I think calling it piggheadedness is a rather narrow view. The reality is Nintendo, and to an extent Japan in general, wasn’t ready to make HD games back in 2006. Heck, a lot of Nintendo’s ‘please understand’ apologies after the launch of the WiiU were related to them saying outright that making HD games took a lot more time and effort than they expected. The transition from the PS2 era to the 360/ps3 generation was the end of console games being the forte of Japan, they had a big problem operating at scale.
The Wii was a calculated gamble not to compete on the same playing field as Microsoft and Sony, because they knew they couldn’t, and it paid off for them at least in terms of money.
Japan was only “not ready” for HD development because of pigheadedness.
The Wii was a calculated gamble not to compete on the same playing field as Microsoft and Sony, because they knew they couldn’t, and it paid off for them at least in terms of money.
Nothing about that gamble necessitated eschewing HD resolutions.
Would that be true if they hadn’t driven away all the big third party publishers by using dated tech? Would that be true if they effectively monetized their back catalog of classic titles?
It probably would be, yeah, considering the only reason Microsoft and to a lesser extent Sony got away with it is because they aren’t dedicated video game companies. Remember that the original Xbox was unprofitable for the entirety of its existence, and the 360 was rushed to market, had a crippling overheating issue because of such that cost Microsoft an enormous amount of money to support, and only came out profitable in the end because they continued to charge for online multiplayer when no one else was, a move that cost them a significant amount of customers at the same time. They could afford to do all of that because they also sell Windows. (I say Sony got away with it to a lesser extent because they’ve been having a lot more financial issues than Microsoft as of late, to the extent that their video game business is their only profitable tech business at all.)
Also, saying Japan wasn’t ready for HD because of their pigheadedness is ridiculous when the transition killed a lot of western devs as well. It’s why we no longer have a mid-budget market on consoles, and why the handful of major publishers still around just do annual releases of the same few franchises, with very few new IPs and very little experimentation. (The only reason we have something resembling a mid-budget market on PC is because the sort of mid-budget games that are popular on PC just straight-up exist in genres that aren’t as expensive to develop games in.) Maybe if some of those western devs hadn’t been so pigheaded about developing anything other than shovelware for the platforms that could support smaller budgets instead of trying to go all-in on HD, they could’ve survived!
I’m still sad about this. Wish they’d stick with the Wii U; I don’t understand which of the Wii U problems this is going to solve, and it’s just going to mean the few Nintendo games that make the Wii U worth it won’t be there anymore.
As someone who can’t justify a 3rd console this generation, I’m glad to hear that it’s some combination of a console and a handheld. Because that sounds like it can be backwards compatible with the WiiU. Which means if I eventually get the NX, I’ll be able to check out Super Mario 3D World and ZombiU and maybe other WiiU exclusives worth checking out.
Dear god, I hope Nintendo doesn’t fuck this up. All I want from them at this point is a more powerful, Vita-like system. No gimmicks, no multi screens, just a faster chip and all the right inputs.
Are you referring to the stand-alone controller/handheld portion of the system (that most likely also connects to the base console ala Wii-U)? Would you consider shoulder scroll-wheels a gimmick? :)
If it is what everyone’s expecting, I think it will have to be a large “handheld” that’s broadcasting an HD signal to a base that’s probably not much more than a charger & HDMI interface.
Completely speculative predictions:
No optical drive, download and cartridge software only.
At least a 720p touch screen, probably glass and capacitive this time.
At least a 6" screen, roughly the size of the WiiU tablet’s.
Still WiFi only, no ethernet plug.
No gimmicks like 3D or dual screens, but able to play DS or 3DS software in 2D. Maybe by using the device in portrait mode.
Support for remote+nunchuks, “classic” controller, touch controls.
What they probably should do but won’t:
Big focus on downloadable library of Nintendo’s back catalog, with wide selection of downloadable games available on Day 1
Preserve customers’ prior digital purchases on Wii/WiiU/DSi/3DS for use on NX
Bluetooth audio support
Slot for DS/3DS games
Save the new open-world Zelda game for an NX launch title
I can’t be the only one that would run screaming for the hills at the slightest indication this would be download only, right?
Nintendo is incompetent at online stuff. They are at least two generations behind everyone else here. I have zero trust that they would not screw it up and digital distribution is all about trust.
The Wii U and 3DS shops are suprisingly good experiences. Their online friend-chat and connectivity is kinda bad, but their downloads are pretty much the only way I get 3ds games anymore.
The current store is fine on 3DS and Wii-U, has been for ages now. I buy most of my stuff from there, the only problem is lack of storage space on Wii-U. And the price. :)
You have to do a system transfer as the ID is locked to the handheld, which is a bit of pain. I think that’s more an issue with the hardware design and their DRM, than the online functionality though.
I think they’ve improved this in the New 3DS already - you can system transfer from New 3DS to New 3DS XL for example just by swapping SD cards (as it won’t work on a system that already has an associated Network ID).
Yeah I really like the E-Shop on both my 3DS and Wii U, they’ve set it up nicely. And the lack of storage is a pita on the Wii U. Plus as I found out this past week, the Wii U USB ports don’t put out enough power to run an external HD, so it requires a separate cord so you can use both the front USB ports to power it. On the bright side, I’ll have an extra 2 TB of storage once that cord gets here from Amazon later this week.
So it’s official. Per Nintendo’s financials, the NX gets a global launch in March 2017. Not a huge surprise, given the total lack of official news or serious leaks about its specs, or even what it is. The shocking thing is that they’re not going to be showing it at E3 at all. And that they’re hanging the Wii-U out to dry. Zelda has been pushed back to 2017, and will be the only Wii-U game at E3. Also they’re only expecting to sell 800k units over the next year.
