This just seems crazy to me. I'm not going to outright dismiss anything because Nintendo has done some seriously crazy shit in the past... BUT consider who has been the Wii's bread and butter, it's the kind of people who went out and bought a Wii, four sets of controllers, and Wii Sports. I know an -insane- number of people who have never cared about video games that own Wii's, including my own grandparents, oddly enough. When Nintendo announced just how underpowered the Wii was going to be, core gamers were up in arms about how Nintendo was going to fall by the wayside in the wake of the 360 and PS3 which were both substantially more powerful. But, they ended up being right, and whether or not the Wii output video at HD resolutions was completely irrelevant because a shocking number of people who bought Wii's likely don't even know what 1080p is, or cares about whether or not they have it. The effect this has had on the core gamer market is that it seems most "hardcore" types either own a 360 or a PS3 but might also own a Wii. I know I've taken most of my gaming over to the 360 while still keeping a Wii around for the rare must-have Nintendo exclusive. If the Wii 2 or whatever shifts to being a super-powerful HD console, what's going to happen to all of the grandmas of the world who bought a Wii to bowl? They're certainly not going to feel compelled to upgrade... And the hardcore gamers of the world likely are far too invested in Xbox Live to ever switch back to a Nintendo console as their "main" gaming source. Regardless of how it plays out, this will be a very interesting E3 to watch from the sidelines.
This is very true, but I've seen endless complaints from Wii gamers about not getting games, getting stripped down versions of games and not getting update/DLC support. I'd like to see the main Nintendo IPs in HD with all the updates that come with a more powerful console, but there aren't that many of them... Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda... I'm almost out. Unless the 3rd party support picks up and developers start bringing worthwhile games it's gonna go the way of the Wii (for me anyway) and I'll give up on it due to having a crappy library. If it can do what the 360 and PS3 can then maybe the major multiplatform titles will make an appearance. Nintendo consoles usually have pretty good build quality so that could be convincing enough for me...
If it is indeed "significantly" more powerful than PS3/360, MS and SONY will have to respond with something. Looks like the next gen console wars might be starting soon.l
While this new console rumor may be completely false, I think it makes sense for Nintendo to diversify it's audience to include those who expect more from their consoles. Over the past several years, Nintendo dominated the youth/casual market, but I am sure they are looking at the future and seeing their market share erode in the face of mobile devices.
"Next Gen" is always more powerful than "Current Gen." That goes pretty much without saying. Whatever Nintendo does, Microsoft will go over the top of that. And whatever Microsoft does, Sony will go over the top of that. And Nintendo will still find itself in 3rd place amongst the consoles. Microsoft displays far better online/multimedia capabilities then Sony, which is why Microsoft wins, even though Sony tends to offer slightly more powerful tech. Nintendo has, by far, the worse online/multimedia infastructure. I don't think the power structure will change here; at least not in the long term. Nintendo likes to come out first, because they know their specs aren't going to withstand the test of time. It'll seem impressive, for a while, but ultimately they will be overshadowed. They should do well in the window that exists in-between their launch and Microsoft's next launch. Which is exactly why they would jump the gun.
Uhh the PS3 and XBOX 360 have 2005 hardware. Basically crap hardware by 2011 standards. Beating it now is no big feat...even an $80 graphics card now is over 10X more powerful than the PS3 and 360.
This makes sense if you think about it, Nintendo is a company that has a history of building products with a lack of any foresight and passing the cost onto the consumer. GBA screen is totally unusable except in direct sunlight? Buy a new model with a backlight! DS includes WiFi but no upgradable firmware? Buy a new model with upgradable firmware and an app store! Wii isn't HD capable? Get ready for Wii HD!
I think it's a bit too early for a new generation of consoles. Nintendo could release a new console next year, but the 360 and PS3 would still be going strong. Then when the inevitable Xbox 720 or PS4 are released, the Wii 2 will once again look weak in comparison.
Too early? IMO it's way to late. Microsoft are miliking the current hardware and holding back gaming. Look at the hardware available today. A higher end graphics card will give you over 24X the power of a console GPU. But games barely look better, because they are designed for the consoles. Microsoft and sony need to update ASAP, nto only are they ruining PC gaming but they are holding back gaming in general. They can easily add 10X the geometry complaxiety in console games now and actually run them at native 1080P at 60 FPS vs. the 720P 30 FPS we have on current consoles.
You basically just made the definition of Nintendo haha Also I'll probably get this for christmas because me and my bro both get a medium large gift each then a big one(over 200 dollars) for the both of us. Does seem pretty cool but I just need it for The legend of Zelda titles Also Hodapp (off topic) to you have a Xbox Live account? Can you PM me your gamertag?
The reason it's too soon is because tech is advancing so quickly, by the time they start making consoles to sell a newer, better graphics card or something will be out. It would be better to wait vs make a new one every 5 or 6 years especially with prices escalating.
They've already waited 5 or 6 years lol...2005. And it takes a 3-4 years before graphics cards have exponentially higher performance that would actually matter.
Ehh... I'll believe it when I see it. I don't really believe that it'll be significantly better than the current generations. Even if it is, not many games will look better. Just the 3 or 4 main games they rely on. But, prove me wrong! I'm liking the backwards compatibility. All consoles should.
I suspect the PS4 won't be long away either now that the PS3 is wide open to hackers but as far as Sony goes I'm a lot more interested in the NGP. Nintendo consoles I'm just not sure about any more they seem to be doing more novelty stuff than anyone else and while it sometimes works out like the WII I really think the 3DS is terrible although maybe a lite will change things there. I think Microsoft will probably be the last to update and will likely end up with the most powerful hardware next round. I tend to agree that console gaming is holding back PC gaming but I think crazy DRM schemes share a big part of the blame as well and definitely contributes to people buying consoles instead.
It's never too early and never too late. It doesnt matter when you start, the tech will move on within a year. If you start at the same time as MS and Sony then maybe you'll manage to stay in line and have a nice healthy competition, if you stagger your release you'll have the most up-to-date console and blast ahead, only to get kicked back at their next release, but then you can repeat the process in another few years and shoot ahead again.
I don't know about too early, but they could definitely release their new console too late. The next Microsoft console seems to be on track (judging from the job postings and news tidbits that have been floating around lately) for a release at the end of 2012/beginning of 2013. Presumably the next iteration of the PlayStation will be out not too long after that. If Nintendo waits much longer than a year, they'll be putting out a system that's competing directly with consoles that are already either obsolete or very close to that stage. I can't see how they win a war for devoted/"hardcore" gamers doing that...and if they're releasing an HD console that's more powerful than the PS360, it would look as though that's their strategy. Admittedly, Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, etc., will sell a lot of consoles on their own. But I'd think that to go head to head with whatever Sony & Microsoft do next, they've got to attract third-party developers...and if Nintendo's tech is widely seen as outdated the moment it comes out (which it would be if they release it in direct competition with PS4/Xbox720), then they'd be right back where they are now, with an empty release calendar and sluggish sales. So yeah...they could release their next gen console a little too late. (And thinking about it a little more, they could release too early, too -- if they were to put out hardware that's so advanced that they're not able to sell it at a price point that's attractive to consumers. Of course, this is Nintendo, and from what I understand they don't believe in taking losses on sales, so I can't see that happening.)
