How Can Nintendo Recover? 559
Nerval's Lobster writes "Nintendo's revenue and profits are tumbling faster than Mario into a bottomless pit. Company executives recently suggested the next-generation Wii U console would sell 2.8 million units between April 2013 and March 2014 — significantly below the 9 million units predicted in previous estimates. Contrast that with Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One, which sold 4.2 million and 3 million units, respectively, in their first six weeks of release. In lowering its hardware and software estimates, Nintendo also expects to take a loss by the end of its fiscal year in March. Nintendo's attempt to carve a niche for itself as an ecosystem for casual gamers has also run into a massive obstacle in the form of smartphones and tablets, which quickly developed into popular gaming platforms. Nintendo is reportedly considering a 'new business model,' according to Bloomberg, with its CEO telling a gathering of reporters in Osaka: 'Given the expansion of smart devices, we are naturally studying how smart devices can be used to grow the game-player business. It's not as simple as enabling Mario to move on a smartphone.' While Nintendo could probably made some good money off legacy gamers by bringing its (much loved) portfolio of older titles to iOS, Android, and other platforms, that move to mobile might further weaken its hardware sales. So what do you think? If you were in charge of Nintendo, how would you turn it around?"
Erm, the 3DS (Score:3, Insightful)
is doing fine.
Just keep pumping out decent games and don't fuck up the next major console. The 3DS is their lifesaver until the next refresh.
Re:Erm, the 3DS (Score:4, Interesting)
is doing fine.
Just keep pumping out decent games and don't fuck up the next major console. The 3DS is their lifesaver until the next refresh.
Is that why they are going to post a loss? A company can't rely on aging products to survive these days, at least not in the technology/entertainment sector. I'm not declaring them dead, but they are hardly doing well.
Re:Erm, the 3DS (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Erm, the 3DS (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Nintendo is the last company that understands c (Score:4, Funny)
requiring an internet connection, thus ruling out putting it in the living room with the TV
If only there was some way devices could communicate wirelessly. It could be given a cool-sounding name like Redfang or Wiffy.
Kids are tablet crack-addicts now (Score:5, Interesting)
Nintendo always had games very well targeted to children.
The current crop of kiddies see tablets as part of their identity and there isn't any reversing this for Nintendo. It is over for Nintendo.
The XBox is a different story because it is a "serious" casual gaming machine and not being devoured by such a market change. [But will probably succumb to a future market change, in 3 years or less smartphones will happen to have full-fledged game console capabilities, many efforts underway even 2-3 years back heading that direction particular with Android.]
In the end, only one device can win and it was always destined to be the smart phone due to portability --- laptop/desktop sales are falling very quickly which is a bit disturbing (Tablets +69%, computers 14% drop in units sold).
Re: (Score:3)
the lose is from the wii-u collecting dust in the stores. the 3ds still has strong sales.
Exactly!, except it's not the stores where they are collecting dust causing the problem, but the warehouses and shipping containers. Nintendo needs to have a fire sale to generate cash flow to build something that will sell. Even unloading them at cost would be better than sitting in storage. I wonder if SteamOS can be ported to run on a Wii U?
Re:Erm, the 3DS (Score:4, Insightful)
Well the 3DS and 2DS are new enough that their sales figures probably aren't included in the quarter being reported, but their development costs probably are included.
Grandkids got these for Christmas, and I was amazed at how quickly they had found all the cool features of these gaming devices. Soon the gaming was secondary to all the other things they do. They are making movies on them, recording sound, distorting images, and putting snapshots of their friends into the games as characters.
Game play is but one aspect of these devices. You can pass some games and game tools to there players as you pass them on the street, (creepy) and if you visit some place those other friends have been (McDonalds for instance). Very Amazing little devices.
These are totally new devices with quite a bit more included besides simple game play.
Re: (Score:3)
Well the 3DS and 2DS are new enough that their sales figures probably aren't included in the quarter being reported
The 3DS is almost three years old.
Re: (Score:3)
Minecraft Pocket Edition has real time multiplayer, as long as there is a wireless LAN where you are.
