NINTENDO SET TO HAVE ANOTHER WII

It's weird hearing gamers on other boards complain that a new console from Nintendo will automatically jumpstart a new console war from Sony and Microsoft. As if they'd abandon their 10-12 year cycles out of the sheer possibility of new competition from Nintendo. I think in order for that to actually happen, Nintendo's new console would have to succeed in pulling the lead SKU from 3rd parties and draw in the most sales from the hardcore gamers. In other words, they'd have to do excel at what they're supposedly trying to do. At this point, I'd say it's a tall fucking order.

Edited by Pop Zeus - 4/15/11 at 11:13pm

Supposedly more powerful than the PS3 and 360... Well I should hope so.  Those consoles are 5+ years old!

 

Anyway, Nintendo rarely ever learns from their past mistakes and I think this will end up just like the Wii.  And if they are going to release it so soon, sure it may be a powerhouse now, but when the next Sony and MS consoles eventually come out Nintendo will be in the same place they are now as well...

If "just like the Wii" means dominating console sales and actually turning a profit on those sales, I think they'll be alright.

 

I couldn't care less about their sales or their profits, I'd just like them to put out a console I'd be interested in purchasing myself.

Honestly, if Nintendo’s Wii successor is just a more powerful Wii, I just don’t see it longterm. The Wii’s new gameplay mechanics made for a good demo in stores and on promotional materials, and opened up consoles to a larger, more casual gamer audience, but if there’s anything its success proved, it’s that hardware performance isn’t everything.

 

It’s the difference between Kinect and Move, one made for a demo that seemed new and interesting to people, the other, well, was exactly what everyone’s speculating—an HD Wii.

Don't disagree, but I'd hardly blame them for not turning their back on huge widespread success to chase the 'hardcore' audience. They need to make it more regular gameplay friendly to help boost it's software sales. In my opion it was the controller that really held the system back. They'd sell more software if folks didn't dread the interface.

The more I think about it, the more I think Nintendo's going to be stepping away from the Wii brand in a big way. That name is great for casual gamers, moms, old folks and such. The hardcore is going to want to embrace a different side of Nintendo if they're going to come back at all. If Iwata's words are to be believed, splitting the difference between the casual and hardcore is going to be an impossible marketing challenge. Might make more sense to not bother risking failure and instead embrace the hardcore completely. Who knows? We'll see soon enough....