Yeah the sales could be low for all 3 consoles considering the Nextbox and PS4 may priced very high, but Sony and MS should have games unlike the WiiU.

Soundwave said: Zero999 said: lol, that would be terrible for them. nintendo already have a year headstart, if those consoles have a 7-8 year cycle, wii u 2 could come out and have 2-3 years of headstart. Nintendo really isn't competing with MS/Sony anymore in a direct way I don't think. I doubt if you went into the store on launch day and talked to PS4/720 buyers that any of them would consider a Wii U over those consoles. Those people have their tastes and Nintendo does not cater to them nearly enough. Nintendo will be continually chasing the dragon of the "family friendly console", which relies more on the "parents playing with their kids" concept. There was nothing stopping Nintendo from releasing a Wii successor in 2010 or 2011 either, but they barely even made a 2012 launch. PS4/720 will be around for 7-8 years *minimum*, probably more like 10 years. The budget you're going to need to create games that go beyond PS4/720 complexity will be like a movie budget, I think most devs are just fine with PS4/720 for a long time.

keep dreaming, maybe you'll develop Curé Syndrome.

I actually don't think anyone's probably articulated the problem. Saying smartphones/tablets only addresses one part of the issue, to which posters on this board can easily say "pffft ... no hardcore gamer iz going to play Angry Birds instead of Halo".

OK true.

But the issue is deeper than that. I think entertainment has changed radically in the last 15 years. I think we are living in what I call the "backlog generation". Meaning there's so many entertainment options that a person can't possibly have the time to experience even 1/3 of them.

If you grew up in the 1980s/most of the 90s, you had like maybe 20-30 TV channels. There was no internet. There was no Netflix, so you rented 1 or 2 movies at a time from Blockbuster Video for the weekend maybe. There was maybe 2-3 "big" summer movies every year like Jurassic Park, which you went to see 3-4 times over and over again. There wasn't a new $200 million dollar movie out every week of the summer.

There was no PVR. If you wanted to "record" that episode of X-Files you had to religious program your VCR and make sure you had a blank cassette sitting around. If you were on a bus or a plane, your entertainment options were basically a book, a discman/walkman (in which you'd carry around 12-15 songs at a time tops unless you wanted to lug around multiple cassettes/CDs). Or you had a black & white Game Boy, lol.

Youtube was called America's Funniest Home Videos, and it was kinda lame. If you needed to organize an event, you called people by hand on a regular ol' telephone and made plans that way.

That was it. Today, most people just on their smartphones alone could spend hundreds of hours consuming content from the internet, Youtube, download full seasons of TV shows, play games, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. etc.

I have things sitting on my PVR that I swear I'm going to get around to watching but never find the time. I swore I'd get around to watching Breaking Bad on Netflix, and just did, but I haven't even started on Walking Dead. I have 100+ ebooks sitting on my iPad that I haven't read. I have tons of 3DS/PS3/360/Wii games I haven't played through yet. Just don't have the time.

THIS is actually the problem with video games I think. Getting a person to sit down for 15+ hours to invest in ONE game when they are being pulled in 100 different directions is going to be increasingly more difficult for game makers. Especially once the razzle dazzle of fancy graphics becomes just "normal" then it almost becomes a chore to "beat" some games.

I find myself almost having to force myself to play some games, even legitimately good ones, almost out of guilt, lol (well I paid $60 for this, I should at least play it for more than 3 hours).

Completely disagree.
Traditional core gamers know the difference between a 3 and a 4, whereas casual gamers couldn't be buggered with knowing that a new nintendo console was released.
Wiiu isn't beong hurt by phone gaming, but by the type of audience that plays phone games primarily that they made their number one demographic.

SSJGohan3972 said: I think people underestimate the power of people who play games casualy. We see the term casual and think of Wii Fit or Nintendogs or Just Dance, etc. but really it just means people who play games less than so called 'hardcore' gamers. It usually means people who play a certain game because their friends or family or coworkers do. A large portion of the users of the PS3 and XBox360, I believe, fit into this mold - but instead of the games I listed they used to play games like Guitar Hero/Rock Band and now play games like Call of Duty. They are just as susceptible to being lured away by things like smartphones and tablets as Nintendo's customers, those things just have to become 'cool' and they will flock to them. I see the recent mediocre releases of fairly large PS360 games (ie. Gears of War, God of War, etc. and even COD which is on track to do less than the last iteration) and that these games did very little to boost week-to-week hardware sales and I believe that is an indicator that mainly the same customers are continuing to buy games as opposed to additonal customers. The lower numbers could indicate that those customer's numbers are shrinking and while a new gen should hopefully re-spark that 'coolness' factor, but it could just as easily miss or underperform and we could see more of the studio closings and downsizing, etc. that we have been seeing over the last few years. The market will adjust to those factors however, if traditional gaming becomes less popular there will be less game makers and games - which could be a good think (quality over quantity), conversely I also see a bubble burst of sorts on the App Store/Android horizon so those same customers could come flocking back under the right circumstances.

Yeah, going to have to disagree with you there. Casual gamers don't want to spend $300+ on a home console. The reason why the Wii U is selling poorly is because of the; price, lack of software from first party and the fact that it doesn't have the same kind of hook as their previous console to attract casual gamers to the system, unlike the Wii.

The Wii sold well because it was dramatically cheaper than the competition and offered something completely different - same with the DS and 3DS. Its obvious to me that the same consumers who bought the Wii (the casual/non gamers) have either lost interest or moved onto tablets and smartphones.

The market for games like COD, FIFA, Assassins Creed etc is still huge. And the people who buy these games are also the ones who buy hardware and software year in, year out. Also, unlike the strictly casuals/non gamers, they don't just follow the latest trend.

Traditional gaming isn't going anywhere. Sure, it might shrink a bit next gen but it'll be still be here.

Only Nintendo haters couldnt see that that is incoming.

It has nothing to do with having a longer present gen, but with the fact that the graphical improvements are increasingly harder to tell to the average person. These beeing smaller, the consumer doesnt see it as worthwhile to purchase an expensive new box. That and the fact that development costs got so high that 3rd parties cant afford not to release their games on current consoles aswell. With few exclusives the adoption barrier will be high. Its gonna take 2 years for next-gen consoles to completely phase the current ones.

zorg1000 said: I think there first full years will be similar to PS3 and 360, nothing spectacular but not horrible and a majority of games that are just slightly updated last gen games.

Pretty much this. 

There are a lot more people saying either console will beat the WiiU than there are people who'll pay the "launch tax" and get the systems early. Especially when we don't have a full account of the launch line-ups, any actual release dates, or price points for either.

I, for one, am not paying a dime above $400 for either unless I get lucky like I did during this gen.

This is most likely to happen. Its been happening to all consoles/handhelds lately but ps4 will have a stronger first party lineup than wii u did so ps4 might not suffer as much. Not sure if xbox will be the same seeing how we know nothing about its line up, price etc. If a new halo and gears releases in time for launch[which obviously won't happen seeing how a new halo and gears were just released months ago] and has an appropriate price than it may not face the wii u's challenges.

i don't think that will be the case, the experiences are nothing alike especially when an ipad and the next xbox and playstation will most likely cost the same. Why buy an ipad over a ps4? I admit they are great devices but why would they replace a console or a pc? Sometimes i don't understand humanity

every new console except the wii starts off reeeeal slooooow