Re:Erm, the 3DS (Score:4, Insightful)
Any smartphone has a WiFi connection these days. If you have a WiFi network you can do LAN multiplayer easily.
Re:Erm, the 3DS (Score:5, Insightful)
But the smartphone is a miserable gaming platform.
Re: It's not the 3DS, but the change of a generati (Score:5, Informative)
I think you overestimate how quickly consoles sell. You point to the 4.2 million and 3 million figures as evidence of declining console sales, and yet, the PS4 and Xbone had the best launches in the history of the industry.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You can't declare a console a successful console a flop so you can preserve the integrity of your argument.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Better gfx? You couldn't put any decent textures on it.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Nintendo's consoles may have been a "flop" according to you, but remember that historically they were all sold at a profit from the get-go (with the exception of the WiiU of course). So if remaining profitable is a "flop" then I guess you are right.
One of big-N's problems is that it's becoming too difficult for them to keep their consoles cheap and yet continue to sell at a profit.
Re:Erm, the 3DS (Score:5, Insightful)
I was dismissive of the Wii-U at first. I thought it was a bone-headed move.
The truth is, a year later I looked at the system again. I looked at the games that have come out, and there were a lot of interesting games!
I decided to buy one last month, and gimmick or not, it is a seriously fun console. I much prefer to play my Wii U than my friend's PS4. It's not even just the 1st party titles either.
I feel like Wii U is a disaster not because it isn't a fun game system with fun games, but because of cynical, close-minded, jaded gamers who think they are too cool to play on a console that they believe is a kiddie console.
I still have my doubts about whether the extra tablet/screen was necessary, but it has added a lot to some games.
Re: (Score:3)
Zelda and Mario are still big with the kids.
The only reason I don't a Wii-U for my kids is because through the Wii I found out that optical disks and kids don't mix. Every N64 game we have still works.
Re:Erm, the 3DS (Score:4, Informative)
Cost definitely had something to do with it, but as one of the few people who used to have a Game Gear when I was in primary school (all my friends had Game Boys), the number one thing that sucked about the GG was the battery life. Because it had a backlit, colour screen, it only lasted an hour or two on batteries, whereas the GB would last all day.
Not only that, the GG required six AA batteries and these were damn expensive at the rate you went through them. You could use rechargeables but they lasted even less time than non-rechargeable batteries. I recall spending most of my time playing the GG plugged into AC power.
Re: (Score:3)
This!
Between the huge device itself, the AC (and/or car outlet) adaptor, and games, you pretty much needed to carry the thing around in its own bag instead of a pocket.
Re: (Score:3)
The Gamecube failed because it was big, ugly and underpowered compared to its competitors and never really had any games other than the first party titles.
Um, the Gamecube was the smallest console on the market, cheaper, and was more powerful then the PS2. It also had a great controller (A matter of opinion, I guess) It's problem was the lack of a DVD drive (both for space and DVD playing was a killer feature for the time).
Re: (Score:3)
Personally? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Personally? (Score:5, Funny)
I don't think this [gamasutra.com] is what you want.
Re:Personally? (Score:5, Funny)
I would first crowdsource ideas over the internet to find the leaders of the future, those who can think outside the box. Then I would invest a million dollars into this bananaquackmoo, he seems to have smart ideas.
Wii U problem is not underpowered. (Score:5, Interesting)
Its overpriced. Nintendos market is for those who want a cheap and cheerful video game system for the kids
not the people who want to pay $60 a game. If they had released something like an updated wii with a regular controller
for $100 less it would have sold like crazy. Basically their target market wanted an updated WII not the montrosity that
was the wii U.
Market is Apple/Google's, but N has an advantage (Score:5, Insightful)
Nintendos market is for those who want a cheap and cheerful video game system for the kids not the people who want to pay $60 a game.
Nintendo's problem is that this isn't Nintendo's market anymore; it has become the App Store and Google Play market. The big advantage of a 2DS/3DS over an iPod touch or iPad mini is that iPod touch and iPad mini ship with only the positional control (a multitouch screen), not directional or discrete trigger controls (the Circle Pad, Control Pad, and buttons). And not everyone wants to buy a $40 Bluetooth controller that clamps onto a tablet just to play a $10 or cheaper game.
