I'm going to be brutally honest here...we're all reading too much into the hype around the NX, and it will sour us all to no-end if we continue to let rumors skew what should be our 'real' expectations for the platform going forward.
First of all, none of us knows what the NX even is. If we went off of what each supposed "leaker" states about the platform architecture, nothing adds up unless proven; this results in mass speculation. Whatever the NX is, it will need to be Nintendo's answer to the do-or-die situation it has found itself in regarding third-party interest for their platform. All we can be 100% sure about is that the NX 'will' be a dedicated video game 'platform,' a very careful wording chosen by Nintendo each time they mention the NX. That's it. We know nothing else about it outside of rumors and speculation.
The real issue with Nintendo is no longer about how much money they are making from their console business. Nintendo can no longer rely solely on sales from a finicky, "casual" audience for long-term success now either. The truth in the matter is that they need to fully counter their mishaps with the Wii and Wii U...and, believe it or not, it wasn't with us Nintendo fans as much. The part of gaming the Wii era (Wii to Wii U) so callously neglected the most was third-party support.
Graphics never mattered for any generation of gaming, and they still don't.It's the longevity and quality of a brand name and its software/hardware that dictates whether or not people take to it well and how long said brand continues to stay relevant. After losing interest from dedicated fans and third-parties for over a decade, a brand in this industry can end up falling down a rabbit hole that (unlike in Majora's Mask) they'll never climb their way out of. We saw it happen one-too-many-times already; companies like Atari and SEGA just made mistake-after-mistake and became irrelevant to the gaming industry as brand names, for instance.
My major qualm with the NX isn't in its tech specs. It isn't about first-party games available on the platform at launch. It's not about whether or not it gets Wii U ports at its launch. It's not the price either. What we need Nintendo to achieve with this platform is not only initial third-party support...but long-lasting support where Nintendo can continue to supply third-parties with a flexible platform that caters to their needs and provides actual leverage from an install base that gives them more reason to have their software available on a Nintendo platform again.
The fact of the matter is that Nintendo cannot 'only' cater to the industry's demands (the "red ocean") and shirk aside the importance of longevity (the "blue ocean") any longer either. This is the double-edged sword they have created with the Wii era. Whether or not they can find a way to rectify these issues with the NX, I believe that the end of this decade in gaming will be some of the most integral years for the gaming industry as a whole.
To be clear, Nintendo isn't the only one affected by this. These issues we face are visible amongst all dedicated gaming platforms and we risk the collapse of the gaming industry as a whole by asking of more of the same to be provided by our colleagues; the Wii U was the closest anyone will ever get to that by Nintendo and we have seen how the gaming industry treats the now-starving platform.
Nintendo needs to provide something truly revolutionary to the likeness of the NES and SNES. It needs to strike that element of synergistic harmony that the company used to be known for when it came to the balance of uncontested and contested ideas in their software and hardware, hence why I bring up the idea of supporting 'both' the blue and red oceans. If their entry into the mobile market (a "red ocean") is any indication, I won't be surprised to see Nintendo jump at this opportunity in "creating something unique," as Mr. Iwata himself would have put it. Something that strikes a balance between both so that a bridge can be built to leverage as wide an audience of gamers as humanly possible for the platform from all spectrums of the gaming industry.
Not too many people are gonna bother to read that just a heads up, but in regards to people's expectations from what I've seen I do generally agree that people are way in over their heads in what they're expecting, both from the people whose high expectations are unrealistic as well as the people who are starting threads declaring that the writing is already on the wall as far as Nintendo as a third party developer are concerned, never mind NX.
People need to get a grip really. No one/thing is 'doomed' and it is impossible to say how fun it will be owning and playing games on NX. We know nothing for certain.
Not too many people are gonna bother to read that just a heads up, but in regards to people's expectations from what I've seen I do generally agree that people are way in over their heads in what they're expecting, both from the people whose high expectations are unrealistic as well as the people who are starting threads declaring that the writing is already on the wall as far as Nintendo as a third party developer are concerned, never mind NX.
People need to get a grip really. No one/thing is 'doomed' and it is impossible to say how fun it will be owning and playing games on NX. We know nothing for certain.
I'll try to edit the post to make it more readable. Perhaps include the tl;dr at the top of it instead. lol
Absolutely agree with you. Instead of them saying how 'doomed' Nintendo is regardless of what the company does with the NX, or complaining/getting too hyped over rumors about the platform, I'd love for us all to just come to that consensus of what we REALLY need the NX to achieve. Haha.
We need to realize that other elements of it such as tech specs, price, gimmicks, first-party games, and more, are all secondary. We need a platform with the install base and support it needs for Nintendo to continue to live a long, healthy life in the gaming and industry
The thing is, tech specs, price, gimmicks, and first party games are all instrumental in getting to a large install base with 3rd party software. That's why we talk about them.
