January 2016
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zorg1000 said:
Soundwave said:

 

They didn't vanish. As a matter of fact they probably play more today than ever before, because of a very convienant, free option they have today. 

The problem that you have with this is it's not Nintendo playing white knight rescuing these people. They don't need rescuing, Apple and Google already beat Nintendo to the punch. 

Nintendo honestly blew it with this audience. They haven't a true new mass-market break out casual hit game since when? Wii Fit in 2008? This is eight years ago now. Wii Music was a dud and so was Nintendo Land, neither or these became big hits, and Wii Fit and Sports basically fizzled out by the time the Wii U rolled around. 

Some of these kids playing smartphone games today weren't even born when Wii Fit came out. Nintendo has done dick all since then, several huge casual/family gaming phenomenons have been birthed since then -- Angry Birds, Clash of Clans, Words With Friends, Plants VS. Zombies, Candy Crush, etc. etc. it's just none of these are made by Nintendo. Also do you notice something here? All/most of the smartphone blockbusters ARE light-hearted, fun, often times cartoony games. The smartphone market is dominated by cartoony/friendly looking games, not realistic graphic type hits. 

There's been more new original IP of the casual/friendly nature birthed in the last 5 years than maybe in any point in gaming history. I take it the rub then really is the sour grapes that it's not Nintendo the one that's doing it. But that doesn't make any difference to the 40 year old soccer mom who's having a blast with Candy Crush. 

 

Playing a game on ur phone, by yourself, when out of the house is not at all the same thing that I said, which was playing together in a group setting. Two absolutely different types of experiences and ever since the decline of Wii no company at all has tried to push this type of play style in a meaningful way.

Ur just speaking with extreme hyperbole, nobody has said anything about rescuing people from mobile. The point is that there are entire demographics and play styles that don't get supported on consoles, it doesn't specifically have to be Nintendo that decides to try capturing this audience but since nobody else is even making an attempt that leaves a potential opening for Nintendo to act on.

 

If you watch kids play on tablets they play in a very social way, they all gather around the tablet usually, so it does in a lot of ways create a social play experience.

So you want a console that encourages "group play" experiences .... ummm .... WII U? What's wrong with the Wii U? *Nothing*. It has many, many wonderful family-play games that encourage people to gather around the TV and play together. Nintendo Land. NSMBU. Mario Kart 8. Mario 3D World. Wii Party U. Just Dance. Wii Fit U. Wii Sports Club. Game & Wario. Mario & Sonic Olympics. Wooly Yoshi. Smash Brothers. Mario Party 10. Even inflation wise right now it's price is basically the same as the $250 that the Wii sold millions and millions on. 

The problem is not with the console not having these types of games. It has many (maaaany) fun, easy to play, "gather around the TV" experiences. 

The problem I think is you are limited in the types of game experiences you can provide in this setting (usually mini-game-a-thons), to the point where after the 100th game in that style ... the formula gets a bit stale and people get bored by it. That and the games are not free, nor is the Wii or Wii U ecosystem as vibrant/constantly changing/adding new content like smart devices constantly do. So this type of gaming was always going to be vulnerable to having its lunch money stolen by the next big fish (mobile games). 

To be honest though if they want to go the "cheap console" route ... then why not just do the hybrid machine approach? You could get a chipset equal to or slgihtly better than the Wii U in a mobile form factor today, slap a cheap but decent 1280x720 display on that, and now you have one single device instead of forcing people to buy two seperate devices they don't want (most Nintendo fans do not buy the console, opting for just the handheld alone 4:1). 

So why does there even have to be a console if all Nintendo wants is cheaper, low-end graphics. Mobile has advanced to the point where it can do visuals of that quality fairly cheaply. A Wii U + 3DS = $450-$500, a hybrid could cost $250 and do the same thing as both devices. 

The next Nintendo portable should have very good 3D graphics capabilities, so much so that it can run any Nintendo franchise, even the Xenoblades and the mainline Zeldas of the world, it's no longer the "kid brother" device that can't handle 1/2 of the "big gun" Nintendo IP. That's also been a problem for Nintendo ... why buy the console when the portable scratches the itch for Nintendo games for many people. This was always going to be more and more of a problem as the graphics in the portable got progressively better. Before you could say "well you can't have a real 3D Mario or Smash Brothers on a Nintendo portable" but that's not true anymore.