Re:Market is Apple/Google's, but N has an advantag (Score:5, Interesting)
I would argue that Nintendo's problem isn't that its market has moved to mobile, the problem they face is that the market they want and need (console gamers) has moved on without them. I can't think of a single third-party developed game on a Nintendo console that excited me since Capcom put a bunch of Resident Evil games out on the GameCube. Nintendo itself owns a nice catalog of IP but you can only make so many Mario and Zelda games before the golden goose stops laying eggs. They need other developers making new titles, and good ones. They need a 'killer app.' People stopped buying Nintendo consoles for Mario after the GameCube and quit buying them for Zelda after the Wii. Nobody has bought an N console for a third-party game since the '64. Frankly, the last one I owned was a Super and now I play the remakes of the great games of that console on Sony and Microsoft systems, or emulate the originals on my PC or mobile. Nintendo is not Sony or Microsoft; their problems will not go away eventually by propping up their game division losses with profits in other sectors. They need good games or they are done in a few quarters of bad losses.
Re:Market is Apple/Google's, but N has an advantag (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd go one step farther, and say that what's killing Nintendo is their tight-fisted control over their platform. If Nintendo made it easier and cheaper to develop for their platform, as opposed to (reportedly) charging thousands of dollars for an SDK under NDA, they'd be in much better shape right now.
All those potential developers who they've turned down over the years have moved on to develop games for iOS and Android, and are now Nintendo's competition. It's what I've been saying for years—the strength of a platform is entirely dependent on the size and vigor of its third-party developer community. If you don't have that, you don't have anything.
Re:Market is Apple/Google's, but N has an advantag (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Market is Apple/Google's, but N has an advantag (Score:5, Insightful)
I like playing on my big screen with my kids, our handheld devices don't facilitate family interaction. Nintendo effed up.
Re:Wii U problem is not underpowered. (Score:4, Insightful)
Nintendo chased the fickle casual market, thinking that they'd behave like their previous market (the more hardcore Nintendo veterans) and would follow their brand wherever they went. They didn't.
Re:Wii U problem is not underpowered. (Score:5, Insightful)
Customers wanted and expected what they had in the old Wii with 1280p HD and a boost in processing power and got the Wii U.
Nintendo totally ignored the social aspect they created with the Wii. They went from a system where it was cheap enough to buy 4 controllers; so 4 people could play at a time to a system where it's just too expensive to have multiple players. Potential customers look at the Wii U as if it's essentially an expensive one player system, and just decide to keep playing the old Wii. In other words, they made a system that no one was asking for and even worse no one wanted in the Wii U.
IMO, if Nintendo wants to recover make a Wii HD.
Re:Wii U problem is not underpowered. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Wii U problem is not underpowered. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Wii U problem is not underpowered. (Score:4, Interesting)
My two kids asked for a Wii U, so that is what I got them. I don't know what games they are playing, but I see them and the neighborhood kids playing multiplayer games on it all of the time.
My youngest kid had a DSi and wanted a 3DS XL. Now the older one wants to replace his DSi as well.
They occasionally take my iOS devices (I have a gaggle for testing apps), but they usually prefer to play with their Nintendo devices.
Just another data point.
Re: (Score:3)
Honestly, I us the Wii more as a platform to watch movies than anything else. It's actually my most-used console, but I don't use it for gaming. At all.
If it had better development support, had a web browser that worked (come on Opera, really? You could've done so much better), and supported user-made applications without the need to essentially jailbreak it that would be excellent.
If they made something other than FPS games for consoles (yes, I know they do; that's called hyperbole) I might be interested i
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Wii U problem is not underpowered. (Score:5, Interesting)
My guess is most people just don't know what's in the Wii U, why it's worth buying. At least, for myself I wouldn't know why anyone would buy it if Gabe hadn't written about it.
