I've been living in ancient Greece since Friday. Immortals: Fenyx Rising has been surprisingly addictive, and consumed my entire post-Christmas weekend.
It seems like people are forgetting about Geforce Now already running on Shield. While certainly not "flip a switch" easy, I think Nintendo could very quickly get into the game streaming space through their partnership with Nvidia. The Switch hardware being so similar to shield, it would only take software implementation from the two companies to make it happen.
@andrew20 The "Power Matters" argument is valid, but needs to have an important caveat. Let's take a little trip back to the late '70s, and then walk forward in time to the present day. The Atari 2600 released to significant fanfare, and was easily the best selling console of the 2nd generation. It was also less powerful than both the Intellivision and Colecovision, which were far superior than the 2600 from a graphics, audio, and cpu standpoint. The 3rd generation saw the NES rocket to the top of video game mountain despite being inferior to Master System and Turbografx16 (aka PC Engine). The Mega Drive/Genesis of the 4th generation arguably had a "more powerful" cpu than the SNES, but the difference was largely a product of marketing. The SNES was superior in graphical and audio capabilities. However, both were handily outstripped by the contemporary Neo Geo and CDi, and both easily outsold their more expensive competitors. Around this time we also saw the Game Boy dominate the handheld market despite being technologically inferior in every way to a number of handhelds from Atari, Sega, NEC, and Bandai. Moving to the 5th generation, we saw the N64 outsold 3:1 by the less powerful Playstation. The Gamecube and XBox (combined) only sold one quarter of the units as the PS2, despite both systems boasting superior graphics over the Sony offering. The DS also outsold the more powerful PSP by about 2:1, becoming the 2nd best selling system of all time. And the 7th generation saw the Wii outsell the XBox 360 which in turn outsold the PS3; exactly the opposite as the order of "power". The 3DS is currently outselling the Vita in the 8th generation handheld market by a large amount, as well. So what we are seeing with the PS4 is very unusual in the console and handheld markets in terms of "most power = best selling". What the best selling consoles of each generation do have in common is "competitive power" combined with heavy 3rd party support. Support of companies like EA, Activision, Ubisoft, or Bethesda is far more important to the NX's success than the raw specs of NX cpu. But on the flipside of that argument, Nintendo can't afford to bring another out-dated lump to the market. It has to be compelling from a capabilities standpoint, or 3rd parties will continue to ignore it, mainstream will continue to mock it, and loyal fans will get disinterested.
How about something like the NVidia Shield portable (could use a tegra X1 iteration, which already has 3x the power of the wii u)? Then give the option to plug into an upgrade box like the alienware graphics amplifier for 4K gaming in a "console mode". That way you could program for one platform with scalable graphics just like a pc. They could easily make the graphics amplifier upgradeable, and they could still sell two products to soak up as much of my money as possible.
Comments 6
Re: Ubisoft Switch Sale Discounts Immortals Fenyx Rising, Mario + Rabbids And Plenty More
Highly recommend fenyx rising, especially for $40
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (Christmas Special)
I've been living in ancient Greece since Friday. Immortals: Fenyx Rising has been surprisingly addictive, and consumed my entire post-Christmas weekend.
Re: Nintendo Adding Sharp As Switch Manufacturing Partner Could Boost Q4 Sales Year-On-Year
@SwitchVogel the switch is still sold out everywhere around me, and scalpers are selling the consoles for upwards of $450 on amazon
Re: Xbox Boss Doesn't See Nintendo As A "Main Competitor" In The Next-Gen War
It seems like people are forgetting about Geforce Now already running on Shield. While certainly not "flip a switch" easy, I think Nintendo could very quickly get into the game streaming space through their partnership with Nvidia. The Switch hardware being so similar to shield, it would only take software implementation from the two companies to make it happen.
Re: Rumour: Sources Go to Battle Again Over Nintendo NX Power
@andrew20
The "Power Matters" argument is valid, but needs to have an important caveat.
Let's take a little trip back to the late '70s, and then walk forward in time to the present day. The Atari 2600 released to significant fanfare, and was easily the best selling console of the 2nd generation. It was also less powerful than both the Intellivision and Colecovision, which were far superior than the 2600 from a graphics, audio, and cpu standpoint. The 3rd generation saw the NES rocket to the top of video game mountain despite being inferior to Master System and Turbografx16 (aka PC Engine). The Mega Drive/Genesis of the 4th generation arguably had a "more powerful" cpu than the SNES, but the difference was largely a product of marketing. The SNES was superior in graphical and audio capabilities. However, both were handily outstripped by the contemporary Neo Geo and CDi, and both easily outsold their more expensive competitors. Around this time we also saw the Game Boy dominate the handheld market despite being technologically inferior in every way to a number of handhelds from Atari, Sega, NEC, and Bandai. Moving to the 5th generation, we saw the N64 outsold 3:1 by the less powerful Playstation. The Gamecube and XBox (combined) only sold one quarter of the units as the PS2, despite both systems boasting superior graphics over the Sony offering. The DS also outsold the more powerful PSP by about 2:1, becoming the 2nd best selling system of all time. And the 7th generation saw the Wii outsell the XBox 360 which in turn outsold the PS3; exactly the opposite as the order of "power". The 3DS is currently outselling the Vita in the 8th generation handheld market by a large amount, as well.
So what we are seeing with the PS4 is very unusual in the console and handheld markets in terms of "most power = best selling". What the best selling consoles of each generation do have in common is "competitive power" combined with heavy 3rd party support. Support of companies like EA, Activision, Ubisoft, or Bethesda is far more important to the NX's success than the raw specs of NX cpu. But on the flipside of that argument, Nintendo can't afford to bring another out-dated lump to the market. It has to be compelling from a capabilities standpoint, or 3rd parties will continue to ignore it, mainstream will continue to mock it, and loyal fans will get disinterested.
Re: Digital Foundry Ponders Next-Gen Hardware Options for Nintendo
How about something like the NVidia Shield portable (could use a tegra X1 iteration, which already has 3x the power of the wii u)? Then give the option to plug into an upgrade box like the alienware graphics amplifier for 4K gaming in a "console mode". That way you could program for one platform with scalable graphics just like a pc. They could easily make the graphics amplifier upgradeable, and they could still sell two products to soak up as much of my money as possible.