Nintendo interview - hints on next console - next handheld

You must be kidding me. As a SEGA fan it is completely absurd to think that Dreamcast or Saturn games were lacking in any great fashion. SEGA had the most die hard fans with the Saturn and Dreamcast. There was always a reason for SEGA to be considered the hardcore gamers' choice, and that was because the games it put out were the best around. While the quality is suffering these days it surely was the best in the Saturn and Dreamcast days. SEGA did more for gaming than most other devs/publishers out there, and it practically nursed EA in its infancy.

Back on topic, if this is Nintendo's attitude then it will get murdered next generation. Having a pacifist attitude toward the next console race is the wrong thing to do. If they don't get agressive and try to beat the other 2 (Sony and Microsoft) then it will go by the wayside and become software only like SEGA has. Nintendo needs to get agressive and needs it more now for the simple aspect as that will be the only way it will grow and prosper in the next generation. Nintendo doesn't want to be considered a sick joke does it? I hope to God they get serious and start some competition that Sony or MS doesn't see coming from Nintendo.

Nintendo needs to start developing mature titles itself. It's time to evolve as a company and stop remaining stagnant with its tired franchises. I don't expect them to give up Mario or Zelda or any other key franchises, but it really is time to develop new ones geared towards today's generation of gamers. And by that I mean casual gamers. Not just the plethora of children residing in market, but also the mature gamers that make up more than 60% of it.

If Nintendo doesn't begin to change its attitude and move towards an agressive plan to compete in the console world then it deserves to leave the hardware market.
 
I sometimes question if Nintendo can do anything else though. It's almost as if Nintendo has woken up and discovered that the marketplace has evolved and passed it by.

Their time for action has passed with the GameCube, and the next generation will see them catering to a marketplace that I just don't see co-existing the battle between STI and Microsoft/Intel over the livingroom. I truely believe that the winner will control the electronic livingroom untill the end of this decade; once the dust settles and someone emerges as a victor, it will be increasingly hard to break this dominance. A dominance which can be levereged between CE and the Consoles sucessfully if done right.

Perhaps Nintendo does have it right after all. They are just totally incapable of maintaining parity with STI or MS, it's not even remotely possible. Yet, there will exist a market 'below' the high-end consoles/CE which is used by those younger, those not into the electronic realm, etc. Perhaps they can create a profitable niche out of this region.

You know, we talk about XBox and PSx coexisting, but fundimantally it's a one player game. There will eventually be only one between PSx and XBox as they're targetting the same market region/demographic and I question what XBox Next's draw will be if PS3 has technological parity, which is the angle it has this time. So, perhaps GC's sucessor can avoid the frey altogether and find refuge below.

* Do realize that these comment are all IMHO and not stated as fact. They fall under the aegis of the disclaimer in my sig ;)
 
I'm a firm believer that the saturn line up was stronger than the ps line up and while it was out the dreamcast line up was better than the ps2 line up of the time
 
intendo does have what it takes to compete and succeed next generation. The question is if they will. Even if it takes going to a major electronics manufacturer that is a direct competitor with Sony, ala Matsushita, Nintendo can do it. If they need said technology like Blu Ray or any other plethora like DVD drives or other electronics they can get it. They just need to make a convincing appeal to that company that they can get a nice piece of the pie.

Now Nintendo needs to really be smart for the first time in a very long time. It needs to be very smart in the design of its next console and the goals it has for it. If it's just simply a gaming machine and has technology and power comparable to the Xbox2 or PS3 and lacks the frills of those machines and comes at a lower cost; then it may have a very good chance. Few people know what Nintendo is coming up with for the successor of the GCN, but one thing is for sure, please have a very powerful processor to go into it. If that means using NEC for it, please do so.