Re: (Score:2)
Mod parent up a million. Everybody I know just wanted an updated Wii that could play the newest games and compete with the PS3 and XBox 360 at a cheaper price point.
Better Development Tools (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously Nintendo, upgrade your compilers! We're sick and tired of CodeWarrior.
Mushrooms! (Score:2, Funny)
If Nintendo want to get bigger they should eat some of those red and white mushrooms!
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Start on Windows or tablets (Score:2)
If I wanted to start coding for Nintendo.... how would I do it
The official word is on warioworld.com and scedev.net, but I've been repeatedly told that you should first make and self-publish three successful games for Windows, iOS, or Android before companies like Nintendo will even give you the time of day. That's what Robert Pelloni found out when he wanted to start a home-based business to develop and sell his RPG Bob's Game for DS.
Re:Start on Windows or tablets (Score:4, Informative)
Apparently Nintendo has been opening up to indies quite a bit: For instance, the requirement for an actual commercial address is gone. However, you'd have to be mad to make the WiiU your main platform, if just because as an indie, you will not get enough exposure to warrant the gamble. That's why everyone and their mother tries to develop for PC: If you get on Steam, you will get plenty of visibility.
Re: (Score:2)
Nintendo is also locked itself out of the hardcore market
In all seriousness, the adult gaming market is an area that hasn't received a lot of attention. But this wouldn't mesh well with Nintendo's family friendly vision.
Cost per player (Score:2)
How I'd turn Nintendo around (Score:5, Funny)
odnetniN.
my ideas (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
Cutting price won't save Nintendo any more than Blackberry or Windows Phone cutting price would help in those markets.
A console requires a child to plug it into a television, but if a kid has a tablet he/she can play it in his room and it can travel in the car and the child will have complete freedom, which both the child and the parents like.
It isn't a pricing issue or an iss
Re: (Score:3)
Multiplayer, multiplatform ecosystem (Score:2)
They need to pull out all the stops and embrace all the platforms they can (Android, iOS, DS, Wii) and create a unified multiplayer gaming ecosystem that is kid friendly / safe, the core of which would be built on their game franchises (Mario, Zelda, etc). Imagine firing up Mario Kart on Android and racing against players on Wii U or iOS. One of the goals is to keep from losing 100% of their revenue when a customer migrates from a DS to an Android or iOS device. If they can offer the same games, and prob
Touch screen (Score:2)
One of the goals is to keep from losing 100% of their revenue when a customer migrates from a DS to an Android or iOS device. If [Nintendo] can offer the same games, and probably more importantly, the same profile / avatar / achievements, on other open platforms, at a good price, then the younger crowd (and the parents that control access and the cash flow) would be inclined to stick with Nintendo.
Good luck controlling Smash Bros. on a touch screen and not losing to every single 3DS player.
let it slide... (Score:2)
Marketing (Score:4, Insightful)
Marketing is where they failed horribly with the Wii U. I wasn't even entirely clear on if the Wii U was a brand new system or some new add-on up until recently. The idea of *why* anyone needs this in their home is being entirely ignored it seems. I love the Nintendo brand and I'd hate to see them go the way of Sega. However....that time seems to be quickly approaching.
Re: (Score:2)
This is probably a dumb idea, but it is a thought (Score:4, Insightful)
Most Nintendo game IP doesn't need expensive hardware to run, so cell phone/tablets is fine to go to. Phones/tablets can even be plugged into televisions to work like a console. The only thing missing is a standard controller. I haven't got a Nintendo since the SNES mostly because I find the controllers strange. Stop treating the game hardware like a toy in itself, go standard hardware minimum requirements and make your games good.
Now not everyone will be carrying a phone/controller around outside, but for the home, it is doable. If you work on manufacturing, you can get your controllers cheap. Then you're just selling people games.
Wii U is decent, but needs quality games (Score:3)
I'm a casual gamer 'dad' interested in fitness with several home schooled kids. I'd expect my family to be the ideal target demographic for the WII U - and indeed, we purchased one since the playstation/xbox were essentially banned - we don't want to feed FPS and junk games to our kids.