Currently Playing: Steamworld Heist, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Tales of Graces F
Nintendo will never have another NES or SNES success in popularity terms. It wasn't that they were the most powerful machines at the time (even though they were) it's the fact, that the best games EVERYONE wanted to play were only available on those systems.
GTA, COD and FIFA are the big games people want to play now, so forget how powerful the thing is, until we know that the games will sell systems in big numbers again, then fate is out of our hands!
Nintendo will never have another NES or SNES success in popularity terms. It wasn't that they were the most powerful machines at the time (even though they were) it's the fact, that the best games EVERYONE wanted to play were only available on those systems.
I think it was more a case of there being not the same level of competition as there is now. Sure the NES was close to 50:50 in Europe with the Master System and then the SNES was close to 50:50 in Europe and the US with the Genesis/Mega Drive. But it was nothing like what Sony brought and continues to bring across all regions.
So when you say that Nintendo has the games that's true. But they only had the games because they were the dominant player. If developers weren't releasing their games on Nintendo's platform they were cutting out more than half the market. It was a similar deal for Sony for the PS and PS2.
Sony changed the gaming demographic no doubt. The landscape now is like comparing comic book sales to film sales. The latter is more mainstream then the other and makes a damn sight more money, yet the former still has a devoted fan base and weirdly enough, is providing the inspiration to the latter!
@Project_Dolphin: I'm re-reading the comment and it seems to me that is exactly the point they were making with their own post. Unless you were deliberately doing so just to emphasise the point?
But yes I don't think the point needs repeating a 3rd time that videogames were very, very different 20-30 years ago than they are now. Heck, go back even 'only' 5 years and tell people that their consoles will soon have upgraded versions released 3 years after the original model, that a vast majority of 'premium AAA' games will be aping the free-to-play model and will offer microtransactions as part of their ecosystem and that dream Final Fantasy VII remake they've been dreaming of will be released in 3 $60 parts at least in an episodic formula. Like every @-*$%£ game Square-Enix releases. If you went back 5 years and posted even just those 3 things on Neogaf you'd be a laughing stock.
But as we all know that is the current reality. Chances are with the way this industry goes the vogue thing in 5 years time will be unthinkable now. Which is kinda why I find the people who think they know how things are going to go to be a little foolish.
I will make it a point again that synergistic harmony has been the one-and-only factor that has determined continued success for third-parties and the industry as a whole.
It is not about supporting one side of the industry while neglecting the other. It is about creating a balance between uncontested and contested ideas for both software and hardware that both sides of the playing field can take advantage of. It is a unique concept that has only been explored by the most successful consoles in the past.
Need further proof? Look at the most successful platforms on that front, in their respective eras, as none other than the NES, SNES, PS1, PS2, and X360. Each of them all achieved long-term success and forever shaped the gaming industry by creating a standard.
Synergy is the way all new and current implementations of architecture and design correlate with each to achieve balance. It's the right combination of conventional and unconventional ideas that simply work. Synergistic harmony is when that balance is achieved 'through' synergy to a point where gaming on those devices all just felt "right."
With the PS4 and XBO, the amount of flexibility third-party devs have with those platforms is the bare minimum required by them. This has been voiced numerous times by companies like Ubisoft in the past. With the Wii U, the architecture wasn't even there for them to consider porting over their games like they would for other devices. VR makes matters worse and more convoluted for third-parties.
We need a new platform that can cater to third-parties and strike a balance in the industry once again. Neither Wii U, PS4, or XBO have achieved this; it can actually be argued that they are only keeping this generation back from progressing the way it should have been.
Third-party support is integral to achieving this balance, but if the platform is not flexible enough to meet the demands of the generation, then consoles will continue to slowly fade into obscurity until 'something' can get them back at the forefront of the industry once again.
That's my issue with how people view the NX. We need a platform that doesn't sacrifice one side of the gaming population for the other. It needs to be a platform that can succssfully meet both in the middle. It needs to create a bridge.
@Aethradon: What's with the 360? If that console is succesful, then so are the PS3 and the Wii. Also, the PS4 is on its way of becoming one of the better selling consoles too, it's too early to say anything about that console.
@Aethradon: What's with the 360? If that console is succesful, then so are the PS3 and the Wii. Also, the PS4 is on its way of becoming one of the better selling consoles too, it's too early to say anything about that console.
It's the entire lifecycle that is important to take into consideration and its contribution to the gaming industry as a whole that matters; I'm not going solely off of sales numbers here. Why?
The Wii was the perfect example of something that sold extremely well, but it failed to endure for the long-term due to favoring unconventional ideals in place of conventional ones that would have worked just as well for everyone. Nintendo was making money in their bubble and didn't feel a need to cater to western developers, publishers, and gamers like other consoles on the market were. For PS3, third-parties were unable to take advantage of the platform until later in its life due to its Cell-based architecture.
The X360 was a widely accepted platform by third-parties and served as the basis of what format games were developed to run on for an entire generation.
