What approach should Nintendo take with their new console?

[futurefields]

Should they go for beefy specs and price it $400-$500 or go the low-cost low-power route again and aim for $250-$300?

Personally I think people will pay whatever for Nintendo so I think they should go all out and come with something that is more powerful than PS4/XB1.

 

[Rakehellion]

Posting in a futurefields thread.

Since they're starting in the middle of a generation, they already have a price and technology advantage that two years of research bought them so I'm sure they'll do what they've been doing.

 

[WildW]

I think Nintendo need to stop making their own consoles. Their assets now are their well known game franchises, they should be making games for them on established platforms.

It's arguable that in the past Nintendo's consoles were innovative and allowed them to do the sorts of games that they wanted to make - for example the N64 allowed them to do Mario in 3D and popularised the analog stick that was eventually adopted by everyone else.

But consoles are "finished" now. They are now all plenty powerful enough to run whatever games Nintendo could want to make. We've had 3 or 4 generations of consoles for which the experience has basically been identical in terms of controllers. Nintendo keeps trying to innovate with controllers and the general gaming audience isn't buying it. There were a handful of good Wii games but I've never seen anything that wouldn't have been just as good mapped onto a "normal" controller.

 

[Ancalagon44]

Focus on third party games. Get other publishers to make games for their consoles. Focus on developer relationships.

Delay the launch of the new console until at least 3 decent solid hitter first person games are ready. I'm talking Mario Kart and Zelda, that sort of thing.

It doesn't have to be as powerful as expensive as a PS4, but it has to be close enough so that third party publishers will at least consider porting their titles to it. If your CPU and GPU performance is one quarter of what a PS4 can do, publishers won't bother spending the money to port to your console.

Fix your online strategy. Seriously, its been long enough now, just fix it. Get rid of friend codes, just make it work. Put in whatever mechanisms you want to keep children safe, but make it work and make it easy to use. Make it easy to move your profile from one console to another. Implement some form of cloud backups for save games.

Once the above is sorted out, you can think about a new innovative control scheme, but only if it is nothing like the Wii U Pad. Get rid of that, its terrible. If you don't sort the above out, nothing you do with control schemes will matter.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Games. It should have games. Good games.


...and porn. Easy access to porn. Not necessarily tentacle porn.

 

[Sulaco]

Focus on third party games. Get other publishers to make games for their consoles. Focus on developer relationships.

Delay the launch of the new console until at least 3 decent solid hitter first person games are ready. I'm talking Mario Kart and Zelda, that sort of thing.

It doesn't have to be as powerful as expensive as a PS4, but it has to be close enough so that third party publishers will at least consider porting their titles to it. If your CPU and GPU performance is one quarter of what a PS4 can do, publishers won't bother spending the money to port to your console.

Fix your online strategy. Seriously, its been long enough now, just fix it. Get rid of friend codes, just make it work. Put in whatever mechanisms you want to keep children safe, but make it work and make it easy to use. Make it easy to move your profile from one console to another. Implement some form of cloud backups for save games.

Once the above is sorted out, you can think about a new innovative control scheme, but only if it is nothing like the Wii U Pad. Get rid of that, its terrible. If you don't sort the above out, nothing you do with control schemes will matter.

I agree.


They're going to have to secure the likes of publishers like EA (Battlefield, Madden, FIFA), and Activision (Call of Duty), among others.

Simply coasting by on party games, shovel ware, and the occasional first party hit every once in awhile has led to a third place finish the last three rounds (including the Wii if you take into account the gimmicky first few years of its fad)

Speaking of gimmicks, I think enough is enough. A HUGE part of luring competent 3rd parties is giving them hardware with which to bring their games, that's at least on par with the competition. Touch screen tablets and motion control and 3D aren't moving systems, and are going to hold back a good deal of third parties if you're sacrificing hardware performance for gimmicky waggle controls or tablet screens. Stop it.

Finally, I'd say investing in and creating a better, more usable online community would be essential. Something that can competently rival PSN and Xbox Live.