Still, what does WII offer us in terms of quality games?
- Wii Fit Plus (just a modest bump over the older wii fit, should have been better).
- Wii Sports Club - OK, took forever for them to release it, some of the sports (e.g. bowling) do not simulate as well as they should. The best game seems to be golf...but come on, it isn't that much better than the old wii sports game.
- Legend of Zelda - Finally released, kids are interested in it...we'll see.
- Mario Junk...no, not interested
- Not much else...
So, basically, the WII U is a decent platform hampered by a lack of quality games for its target market, and the few good games took forever to be released...
I might feel better if I knew Nintendo worked well with third parties and was planning to release a large set of good games over the next year....but I think Zelda and Wii Sports Club have been taking nearly all their resources and it doesn't seem like the relations with third party devs are that good at the moment...
Re: (Score:3)
What's a junk game? Apparently Mario games are junk? Even the ones that are high budget and highly reviewed? There is a BIG difference between "Mario And Sonic At The Olympics" and "Super Mario 3D World".
Anyway, I don't know how many dozens of games i would need to list for you to convince you the Wii U has "quality games", but I can list like 8 off the top of my head, and I wouldn't consider any of them 'junk'. And if you need more than 8 games for your kids, in addition to whatever they play on PC, t
The ultimate smartphone? (Score:2)
Hybrid Mashup Games are the Answer (Score:5, Funny)
It's a winner no matter which way you look up it.
Future for N is hardware for other devices... (Score:2)
iOS has a custom controller API now.
Nintendo could thrive by turning an iPhone/Touch into a game-boy like device with kick-ass controls, and software tailored to work with their own controllers.
It would let Nintendo focus on what they do best, control hardware and games. It would keep them in hardware which is what I think a lot of gamers would love to see, and it would bring in a ton of revenue.
Add in a rechargeable battery into the controller that keeps the device topped up and you have a device that eve
Bad marketing. (Score:5, Insightful)
Didn't even realize that Wii U was substantively different from Wii. In fact, based on this story and the context here, still can't tell.
What would have been wrong with "Wii 2" which offers a much clearer indication that it's a next generation console? (If, in fact, it is a next generation console.)
First thing that comes to my mind with "Wii U" is that it's the educational version of the Wii.
Re: (Score:2)
I was just thinking that. I have no idea what the Wii U is. For the last console launch, it was obvious, and everyone knew it was the small, cartoony, gimmicky one with the motion controls.
Ultimately, those controls fell short of even conservative estimates of usefulness, but at least the general public knew what Nintendo was offering.
I have no idea how the Wii U is different from the Wii, or why I would want one.
But to be fair, I do not know much about the PS4 or Xbox One, but then I do not have to. Obviou
Make a gaming smartphone (Score:2, Redundant)
Nintendo should make an Android powered smartphone focused on gaming, meaning with controls for gaming. Who wants to carry an extra gaming device when your smartphone gives you access to millions of great games.
Re: (Score:2)
Ignore the common wisdom. (Score:2, Interesting)
The fact that a vocal segment of the gaming community believes that the best way to play games are using tools designed to drive spreadsheets and word processors means that maybe the common wisdom isn't so wise.
Just focus on building something amazing.
Alan Kay once said, if you're serious about software, you build your own hardware.
This applies double for gaming.
Dump the Japanimation (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Dump the Japanimation (Score:4, Funny)
Er, Pokemon? (Score:5, Insightful)
Port properties to other consoles (Score:3)
It's time that Nintendo start porting their properties to other consoles. I'd love to play the next Super Mario game on my Xbox One. I'd love to play Mario Kart on my PS4. Don't even license out the games, create/produce them the same way you've been doing for years, but just start porting them to other platforms and get out of the console business.
Re: (Score:2)
So, pull a Sega.
Hmm. That didn't work out so well for Sega.
Re: (Score:3)
"I want to play all of Nintendo's great games! But I don't want anyone to know I have a Nintendo!"
