spemanig

@cleveland124 Don't be. I'm the biggest critic of Nintendo, but I actually pay attention to their movements. They are going about this the absolute right way.

Many of them won't fail, because they aren't setting themselves up for failure. They are doing all the right things with the NX.

No, DeNA is proof that Nintendo is taking assertive, financial steps towards a modern, unified firmware ecosystem. It doesn't matter that they are small. You clearly know absolutely nothing about the partnership because DeNA was not purchased to help with mobile games at all. That came later. This isn't speculation. This is literally confirmed by both DeNA and Nintendo. The reason they were purchased was to aid Nintendo's development of a unified platform aka the membership program. That's why, if you were actually reading and paying attention, you'd have seen them repeatedly say that they were only doing "backend" stuff, and when asked to clarify, they pointed to, guess what, Mobage, the mobile platform they championed in Japan aka the only reason they are a valuable asset to Nintendo.

That's what they are doing for Nintendo. Not mobile games, but platform infrastructure, which includes mobile because that is a big part of their plan. But the membership, which they are confirmed to be working on, is the core of the NX. That's confirmed. So it's not me being optimistic. It's me using my brain.

Voice chat is a completely separate issue. It has nothing to do with platform infrastructure.

@PlywoodStick Nintendo frankly won't care. They'll get enough new and returning players to make people like you insignificant.

@khaosklub They can't do it all at once, but it is being addressed and fast. There have been massive amigo restocks everywhere.

I'm a Metroid fan who thinks Prime was a step in the wrong direction, and even I'm not blind to FF's quality. It's just a spin off. Relax.

Doesn't matter if it has a billion digital only games. It's a physical media platform. They don't need to provide any accommodations when the games that will sell them most are available physically. Also, 32GB is more than enough. I have 32GB, and I haven't come close to fulling it up. And I own literally all of my games digitally. If you're made a commitment to buy so many retail optionally digital games that you've maxed out the default 32GB maximum, you have no right to complain about reformatting. I won't if I ever need to.

@PlywoodStick The reason they aren't up in arms about it is because it literally doesn't effect them. Nobody cares. Nobody cares that those rights are being "violated" because most consumers will never run into issues where they'd need to exercise those rights or because those rights aren't important enough to outweigh the pros of an all digital ecosystem. It just does not matter.

They can get close enough to where the differences become negligible. Consoles don't need the openness of PCs to go digital. Apple proves this. If Android is analogous to Steam (it is) then the NX will be analogous to iOS. Closed platform. DRM everywhere. Still dominates. The only reason digital sales aren't higher is because there is no platform on consoles that exists to prioritize them. That will change with the NX, and it will dominate because of it.

@khaosklub But they already addressed the stock issue with amiibo, and FF is purely a subjective matter. I think the game looks good. Crappy art style, but the gameplay is fine.

Because the N3DS isn't a digital only platform, which means that kind of compatibility will naturally not be prioritized. On the NX, it will be.

@khaosklub I've already addressed that adequately. No point beating that dead horse. They won't be late to the part with the NX, they'll be first. Everything they've been saying since Jan. 2014 has lead to that. It doesn't matter if they used to be late to the party on those things. They won't be to this. And that's obvious because they've literally been telling us exactly what they've been planning with the NX for like two years.

DVD's are antiquated media. The NX won't have a disc drive at all. Netflix/Hulu/etc is all the NX needs.

@PlywoodStick It's not at all misleading. Nintendo will be using the membership to emulate a Steam sale-like market ecosystem, and even without that, it's completely disingenuous to say that consoles don't have a substantial amount of digital sales. I'm all digital, and I know from experience that they do. Like I said, I've only purchased about 25% of my library at full price.

I don't know what you really mean by DRM-free. DRM is a non-issue. The only reason it was an issue for the XBO is because you literally could not use your XBO at all if it wasn't connected to the internet. That isn't an issue for literally any other console that supports digital distribution - mainly, the Wii U and 3DS. Any other DRM outside of that is run of the mill stuff the consumer will never notice unless they are pirates. DRM isn't some evil, anti consumer overlord. It's the managing of digital rights. That's it.

I was going to comment on the absurd PSP Go comparison, but khaosklub already addressed it. The PSP Go failed because it was a less funtional PSP, which was already rapidly declining in sales. It had nothing to do with consumer apathy for digital media.

@khaosklub I think that's being unfairly irrational, to be frank. You're making them out to be dysfunctional.

But that's not what they said they'd be doing. And that wouldn't be nearly as effective anyway as a marketplace wide discount for every game purely on a consumer to consumer basis. Registration codes are also clunky, and goes completely against the whole purpose of getting rid of Club Nintendo, which was to make the rewards more seamless, direct, and instant.

There's literally nothing about Steam that wouldn't work for console gamers. PC has historically done everything before consoles have. PC gamers wouldn't pay for online because paying for online is absurd, especially on PC where the platform is not controlled. Steam is what consoles should be striving to emulate, and what the NX will be striving to emulate in many ways. The membership is basically Nintendo orchestrating their own "steam sales" ecosystem in their marketplace in a more controllable way.

