I dont think the economy is really welcoming for the launch of a new console.  But that's the only real problme I see

It's funny actually. The problem is not the story persé but the culture it's seen or played.

In Japan being respectfull to superiors, following 'the' rules and some emo-thing is seen as good or normal.

In the west sticking it to the man (probably literaly in Samus case), making your own rules and not showing any emotions (outside sexdrive) is seen as good or normal. 

The story 'problem' is cultural.

It probably won't be as big as a hit as the Wii was, thats pretty much a given IMO. I don't know if it willl fail, but it will probably do like the other HD consoles did, maybe slightly worse, Its too early for the average gamer to step up to a new gen now. Though it will gain a lead in the next gen over the new PS and Xbox, but by that time it will be another WII, worse specs, but cheaper, more sales and to top it off, an early launch as well.

The question is, will the early launch be enough? I don't see another next Gen console appearing anytime soon.

Wat?! Gosh, I just can't believe it! Everything makes sense now. o_O

I know that Malstrom is hated around these parts. But I think he does speak to gamers like me. The NES, SNES, GBA, DS and Wii were all good. But I'm not much of a N64 or Gamecube fan. For many of the same reasons he pointed out in his blog. He's more Anti-Xbox/Anti-Playstation than I'd prefer but honestly I think he makes some good points. I got a Xbox 360 and PS3 because of how much they were hyped up, because they had high metacritic ratings, etc. And yeah I had fun with the 360 and PS3. But to be honest, I find a lot of these HD games to be over-rated, especially the AAA blockbusters. I find myself preferring handheld gaming (DS, PSP and Android) and I find myself more motivated to play my Wii backlog than on the PS3 and 360 these days.

If Nintendo is going to go the Gamecube direction with both the 3DS and Project Cafe, count me out. I hope they don't but it seems like all signs point to this. After all why would you make old-school 2D games and 2D RPGs on a stereoscopic 3D system at high production cost when you can just make them pure 2D cheaply on the existing portables, iOS or NGP? I suspect that 3DS won't be the retro king that the DS was. The handheld jrpg devs and retro 2D devs are probably going to go NGP or iOS/Android for the 8th gen or even continue to support the DS/PSP for a long, long time. The PSP is on fire in Japan these days and iOS is getting more and more Japanese support lately. Kairosoft gained a lot of buzz with Game Dev Story on iOS/Android and their second game (Hot Springs Story) is also on iOS/Android. Smartphones are a new avenue for niche indie developers. Even for the Japanese. Nintendo is screwing themselves by pigeonholing themselves into the whole 3D thing. Making 3D the focus of the system. Since Sony, Apple and Google aren't basing their platforms around 3D, they don't have this problem.

3DS will still beat NGP in the "war". Outside of Japan, NGP will be DOA pretty much. In the west, the software will only appeal to a niche audience (especially the western otaku probably just like the PSP). But 3DS won't have the success of the DS. iOS/Android portable gaming revenue marketshare will also continue to go up and up (ultimately I don't see iOS/Android surpassing Nintendo with kids though. Parents may buy a 3 year contract smartphone for their teenager but not the kids). As for Project Cafe, if they pull a Gamecube (the 3DS is going the Gamecube direction, I see no reason why they aren't going to go that direction with their home console too), I expect it to finish in a distant 3rd (yes distant) unless Microsoft and Sony really screw up somehow (I wouldn't be surprised to be honest). Even if we see a $500-600 PS4 and NextBox (I hope not), a Gamecube-direction Project Cafe will probably still finish in 3rd eventually because Project Cafe will become seen as "dated" anyway once NextBox and PS4 hit. And if just one of PS4/NextBox launches at $400, a Gamecube Project Cafe would finish a distant 3rd. Especially if both launched at $400. Nintendo can't win in the perception wars with the Call of Duty/Grand Theft Auto type gamer. They just can't. To them, Nintendo = kiddie no matter what. "Keeping up with the Joneses" (N64/Gamecube direction) doesn't work for Nintendo.

So what happened with all of his talk about disruption, the Blue ocean, upmarket and downmarket games?

He became bitter when he first heard about Other M?

I think this guy needs a reality check

1) he says '' Why is the PSP outselling the 3DS? Same reason. The PSP games are far simpler and less hassle than the ‘eye-bleeding’ 3DS. In America, PSP sales actually went up when the 3DS came out.''

thats not true at all. the 3ds sold more units in 4 days in march than the psp sales in the complete month. Plus the PSP is only US$ 129.99 now and has a 6 year game catalog. PSP sales didn't came up because of the 3DS launch, they came up because a pretty good price cut, yet it is not true that the psp is selling more that the 3DS worldwide. 

2) he says ''Consumer behavior is not changing at all. Consumer behavior is identical to as it was in 1980, in 1985, in 1990, in 1995, in 2005, and 2010. There is no change at all.''

thats the most stupid thing I had heard in my whole entire life. it goes against the sociology. Nothing is static, and that principle apply to society too.

And who says every nintendo game needs to sale like wii sports or new supermario Bros to be succesful?  

About the D pad if you can play Street Fighter with it then you will have no problem. Which I have been currently doing. So 2D games on the 3DS will be no problem. 

The problem I have with Malstrom is his extreme hardcore views. Yet he says his nothing like them. Also I'm registered on that shrine of a forum built for him. So I'm not saying anything I haven't said other there already.

In one word he says Nintendo needs to stick by their arcade values to be success. Then in another word it must be a Super Mario Bros game. Like it's the only game that has acrade values. If I remember pong was the first acrade game, and PacMan was the first huge star. Yet he is not crying for Nintendo to get those games on their console asap. So everything he feels and believes goes back to a game he just wants to have. Which is just as hardcore as gamers who think everything but a FPS sucks. In his opinion these people are whats wrong with gaming. Even though he feels the exact same way about Super Mario Bros. Still to cover that fact he says well it's Nintendo best selling game, and people will buy it. So it's perfect business sense to do so. I'm not going to sit here, and  tell a company how they should run it. 

EA seems to think that releasing Madden every year is perfect business sense.

Activision seems to think releasing Call Of Duty every year is perfect buisness sense. With the money it makes seems right to me.

Sony seems to think releasing sequels to all their titles every 2 years is perfect buisness sense.

So Nintendo feels that releaseing their main star in multiple genre games makes more sense. Then just releaing 2D Mario 4 times in one generation. Malstrom fails to notice during the NES era Mario was only in Super Mario Bros games. By the SNES we was in Mario Bros Games, RPG and Kart. N64 3D Mario, Kart, Smash,Paper, Tennis and Golf.  Now In Wii Mario was  2 3D, 2D, Paper ,Soccer, Tennis , Baseball, Smash  Collection ,and  Sports Mix. I wonder how well Mario would be doing if 2D was released on a Ratchet and Clank shedule. 1 game every 2 years since 2002 thats a total of  9games.  Isn't funny how 4 3D Mario game has out sold all 9 combined or maybe 1 2D Mario by it's self.

You know what happens when you feed a over weight kid too much of what they want. They either get fatter, die due to bad health or finally get smart and stop eating. Nintendo figures starving gamers, and then throwing them some beard is smarter. As a gamer the only choice you have is to wait for the bread, starve to death, or be smart. Never letting yourself get cut up in one experience.  

Are people still listening to this guy?  Well I guess if people will listen to sites like IGN and magazines like Game Informer, they'll listen to anybody...

He stopped talking about those when Nintendo did. Other M was just the nail in the coffin.