What I could change (Score:2)
Well, one thing that I always felt was missing from Nintendo's disc-based consoles is the ability to play DVDs and/or Blu-rays. I mean, it doesn't make much sense to buy a device you can put a disc into that can only be used to interact with a VERY limited number of discs.
They could also release apps for Android/iOS to allow phones and tablets to be used as a controller of some sort, or at the very least to interact with the consoles.
A whole other direction could be to let go of the hardware market; they do
Here's another thought (Score:2)
"How can Nintendo Recover?" (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, they could do that, or just sell white Steam Boxes and say they did.
Use the Nintendo brand to make awesome games (Score:3)
The Nintendo name stll has a whole shedload of trust and their game designers are really very good at innovating. Quit worrying about canabilizing hardware sales and start focussing on software sales. The hardware ship has long since sailed and Nintendo missed the boat.
Failing to accept that reality and trying to push hardware will only lead them down the monopolistic failure route of Kodak. Too little, too late.
Tablet controller put me off... (Score:2)
The tablety thing really doesn't do anything for me; I guess in a few years I may consider getting a wii u, it also depends how easy it is to hack and install the homebrew channel equivalent and run all my existing wii games off a USB hard drive.
When everything else fails. (Score:5, Funny)
The answer is adult content.
Re: (Score:3)
Where are you Princess Peach? Here comes the plumber!
Nintendo's Killer App (Score:3)
Nintendo has a kill app waiting to be made and it's called Pokemon MMORPG.
Re: (Score:2)
Or they could get into the cell phone market with a Nintendo-branded phone. That would be kind of interesting to see what kind of innovation they could bring to a phone. Seeing as the casual gamers on phones have been affecting them it's probably their only choice.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Just an iOS slave, shackled to Apple like Zynga is to Facebook?
If Nintendo does exit the hardware business, they need to start working on multiple platforms, iOS is just one. Android has a large marketshare.
However, the reason Nintendo stays in business is their hardware. If they don't have the user lock in to their consoles, they will disappear, since they would have to compete with EA, Ubisoft, and others... on their turf.
Software vs hardware binary choice is misleading (Score:3)
I don't think that "doing a Sega" is the answer for Nintendo. There's certainly plenty of evidence that it wasn't the answer for Sega themselves.
I think there might, however, be something of a middle way for Nintendo here; but to get to that you've got to look at the company's strengths and weaknesses.
Nintendo is a poor console manufacturer. I don't necessarily mean that it makes poor hardware (though the Wii-U would seem to imply their powers here are in decline). Rather, I mean that they are poor at doing
Indie (Score:3)
Stop treating your consumers like dirt
And your developers, allegedly. The 1- to 3-man home-based family businesses that helped Apple's App Store eat away at much of the casual market are something Nintendo wouldn't even consider courting three years ago [wired.com]. Only very recently did this begin to change, and unfortunately, my citation about this ("Tales from the trenches: how Microsoft is losing the battle for indie developers" by Ben Kuchera, March 2013) has become a dead link.
Stop making mario based games
That'd be like telling Hasbro to stop making My Little Pony based toys.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
"did great for them" really?
Look at Sega games in the Dramcast era and look at them now. Getting out of the hardware business killed Sega. Nintendo needs to hang in there. :(
Sega's mistake (Score:5, Insightful)
Sega's mistake was not having good hardware, it was having too much hardware. They were told that the Genesis was great, a few years later it was the Sega CD, then almost immediately after that was 32X, then almost immediately it was the Dreamcast. Customers who liked Sega had the original Genesis (not talking Master SYstem), but then two quick updates then a new console. Frankly, Sega broke the bank on the DreamCast by asking their customers to buy too much too fast. Too much hardware. That is a good reason for the Big N to stick with the U for a while, develop it, make it cheaper than the PS4 and the XBox One, still get 1080p @ 60fps, release some exclusives, wait several years in order not to burnout their core client base like Sega did. They can't bail on the U for financial reasons and for the games already in the pipe, and they can't make a U2 because it will burn current customers. Once Mario Kart, Zelda, Smash Bro, etc come out, it will be comfortable again... you doubters and haters
Re: (Score:2)
Actually it was marketing and some anti-trust violations by competitors that killed the dreamcast. Sega spent almost nothing on marketing the dreamcast in the US.