The X360 created the standard of gaming for an entire generation, had a revolutionary control scheme that still works today for modern games, and it built upon online gaming for gaming platforms in a way that impacted the entire gaming industry in the long-term. One cannot argue its success on the market for the long-term as it was strong for an entire decade.
Even consoles that weren't as synergistic as they could have been with the industry still offered innovations that were more meaningful than either of those two platforms (PS3 and Wii). The N64 and GC offered important new methods of control for 3D gaming (Control Sticks and Triggers). Xbox Original kicked off Xbox Live. Dreamcast had the VMU.
It's too early to talk about this generation, but the PS4 so far offers nothing meaningful to the industry; it's just more of the same. Same for XBO. Same for Wii U.
Nintendo needs to take advantage of the situation and focus on meeting the needs of the industry for this generation to end on a positive note. We risk losing traction in the gaming industry if consoles continue to just be more of the same. The NX platform needs to be so unique that it can penetrate this market with no qualms while also catering to third-parties for the longhaul.
If it doesn't do that, then we're all in for a second crash in the video game market for the latter half of the decade. I'm absolutely sure of that now.
The X360 created the standard of gaming for an entire generation, had a revolutionary control scheme that still works today for modern games.
No it didn't. It took the XBOX and DS2's control scheme pretty much verbatim. Even the PS3 Sixaxis did more with it's minor motion control compatibility. Just because the controller was comfortable doesn't mean it was revolutionary in any regard.
Anyway, I see what you are saying, but I think you are just conflating a bunch of things most here know Nintendo needs to do with the NX, and sticking them under the banner of "synergy of uncontested and contested concepts".
Of course Nintendo needs to provide something new that draws people in. Of course they need to develop a system that wide audiences want to use and 3rd party developers want to develop for.
But in order to do that, Nintendo has to set a correct price, give the device competitive specs, bring something new to the game industry, demonstrate it with their 1st party games, and prevent the new aspect from interfering with others (See Wii U, XB1).
Even then, you don't need all of those to see success (see PS2 and DVD compatibility), and having all of them doesn't necessarily spell success if other factors get in the way, such as the Gamecube's industry image as a "Kid's console".
The game industry is complicated, that's why we discuss so many different aspects. Because they all play a role in the bigger picture.
@iKhan: I actually agree with the 360 thing, but not in terms of "controls," just in terms of what "gaming" means to most younger people these days. For a while there, "gaming" and "xbox" were synonomous. Like it or not, the 360 managed to tap into that pre-teen/teen demographic and just go to town, even more than the PS2, which was a broad-appeal system and perhaps the greatest system of all time next to the SNES.
@iKhan: I actually agree with the 360 thing, but not in terms of "controls," just in terms of what "gaming" means to most younger people these days. For a while there, "gaming" and "xbox" were synonomous. Like it or not, the 360 managed to tap into that pre-teen/teen demographic and just go to town, even more than the PS2, which was a broad-appeal system and perhaps the greatest system of all time next to the SNES.
Oh I agree with that. It's just objectively wrong to say anything about the 360's controls were revolutionary.
Currently Playing: Steamworld Heist, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Tales of Graces F
It's funny to see how quick people are to cherry-pick wording and obscure the original intent of context overall rather than actually listen to the message being conveyed. I was laughing at people's reactions to 10k's speculations being proven false, too. Haha.
Listen...if people want to keep over-hyping themselves here, be my guest. I'm pointing out the obvious problem, and people are still trying to find ways to dance around it.
It proves my point of this entire post without people realizing it: if catering to Nintendo fans has now become a "double-edged sword" situation for Nintendo, then they can no longer cater to those same people any longer. This is why third-party support and longevity of their brand through a red and blue-ocean strategy is now integral to the health of their platform at the forefront. The problem is right there in front of all of us, yet there are those of us that just continue to ignore it in favor of speculation about what can possibly be, not what it clearly is and needs to be.
Hype like this gets to this all-time high, then Nintendo (or any other company in their position) unveils whatever it is they made, and it will never match the lofty speculation people had so desparately wanted to believe. Reality hits and then you just have to either accept it or move on.
People don't like being wrong; it's a human thing. My point is still there, if any care to discuss it.
I'm sure if I claimed this was a "leak," people would actually care to read. Who knows? It probably is. :^)
People may want to take a step back and realize there may be no way to overturn the marketing programming set in motion by Tom Kalinske and built upon and reinforced every generation by every other manufacturer and third party for the past two decades overnight with a single launch.
@Aethradon: Didn't I read somewhere basically saying the same thing about why Valve wouldn't ever make a Half Life 3? Essentially, whatever they make will not exceed the hype and ultimately damage their brand, so they would rather count the Steam money. So I see your point. If people's expectations are far too high, then Nintendo cannot announce it for fear of backlash!
I never drive faster than I can see. Besides, it's all in the reflexes.
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Topic: Rant: Expectations are getting too unrealistic; NX is about synergistic harmony. (UPDATE)
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