Yeah, I'd be surprised if they don't do another Wii Sports. But what I meant is, hopefully they're working on a game that does for the tablet controller what Wii Sports did for the Wiimote: as soon as you see it, you "get" it. I think replicating the Wii's success is competely out of the question at this point, though. From what Nintendo has said in the past about the price they're looking at, it sounds like they may have given up on the expanded audience altogether (maybe the trouble the 3DS ran into has made them reconsider). Plus the Wii sold to a lot of moms and other non-gamers on the basis that they'd like their kids to do something other than sit there and gawp at the screen while playing video games, and people generally like the idea of exercising without exercising. I'm just not sure how a tablet that doesn't function outside of the house (possibly even within the house, depending on how far away from the Wii U you can go with it) is going to go over with that crowd.

If anybody could pull off such a thing, it's probably Nintendo. Their IPs will guarantee them a respectable market share no matter what. I just think they have a tough row to hoe.

Impossible to tell as of now. We don't know much concerning WiiU and zilch as far as Sony and Microsoft go. All I will say is that it is definitely erroneous to count Nintendo out or declare them relegated to last place.

Bump this thread in about two and a half months for a more educated discussion concerning Nintendo's 8th gen prospects.

Will do...  I used to try to keep some of my threads going but gave up on all them (except maybe the Marijuana thread, that is just in a little hiatus).  I'm just surprised no one has tried to call me out for some of quotes that were in the article in the op.  The quotes they used for the phone interview weren't the best to show my cockiness.  I was taken by surprise with the call considering I was in the middle of smoking marijuana (and I believe either playing MK:DD or SSBM).

Seth - "Nintendo might come back," he said. "They're definitely coming back in Japan."  (I wish it was taken down as Nintendo will come back....)

This is my favorite quote though from the article.

Hix - "If you strapped a pair of those prosthetic truck balls onto this machine, you could not make it masculine," he said. "Over here it's just a very childish name."

Basically, I just need TheSource to post in this thread declaring Nintendo will win.  My prediction will come true since TheSource can see the future.

I'm reserving judgement until e3. My initial impression was mixed though...

Hmm, Nintendo said they learned from the mediocre start of the 3DS and want to make sure the Wii U starts better. I hope their lesson was not, taht the price was too high. I hope they learned that games are deciding.

Nintendo did something surprising (for me at least) with the 3DS recently. The DS has an outstanding library of games. But some are missing: Monster Hunter, fighting games are not so strong on the DS, and generally few more violent titles. This time they already have Metal Gear Solid and the great Resident Evil: Revelations for the hardcore audience, got Monster Hunter and nearly all big names in the fighting-genre. That's why I'm sure, the 3DS will beat the Vita (while I'm not that sure about beating the DS).

How is the situation on the Wii? Hardcore-titles are even more missing than on the DS. If Nintendo manages to get some big 3rd-party names secured at launch-time, the Wii U might start good. Nintendo has to secure not only a decent launch-lineup, they need third-party support additional to their first-party titles and they have to secure, that at least every month comes at least one game of higher quality. If they manage this, they may win.

If not, the competitors have a good attack-vector. Remember that the Dreamcast was killed by the expectation, that the PS2 will be much greater. If Sony and Microsoft are clever they don't show their next console on E3. They will make their announcement and a big demonstration shortly (a month or two) before the launch of the Wii-U. They will show off their consoles as much better than the Wii-U-experience. That would have some impact on the Wii-U-launch.

They should have midget wrestling as a pack-in game for the Wii U, it´ll sell gangbusters!

I think Nintendo is putting themselves in a decent position from what I have seen so far. It is far from "locked up" though. We have seen nothing from Microsoft and Sony, and Nintendo could mess things up themselves.

Two points will make the critical difference

1: Third party studios are having a hard enough time with the costs of HD development as it is. If PS4720 are really as above and beyond as all that, it's going to be insanely expensive, and they'll be forced to release a Wii U version (and likely a Vita version and an iOS version) of everything just to stay afloat

2: Tying in to point 1, the Wii U will at least have similar capabilities to the next generation consoles, even if they are stronger. Part of the problem with Wii wasn't simply the power gap, but the lack of programmable shaders and other things that meant that portability was a big issue. Wii U should at least be in the pipeline, so they won't be left behind completely.

My thoughts on the matter are that, like every other Nintendo console, Nintendo will sink or swim based on outputting great games. If Nintendo can really take advantage of the head-start they're getting and retain third party parity, then they could essentially be PS2 to Sony and Microsoft's GC and Xbox1: who cares if you're stronger because we're strong enough and already have most everything people want (outstanding Nintendo games attract hardware sales, the console being in the right technical ballpark allows third party support, but the strong userbase is what keeps third party support, and then suddenly you have the father of the family choosing to get a Call of Duty box just for himself, or a Call of Duty/Mario/Wii Fit box for the whole family. The choice will quickly become obvious).

If Nintendo fumbles with Wii U first party software output, however, the coming generation will simply be yet more divided than the existing one, but Nintendo seems to have learned the lesson from 3DS, so fingers crossed.

all i know is this, wiiU will be the first nintendo console i won't buy.

i'm also nearly 100% sure my mom won't be upgrading her wii to a wiiU either. she lost her interest in gaming pretty quickly after she gave up wii fit.

Why is that? What makes you not want to buy it?