Re: (Score:3)
stick with the U for a while, develop it, make it cheaper, still get 1080p @ 60fps
dude, U is slower than $70 Android TV sticks, both GPU and CPU are 5 year old news. touch lcd controller is a specialized piece of hardware with less processing power than $35 google Chromecast, its basically lcd with h264 decoder dangling off of wifi chip.
They have NOTHING to offer in this platform, nothing an average Tablet cant do right now.
Re: (Score:2)
They apparently have a burning platform, this sounds like a job for an Elop!
But in all seriousness, we need Elop installed CEO of Microsoft to help ensure their rapid demise.
On-screen buttons suck (Score:2)
PS4/XbOne not "computers"; why no MMO AC (Score:2)
I would promote the Wii U as a game console as the only game console out their( say that the other two are living room computers).
One of the other three (Steam Machine) is a "living room computer", as was the fat PlayStation 3 prior to 3.21. But I don't see how PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are "computers" in any sense that usefully contrasts with a "game console". For example, they can't run word processors or spreadsheets because the console maker chooses not to sign LibreOffice.
I am thinking a large MMO animal crossing or Pokemon game would do it well.
Pokemon already has trading and PvP with strangers and friends, even if the game itself is entirely instanced so that it can run locally. I don't see Animal C
Epilepsy warning (Score:2)
Firmware update: launch straight to the title screen of whatever game is loaded. All the OS fluff can be accessed as needed, but power-on straight to the game.
That won't happen because lawsuits. Several parents didn't discover that their children were photosensitive until they seized while using a Nintendo product, and then the parents lawyered up.
Re: Better Hardware (Score:2)
Bayonetta is an exclusive sequel, not a port.
Re:I think Nintendo is toast (Score:4, Interesting)
Once Xbox came to be, they filled the void once occupied by Nintendo. There isn't room for a 3rd player in the home console field - or at least I don't think Nintendo could even make a dent versus Xbox and Playstation.
OK but if I wanted to save Nintendo.. (hang on, I have to look up what a WiiU is - omg it looks like total shit)
I'd go back to the roots. Create games reminiscent of what worked in the 80s and early 90s, but with a little more flashiness and multiplayer. Not everybody wants 3D (personally I was over it after I played super mario 64)
Nah there has always been a tri force, if you will, of consoles;
Atari Sega Nintendo
Nintendo Sega Playstation
Nintendo Playstation Xbox
Unfortunately for Nintendo being the lowest profiting of the three and having no other markets to support them unlike Microsoft and Sony and having mobile gaming from android and ios, smart tvs and apple and google tv boxes as competition as well as from the me Steam box, Nintendo looks like it is about to lose its place of dominance.
We can see that the former consoles manufactures have shrunk to but a former shell of what they used to be Atari is facing bankruptcy, Sega turns out the occasional game for the other three consoles and farms out sonic the hedgehog to pay the bills. Nintendo does not want to turn into Sega and most definitely does not want to become atari. So as I see it they have to option at this point
Sell out or Buy out.
They could sell them selves to apple google amazon or microsoft for the ip and maybe they will keep the devs and writters, or they could merge with or buy out valve and support pc gaming.
As I said in another post higher up
A Microsoft buyout would bad but at least the game might someday see a official pc port.
A merger with Valve could be interesting to see and shake everything up for the gaming industry, as long as they kept the game development team separate have Nintendo focus on family gaming and peripherals and Valve on PC and hardcore gaming and co operate together on consoles.
A Google buyout would be great for mobile and give Google TV some teeth in the gaming market and could quiet possible see a release nintindo apps for other platforms such as windows 8 and iOS like they have for other core customer facing services
Then there is the Apple buyout where hardware would probably cost more and merge with apple tv and iP(a||o)d for console and mobile gaming respectively, the have similar styling but other than that I don't see it being a great match for costumers & fans especially.
If they have to sell or merge I would hope for either google or valve buy/merge.