kingofthesofa

@Ootfan98 He doesn't. Which makes his commitment to comment sections like these all the more bewildering. Anybody referencing or supporting the Polygon reviewer should be ashamed. A professional gaming journalist not giving time to any game they are supposedly reviewing should be dismissed. However , in the mess that is critical game reviewing , I'm not surprised. Polygon should sack him if they have any integrity. Obviously they haven't and they wont.

Been away for a while , but not surprised to see the usual suspects still railing against Nintendo. I find it amusing the way people are certain the game has bad or broken controls , even though they haven't played the game in question , and , in some cases , don't even own the console that the game is made for ! So , the chances of them buying the game were extremely remote at best anyway. If Shigsy and Nintendo want Starfox to control like this then fair enough , it is up to them , they have designed the game this way. An eShop demo would allay most peoples fears. The Wii U offers gamers more control options than other consoles , yet so called Nintendo fans would prefer to play with a NES pad.
For the NX , Nintendo should just update the NES pad with a night light like the PS4 - now that is innovation in gaming.

@Quorthon "The Game Boy Color is considered the same generation as the original Game Boy, even with Nintendo's own accounting, as they were identical hardware (with color added)." It is true that people , Nintendo included , group them together , but hardware wise the GBC is , comparatively , a lot more powerful than the GB.
CPU: GB (8bit at 4.19MHz), GBC (8bit at 8.33MHz)
Ram: GB (8KB), GBC (32KB)
Color Palette: GB (2bit), GBC (15bit)
ROM: GB (256Bytes), GBC (8MB)
This enabled the Gameboy line to last a lot longer and span two generations.

I think Nintendo are going to have a great 2016 and make a massive profit from both mobile and consoles. I still suspect there are a couple of surprise Wii U games to be revealed in the coming months. Pokemon Go is coming. NX will be revealed causing comment section meltdown when the specs indicate it is not as powerful as the PS4.

@SahashraLA "People are going to hate my comment anyways, so let's just go there. When Nintendo was founded, in the 19th century, and they had a year like this, like the last 3, Iwata would have performed seppuku long before the tumor killed him."
This year has seen Nintendo return to profit , announce new initiatives to utilise their multitude of IPs , launch a successful new IP and sell more Wii Us in Japan than last year. They have released more games than any other first party developer / platform provider. Also , there wasn't much of a market for consoles and games in the 19th century.
"Because before Nintendo went public, they had a spine and took chances"
Care to provide any examples of Nintendo showing their spine and taking chances ? Bearing in mind that Nintendo went public in 1962. So unless you were following Nintendo before that and was a massive fan of playing cards , your comment is ridiculous at best.
On topic game wise , although overall it wasn't the best year there were a few highlights with Splatoon , Xenoblade , Mario Maker and Wooly World at retail. Some decent eShop releases as well this year including Fast Racing Neo , Year Walk , Runbow and Metroid Trilogy.

One of the most popular third party games coming to the Wii U and people are moaning ? As for the price , to purchase the game and packs on Xbox costs $35 , so it's actually cheaper on the Wii U. I know it is late , but this could be important for Nintendo in Japan ; especially if it comes to N3DS as well as Wii U.

This is a decision that as been made during the localisation process to not include or alter an option / feature of the original release. This has happened many times in the past and will happen many times in the future , across all media. I don't agree with it , but I can understand it. I didn't agree with the alterations to Project Zero either , but again I can understand it. Thanks to the internet and the greater communication it offers , we as consumers are more aware of these regional changes than ever before. Unfortunately , thanks to the internet , it is easy for the morally outraged to create an outcry bandwagon that can be hopped on by many a keyboard warrior ( eg : Tomodachi Life ) My worry is that Nintendo are starting to remove / alter things in a pre- emptive way to avoid this kind of backlash. If this is done with the blessing of the creators then OK , I can accept it. If not , then that IS censorship and we are on a very slippery slope. It seems to me though , whenever Nintendo is involved the outcry / backlash is far more severe. Look at the reaction to Street Fighter V been altered by Capcom on PushSquare - oh wait , they haven't even mentioned it.

Well Nintendo Life , you certainly like giving Tamaki and his rumours exposure. Retro confirmed they had been working on a new project for a few months in March 2014 , so the first part of what he said is obviously embellished. Both Retro themselves and Nintendo have said in the past that Retro could work on the next instalment of Metroid. According to Tamaki in April of this year , Retro were utilising a new engine on Wii U , probably to make Metroid Prime 4. He also claimed Fallout 4 was cross gen. So I'm going to take this with a pinch of salt.

