I think rewards are something they are very clearly uninterested in doing. It goes completely against a subscription model. They are doing it. Iwata literally said that's what their next rewards program would be.

PS+ is absolutely nothing like it. They are not semantics at all. The whole point of a rewards program is to insentivize consumers to purchase more software by rewarding them with something. The PS+/XBLG subsription model is made to give Sony and MS a fixed yearly income and insentivize more consistant player activity. They have no interest in trying to get you to do or buy anything. In their case, it's the exact opposite. If you're subscribed to PS+, you're more likely to boot up your PS4 at least once a month to download and play the "free" game that game with the service you're paying for. PS+ games are not free or rewards just like Netflix movies are not free or rewards and just like Loot Crate goodies are not free or rewards. They aren't free. You payed for them. You payed a subscription fee to a service that is being given to you. That's all.

Again, they said they would. Iwata literally said they would reward players who purchased more with bigger discounts and flexible pricing on software. That's a verbatum quote. Now if you think he was lying, there's no point continuing this discussion. You think he's lying. I think he's telling the truth. My whole point is based on his words being true, so I'm not going to debate the idea that he made a bold face lie about the membership program.

If it has any success, Sony will copy it. Actually Microsoft will probably copy it even before the NX comes out, then Sony will follow suit. 

Things like this are easy to copy, and a program like PS+ can easily be reworked to basically be the same thing. Right now PS+ is "free games for the price of one game" basically already. 

It's not like Sony is averse to giving away free games, I remember PS3 controllers coming bundled with free games like LBP or Uncharted 2 or God of War (your choice with different controller colors) along with there being like 20 different PS4 hardware bundles with free games now. Rewards wouldn't be any kind of fundamental step beyond that. 

I don't think the membership program will be as great as you think it is either, Nintendo is not going to give deep discounts into their tent-pole "big money" titles. If you start giving people things like big money titles at deep $20-$30 discounts or giving each big release away with free toys, free extra game downloads, etc. then people will start to expect that from every game. 

No, they aren't. They are not firmware first platforms. They are not seperated from their hardware. In order to do what the NX will do, if they even tried to copy half of it because neither can do the unified platform aspect at all without multiple viable hardware skews which is major, they'd literally have to release new hardware platforms. It's not as simple as releasing a PS4 without a disc slot and badda bing smart console. They weren't built, and understandably so, to do any of the kinds of things the NX will be built to do.

I don't think Sony or MS are incompitent, but I think they are going to be caught off guard with the NX.

I disagree. Sony and MS' consoles do *a lot* these days, are easy to use, interface with Facebook/Twitter/Instagram and have fantastic online communities that dwarf Nintendo's current standing and are increasing their platform interface with smartphones and tablets as well. Microsoft looks to be giving their OS a massive upgrade this Decmeber too and no doubt that will push Sony to improve what they're offering. 

Nintendo will be able to share games probably between portable and console, but that in of itself isn't going to sway many of the Playstation/XBox core fanbase IMO. 

Nintendo has allowed Sony/MS too long of free reign over the types of audiences that buy the important modern console franchises like Destiny, Madden, Call of Duty, FIFA, Assassin's Creed, etc. ... they have no sway with this audience at all any more and IMO they're not going to be able to pull another Wii because Apple is killing them on the other end with free games and far sexier and more appealling true lifestyle products, not just "games and toys". 

They need something that's a big game changer than this with the NX. 

The Wii was a radical departure from anything before it that could be understand in like 20 seconds. And even THEN, they *barely* managed to beat Sony even though Sony did virtually everything wrong with the PS3 early on while virtually everything possible went right for Nintendo early on. 

The XBox One is the first true "smart console" as in a console designed to do everything all in one place. There just isn't a huge market for that though, unlike a tablet or phone, the only thing most people want to do with a game console is: A) play games or B) watch movies on it. I don't want to listen to music through my console or Twitter through my console or surf the internet on my TV ... that's the whole problem with it. 

The PS4 arguably does the least in some ways, but it plays games the best of the three. 

I'm not saying they don't do a lot. But they aren't the platform I'm describing. When I say "smart console," I don't mean a console that does multimedia alright. Again, that "in and of it self" isn't relevent, because it won't be just about sharing games.

I don't think they will try to poll a Wii. They're going to pull an Apple. They aren't trying to get back mobile gamers with the NX. They are going to redefine the current gaming platform langscape. I think they absolutely have sway, and I think everyone in the industry knows that Nintendo are just a sleeping giant, especially Sony and Microsoft. It only takes one good console to make someone switch. I think NX will be that console. By the time the NX launches, there will be maybe 100m+ old PS360 owners who still haven't made the jump to next gen for whatever reason, and if the NX is as compelling a plaform as I'm sure it will be, a lot of those people are going to go with the NX, and if Nintendo can capitalize on that momentum as I'm sure they will, the NX is going to be a runaway success. Like easily. 

What does "pull an Apple" even mean? This is kind of like saying the guy who hasn't gotten laid on a date in six years is going to "pull a Brad Pitt" all of the sudden. 

Even Apple can't "pull an Apple" so easily, lol, they are just iterating off of what Steve Jobs started there, they haven't been able to create a break out new product hit and Apple's appeal is way beyond anything Nintendo could ever function as. 

Apple is basically a luxury fashion brand, part electronics company but part Louis Vuitton/Chanel/Gucci, their appeal transcends "nerd electronics" and has for a long time.  Nintendo is more associated with elementary age school children. Unless they stop making toys and video games with cartoon characters, that image of them is virtually impossible to change. 

Beyond that I don't think people actually want to do 5000 things on their home console. A phone that does 5000 things makes sense. A video game console doing the same is an idea that's been tried again and again without huge success. Even by Apple. Outside of playing video games, the only thing people want to from their couch while looking at a television is maybe watch a movie/TV program. Not listen to their music, not surf the internet, not check Facebook, not order pizza, not use as a TV remote even. 

Nintendo and MS both billed their current consoles as basically "smart consoles" that would redefine the living room experience, the very first Wii U trailer is of the dude playing Mario, then the friend switching to watch TV while he continues to play on the controller, watch Youtube videos, video chat, etc. Same with the "All in One XBox One" where they focused on being able to change TV channels with your voice, browse the internet, blah, blah, blah. The only company that steered clear of all that shit was Sony, and lo and behold the PS4 is outselling both of them combined. 

Pulling an apple is redefining  The gaming platform the same way Apple redefined the mobile landscape by creating the first smart phone.  Apple doesn't need to pull an Apple anymore. They can reiterate as much as they want. The nx will reiterate its original concept just as much.

Thats a pretty silly thing to say when Nintendo did just that with the Wii brand. That brand wasn't accociated with kids, and they didn't have to stop making toys or games with cartoon characters there. Changing Nintendo's image is as simple as making the assertive effort, like they did with the Wii. That was to attract a casual audience, while the NX will be made to attract a mainstream audience. It doesn't need to be a luxury fashion brand in image to achieve that. I think they will try to have an image that combines both Apple's modern side with Disney's classic side.

I never said the console would be marketed as a multimedia device. That's not what I mean by smart console, so anything pertaining to that is irrelevant to the points I've made.

Not Nintendo. The Wii U wasn't at all billed as a smart console. Neither was the XBO. One tried to change the living room experience, which is not what makes for a smart console, and one tried to be an all in one multimedia device, which was not only executed abysmally, and is also not what I mean when I say that the NX will be a smart console. Not a multimedia hub. NX won't be like either of these.