 

[mmntech]

I used to think that Nintendo should fall into line with the industry trends, but I've since changed my mind. The industry as a whole right now is a broken mess. A sea of conformity, dude bros, focus groups, unfinished games, and Lord Business type leadership. The last thing I want is for Big N to follow that same path.

I've said before that I think the Wii U is the best console this generation. I still maintain that. Even with its weird tablet controller.

Nintendo has two big problems right now.
1) Console gaming is dead in Japan
2) It doesn't have enough games coming out on a regular basis

Nintendo's big focus IMO needs to be bringing more studios on board. I don't think Madden and Call of Duty are the answer either. Nintendo sort of has to offer something different to avoid getting lost in the market. Medium-budget games would be a good place to carve a niche out. Nobody's really making them anymore, but as we've seen from recent Kickstarter campaigns, they're are still in demand.

There's a lot of talented but unsatisfied devs from other studios. It would be smart for Nintendo to start courting them. Treat them like royalty, and give them the resources to set up their own second party studios. Imagine if they scored people like Hideo Kojima, Hideki Kamiya, or Keiji Inafune to develop for them on an exclusive basis. It would be huge.

The other thing Nintendo needs to badly do is embrace internet culture. Namely stop their nonsense war against YouTubers. That's where the hype train comes from today.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Give me a sub $300 ARM handheld (and by handheld I mean a modified Android tablet with buttons) that can be hooked to a TV via a wireless HDMI stick. I personally think they need to get out of the box console market, other than maybe a token branding only game on the Nvidia Shield or something. Not everyone wants to give kids their own phone or an expensive iPad. Give us a good touchscreen handheld and Nintendo has a good future platform. Amazon has had some success in the kids tablet realm, they should copy that warranty and device design.

As a bonus this would allow Nintendo to crank out more first party games in a shorter time as a handheld is easier to develop for. As far as third party as long as they nail the tablet part they can live off of iPad and Android ports. Heck by 2016 ARM SoCs will have GPUs near the Wii U, it could even get a couple dual releases like that Zelda that was released on the Wii and the Gamecube.

 

[Lil Frier]

Can't we just keep this in the NX thread, where I'm sure this has been discussed 2-3 times already?

Classic FF thread.

 

[Renob]

Should they go for beefy specs and price it $400-$500 or go the low-cost low-power route again and aim for $250-$300?

Personally I think people will pay whatever for Nintendo so I think they should go all out and come with something that is more powerful than PS4/XB1.

why going the same route that they just failed on big-time, I say go very heavy on the hardware specs beat out MS and Sony and make is super easy for dev teams to work on..content alone will no longer work, people want the eye candy also.. or just do software and make a giant killer woot Mario 64 running on a new Unreal engine on a nice PC WOOT take my money

 

[Rakehellion]

Give me a sub $300 ARM handheld (and by handheld I mean a modified Android tablet with buttons) that can be hooked to a TV via a wireless HDMI stick.

So the Ouya. That was a big hit, wasn't it?

 

[poofyhairguy]

So the Ouya. That was a big hit, wasn't it?

No, I am thinking a tablet and not a box. A kid focused tablet, like an iPad Jr.

Plus the Ouya didn't work because of a lack of games not because of the CPU or OS. If Nintendo made the Ouya hardware and put Mario on it then it would have sold millions of units. Hell emulation was the best Ouya use case as is. There would be a huge market for a non illegal retro system, and a Nintendo tablet plus Virtual Console provide that.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I used to think that Nintendo should fall into line with the industry trends, but I've since changed my mind. The industry as a whole right now is a broken mess. A sea of conformity, dude bros, focus groups, unfinished games, and Lord Business type leadership. The last thing I want is for Big N to follow that same path.

I've said before that I think the Wii U is the best console this generation. I still maintain that. Even with its weird tablet controller.

Nintendo has two big problems right now.
1) Console gaming is dead in Japan
2) It doesn't have enough games coming out on a regular basis

Nintendo's big focus IMO needs to be bringing more studios on board. I don't think Madden and Call of Duty are the answer either. Nintendo sort of has to offer something different to avoid getting lost in the market. Medium-budget games would be a good place to carve a niche out. Nobody's really making them anymore, but as we've seen from recent Kickstarter campaigns, they're are still in demand.

