now is the best time ever for Nintendo to be prototyping a new system

[smackababy]

Nintendo needs to sell an Android tablet that can optionally connect to an app store with their classic games.

So basically Sony's idea, but done better.

Nintendo already sells more handhelds than anyone. Why would a tablet be a good idea for them? In a few years, it will be underpowered compared to other Android devices and pirating apps would be so incredibly easy. They are much better off selling you a 4DS (or whatever is going to be the next handheld) and supporting it for the next 5 or so years before releasing another.

Nintendo sold 11 million 3DS in 2013. How many non iPads were sold during that time?

 

[Sonikku]

It's ironic because on the one hand, it was a logical and sensible move to scrap it because as an add on it would have surely failed like Sega CD. And yet, on the other hand, it would appear that taking it on the chin with a failed peripheral device actually would have been significantly smarter than allowing Sony to become a competitor of massive influence and power in their own right.

Just imagine how much that one call made by Nintendo dramatically shifted the future of video games forever.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Nintendo already sells more handhelds than anyone. Why would a tablet be a good idea for them?

Because the 3DS is already at the end of its useful life and their idea of selling a NEW 3DS is going to cause terrible market fragmentation. Heck the whole DS thing is over with, old tech that feels old in 2014.

Basically I am proposing that they sneak the tablet into the water as a retrodevice and if it is a hit then they rehash another version in a year or two as the official replacement for the 3DS. Nintendo basically pioneered touch gaming with the DS, but like a Blackberry now their tech feels old. The touch interface on either the 3DS or the Wii U mote is a joke compared to a capacitive touch system like an iPad. What is nice about the tablet idea is that in one shot they modernize the touch interface, and begin development in that direction, without having to trash the current 3DS or Wii U.

Then if it takes off, with the second reversion not only do you have a new DS but you can then have a replacement for the Wii U mote screen (but BETTER) which then allows you to cut that out of the Wii U system price and get that console to sub-$150 (where it really needs to be TODAY). In regards to piracy that can be avoided by requiring some hardware lock like an extra DRM chip in the official tablet that it checks against to open the app store. The tablet only has to have moderately decent hardware (not even cutting edge) as the selling point isn't "this will replace YOUR iPad" but instead "buy this instead of an $500 iPad for your kids." Toughness matter more than raw specs, which means if it gets a little outdated in a year oh well.

Nintendo owned the casual market for the Wii, then the iPad came along and ate that market. Eventually Nintendo needs to go along to get along, or be left behind in a very particular niche or two. Their ceiling for the device is whatever the cheapest iPad costs, the floor is the 3DS.

 

[smackababy]

It's ironic because on the one hand, it was a logical and sensible move to scrap it because as an add on it would have surely failed like Sega CD. And yet, on the other hand, it would appear that taking it on the chin with a failed peripheral device actually would have been significantly smarter than allowing Sony to become a competitor of massive influence and power in their own right.

Just imagine how much that one call made by Nintendo dramatically shifted the future of video games forever.

It was for the better IMO. Sega was already on it's death bed by the time this all happened. I shutter to think of what console gaming would have been with just Nintendo making consoles. It would be almost as bad as just nVidia or ATI making GPUs.

I'm sure this idea hurt Nintendo, but I don't care about a particular brand, I care about the industry as a whole. Thankfully, we have 3 relevant players, even if one is fading quicker than we hoped. Competition is never a bad thing.

 

[Zodiark1593]

Nintendo needs to sell an Android tablet that can optionally connect to an app store with their classic games.

So basically Sony's idea, but done better.

Does the market really need yet another tablet?

 

[Sonikku]

It was for the better IMO. Sega was already on it's death bed by the time this all happened. I shutter to think of what console gaming would have been with just Nintendo making consoles. It would be almost as bad as just nVidia or ATI making GPUs.

I'm sure this idea hurt Nintendo, but I don't care about a particular brand, I care about the industry as a whole. Thankfully, we have 3 relevant players, even if one is fading quicker than we hoped. Competition is never a bad thing.

Clearly we as gamers benefited. I spoke mostly from a profit point of view from Nintendo's perspective. It would have behooved them greatly to have absorbed the loss of the cd add on device. But it would hardly have behooved the industry.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Does the market really need yet another tablet?

Yes, I think so.

Tablets are shown to be the perfect entertainment device for children under the age of 6, but no one has NAILED a "kids tablet." Instead they all give their kids their old iPad in a case and hope that its doesn't get destroyed.

