Yeah it went from meaning "they paid us to verify the quality" to... "they paid us".
What MS, Sony, Nintendo should be or are doing next
- Thread starter Nesh
- Start date
As much as I like the idea that Nintendo is trying to put out something different than Microsoft and Sony and I get that they don't need the power for their games..... I can't help but think all they had to do was put out something that just fell within the current min spec dev target (which is Xbox One). Like seriously they just could of got AMD to whip up a basic 1.5 TFlop/8GBmem console. Probably would have been able to retail for $300.
Even with PS4 Pro and Scorpio out ...Xbox One will be the min target spec for a few years and Nintendo could have rode this at least....
Even with PS4 Pro and Scorpio out ...Xbox One will be the min target spec for a few years and Nintendo could have rode this at least....
Maybe the types of games that are going to be succesful on Switch will not be ports. There are killer apps possible with sports games and 2 vs 2 games with two Switch placed back to back on a cafeteria table. Then it can also do portable single player games, and then home consoles games. The versatility is a pretty good value proposition if the price is reasonable.
Imho if Nintendo wanted to alleviate handheld limitation and have a real convergence between home console and gaming on the go, they needed to design a "laptop gaming system". Handheld is too tiny, so the next step is something that can rest on your lap (or a table). We speak a bigger device, with a bigger screen also a bigger BOM but it is not too complicated to have such form factor to deal with the TDP Nintendo has been aiming at with its last home console products.
The main issue i see with switch is its price, disparity in inputs (both when playing on the tablet or on a tv), and the fact that imho it is not a proper home console and the dock (etc) create issues (input) and it mostly a gimmick.
The main issue i see with switch is its price, disparity in inputs (both when playing on the tablet or on a tv), and the fact that imho it is not a proper home console and the dock (etc) create issues (input) and it mostly a gimmick.
iPad Pro size ?
I don't think it's interesting at all, at least not to me for games, either it's compact enough to let me play in the train or it's too big...
I would go with the same size as a macbook or average laptop: 11"-13" past that it gets big, tinier the screen lacks.
It is like anPC laptop a device you can bring anywhere and offer the "real" experience, it is not a hand held or a phone you can use anywhere.
As we are on topic, a dedicated gaming device would have benefits agaisnt pc laptop wrt to cooling, the base has to hold one or two detachable slimdown controllers which opens possibility for heat exhausts on top of the base, impossible with PC laptop.
It is like anPC laptop a device you can bring anywhere and offer the "real" experience, it is not a hand held or a phone you can use anywhere.
As we are on topic, a dedicated gaming device would have benefits agaisnt pc laptop wrt to cooling, the base has to hold one or two detachable slimdown controllers which opens possibility for heat exhausts on top of the base, impossible with PC laptop.
Last edited:
I'm just curious if Nintendo did any post-analysis on the Wii U to see why it didn't sell very well. Its sold like what 13M units over 4 years...is that the extent of people willing buy a console to effectively play Nintendo games? Because if so I'm not really convinced Switch is really going to be any different.
I guess Nintendo is banking on the 3DS owners to buy this in droves....which just concludes that this is really a 3DS succesor.
Which begs the question how many "console-level" games are really going to end up being available for this thing?
I guess Nintendo is banking on the 3DS owners to buy this in droves....which just concludes that this is really a 3DS succesor.
Which begs the question how many "console-level" games are really going to end up being available for this thing?
Wii U:
13.3 million sold
Top selling games:
Mario Kart 8 - 8 million
New Super Mario Bros U - 5.45 million
Super Mario 3D World - 5.19 million
Nintendo Land - 5.13 million
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U - 4.99 million
3DS:
61.5 million sold
Top selling games:
Pokemon X and Y - 15.64 million
Mario Kart 7 - 13.94 million
Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Saphire - 13.18 million
Super Mario 3D Land - 10.98 million
New Super Mario Bros. 2 - 10.6 million
Says it all really. Maybe Nintendo should be porting 3DS games more than Wii U games.
13.3 million sold
Top selling games:
Mario Kart 8 - 8 million
New Super Mario Bros U - 5.45 million
Super Mario 3D World - 5.19 million
Nintendo Land - 5.13 million
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U - 4.99 million
3DS:
61.5 million sold
Top selling games:
Pokemon X and Y - 15.64 million
Mario Kart 7 - 13.94 million
Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Saphire - 13.18 million
Super Mario 3D Land - 10.98 million
New Super Mario Bros. 2 - 10.6 million
Says it all really. Maybe Nintendo should be porting 3DS games more than Wii U games.
D
Deleted member 13524
Guest
Yet Skyrim was in the initial presentation video, which means there's at least a residual effort for getting third parties with big-name games on board.