@ikki5 "No one should be surprised about this considering how Nintendo has done nothing to solve their gradual decline for the last 20 years."
This comment makes no sense. If you are referring to profits / sales , they have , in the main , increased over the last 20 years. If you are commenting on the quality of their software it also makes no sense. Super Mario 64 , Ocarina Of Time and Super Mario Galaxy 1 + 2 were all released in the last 20 years. These games regularly appear on best games of all time lists. It is also a fairly dramatic statement in relation to a rather arbitrary list from a brand consultancy company. ( see comments #37 and #41 )

@greengecko007 I was referring to the improvement seen graphically between first reveal and actual release. Both 3DW and HW were slated for their visuals when they were first revealed. I agree the controls are great , but to perform sucessful combos in Bayo and 101 requires some time and practice.

Dooooooooomed !!!

To the usual Nintendo naysayers in the comments - remember the uproar about Hyrule Warriors' and 3D World's graphics when they were first revealed ? Then remember how polished the graphics of both games looked only 3 - 4 months later ? Did anybody get the Wonderful 101's controls within minutes of playing ? Or Bayonetta's ?

Buffoonery of the highest order from everybody's favourite Nintendo hating analyst. Not only did he predict this in 2009 , he then contradicts himself during this interview a few seconds later. Also , a drop in 10 million units of hardware ( under 4% ) in total means the end of real conolse gaming ? One of my favourite predictions from him was about the PS4 having "processors capable of rendering games at 240 frames per second"

In terms of 'AAA' I would have thought XCX was more 'AAA' than Star Fox ; although both are niche titles. Mario Tennis will probably sell more copies than both. Animal Crossing will definitely sell more consoles than Star Fox. A price cut coupled with a marketing push would sell more consoles than any Star Fox game ever could. It was fairly obvious this game would be delayed. In my opinion Nintendo only said it would be out this holiday to soften the blow of Zelda U getting delayed. Oh well , at least it's another WII U game for 2016 !

Kudos for publishing this. To most of the users here , puts not been able to get your hands on certain amiibo into perspective does it not ?

This comments section is embarrassing. It's just a kiss.

Games wise , looking forward to Steamworld Heist , Year Walk and Fast Racing Neo. Amiibo wise , I like the idea of Indies releasing amiibo and I think the Shovel Knight amiibo looks great. Somebody in the comments mentioned a World Of Goo amiibo , I'd really like a Wii U update of the game and some Little Inferno amiibo. Does anybody know if Tomorrow Corporation intend to bring Human Resource Machine to consoles after Steam ? I still think Little Inferno is one of the best indies on the Wii U and I'd love to see a sequel to it in the future.
@ThomasBW84 The video is the Kerbal Space Program trailer instead of a sizzle reel.

Why would XSEED be upset ? If the game is as bad as it seems to be from early reviews , and likely to bomb , then surely they should be happy ? This rumour appears to be an attempt to justify the original rumour , so the internet can use the rumour monger for future rumours and retain rumour credibility.

Surely the patents for NX would have been submitted several months ago , if we are to believe the internet reports that informed us Nintendo showed NX to Square etc at E3 ? I agree with @Fath and @manu0. I'm thinking it's a Wii U revision , with Nintendo lodging these patents to cover their backs regarding the changes. The Wii U Mini could be a good idea , like the 3DS XL. The components should be cheaper now , so more profit on the hardware. Have we , as I have thought before , been playing a soft marketed prototype for the past few years ? This Xmas will give us proof of whether Nintendo are interested in improving the Wii U's lot. The games are there now , they just need to let the wider world know it exists.

@MrGawain

@Yorumi I bought Tekken Tag Tournament 2 at launch and was impressed with it. Huge roster , Wii U exclusive content and decent , solid gameplay. It was a much better game and port than Injustice in my opinion. I don't know the actual sales on the Wii U ( and I refuse to use VGC ) but I recall Namco were not happy with the sales of the game on all systems , even though it sold nearly a million in total. I thought Soul Calibur would have been a better choice to port to Wii U than Tekken due to the formers previous success on the Gamecube , but alas that is in the past. As for why people are hyped , well it is Pokemon. Tekken is barely known outside the gaming world so I'd expect Pokken to outsell TTT2 by a very large margin. I don't think you can compare the two and draw any conclusions about the fanbases attitude to third parties.

