Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

I would be willing to bet those soo called bad decisions are pertaining specifically to the Wii U because anytime someone brings up anything bad with Nintendo, It always ends up at the Wii U. Yes we get it. We all know the console didn't sell well. That's old news and has been for quite some time now. But now it's time to look forward into the future that we cannot fully see yet because Nintendo has not given us the future yet and untill they do all we can do is speculate.

I would be willing to bet those soo called bad decisions are pertaining specifically to the Wii U because anytime someone brings up anything bad with Nintendo, It always ends up at the Wii U. Yes we get it. We all know the console didn't sell well. That's old news and has been for quite some time now. But now it's time to look forward into the future that we cannot fully see yet because Nintendo has not given us the future yet and untill they do all we can do is speculate.

@Bolt_Strike
The messaging pre-launch matters. Whether it's 12 months, 6 months or 3 months between reveal and doesn't. The content of the launch lineup matters. The presentation of the announcement does not. Not to the same degree anyways.

Sorry for the double post. I didnt mean to do that.

You're not listening. The timing of the announcement is related to the messaging, especially now that Microsoft and Sony are promoting their own hardware. Nintendo can't effectively spread their messaging if Microsoft and Sony cut in first and drive home that the industry has moved ahead of them, then no one will bother to pay attention to Nintendo.

@Bolt_Strike That's not how it works. If the device is interesting the media will follow.

And from seeing the majority reaction to Sonys Pro, it wasn't received with praise exactly.

Not really. The media is obsessed with specs and power, Nintendo's tendency to opt for lower powered consoles means they get treated as a second class citizen. So if Nintendo waits until after the Neo and Scorpio to promote another underpowered console it'll be ignored, they'll be too far behind for people to care. Whereas if they get ahead of that marketing and it's competitive with the base PS4/XBO models the market will be more willing to at least listen while they're waiting for Neo and Scorpio and maybe get some people to buy it based on its own merits.

I don't think there's some sort of FIFO queue system for news. I don't think Nintendo are trying to sell this thing to the same audience. Frankly I don't think Sony and Microsoft's new hardware is being thought about as "new hardware" either. Basically, I get the argument you're trying to make here. I'm listening to it. I understand what you're saying. I just don't agree with it on any level.

Nintendo don't market and on the rare occasion that they do, very often it's awful. If the NX is weak then the thing is dead from the get go. They tried to hood wink us with both the Wii and Wii U in terms of not releasing its specs prior to launch. We knew what the Gamecube was beforehand. With Wii and Wii U, we had to rely on Digital Foundry to open up the consoles to get an idea of what it was truly capable of. If Nintendo say nothing about what the hardware is and what levels of performance it has then it's more than likely a dud. It's just like E3 and how they skip the presentations because they've nothing to brag about. The same with the NPD. Most months we hear nothing from them unless they've something to brag about.

The ''majority'' of people isn't actually the majority of people that will be buying the system, so it's a moot point. Problem is, we already knew what the Pro was going to be, and it turned out exactly like we expected. The PS4 Slim? We already had our hands on that system before it was revealed. The reveal was a bit of a snoozefest, with Cerny giving us a 30 minute lecture on the history of 4K TVs. It was sort of interesting if you're into tech stuff, just not the thing that people expected from a Sony event; live orchestra, fireworks, big explosions and Kojima announcing three new games. Add to that the fact that the vast majority of viewers couldn't see the 4K and HDR benefits on their screen. It was always going to be a difficult system to market, when the most important benefit can't be demonstrated with an online video.

Anyway; I think the Pro will do fine in the end, cause when it hits the store shelves at the price of $399, people won't care how the system was reveal, most wouldn't even know. Then again, I've also always argued that the entry-level price of $299 for the PS4 Slim and Xbox One S will be a more important factor for the holiday season.

What this means for NX? It doesn't really matter how they'll reveal it. As long as the system has the software, is reasonably priced and is marketed well. Nintendo set up high expectations, so I expect that there will be many people disappointed and complain about it online (maybe I'll even join that group!), but those people don't make up the majority of the crowd the system will be targeted at, so I think that it'll be fine regardless of how many people complain about it online, provided that the system is an interesting product with good software, a good price and is marketed well.

@Octane Well moot point or not we all saw the lackluster presentation that was well your right, about the history of 4k televisions instead of the actual console. LOL

There's little bits of chatter that there could be a Direct on October 21st. Their first Direct was on that date in 2011 and every year since there's been one with the exception of last year understandably as Iwata had passed away.

Also, shortly after Nintendo's 2nd quarter release there will be an investors meeting around October 26th and if the NX hasn't been revealed by then I'd imagine the proverbial excrement will hit the fan at that said meeting.

@MarcelRguez No:

2011 - October 21st
2012 - October 2nd (NSMB2), 4th (EU), 25th (NA and JP)
2013 - October 1st
2014 - October 24th (Smash Wii U)

@MarcelRguez No.

yup

@Bolt_Strike You assume Nintendo is trying to compete with Sony and Microsoft. If that's the case, then they might as well cancel the NX as they've already lost that battle.

If the NX is as rumored? Then the Pro and Scorpio are of no concern. The latter of which doesn't even come out for another year.

If they're not competing with Microsoft and Sony, then their only other option is to compete with mobile, and that might be even tougher. Those are pretty much their only two options, no other market is big enough to be sustainable.

My guess is that Nintendo's going for a little bit of everyone with the NX. They can't compete with console and mobile directly, so the NX is targeting a compromise market, one that is just powerful enough to get the same kind of support as consoles without being bank breaking, follows the development philosophy of casual games and includes a bit more general purpose apps that the casuals might enjoy, and retains that same Nintendo charm that we've seen throughout the years. If they can do that I think they have a winner.

Well unless this thing is some kind of Nintendo iPhone/iPad they pretty much have to sell this to the same audience. Nintendo is going to keep being compared to Microsoft and Sony until they go full on mobile.

@IceClimbers Nintendo may not be competing against Sony and Microsoft in terms of specs but they are in terms of which system does the parents buy when they walk into that shop. In my local Game store, down the left of the shop is Xbox and down the right is PlayStation. Nintendo is a shelf in the middle which you wouldn't notice unless you actively wanted to buy Nintendo. And no one goes there, not even parents of children. They go to the other two systems when thinking about the console to buy.

So from that point of view, Nintendo is definitely competing. They may aim to be a second console but most people don't own a second console and would actively prefer Nintendo to be third party as it's far easier and cheaper for them to buy.

I've noticed that Nintendo "isn't competing with Sony or Microsoft" when discussing the wii u and its bad sales. But I have a feeling alot of the same people that say that were proudly comparing wii sales numbers with the ps3 and 360.