Nintendo needs to be smart how it markets its next console. Something boggles my mind and that's the Xbox. How anyone can think the Xbox is cool beyond me. It comes from Microsoft of all people and yet people still think it's cool, including me. Nintendo has practically lost the cool factor when SEGA ripped half the market away from them with the Genesis back in the day. Maybe it's that Nintendo was never cool but was just in the right place at the right time. Nintendo's business practices do perplex me at times, much less so than my employer's. They need people to know that they're the console to own no matter what. They need to let the casual gamers know that the N5 is the console where the best games are at. The games you need. Nintendo's laco of effective marketing remind me of SEGA's in the Saturn days where it was too little too late.

You want to know what the saddest thing is? It's that Nintendo has been around from the very beginning and they're now about to face extinction in the console market if it continues to stand aside. It's sad because the company has given the gaming market so much, just as SEGA has. It was heartwrenching to see SEGA leave, just think of how that will make Nintendo fans feel? I'm tired of Nintendo just sitting on the sideline and let Sony and MS battle it out. If that continues to happen then they'll quickly become the cheerleaders that SEGA have become. Get in there and fight, fight for the market, fight for the industry, fight for the damn pride that the company should have. Most importantly, fight to become #1 again. It's a hell of a lot more possible than many people think, but it isn't if Nintendo continues being a pacifist in a very agressive war between console manufacturers. Just compete please.
 
Well, cool doesn't really matter to me. I got the Genesis first (before the SNES) because I thought Sonic the Hedgehog was very fun to play.. I loved the loop-de-loops. :) I ended up making a great investment and soon-after got the SNES.

Cool factor has never really mattered. I was all about fun factor, but I was constantly wowed by the graphics. Super Mario World got a big "whoa" out of me. Scary, huh? :)
 
Scary? Very!

Cool does matter when taking into account casual gamers and mass market products. Otherwise there would be no marketing to make a product seem cool. Fun factor is also very important, but that's not exactly an image Nintendo portrays these days very well either. They need to appeal to the mass market, not just a core market that is made up of fans and kids.
 
Megadrive1988 said:
At least the next Nintendo console will have some 3D tech from Lockheed-Martin Real3D, since ATi is said to have acquired some of their patents and engineers 8)

something I was hoping for in 1997-1998 from the then-new Sega console
Sorry Megadrive, but the Real3D engineers aren't working with Nintendo. They're on the east coast and the west coast team with the former ArtX engineers are working with Nintendo again.
 
Nintendo does have a slight advantage on its competition because they aren't bound by a larger corporate strategy to deliver an entire next generation home theater / TiVO system. With some large retail outlets getting out of the VHS business altogether, the consumer migration to DVD should be nearly complete by 2005.

Most of us assume that some of the next consoles will have HD-DVD, DVD-A, SACD support. But will the average consumer demand for those capabilities be as high as it was for DVD? The hi-def crowd that can afford the televisions and surround sound systems are slightly more picky than the average kid plugging the PS2 into a 19" television.

I own three DVD players right now, and the only one that I use in my entertainment center is the Memorex that I bought specifically for movies. I don't own TiVo, but I could easily afford it. If I was really interested, I could ask Time Warner for a different cable box and pay a little more. Nintendo already offers 480i with the GC, and I expect that HD/Progressive support is planned for N5. If they just throw in basic HD-DVD and SACD support, I think that the average consumer will be satisfied.

Nintendo has had the opportunity to examine general gaming and online trends, in addition to the flaws of both the GC and N64. The corporate structure is aggressive as usual, but with a sense of direction that we didn't see with Yamauchi. Nintendo, Retro, Factor 5, Silicon Knights, and Hal will be ready to impress during N5's first year. Will this be enough to keep Nintendo profitable until the end of the decade? I think they'll find a comfortable niche and survive for a while.
 
Fox5 said:
*GASP* HOW DARE HE SAY DREAMCAST NOT HAVE ENOUGH GOOD GAMES! Saturn I can sort of understand, but how dare he say that about Dreamcast!
Those were my thoughts as well. If they weren't great games why did so many get ported over to the other consoles?
 