@Jese_1 Too true, with just slight amendments. A lot of Nintendo fans are fast becoming the most irritatingly opinionated and negative gamers out there.
@Grumblevolcano Tanabe didn't confirm NX was a home console. That is what people inferred from the interview / what was translated.

@Robotron2084 I agree , why do people want it to release on a platform that isn't available and nobody outside of Nintendo truly knows anything about ? It was obvious this would come to Wii U and will probably arrive in May , like MK8 and Splatoon , to fill the dry summer months with online multiplayer goodness. The game was probably not announced at E3 because it's a Pokemon Company game , and off the top of my head I cannot recall any Pokemon games been revealed at E3. Might shift a few systems , will definitely shift many Amiibo.

@Kage_88 Good post. The man is a buffoon , who has somehow managed to make a name for himself as an analyst in an industry he clearly knows little about. Fair play to him I suppose. He claims we shouldn't take him seriously and that he's joking , yet internet sites still promote his nonsense. Pachter works for a financial investment company , not a tech company , and his favourite whipping boy has always been Nintendo. His claims that Nintendo should go third party prove he doesn't really understand their business model. Nintendo make games and dedicated hardware to play them on. Even if they are in third place in the home console arena , they will still make a lot of money. Nintendo came in third place with the Gamecube and still increased their profits by 40%. Surely a business analyst should be more interested in profits made above market share etc ?
" We need dedicated hardware that is designed to cater to the needs of these avid gamers. People might say that software is software. No. A unique software experience can always be realized with unique hardware that has a unique interface. That is why I believe Nintendo is, and will be, sticking to these dedicated gaming machines." — Shigeru Miyamoto.

I agree with @Octane and FLUX. This article is badly written , meanders aimlessly and seemingly exists just because there were so many comments on yesterday's 'news'. I find it amusing that certain people are blaming Nintendo for firing Pranger when he himself admits it's his own fault he got fired. I also find it amusing that the writer of this talking point calls for more openness from Nintendo then threatens @FLUX_CAPACITOR with moderation. Chris Pranger was a low level employee who bad mouthed his employer's customers , spoke as though he was a representative of that company and also gossiped about one of that company's most prolific workers. MyNintendoSpews , TrollUDaily , BloNintendo and NintendoStrife etc are more to blame for Pranger losing his job than Nintendo. If they hadn't jumped all over his comments and spread them like a digital rash , he might have slipped under the radar.

@Kirk Thanks for clarifying , I read it ( and it seems others might have ) as though you were referring to the technical limitations of the Wii U rather than the game. Looking at the Ubi blog , I have to agree with @TheRealThanos #89 , it seems they are taking away some of the difficulty of the game. On the blog it also states : “There has been a slight increase in the field of view, and players can increase and decrease it a little if they want to, but not so much that it takes away that claustrophobic feeling. Some work was also undertaken on the control mapping and response to improve the look and feel of the first-person movement.” So there might have been some intent from them with the field of view , although I agree with you that it was probably , in the main , done to mask shortcomings / save time. No download price as yet on the Ubisoft store.

@The_Dude_Abides
Yeah, well, you know, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.

@Kirk I personally thought the low field of vision added to the feeling of claustrophobia and the general murkiness of the game ; I assumed it was a design choice or down to the fact the game had been rushed for launch. There is no way the technical limitations of the Wii U had any bearing on how Zombie U looked or played. It was a mid budget upgrade with some decent gamepad integration. The gamepad , difficulty and the perma-death gimmick were the only things that lifted the game above mediocre , in my opinion. If Zombi is just a straight port of Zombie U then I cannot wait for all the gaming sites to go all Devils Third about it's visuals.

@Peach64 The majority of the gamepad features could transfer to a standard controller , but using the gamepad did add to the immersion of the game when playing. I gather you didn't like the game ? I thought it was a fairly decent launch title that had some interesting ideas , but was also a little clumsy in places. There is no way it cost $30 million dollars to make though. I know Ubisoft claimed they didn't make a profit on Zombie U , but as far as I'm aware they never released any figures to back that statement up. Ubisoft had unrealistic expectations for the game in my humble opinion. A new IP , in a niche genre , at a console's launch , then after release it received a few bad reviews. It will be interesting to see the gaming media's response to the game. A third of the trailer features cut scenes , with review scores for the Wii U game. Hopefully , they will have ironed out the bugs , glitches and random crashes - but this is Ubisoft so I'm not overly confident.