There's a lot of talented but unsatisfied devs from other studios. It would be smart for Nintendo to start courting them. Treat them like royalty, and give them the resources to set up their own second party studios. Imagine if they scored people like Hideo Kojima, Hideki Kamiya, or Keiji Inafune to develop for them on an exclusive basis. It would be huge.

The other thing Nintendo needs to badly do is embrace internet culture. Namely stop their nonsense war against YouTubers. That's where the hype train comes from today.

I think what the 'mo power mo power' train around here fails to realize is that the Wii U has already made its money back and is making money. They can hate on the way Nintendo does things all they want, really all they need is the games to back up their hardware...which I will agree is really lacking this time around.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I think what the 'mo power mo power' train around here fails to realize is that the Wii U has already made its money back and is making money. They can hate on the way Nintendo does things all they want, really all they need is the games to back up their hardware...which I will agree is really lacking this time around.

Sony was making a profit on a per unit hardware basis on the PS4 when it was on the market for only 6 months. The WiiU being profitable means nothing to me, nor does the PS4 or XB1 making money. I care about the games and the WiiU basically has none for me. It would have games if it was rocking better hardware without a gimmick controller. It would attract 3rd parties a bit better, but then Nintendo needs to actively court 3rd party developers and publishers worldwide. Until then their hardware won't matter.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Should they go for beefy specs and price it $400-$500 or go the low-cost low-power route again and aim for $250-$300?

Personally I think people will pay whatever for Nintendo so I think they should go all out and come with something that is more powerful than PS4/XB1.

People don't just buy Nintendo cause it's Nintendo. If that was the case the WiiU sales wouldn't suck as much as they have. The guys at my local Gamestop say there's weeks when they don't sell one game for a Nintendo system that isn't 3DS and then it's mostly an old game. Nintendo only managed to sell 3.03million units between April 2014 and January 2015 according to Polygon (http://www.polygon.com/2015/1/28/7928919/nintendo-wii-u-sold-total-2012-fiscal-results). That's not stellar sales. Year to date sales seem to be around 1million units for the WiiU according to VGChartz (Yes I am aware that people really discredit or don't like VGChartz). That's compared to 2.1million units for the XB1 and 4.9million for the PS4 which actually is outselling the 3DS on a hardware basis by a good 1.8million.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I agree.


They're going to have to secure the likes of publishers like EA (Battlefield, Madden, FIFA), and Activision (Call of Duty), among others.

Are you suggesting Battlefield Mario and Call of Mario Duty?

 

[JD50]

I used to think that Nintendo should fall into line with the industry trends, but I've since changed my mind. The industry as a whole right now is a broken mess. A sea of conformity, dude bros, focus groups, unfinished games, and Lord Business type leadership. The last thing I want is for Big N to follow that same path.

I've said before that I think the Wii U is the best console this generation. I still maintain that. Even with its weird tablet controller.

Nintendo has two big problems right now.
1) Console gaming is dead in Japan
2) It doesn't have enough games coming out on a regular basis

Nintendo's big focus IMO needs to be bringing more studios on board. I don't think Madden and Call of Duty are the answer either. Nintendo sort of has to offer something different to avoid getting lost in the market. Medium-budget games would be a good place to carve a niche out. Nobody's really making them anymore, but as we've seen from recent Kickstarter campaigns, they're are still in demand.

There's a lot of talented but unsatisfied devs from other studios. It would be smart for Nintendo to start courting them. Treat them like royalty, and give them the resources to set up their own second party studios. Imagine if they scored people like Hideo Kojima, Hideki Kamiya, or Keiji Inafune to develop for them on an exclusive basis. It would be huge.

The other thing Nintendo needs to badly do is embrace internet culture. Namely stop their nonsense war against YouTubers. That's where the hype train comes from today.

Agreed.

Keep CoD, Modern Warfare, etc... on the other consoles, the dude bros have two platforms, they don't need a third.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Sony was making a profit on a per unit hardware basis on the PS4 when it was on the market for only 6 months. The WiiU being profitable means nothing to me, nor does the PS4 or XB1 making money. I care about the games and the WiiU basically has none for me. It would have games if it was rocking better hardware without a gimmick controller. It would attract 3rd parties a bit better, but then Nintendo needs to actively court 3rd party developers and publishers worldwide. Until then their hardware won't matter.

