A Look at the Nintendo Dark Ages (2011-2017)

[The_Liquid_Laser]

I agree with the title of this thread, but I don't think it goes far enough.  I wouldn't call 2011-2017 the "Nintendo Dark Ages".  Instead 2011-2017 is the "Gaming Dark Ages".  Every single home console and handheld from this period is pathetic.  Every...single...one!

Just compare this set of consoles to their predecessors:

Wii  vs. Wii U - Nintendo's best selling home console is followed by it's worst.  Obviously a huge decline.
DS vs.  3DS - Same story.  Best selling handheld of all time vs Nintendo's worst (omitting Virtual Boy).
PSP vs. Vita - The PSP has sold about 4.5 times what the Vita has.  An epic failure!  This sort of colossal failure would be talked about more if it weren't for the Wii U screwing up even worse.
XB360 vs. XB1 - Obviously sales have dropped.  What's more, is Microsoft even trying to support the XB1 anymore?  It's like they gave up.  The XB360 was a whole different story.  It came out of the gate swinging.  It released a year before the other home consoles, and seemed to be fighting hard at every step.  I remember Microsoft paying third parties money just so their games would get an earlier release than the PS3.  Microsoft was fighting tooth and nail during those days.  What happened to that Microsoft? 

That just leaves 
PS3 vs. PS4 - Obviously the PS4 is selling better.  This means that at first glance the PS4 looks so much better than PS3 right?  But look deeper.  The main reason the PS4 is pathetic is that it is just like the PS3.  The PS3 is Sony's biggest financial failure in gaming.  Sure the PS3 sold more than the Vita, but it also caused the a whole lot more red on their balance sheet too.  The PS3 is their biggest failure and the PS4 is just like it. 


Just consider all of the ways that people praise the PS4:
"It has great first party IP like Uncharted and The Last of Us".
Are you talking about PS4 or PS3?  It sounds like you are talking about PS3.

"PS4 launched as the most powerful console this generation."
I think you are talking about PS3, right?

"It has all the Western AAA third party games like Assassin's Creed, CoD, FIFA, etc...."
Yeah, the PS3 had that.  You're talking about the PS3.

"Say what you want about the PS4, but at least it's not that underpowered crap from Nintendo."
Hey!  That's what they said about the PS3!

"It's impossible to criticize any console that has GTA5!"
Just like the PS3!

Face it, the PS4 is just living in the shadow of PS3, which was Sony's biggest financial blunder.  The only advantage that the PS4 has over the PS3 is that it launched at a more reasonable price.  The PS3 hardware was too ambitious.  Meanwhile the PS4 hardware was safe, bland and boring.  That is the PS4's main selling point: it's boring.  

Sure the PS4 has sold great, but just look how pathetic the competition was.  How could it not sell great?  Sure, it was the winner, but PS4 was the winner of the special olympics.  That's not really much of an accomplishment.  "Way to go PS4.  You trounced all over the other consoles that were doomed to fail from the get go."  I mean, we already looked at how pathetic every single other console was.  Being boring and safe was the winning strategy.

Thankfully the "Gaming Dark Ages" are over.  Nintendo has put out a much better system, and soon the PS4 and XB1 will be replaced too.  Good riddance!  The sooner we can forget the 2011-2017 years of gaming, the better.