@Dr_Lugae The majority of gamers who frequent forums and threads predicted Splatoon to flop - even gamers on some Nintendo sites. I'm glad it did well because it will encourage Nintendo to keep trying new IPs , unlike the indifferent response to Codename Steam or Wonderful 101. Check this link for a sample of the predictions that were made for Splatoon. Well worth a chuckle. http://neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=169576814

@Grumblevolcano Lol. I know NOA get some bad press online but if they didn't release a Zelda Collection in the US , the internet would break !!
@rjejr I never understood that either. Would have been sweet to fly around at night , under the moon and stars. I assume they chose to do this , rather than it been an oversight. As to why , who knows ? Lol to comment #57 - perhaps Nintendo are catching on ? GOTY versions of Zelda U , MK8 and Smash for the launch of NX in 2017 ?

@rjejr I wasn't surprised when they delayed Zelda U - apart from Majora's Mask every home console Zelda has been delayed. Still disappointed though. I reckon Nintendo delayed Xenoblade X in the West to try and soften the blow. Next year is the 30th anniversary of Zelda so I'm predicting a collector's edition akin to the Gamecube one , then Zelda U releasing in November 2016. Hopefully the collector's edition will include HD upgrades of Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword.

Still waiting for more information on this , it was the multiplayer options that piqued my interest in the first place. However , if the game has got frame rate issues in the single player mode then that doesn't bode well for the online experience. Itagaki is still talking the games multiplayer options up , and it sounds like it may have some form of voice chat :
“There are things like diplomacy chat that only clan leaders can use, so you can have conferences with other clans. I’m a military enthusiast so there are also many political elements in the game.”
Oh well , it seems even Nintendo cannot polish a Devil's Third.

A sad day for Nintendo and for gaming as a whole. His famous quote from just after he became CEO ; "On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer." The man was a visionary with ideas that were strong and unique in an industry full of unoriginality and safe bets. Condolences to his family and friends. Rest in peace Iwata-San.

@PlywoodStick The advantage the NX would have over the Ouya is of course the massive amount of games and IP that Nintendo already have. In my opinion the incremental hardware of the Ouya would appear near the bottom of the long list of reasons why it failed. I should have stated in my earlier post , but I have mentioned before , I think physical media will be here for at least another generation. I think the NX will use some form of cartridge - the internet would not be necessary to play new games. The account system I envisage doesn't control the games , like DRM , but acts as a supplement to them. For example , if you bought a SNES Virtual Console game on NX it would also be playable on 3DS , Wii U , PC and your mobile as well as on NX. If you bought a cartridge based game for the home NX , you would be able to play this independently on the NX handheld form and also access certain aspects of the game via mobile or PC. The Virtual Console will be available as an App for your smartphone. All the games up to the Gamecube era could be downloaded over the mobile network. Once you have downloaded a game to a device you would be able to play it without logging in to your account. It's going to be interesting for Nintendo and their fans over the next year or so.

Just my two pence worth on NX and Nintendo. I think NX will be the first in a family of systems incorporating the same architecture , that you can use / access from one cross platform account. The first iteration will be a handheld mobile device , that can be connected to your TV or used like a true portable. This will be cheap at retail and designed to make an impact in the Indian , Chinese and other emerging markets. This will probably come early in 2017. The next iteration in the NX family would be the home console version. This will probably come late in 2018. This would be geared more for the Western market , but think of it as more of a Nintendo Content box with other Apps , rather than a like for like competitor for PS4/PS5. At this point in time Nintendo will be able to release software that plays on both NX formats , scaled down slightly for the handheld if need be , due to having a shared development environment (Nintendo actually merged their handheld and home gaming divisions two years ago) They could also make the occasional exclusive game for each format.
I think Nintendo are trying to be more like Apple than Playstation or XBox , from a hardware point of view. As the price of the tech used in NX drops , they will be able to release incremental upgrades ( like iPad / iPhone or Android ) which remain backwards compatible with the prior models , utilising an upgraded OS , but offering more power and better design through recent technological improvements. There will be 'apps' linked to your NX and its games via your mobile phone. Through your cross platform , Steam like , account you will be able to play certain Virtual Console games on your mobile phone and on PC ; with others remaining exclusive to Nintendo branded hardware. With NX set up like this Nintendo will be able to appeal to a much wider audience. A far bigger audience than they could attract with a PS4 beating , AAA third party pleasing , shiny shiny PC wannabe behemoth. A combination of their handheld market , their home console market , the mobile gaming market and emerging gaming markets like South America , India and China. Nintendo see the mobile games (in partnership with DENA) and Virtual Console games on your phone as a gateway drug to the real Nintendo. Nintendo will let Sony and Microsoft fight over the bloated , diminishing AAA western home console market and once again head off into the blue ocean under their own steam. Whether they find choppy waters or run aground remains to be seen. Personally , I will be sailing with them. For the games.