I don't think Nintendo cares, which was the point. None of these companies 'care' about anything other than the bottom line. Sure the Wii-U has been a drudge, but, they aren't losing money, so they'll continue to do what they want. The 3rd party issue is more about them ticking off the companies moreso than Nintendo needing to have the exact same lineup as Xbox/PS4/PC. I'd rather see a bunch of 3rd party exclusives that aren't AAA titles (or as many dudebro's call them, shovelware) than a bunch of the same titles on a system that is exactly like the other two. It is a pointless venture.

 

[JD50]

Sony was making a profit on a per unit hardware basis on the PS4 when it was on the market for only 6 months. The WiiU being profitable means nothing to me, nor does the PS4 or XB1 making money. I care about the games and the WiiU basically has none for me. It would have games if it was rocking better hardware without a gimmick controller. It would attract 3rd parties a bit better, but then Nintendo needs to actively court 3rd party developers and publishers worldwide. Until then their hardware won't matter.

They have released most of their normal 1st party franchise games on the Wii U and almost all of them are fantastic. If you don't like those kinds of games that's fine, maybe Nintendo just isn't right platform for you any more. PS4 and XBone have exactly the games that you're looking for. I like both kinds of games and have no problem owning 2 consoles each generation.

 

[JD50]

I don't think Nintendo cares, which was the point. None of these companies 'care' about anything other than the bottom line. Sure the Wii-U has been a drudge, but, they aren't losing money, so they'll continue to do what they want. The 3rd party issue is more about them ticking off the companies moreso than Nintendo needing to have the exact same lineup as Xbox/PS4/PC. I'd rather see a bunch of 3rd party exclusives that aren't AAA titles (or as many dudebro's call them, shovelware) than a bunch of the same titles on a system that is exactly like the other two. It is a pointless venture.

:thumbsup:

 

[TheSlamma]

Hardware that doesn't make devs flee in terror.

 

[Lil Frier]

I find this go-to term of "dude bros," to be totally moronic. It's as stupid as calling the Wii U a "kiddie console." People don't like military shooters, we get it. However, the loss of those publishing the big shooter franchises doesn't just keep the "dude bros" off of the console. Losing EA doesn't just lose you Battlefield. It costs the Wii U all of the sports stuff, too. You miss out on Dragon Age and Need for Speed and Mass Effect and Mirror's Edge and more. And it's not just EA and Activision and the shooter franchises that are scared away, either. You lose the mass of Ubisoft titles. Dying Light and Shadow of Mordor and other mature-aimed RPGs miss the boat. Bethesda is keeping Fallout and The Elder Scrolls from Nintendo. You don't see GTA or The Witcher 3 or even Minecraft in the Nintendo realm. You might not like some of the mainstream games from the big publishers, but it's not like Nintendo is only missing a couple of major releases or genres or publishers.

Sure, Nintendo makes money on its hardware and software. However, they could lower the hardware margin, make the hardware better, and reap the rewards on the software side to an even greater extent. If they built a legitimate online network, they could join the fun of raking $60/year out of the wallets of millions of people. Nintendo's not exactly going to go bankrupt over its current strategy, but it's going to become somewhat irrelevant in a hurry, and it could get to the point where it just doesn't move the needle enough for most consumers. It's not like Sony and Nintendo can't copy some of their game offerings, if they want. I think it kind of says a lot about the public perception of Nintendo that the competition doesn't bother touching their bread-and-butter genres/franchises, yet Nintendo gets left in the dust.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I find this go-to term of "dude bros," to be totally moronic.

If you've never heard two guys yelling "DUUUUUDE!" "BROOOO!" back and forth over a COD match you're missing out. It is so on the nose.

 

[cmdrdredd]

They have released most of their normal 1st party franchise games on the Wii U and almost all of them are fantastic. If you don't like those kinds of games that's fine, maybe Nintendo just isn't right platform for you any more. PS4 and XBone have exactly the games that you're looking for. I like both kinds of games and have no problem owning 2 consoles each generation.

