Nintendo announce: Nintendo NX

Though not underpowered, GC wasn't setting the benchmark for that gen.

 

Yeah I agreee with that. I just meant that they were not in "We don't give a F about power" - mode yet.

 

As far as their template for creating hardware, Gamecube is one of Nintendo's better designs. It was inexpensive, and competitive with the other consoles on the market. I could argue that Gamecubes best technical accomplishments outclasses anything else that generation. Both Star Wars Rogue Leader games were astonishing, and Resident Evil 4 was incredible. Just look at the downgrade it had on the PS2. Nintendo will not make a "me too" platform these days, they don't believe they can be profitable with that recipe. They are going to have some sort of angle or hook that they believe will make it appealing. Not just a product that hopes to have you purchase it instead of Sony or Microsofts products, but so appealing that those customer will want one too. Price, performance, and some soft of novelty that makes it stand out.

 

Not to the mention the Cube had awesome power draw : )

 

The GameCube may not of had the best hardware of the generation, but it did have some of the most graphically impressive games of the generation.

Nintendo needs to make another GameCube, hardware and price wise at least. I'm sure I heard they are going with AMD, but something completely custom and unique from Power Vr would better serve them. At least GPU wise.

 

'Custom' and 'unique' really didn't work very well for PS3. Really.

Today is the age of simplicity for developers. Not the age for custom and uniqueness.

 

As each day goes by, my hopes for strong NX hardware get smaller and smaller. By now I think we should count ourself lucky if "home version" [or whatever that ends up being] of NX manages to be as strong as Xbone. And even if it manages to do that, big N will mess it up somewhere else [dev relations, software support, online, etc].

 

AmiiBoo.

 

NES, SNES, N64 were all the most powerful consoles of their generation and as others have said Gamecube produced many games that were better looking than the best the original XBOX had to offer. The last two generations are the only two console generations where Nintendo went with weak hardware in favour of gimmicks and because of the abject failure of WiiU I expect them to go back to more competitive hardware with NX.

People are getting too hung up on the new presidents comments about 'new concept' and for whatever reason take this to mean that NX will have a new gimmick like the Wii mote. I think the new concept he is talking about will be the unified NX platform of a single account / online infrastructure / hardware architecture where every game will play on both the home and portable device. I also expect both new consoles to be backwards compatible with WiiU and 3DS meaning the NX platform will contain all four consoles aswell as all their smartphone content.

Also the specs I'm theorizing for the home console really aren't that crazy for a $400 console released in late 2016. PS4 and XB1 will be three years old by then and the specs aren't anywhere near the 10x performance leap usually seen in a generational jump. NX home will not only have to compete with PS4 and XB1 but also PS5 and XB4 which will probably release in late 2019 just three years later. That is the main reason I see Nintendo working with AMD to provide hardware which will be competitive enough to receive down ports the following generation.

If I am completely wrong and Nintendo release a console on par with XBO in late 2016 then I really don't see how it can be competitive outside of them pulling out another Wii mote craze but the chances of that happening are slim to none.

 

So you're actually citing 20 year old hardware releases as some sort of evidence for Nintendo's current mindset?

 

I'm not certain if these inflated prices truely are as high as they are or have that big hit on the wallet since wages have frozen for many years or not kept up with inflation for large amounts of people.

Console prices adjusted for 2013 inflation

Spoiler

 

Their current mindset will be based on their latest weak, gimmick based console bombing spectacularly (aswell as almost 100 million casuals abandoning them overnight) so yes their older much more successful consoles are a more likely outcome for what NX will be from a hardware perspective imo.

If they chase the casual audience again with another weak console based on a gimmick then NX will probably be their final home console. They can have decent hardware (which is future proof to a certain degree), moderate third party support and be successful* without gimmicks.

*They will never be market leader again imo but they can sell 20 - 30 million console per generation.

 

I'm afraid Nintendo doesn't realize just how casual a large portion of the casuals are. They will give up quality console/portable games for The Kim Kardasian game and Flappybirds and free2play little tetris knockoffs on their mobile phones.

 

I'm sorry, but your lack of logic numbs my mind. Using that same exact thought process would lead to statements like "Kodak will forever be releasing cameras using polaroids."

 

Exactly what people said after the N64, yet the Wii sold like hot cakes...
Predictions are just dumb, noone can guess what the future holds...

 

You mean Gamecube?

 

I think it was meant more as evidence that Wii was an anomaly rather than the norm.

However, with WiiU following a similar trend of using older tech + gimmick, not to mention DS/3DS sort of following that same model, I think it's fair to say that this is indeed Nintendo's 'normal' approach nowadays.

What they did 15+ years ago really bears little relation to what they will do now.

I happen to think they will produce a modestly powered console this time round, but not because it's somehow 'in their blood' from a previous life.

I think it's dead in the water if it doesn't at least sit in that ballpark. I think it's easily achievable within a cheaper budget as well, so I'm still vaguely confident it will do just that. Then again I seem to remember folk saying the same with WiiU so who the heck knows with Nintendo

 

I'm pretty sure Sega Master System was more powerful than NES (releasing two years later). SNES was eclipsed by the ludicrously expensive NeoGeo. N64 I've laready acknowledged.

It's true that in the earlier generations Nintendo was willing to release comparably performing consoles for the time, but that's not the same as setting the benchmark. And they've become increasingly conservative. So it would absolutely be a surprise to a lot of people if Nintendo released a hot, expensive benchmark-setting console going against their 15 year MO.

 

Sony and Microsoft have fostered 3rd party developers that cater to older gamer audience and themselves pursued the older gaming community far more vigorously than Nintendo did, and this older audience often have more money to spend on their hobbies including the initial price of the system hardware.

Thus they can push into the higher priced hardware more easily than Nintendo.

They gave up the software battle, and their "edgier" marketing battle for the older teenager gaming audience largely after the n64. Perfect Dark, Killer Instinct, Cruisin' USA, Goldeneye, were largely the western developer side (Rare) and not something their Japanese studios made. Once that was sold....

 

Nintendo were willing to release the most powerful console they could at a very reasonable price so I wouldnt count Neo Geo which was super powerful but pricier. The SNES was more capable than the Genesis. The same went with the GC. For the price and performance it almost nailed it.

But Nintendo is not in touch with reality. The impression I get from Nintendo is that they are trying to materialize their own vision of a family friendly console, a console that is suitable for kids and grown ups that can play together, something like the equivalent of what board games used to be. The content for that should be neutral and happy. Then they release their product and expect it to attract and shape the market.
They dont check what works in the market currently and release based on that.

The N64 was powerful, but hindered by the cartridge based medium. The GC was powerfuk but hindered by the Mini disk. The Wii was just lucky. If the appeal of the controller was low it would have been a disaster. If we ignore the success of some N games, it had a very ugly library. The WiiU was a disaster in every way. All consoles were hindered by peculiar hardware choices. In terms of software content they ignored what made the SNES a success and what content of non-Nintendo games have left a legacy on the N64.

They are still trying to become market shapers at all costs by living inside their Nintendo bubble. Indeed I dont see them producing something very expensive and powerful either after taking into account the rumors