@BLPs I'll get the drinks in................

Perhaps Nintendo are holding this back in the US because Fatal Frame is coming out over there first , rather than them questioning it's quality ? Perhaps another publisher has expressed an interest in publishing the game in North America ? Remember , Nintendo let another publisher bring The Last Story out on the Wii in the US and that was as far from low quality as you can get. Anyway , I'm in the UK , so I will know soon enough whether Devil's Third is any good or not. It was always going to be a niche game with diversive visuals and combat mechanics. Personally , I'm still looking forward to it. I know people have issues with how the game looks graphically , but the multiplayer alone sounds intriguing. The game also has a level editor , clan battles , single player with boss fights and is a mature rated Wii U exclusive. It just seems to me that there is a sort of smear campaign going on with the game.

There was a rumour over two weeks ago that Gamestop would be releasing this as an exclusive in the US. I assumed this rumour was the rumour that started the rumour from the Unseen 64 rumour , that has now become fact in this article about this rumour.

@DarthNocturnal That does seem strange. Are Best Buy reliable with this sort of thing ? I was just going with the information that emerged after the Treehouse presentations. As usual for Nintendo of late , their communication leaves a lot to be desired.

I'm in the UK. On the Nintendo UK site there is a picture gallery and brief outline of the game ; but on the official Japanese site there's a video interview with Itagaki featuring gameplay footage. This looks a little bit more polished than what was shown at E3 2014. The game has a B movie plot , online multiplayer , and a level editor. It looks frantic , overblown and completely unrealistic. I want it. Badly.
Regarding the US , perhaps Nintendo are waiting to see the reaction to the game in Japan and Europe before deciding what to do with it regarding release date and whether physical or digital ? If you take a look at the rumour starters twitter account he does seem to have a slight anti Nintendo bias. Rumours always get good clicks. Look at the volume of NX articles recently. Facts are boring.

Quick scan through the comments and mainly the usual drivel and misinformation. More power means better games and more third party support. Nintendo doomed. Super shiny graphics are more important than gameplay. The NX will fail. Nintendo don't know what they are doing and never have. Gimmicks with gimmicks on top. Opinions presented as fact. Nintendo should go third party. Oh , and someone has claimed to have invented the Wii Remote years before Nintendo..........

The initial rumour started from a tweet about the NX not been as powerful as the PS4 ; he claims to be " absolutely sure of that now ". Then in a later tweet states that he knows this from " talking to the right people ". Not from seeing the hardware. Not from seeing any specifications. Just from talking to the right people. I talked to the right people , but they told me NX was more powerful than a PS6 , had an onboard grill and rotisserie and came with free doughnuts. Third parties still won't make any games for it. I'm just going to email MyNintendoSpews , TrollUDaily and NintendoStrife to spread the word.