No they haven't. There's no Zelda, I might actually play Pokemon if they put a proper RPG on their console, There's no Metroid(though I think Nintendo is too dumb to realize how much this would sell if they gave a crap about it).

I also own two consoles, a XB1 and a PS4. I would own three, I had a WiiU but they just aren't trying to attract the type of gamer who isn't an ultra fanboy. I'm sorry that's how I feel.

I find this go-to term of "dude bros," to be totally moronic. It's as stupid as calling the Wii U a "kiddie console." People don't like military shooters, we get it. However, the loss of those publishing the big shooter franchises doesn't just keep the "dude bros" off of the console. Losing EA doesn't just lose you Battlefield. It costs the Wii U all of the sports stuff, too. You miss out on Dragon Age and Need for Speed and Mass Effect and Mirror's Edge and more. And it's not just EA and Activision and the shooter franchises that are scared away, either. You lose the mass of Ubisoft titles. Dying Light and Shadow of Mordor and other mature-aimed RPGs miss the boat. Bethesda is keeping Fallout and The Elder Scrolls from Nintendo. You don't see GTA or The Witcher 3 or even Minecraft in the Nintendo realm. You might not like some of the mainstream games from the big publishers, but it's not like Nintendo is only missing a couple of major releases or genres or publishers.

Sure, Nintendo makes money on its hardware and software. However, they could lower the hardware margin, make the hardware better, and reap the rewards on the software side to an even greater extent. If they built a legitimate online network, they could join the fun of raking $60/year out of the wallets of millions of people. Nintendo's not exactly going to go bankrupt over its current strategy, but it's going to become somewhat irrelevant in a hurry, and it could get to the point where it just doesn't move the needle enough for most consumers. It's not like Sony and Nintendo can't copy some of their game offerings, if they want. I think it kind of says a lot about the public perception of Nintendo that the competition doesn't bother touching their bread-and-butter genres/franchises, yet Nintendo gets left in the dust.

Precisely, there's a huge swath of games that never see a release on any Nintendo platform these days. Like you said, it's not just shooters.

I also agree on your assessment of the derogatory terms used to describe certain gamer demographics. It's just how people talk. I say dude often amongst my friends, some of them say bro. Big deal. We don't play CoD or Battlefield anymore.

 

[Lil Frier]

If you've never heard two guys yelling "DUUUUUDE!" "BROOOO!" back and forth over a COD match you're missing out. It is so on the nose.

I don't recall hearing that ever, and I've been playing the games for a decade. Shoot, my issue is that people are never on their mics on shooters anymore, which is quite frustrating for someone who likes objective-based games.

No they haven't. There's no Zelda, I might actually play Pokemon if they put a proper RPG on their console, There's no Metroid(though I think Nintendo is too dumb to realize how much this would sell if they gave a crap about it).

Well, I wouldn't call the current Zelda drought atypically long. Like we've discussed, Nintendo's just inconsistent and slow with stuff. Metroid is a franchise I never cared about, so I can't speak to the longevity of its omission. Pokémon has never really brought the RPG experience to home consoles, minus the N64's GB pack that let you transfer Pokémon you won in the Gym Battle mode to your game (to help you get the starters you never could), or use your handheld Pokémon in the console game for the free battles.

Really, Pokémon Stadium really deserves a true successor. They could even go as far as adding Pokémon Snap! as an add-on/mini-game to it. There are times I feel like the RPG games are best-suited with a handheld, as they lack the longevity of a home console game, in some respects. At the same time, I then think of PokeMMO, which kept even my non-gamer sister on the PC until early in the morning for a few sessions. That's a concept Nintendo just needs to get on-board with stealing. If they're going to make a Pokémon RPG on consoles, network it. Maybe don't go for a full-on MMO, but at least put you in a position to co-op with friends/family. It would be even better for that two-game setup they do, so you can catch the exclusives while with your co-op partner.

Honestly, I have great ideas for days involving what they could do with a proper home console RPG with that franchise. It could have enough content to rival The Witcher 3, if they really wanted it to.