If Nintendo had a tablet that was tough as nails with kid centric games (and classic Nintendo games to get all us 20 and 30 something manlets to buy) they could combo the power of their handheld market with the brand sexiness of the mobile market to make what would probably be the highest selling non-iPad tablet of all time.

 

[Lil Frier]

Nintendo COULD just skip the mobile OS, make a functional marketplace (the eShop's not perfect), then basically sell the Wii U's gamepad as a standalone tablet, opting to give it a good chunk of storage. They could have a "GamePad Pro" or something with a capacitive, 1080p display, throw in 64 GB of storage with microSD support, and that would probably be the perfect tablet for them. They'd keep their games to themselves, and it would be like blowing the GBA up to tablet size.

 

[smackababy]

Yes, I think so.

Tablets are shown to be the perfect entertainment device for children under the age of 6, but no one has NAILED a "kids tablet." Instead they all give their kids their old iPad in a case and hope that its doesn't get destroyed.

If Nintendo had a tablet that was tough as nails with kid centric games (and classic Nintendo games to get all us 20 and 30 something manlets to buy) they could combo the power of their handheld market with the brand sexiness of the mobile market to make what would probably be the highest selling non-iPad tablet of all time.

Tablets have proven awful for gaming again and again. I am not paying $400 for my kids can play Nintendo Angry Birds.

Unless these new magical tablets (whose hardware will be obsolete just as fast as they are released, case in point: Hearthstone can't be played on the iPad 2 with any amount of enjoyment and Apple still sells the iPad 2!) come with a new control scheme for games beyond swipe or click the big button, they better come with a controller type attachment. Screen, with buttons, and a marketplace? Sounds an awful lot like a 3DS...

 

[cmdrdredd]

Tablets have proven awful for gaming again and again. I am not paying $400 for my kids can play Nintendo Angry Birds.

Unless these new magical tablets (whose hardware will be obsolete just as fast as they are released, case in point: Hearthstone can't be played on the iPad 2 with any amount of enjoyment and Apple still sells the iPad 2!) come with a new control scheme for games beyond swipe or click the big button, they better come with a controller type attachment. Screen, with buttons, and a marketplace? Sounds an awful lot like a 3DS...

Yep or a Vita/Playstation TV. Same idea, different games.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Nintendo COULD just skip the mobile OS, make a functional marketplace (the eShop's not perfect), then basically sell the Wii U's gamepad as a standalone tablet, opting to give it a good chunk of storage. They could have a "GamePad Pro" or something with a capacitive, 1080p display, throw in 64 GB of storage with microSD support, and that would probably be the perfect tablet for them. They'd keep their games to themselves, and it would be like blowing the GBA up to tablet size.

Hmm, not a bad idea at all! At least then people could finally buy a second Wii U controller!

 

[mmntech]

Does the market really need yet another tablet?

Nope. In fact the tablet market is already softening. Everyone that wanted one already has one. Even Apple has seen declining iPad sales, and people usually go nuts for those things.

The problem with touch screen tablets is they only work well for certain types of games. Basically anything that's turn based point & click. Plus a lot of developers just don't know how to utilize touch properly. So you'd have to add conventional controls.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Sony is adding DS4 support to their new Z3 phone and their new tablets for PS4 remote play. If a developer was interested in doing it I bet you could use that for a stand alone game.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Tablets have proven awful for gaming again and again. I am not paying $400 for my kids can play Nintendo Angry Birds.

Maybe you won't, but for millions of parents a tablet is less a crappy game console and more a child placation device. Plus, just like I got my first Tandy which I used only for games by selling my parents on the fact that it would teach my how to "use a computer," I could see a Nintendo tablets as a way to teach kids about the modern computer aka mobile devices.

More than once a parent has asked me what child placation device they should buy (being the known tech guy) and they didn't like my answer of a 3DS because "that is some ancient device because it still uses a stylus." In every case they just got the kids an old iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch because "thats modern."

Nintendo needs to get with the times and piggybacking on something like Android is a fast way to the top! Anything shipped with a capacitive screen in 2014 might as well be a black and white screen too.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Maybe you won't, but for millions of parents a tablet is less a crappy game console and more a child placation device. Plus, just like I got my first Tandy which I used only for games by selling my parents on the fact that it would teach my how to "use a computer," I could see a Nintendo tablets as a way to teach kids about the modern computer aka mobile devices.