@Quorthon Unfortunately , I have read quite a few of your posts - time I will never get back. There is little reasoning or justification in the majority of them. There is a lot of opinion , speculation and low level trolling. I was clearly referring to the console business ; Nintendo are in partnership with DENA for mobile work. So I don't know why you are bringing that up. All I will say on the mobile point is there might be a billion users , but how many will pay 3DS prices for Nintendo games ? The two simple facts you have stated are not facts or "ample" reasoning by a long shot.
How do you know that people want Nintendo games , but not the hardware ? According to you , Nintendo fanboys will buy anything with Nintendo on it , multiple times. They don't buy third party games. They don't buy other hardware. So , by your 'reasoning' everybody who wants Nintendo games buys Nintendo hardware. The amount who want games from Nintendo , who don't own a 3DS or Wii U must be tiny. People buy Nintendo hardware for Nintendo games. Yet , you are now insinuating that a lot of PS / XB owners want Nintendo games. Outside the well known IPs , I would suggest that they would be pretty indifferent. If not , devs would currently be falling over themselves to create Nintendo style games on those platforms.
History suggests sales of Nintendo style games on those consoles would never make the same amount of money as Nintendo make by releasing them on their own dedicated hardware. Playstation All Stars Battle Royale sold around 1 million across PS3 and Vita. Smash Bros has already shifted over 4 million units on Wii U and 3DS. The total PS4 / XBOX market may end up in the same region as the numbers that the Wii sold. Smash Bros Wii sold around 13 million. Do you think the extra copies they could potentially sell as a third party on those platforms would recoup the extra costs in development and publishing , as well as covering the losses from not having dedicated Nintendo hardware ? Apply this to all Nintendos best selling IPs and multiply.
Nintendo has always seen the hardware as a means of creating value in their software. The biggest change in gaming today is the cost to make a game. In the days of the SNES new games cost £40 and upwards here in the UK - Streetfighter II was £60. Games today cost the same in the shops here. So , with inflation and currency depreciation between markets the game of today costs less in real terms than in 1992 / 1993. But how much more does a game cost to make ? Especially the games that third parties make ? Yes , the market share is bigger - but not big enough to make up the difference.
In the gaming business Nintendo have made the biggest profit for the longest time. They have struggled recently due to the Wii U's sales and the increased development costs due to the transition to HD. However , as is well known , they have plenty in the bank. I am sure they would succeed as a third party. But why would they alter a business model that has brought them profit and success for nearly 30 years ? Because you say so ? Of the top 15 game franchises that have sold over 100 million units , Nintendo has 7. All sold on their own hardware.
By limiting their hardware , Nintendo fight this deterioration of value in their software. By going third party they become part of the better graphics / faster processor chase, meaning their development costs would spiral for a diminishing return. All their programmers would have to learn how to use different tools , different engines etc. All the arguments you give to support third parties attitude to the Wii U , would apply in reverse for Nintendo development teams working with 'strange' hardware. The EAD folk have been schooled in working the Nintendo way for many years. They couldn't change their way of working overnight. They would lose money during the transition period. Ubisoft hire a team to do a Wii U port for roughly $1.5 million. Would Nintendo do the same to port to Sony / XBox ? If they did , would it still be classed as a Nintendo game ? Would it be a glitchy mess ? Could it be done as cheaply as a game can be made for their own hardware ? Without their hardware the value of their software is diminished.
Why would Nintendo write off the profits they make on their hardware ? Why would they cut the profits of their software ? ( as a rough guide ; they sell a game on their own platform and make £25 to £30 ; on another platform they would make £15 to £20 due to publishing rights etc ) They would have to sell , roughly , a third as many copies as they do now for the same profit. That is assuming the costs to develop a game remain the same , but , as outlined , that is very unlikely. Do you think they would sell enough copies of Mario Party , Kirby , Yoshi , Captain Toad , Splatoon et al on PS4 to make the same profit ? Of course they wouldn't. The odd game like Mario and Zelda might sell more , but the majority wouldn't.
In all other realms of business profit is king. Except in gaming according to fanboys like you. Then it's all about units sold. Until Nintendo sell the most. Then it doesn't count because of gimmicks. Or it's a fluke. Or it was only bought by casuals and grandmas. Apologies to other users for the long post.

@Quorthon At this point in time it makes no business sense for Nintendo to stop making hardware and go third party ; you keep mentioning this in many of your posts across many articles on here , but without any reasoning or justification. Just your preference as a 'gamer'. "I'd prefer if their games were both A) easier to obtain by being on other hardware and B) actually found the audiences they deserve, which is only going to be possible by them being third party." Why would their games be easier to obtain ? I am assuming by the statement 'the audience they deserve' you are referring to an increase in sales. Outside of the well known IP that you so regularly deride in the comments section , no I don't think they would.

