Who is more likely to give Nintendo a run;next gen?Nintendo's demise?

[HappySqurriel]

disolitude said:

Anyone saying that Sony and Microsoft will copy them next gen is dead wrong. They may introduce a cheaper price point cause of nintendo (which will result in worse system specs from the get-go...less ram...less features...shorter console lifespan... and is loss for all...thanks nintendo) but I don't see anyone releaseing a motion device as their primary controller. Maybe as a peripheral to capture some of that casual cash...

Nintendo has been playing catchup themselves since n64 and now with the wii they hit a gold mine which saved their ass but they are still behind in software development, hardware specs and variety of games. (first party)

Last time Nintendo was graphically on the cutting edge from a first party perspective was while Rare was still making games for them. Last time nintendo hired actors to give a first party title some voices was...was...help me out here. I don't think nintendo could make a good deathmatch FPS, horror game, action game, driving simulation game or an RPG to save their life. And now they don't have to bother as they got wii fit...

In any case, as long as there is kids, parents and grownups who like to replay games with characters from their childhood, nintendo has nothing to worry about as they will make loads of money. But its more likely Wii will copy 360 and ps3 next gen and give it HD and media capabilities than the other way around...and maybe with the piles of money they are getting from the wii, the will invest some decent cash in the next gen Zelda game and give it voice actors (not for Link as hes a mute :) ) and graphics that are dated to this time period.

Or maybe they will become a peripheral company and just make different types of game controllers for other systems as it seems thats what they do best nowadays.

So lets not praise nintendo for their dominance powers just yet...as they've only been in the sales lead position for 1 year in the last 10 years.

I (completely) disagree ...

Sony and Microsoft may not produce a Wiimote which is as simple and intuitive as Nintendo has, and they may make the nunchuck attachment (more or less) the standard set-up, but what Nintendo has done will certainly be copied in some form of another.

Consider (for a moment) that 90% of all uses for the right analogue stick are for manipulating screen-space in a way which is far better suited to the pointing functionality on the Wiimote. Buttons are also a limiting factor in how interactive an environment can be because there are only so many actions you can map to buttons, and the use of these actions is not intuitive. In the future games are only going to be more interactive and (as a gamer) if I'm playing a starwars game as a jedi I want to be able to quickly select a crate and throw it across the room in a simple intuitive way with a high level of accruacy, I don't want to have to carefully navigate for 5 seconds using an analogue stick try to remember which button is the hurl button and then try to clumsily trow the object to where I want it using the analogue stick.