More than once a parent has asked me what child placation device they should buy (being the known tech guy) and they didn't like my answer of a 3DS because "that is some ancient device because it still uses a stylus." In every case they just got the kids an old iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch because "thats modern."

Nintendo needs to get with the times and piggybacking on something like Android is a fast way to the top! Anything shipped with a capacitive screen in 2014 might as well be a black and white screen too.

30million 3DS sales later and it doesn't seem like some ancient device anymore does it?

 

[poofyhairguy]

30million 3DS sales later and it doesn't seem like some ancient device anymore does it?

It does seem like a step back when the regular DS sold over 150 million units. Or the iPad sells 19 million units every quarter.

 

[cmdrdredd]

It does seem like a step back when the regular DS sold over 150 million units. Or the iPad sells 19 million units every quarter.

ipad isn't a gaming machine You're hopeless if you're gonna sit here and compare everything to a tablet

The regular DS sold that many in how long? a lifespan? That's 9 years vs what? 3...yeah real fair.

 

[poofyhairguy]

ipad isn't a gaming machine

To millions of parents, it is.

The regular DS sold that many in how long? a lifespan? That's 9 years vs what? 3...yeah real fair.

Even of you just look at the per year rate the DS is outsold the 3DS. I love many of the 3DS games personally, but this generation Nintendo is competing more with Apple than a Sony.

Nintendo isn't going to make a tablet, I know that. I just want to see them succeed, and selling an actual modern piece of hardware with their name on it is the start of that. For a console that means a real online system, for mobile that means a screen that doesn't need a stylus.

Search for "Sega" on the iOS market for a preview of what long-term failure of Nintendo hardware platforms looks like.

 

[cmdrdredd]

To millions of parents, it is.

We're done here. It's not marketed as a video game console, not even a mobile one.

 

[poofyhairguy]

We're done here. It's not marketed as a video game console, not even a mobile one.

Apple has been marketing its iPod Touches and iPads as game devices from the start. Here is a dedicated spot from 2009:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TmRxrZAJWUc

And almost every iPad commercial features gameplay. Game developers are making mobile a priority, more than current consoles actually:

And no wonder why when you look at total units sold for iOS and Android:

Just because mobile devices aren't "dedicated gaming consoles" doesn't mean they aren't competing with devices that are. It isn't 1995.

 

[Lil Frier]

Sony is adding DS4 support to their new Z3 phone and their new tablets for PS4 remote play. If a developer was interested in doing it I bet you could use that for a stand alone game.

Shouldn't the Z3 have a kickstand? I feel like it should have something to make it a viable machine for DS4 support. I mean, unless they want to sell a mount for the controller to hold the thing, haha.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Shouldn't the Z3 have a kickstand? I feel like it should have something to make it a viable machine for DS4 support. I mean, unless they want to sell a mount for the controller to hold the thing, haha.

I dunno, but there it is.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Apple has been marketing its iPod Touches and iPads as game devices from the start. Here is a dedicated spot from 2009:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TmRxrZAJWUc

And almost every iPad commercial features gameplay. Game developers are making mobile a priority, more than current consoles actually:



And no wonder why when you look at total units sold for iOS and Android:


Just because mobile devices aren't "dedicated gaming consoles" doesn't mean they aren't competing with devices that are. It isn't 1995.

*yawn* wake me up when any developer makes a billion dollars in 3 days on a mobile platform like a certain console game called Grand Theft Auto 5 did. It will never happen.

Your argument is pathetic. Marketshare of mobile devices compared to whatever else means shit. Know why? Cause people buy a phone because...*gasp* it's a damned phone and everyone needs a phone these days.

Mobile gaming on touch screen devices sucks, and anyone who says otherwise is an idiot. These things are not selling to play games on, that's secondary or third even fourth usages. They are primarily communication and media consumption devices, and are primarily purchased as such. Developers can claim to be most interested in those platforms if they want but the games suck and that isn't changing with a touch screen.

Also there's this gem of an article. Developers and moving to Steam and Consoles for their games because it's easier to get recognized and there's more money there for software sales. There is also the ease of pirating a game on mobile OSes. I can find just about any paid game on Android for free somewhere. So again your marketshare argument falls flat.
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Devs-Head-Back-PC-Consoles-Realizing-Mobile-Gaming-Sucks-59367.html

The new generation consoles are now indie friendly, and they're following in the footsteps of Valve, who has opened up the door for just about any and every developer from every walk of life.

Instead of fighting for pennies to a dollar on the app stores, mobile developers are abandoning the once promoted waterhole of success and retreating to more stable ground... they're going back to where gamers made the industry famous: PC and home consoles.