@rjejr Like I said , there is no compelling argument from a business perspective at the moment for Nintendo going third party. Check out this link http://www.therichest.com/business/the-worlds-most-successful-video-game-companies/
This is based on revenue. What do the top three have in common ? They all make hardware. In the gaming business Nintendo have made the biggest profit for the longest time. They have struggled recently due to the Wii U's sales and the increased development costs due to the transition to HD. However , as is well known , they have plenty in the bank. I am sure they would succeed as a third party. But why would they alter a business model that has brought them profit and success for nearly 30 years ? Of the top 15 game franchises that have sold over 100 million units , Nintendo has 7. All sold on their own hardware. Square has 1 and Sega has 1. Wii Play on it's own made over a billion dollars in profit.
"Has there ever been a time when 3 home consoles sold WELL side by side? I can't think of any time that has happened. Sony and MS have the 2, I think that's all the gaming market has ever been able to carry." Yes , there has. Gens 4 , 5 , 6 if you consider selling 10 million units good. And especially generation 7 with the Wii. In all other realms of business profit is king. Except in gaming according to the internet. Then it's all about units sold. Until Nintendo sell the most. Then it doesn't count because of gimmicks. Or it's a fluke. Or it was only bought by casuals and grandmas.

@rjejr My analogy was slightly obscure - the apples are development costs. "But if PS4 can sell 50mil consoles and X1 40mil ... don't you think quantity would more than make up for the per game loss?" No , I don't. You are assuming that a lot of PS / XB owners want Nintendo games. Outside the well known IPs , I would suggest that they would be pretty indifferent. If not , devs would currently be falling over themselves to create Nintendo style games on those platforms. History suggests sales of Nintendo style games on those consoles would never make the same amount of money as Nintendo make by releasing them on their own dedicated hardware. Playstation All Stars Battle Royale sold around 1 million across PS3 and Vita. Smash Bros has already shifted over 4 million units on Wii U and 3DS. The total PS4 / XBOX market may end up in the same region as the numbers that the Wii sold. Smash Bros Wii sold around 13 million. Do you think the extra copies they could potentially sell as a third party on those platforms would recoup the extra costs in development and publishing , as well as covering the losses from not having dedicated Nintendo hardware ? Apply this to all Nintendos best selling IPs and multiply.
Users in internet forums like to moan that Nintendo only make Mario / Zelda / Pokemon games and if they went third party that would eventually become true. They would only make the games that they thought they could make money on. No Paper Mario , no Metroid , no Pushmo , no Wonderful 101 , no Splatoon and no more risks with new IPs or development of their lesser IPs. The gaming landscape shrinks even further. Third party development has already shrunk since last gen ; it will only shrink more next gen as the costs to make games keeps on rising. I appreciate there are R&D costs involved in bringing new hardware to market , but Nintendo will have already sunk millions into their next hardware iterations before the Wii U and 3DS launched. This money would also be lost. How much money has the 3DS already made ? Why throw that chunk of cash away to make games for tablets when they could make that money on their own dedicated hardware AND make money on tablets / phones in partnership with Dena ?
Do you really believe Nintendo will be all digital by the time NX arrives ? I don't think they will. The majority of gamers still prefer physical releases. Music has been available digitally for a while now , yet CDs are still made and vinyl sales are on the rise. Humans like to collect stuff.
Sega also had many well known IPs. They also opened amusement parks. They also had toys and games. The IPs have dwindled , the amusement parks have closed and the toys and games are long forgotten. You make a good point about the Virtual Console , but all the games would need rewriting or new emulation middleware creating. Again , for many games outside the well known , the costs wouldn't be worth the risk. NX might be a Virtual Console box , with Amazon Prime and Unity support that sits under your TV. Coming in at under $100 with an updated classic controller.
People have been calling for Nintendo to go third party since the days of the N64. Imagine if they had. Imagine the games we would never have seen. I agree , it is all about the games. But without their own dedicated hardware , Nintendo wouldn't have made half as many as they have done.