Then again, the same effort was on the Wii U and that.. didn't go very well.
thanks for sharing this. Really paints a picture of at least what the leadership team sees. It definitely provides a ton of clarity of where a majority of their business lies.
this scenario reminds me of when telcos had to leave Land line business (where all their profit was) and begin building mobile infrastructure. Now mobile likely makes up more than 65% of revenue for any major telco out there. Telcos that failed to invest in mobile got wiped.
Definitely interesting to see how the market continues to change. The end game is likely mobile I think!
I'm guessing we will see a mish mash of mobile/console games on this...or just a lot of low fidelity console level games that are basically mobile games. It's probably the right move by Nintendo as the dedicated portable gaming space is dominated by them...and I don't think there is a direct threat by the smartphone market because of lack of proper controllers.
Actually come to think of it the biggest threat to Nintendo might not be Microsoft/Sony consoles....it might be Apple releasing something like the Joycon controllers that can attached to any iphone.
Handhelds sells well, so does software when price is right. Those numbers renforce my belief that Sony should continue where Nintendo left with the 3DS. Nintendo's moves to make the 3DS more affordable are pretty recent.
MSFT can't do it, Japan is too relevant to that market hence Sony should try.
EDIT
I'm not convince that the future of the market is mobile only. If you can carry a mini controller around, you can carry a handheld, then it is pretty much the same thing as PC vs home console, consoles have their benefits.
On the other hand handheld have taken the wrong path, it is not exactly convenient to have a handheld around: neither the 3DS XL or the Ps Vita are really pocketable. The 3DS is better but the ration size-volume/screen real estate ain't sexy at all. It does not fair well against say a PSP Go or the Xperia Play. It also feels pretty cramped as the second screen takes its tolls on the controls/inputs.
We have yet to see a modern handheld that would have a form factor competitive with a smartphone offering the same screen real estate. The psp-go and the Xperia Play were a little on the thick side, moving the side buttons to the back would sure help reaching a flatter profile. Improving on the Xperia play take on (emulating) analog sticks is another idea worth considering.
Another reason to pass on a big screen: it ain't so easy to fit a 5" (or more) smartphone in one's pockets and it sure won't fit a kid's pockets.
Ultimately are we so sure "we" (gamers) would pass on a handheld gaming if it were as easy if not easier (if you have a big phone) to carry a handheld around as to carry our phones. Form factors of nowadays handheld is quite possibly lacking and not in line with the systems actual usage and costumers habits.
Last edited:
If Scorpio proves successful, console manufacturers should make it standard practice that mid console cycle of Xbox 2020 and PS5 they release a console that for the most part can reliably double framerates in games. That should be the focus turning 30fps games in to 60fps games.
I guess the idea is that if your mobile device is powerful enough, then you're already leveraging a hybrid device. If you look at something like the iPad Pro, we're well along there already in terms of processing power (even more so CPU wise), all you're missing is a big screen TV output, and some bluetooth controller support. A video game console itself doesn't need to exist in the format it does now, and it's not hard to believe that eventually a mobile phone could replace a majority of our computing needs (except those that require intense power).
But the simple way to get around that is with server power, much like we we do with Hadoop and clustered processing of large data sets. Nvidia offers game streaming already, streaming to... Nvidia shield. So really your mobile device only needs to be good enough to provide lagless off shore processing to be comparable to any console today, and any console in the future.
That future isn't too far away, and I have no doubt MS sees that as a possible path for their future. I've seen W10 continuum in person, I've seen their mobile phone convert to desktop and begin plugging away on MS Office. So it's not too absurd when your outlook is 10-15 years or so. 10 years is a long time, because our rate of technology improvement appears to be somewhat exponential. VR is already on mobile, much earlier than expected. What if VR does indeed become the future? Do we really need realistic graphics, or do we just need high frame rate and resolution.
Anyway, just my thoughts on the subject as a whole.
I'm not speaking of convergence between handheld and home console, I'm speaking of a proper handheld which can be kept in a pocket comfortably. Your handheld can't compete with your phone (for use) when only the later is around. Sony(ish) products tried to get there (wrt to form factor) with the PSP go and the Xperia play. Handheld basic from factor should be in the same ballpark as phone. I am all for a tiered approach for console but I would do it differently than Nintendo: a pocketable product and significantly bigger one with different form factor, not just bigger (like XL DS have been).
Yes it was pushed into 2017 early last year or in 2015. Expect it to be a big showcase for Scorpio.
As for scalebound . I am super disappointed as I was looking forward to it. However it was in dev hell being in development for at least 4 years and apparently it still had a lot of performance issues that they were unable to resolve even with the delay so it might have even slipped out of 2017 if MS decided to keep funding it.
So... A chance for Nintendo to swoop in and revive it?