 

[poofyhairguy]

*yawn* wake me up when any developer makes a billion dollars in 3 days on a mobile platform like a certain console game called Grand Theft Auto 5 did. It will never happen.

Two things:

1. I am mostly talking about handheld platforms. Grand Theft Auto 5 never has been released on a handheld platform.

2. Honestly that kind of logic might be bad for the industry and gamers. There are a few GTA level franchises and plenty of flops. Nowadays console games are huge risks with huge losses if you don't hit it big like GTA. It has led to an industry of cookie cutters and safe plays, and the destruction of whole genres that only have a smaller (though dedicated) fan base like JRPGs. Meanwhile handheld platforms have way lower development cost across the board, which has lead to innovation on mobile and the 3DS.

Your argument is pathetic. Marketshare of mobile devices compared to whatever else means shit. Know why? Cause people buy a phone because...*gasp* it's a damned phone and everyone needs a phone these days.

Actually mobile devices have twice the game consumer spending as all portable consoles combined since 2013:

I know that is the case for myself.

Mobile gaming on touch screen devices sucks, and anyone who says otherwise is an idiot. These things are not selling to play games on, that's secondary or third even fourth usages. They are primarily communication and media consumption devices, and are primarily purchased as such. Developers can claim to be most interested in those platforms if they want but the games suck and that isn't changing with a touch screen.

I could list off the long list of mobile games I like, or mention how I often use my tablet and phone with a six axis. But the truth is mobile devices have been a bigger platform for three years. Mobile is a way bigger market and developers notice that. Also Android is one of the best emulation platforms out there (second to x86 Windows IMHO) and many classic console games from companies like Sega and Squaresoft are already in both the iOS and Android markets.

Also there's this gem of an article. Developers and moving to Steam and Consoles for their games because it's easier to get recognized and there's more money there for software sales. There is also the ease of pirating a game on mobile OSes. I can find just about any paid game on Android for free somewhere. So again your marketshare argument falls flat.
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Devs-Head-Back-PC-Consoles-Realizing-Mobile-Gaming-Sucks-59367.html

Anecdotal data. The facts are if you compare that first chart with the one from this year:

You can see the numbers show the gap is growing. If any developers are going back to portable consoles its because they are quickly becoming a niche market.

 

[Sulaco]

Two things:

1. I am mostly talking about handheld platforms. Grand Theft Auto 5 never has been released on a handheld platform.

2. Honestly that kind of logic might be bad for the industry and gamers. There are a few GTA level franchises and plenty of flops. Nowadays console games are huge risks with huge losses if you don't hit it big like GTA. It has led to an industry of cookie cutters and safe plays, and the destruction of whole genres that only have a smaller (though dedicated) fan base like JRPGs. Meanwhile handheld platforms have way lower development cost across the board, which has lead to innovation on mobile and the 3DS.



Actually mobile devices have twice the game consumer spending as all portable consoles combined since 2013:

I know that is the case for myself.



I could list off the long list of mobile games I like, or mention how I often use my tablet and phone with a six axis. But the truth is mobile devices have been a bigger platform for three years. Mobile is a way bigger market and developers notice that. Also Android is one of the best emulation platforms out there (second to x86 Windows IMHO) and many classic console games from companies like Sega and Squaresoft are already in both the iOS and Android markets.



Anecdotal data. The facts are if you compare that first chart with the one from this year:

You can see the numbers show the gap is growing. If any developers are going back to portable consoles its because they are quickly becoming a niche market.

Those charts are meaningless because they're comparing apples to rutabagas.

What constitutes a "game" on an iOS platform is just not in the same realm as gaming on dedicated consoles or handhelds.

Kim Kardashian: Hollywood" (just let that sink in), Candy Crush Saga, Farm Heroes Saga, Boom Beach, and Big Fish Casino....are 5 of the Top 10 iOS games out there.

Would ANY of those games sell on a dedicated console, at anything approaching MSRP of most handheld games? Of course not. Entirely different markets and demographics.

Looking at the list of even the top 50 most popular, there's nothing even in the realm of being at all similar to actual handheld games or gameplay.

That's not to say they don't exist here and there, but the point you are arguing is about the profitability of these games. And yes. They are. But selling millions of "Candy Crush Saga" for $1.99 to every 9 to 21 year old female with an iPhone, while translating to plenty of revenue and making your charts look impressive, does not begin to tell the story.