@rjejr The best way to illustrate why it doesn't make sense from a business perspective for Nintendo to go third party , is to look at history. Nintendo has always seen the hardware as a means of creating value in their software. The biggest change in gaming today is the cost to make a game. In the days of the SNES new games cost £40 and upwards here in the UK - Streetfighter II was £60. Games today cost the same in the shops here. So , with inflation and currency depreciation between markets the game of today costs less in real terms than in 1992 / 1993. But how much more does a game cost to make ? Especially the games that third parties make ? Yes , the market share is bigger - but not big enough to make up the difference.
An analogy ; I own a cider factory. I make great cider , with the finest apples. I sell a few barrels , and then my market grows. But , as I sell gallons of my appley goodness ; the price of apples keep going up and up. I realise as the cider market grows , the cost of making more cider grows. Thus , the value of my cider is actually in decline - or at best staying the same. So , in relation to Nintendo ; by making 'cheap' hardware , they intrinsically keep game development costs down. An example from recent times. The Witcher 2 cost around $9 million dollars to make. The Witcher 3 cost $32 million to make and had a marketing budget of $35 million dollars. The costs have trebled in one generation.
By limiting their hardware , Nintendo fight this deterioration of value in their software. By going third party they become part of the better graphics / faster processor Moore's Law pursuit , meaning their development costs would spiral for a diminishing return. All their programmers would have to learn how to use different tools , different engines etc. All arguments given to support third parties attitude to the Wii U , would apply in reverse for Nintendo development teams working with 'strange' hardware. The EAD folk have been schooled in working the Nintendo way for many years. They couldn't change their way of working overnight. They would lose money during the transition period. Ubisoft hire a team to a Wii U port for roughly $1.5 million. Would Nintendo do the same to port to Sony / XBox ? If they did , would it still be classed as a Nintendo game ? Would it be a glitchy mess ? Then , there is a danger of diminishing brand value. Basically , without their hardware the value of their software is diminished.
Why would Nintendo write off the profits they make on their hardware ? Why would they cut the profits of their software ? ( as a rough guide ; they sell a game on their own platform and make £25 to £30 ; on another platform they would make £15 to £20 due to publishing rights etc ) They would have to sell , roughly , a third as many copies as they do now for the same profit. That is assuming the costs to develop remain the same , but as I outlined that is unlikely. Do you think they would sell enough copies of Mario Party , Kirby , Yoshi , Captain Toad et al on PS4 to make the same profit ? Of course they wouldn't. The odd game like Mario and Zelda might sell more , but the majority wouldn't.
"The only real question is, why don't they? Arrogance? Can't be greed, they aren't making enough money for that. Fear of ridicule and becoming "like Sega"?"
The best way to illustrate why it doesn't make sense from a gamers perspective for Nintendo to go third party , is to look at history. Look at Sega. What happened to their lesser IPs ? They do not get made. Look what has happened to Sonic. Do you think if they were pitching Shenmue 1 to Sony now it would get made ? If Shenmue 1 wasn't made by Sega for their own hardware would it have ever been made ? Would Nintendo , as a third party , have funded Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta ? Would they have made Kid Icarus , Splatoon , Starfox ? By owning the hardware Nintendo can experiment. They can bring back lesser IPs. Take more risks. Keep adding value to their software. Apologies for the long post.

I see a lot of people saying that Nintendo need to get third party support and the hardcore gamers back ; who are these hardcore gamers ? Wasn't the Wii U supposed to be doing this ? At launch ; Call Of Duty , Tekken , Darksiders , Mass Effect , Batman and Assassin's Creed. After launch from Nintendo ; Tropical Freeze , Wonderful 101 , Bayonetta 1 + 2. Fairly 'hardcore' games are they not ? Nintendo had the third parties on board before launch , but then lost them soon after. Something went awry , most likely to do with online infrastructure ( there were strong rumours at the time that EA wanted Nintendo to use Origin , but Nintendo wanted to offer a free independent service ) We might never know the true story. Then EA released a Mass Effect port without its prequels , alongside a reskinned Fifa. Then Ubisoft delayed Rayman. Then Warner skimped the DLC. Then , as sales faltered before grinding to a halt , the lies and disinformation began. About how difficult it was to program for. About the consoles power and what game engines would and wouldn't run. Crysis was canned , even though it was up and running. A game drought was upon us. Nintendo was also at fault. They didn't communicate to potential buyers what the gamepad was and what it could bring to gaming. There was no unified account system. They hoped the console would sell itself on the back of the Wii brand. It didn't.
There was a theory knocking around the internet before the Wii U launched , that it would be Nintendo's attempt to finish the major third parties after the success of the Wii. In reality , it seems more likely that this generation is the thirds attempt to finish Nintendo. Personally , and for the good of this hobby I have enjoyed for the majority of my life , I hope Nintendo carry on making games and hardware for many years to come. Diversity in any market is a good thing. It makes absolutely no business sense whatsoever for Nintendo to go third party. They , and gamers , would only lose out in the long run.

@FragRed Yes , I knew that ; European consumer / competition law and all that. Not sure companies can even suggest a recommended retail price anymore. I was talking a worldwide price drop. You make some great points. I think Sony will make a PS5 , because as you stated , they are losing money elsewhere. As for Microsoft , I think the XBOX brand will become a Steam like service.