DC would have been a great console had it continued, but considering the tech performance gap between itself and other 3, it would have been a uphill task even if they had truckload of money.
 
I think I've said before that if Sega had actually had the money (Nintendo style), I could possibly have seen the DC coming "second" this generation. Looking at how the GC and Xbox are doing it's not so far feched.

It would have been the cheapest to make and sell, it would have catered to the none broadband (and broadband) online gaming markets and had a very strong software lineup (with huge brand recognition for its Sonic and sports games, and significant awareness of games like Shenmue and Virtua Fighter). And I think people might be underestiming the DCs ability to compete visually with the other consoles. It doesn't need to beat the Xbox or PS2, just look decent (good, up to the standard, acceptable ;) ) compared to the others.

The technolohgy would also by now be ripe for putting into a handheld console (and other appliances).

The console would have had another Christmas in Europe with only the PS2 to go against, and if Sega hadn't been in such bad shape there would have been a geater chance of Microsoft buying them or partnering with them rather than entering the race by throwing money at setting a division of their own up from scratch.
 
Deepak said:
DC would have been a great console had it continued, but considering the tech performance gap between itself and other 3, it would have been a uphill task even if they had truckload of money.

pardon me, i no-a DC fanny but i dont think the DC gap is that big, at least not with the PS2. I saya if DC -> PS2 is as big as PS2 -> Xbox, but if i will, i dare call it PS2 -> Xbox is bigger.

from SimonF, it seems DC could do DOT3 well, who knows, lack of polygons it might have, BUT polybump might do well to cover that flaw. ;)
 
I've yet to see games as good as some I've on my Dreamcast, graphics and gameplay wise...

The Dreamcast did not only have great games, but some innovating games, something that cannot be said of all consoles sold atm.
 
Ingenu said:
I've yet to see games as good as some I've on my Dreamcast, graphics and gameplay wise...

The Dreamcast did not only have great games, but some innovating games, something that cannot be said of all consoles sold atm.

now now...

I think current consoles (especially GC and Xbox, but also PS2) have shown severaly orders of magnitude the capabilities of DC. That is not to say DC didn't have great games, although i must agree with those thinking Saturn had a better library, but i think that's personal.

Also, i fail to see all this "innovation" in DC games... apart from Shenmue (which personally i did not like in the least, but i digress) i don't see how DC innovated more than 16-bit consoles, Saturn, Ps1 or PS2 all the way up to Xbox...
 
Sorry Megadrive, but the Real3D engineers aren't working with Nintendo. They're on the east coast and the west coast team with the former ArtX engineers are working with Nintendo again.


So no Real3D engineers are at the west cost team, all the Real3D engineers that ATi has are on the east cost, working on R500 and XBox2?

Even so, all ATi teams share technology anyway so, both GPUs should benifit, shouldn't they? I suppose then, the Xbox2 will benifit more from Real3D.
 
Megadrive1988 said:
So no Real3D engineers are at the west cost team, all the Real3D engineers that ATi has are on the east cost, working on R500 and XBox2?
Yep.

Even so, all ATi teams share technology anyway so, both GPUs should benifit, shouldn't they?
That depends on the confidentiality requirements of Microsoft and Nintendo.
 
chaphack said:
Deepak said:
DC would have been a great console had it continued, but considering the tech performance gap between itself and other 3, it would have been a uphill task even if they had truckload of money.

pardon me, i no-a DC fanny but i dont think the DC gap is that big, at least not with the PS2. I saya if DC -> PS2 is as big as PS2 -> Xbox, but if i will, i dare call it PS2 -> Xbox is bigger.

from SimonF, it seems DC could do DOT3 well, who knows, lack of polygons it might have, BUT polybump might do well to cover that flaw. ;)

I have both DC and PS2 and there is a huge difference in IQ.

For example take any top DC racer and compare it to top PS2 racers...

Sega GT/LeMans/MSR ..... GT3/NFS:HP2/B2.
 
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