It's an unfortunate issue for them, but it's one that is frankly unavoidable. I think you'll see the rise of rental streaming of games to cater to people like that, but they'll mostly get left in the dust. If you can't afford to get a full priced game at launch, you probably won't be getting a full priced game at launch.

@Nintendofan83

1) You absolutely can. Like I said, the NX and the Wii U are different by design. The NX's only form of media will be digital downloads. Not providing massive internal HDD space for hardware with no other media alternative would be like selling an Gamecube without a disk drive. We all get that Nintendo has done stupid things, but they've never done anything even remotely close to something that catastrophically stupid.

2) That's the same for most digital platforms, though. Most Steam games launch at the same price as physical games, for example. That's just not changing. Steam was fine in spite of this, and the NX will too. Like I said, most pricing issues will be handled with the membership program. Flexible pricing being the key phrase.

3) I think there will still be physical collectables for a lot of games. You'll still have collectors editions, and I'm 100% sure the NX will have some sort of retail presence ala Amiibo/NFC cards unlocking games on consoles, so collectors won't be left in the dark. But it will definitely be different.

@khaosklub I'm not overestimating them at all. It's just obvious. A big HDD is simply a necessity with a digital only platform. Thinking they'd go again with 32GB on a digital only platform is as ludicrous as thinking they'd launch a physical platform with no disk drive.

Absolutely not. There is no way Nintendo is going to work out that complex on a discount system on a consumer to consumer basis, and then work that out even further between every individual retailer. With digital only, they only have to worry about their own marketplace, which they have complete control over, and discount can be done algorithmically, which is to say effortlessly.

The sales thing was more addressing third party games. I don't think the NX will be much better with sales, but that's not really an issue. Nintendo games are expensive at retail, and any price discrepancy from there will be nullified by the consumer-based discounts an individual gets from the membership. Even still, Nintendo has been reducing prices more than ever before, so I don't think there will be a void of progress in this area.

I consider trade ins an absolute non-issue. Steam thrives without trade ins, and it thrived for years without even having digital returns. The NX will, too.

@Nintendofan83

1) The NX will obviously have a much bigger HD. It'll likely launch with 1TB. It won't have a disc drive, so it has plenty of room to be inexpensive with that much space at the end of 2016.

2) The membership program is specifically meant to address this. Instead of games being cheaper, it is going to offer flexible pricing to consumers who buy more games. The more you buy, the more you save. Also, what you said about the eshop is inaccurate. There are plenty of reduced priced games and plenty of sales. I'm all digital and have only payed full price for about 25% of my games.

3) Used games will die. People will just deal with that like they have already with Steam. No being nice about that.

@cleveland124 The Wii U had problems the NX won't have. The Wii U wasn't a good system. If the NX is as poorly designed as the Wii U was, discs won't save it. But it won't be. Nintendo has made several assertive moves that has made me absolutely sure of that.

It's not crazy at all. Nintendo has never even tried to focus on digital like they will with the NX. Of course they'd be behind. They never cared. Now they do. Buying DeNA is proof of that. The entire premise behind the membership offering flexible pricing for game and being core to the NX is proof of that. Making the NX a redefined platform not tied to hardware is proof of that. Comparing the NX platform to iOS and Android, the two most prolific digital platforms of the modern era is proof of that. The NX won't at all be behind when it comes to digital, and the first inkling of that will come at the membership's reveal.

Third parties skipped their consoles because Nintendo's been making crappy consoles for third parties. The NX won't be a crappy console, so third parties will come. Especially on a digital platform where the costs and risks of porting are reduced. Becoming the smart device of gaming isn't at all a pipe dream, and Nintendo has been taking the calculated steps necessary since January of 2014 to make it a reality.

They became the defacto gaming company overnight with the Wii after the Gamecube failure. They can do it again with the NX. Only difference is that they'll do it with the mainstream gaming audience instead of the casual Wii audience, and that unlike with the Wii, the NX was planned from the beginning to be a long term success, with all the planning and precautions necessary to make it one.

@Lizuka The XBO is not a legitimate example of why it would be "absolutely idiotic" for Nintendo to go digital only. It's problems were not at all a digital only problem.

First, it was not digital only at all. You still had people buying discs. People were pissed because the value of the discs were less on the XBO than they would be on anything else. That's an issue of implementation. Then there was the issue of needing to be connected online to play your games, which has nothing to do with being digital only. Then there was the issue of it being marketed as a multimedia device instead of a gaming device. The NX will have absolutely none of these issues.

According to Steam, 125m+ people have more than good enough internet, and Steam's audience is much more hardcore and frankly niche than mainstream consoles. There's more than enough people with with good enough internet to outweigh the few who don't. We live in a digital world now. People are going to deal with it.

People aren't going to protest a digital only NX. No crazed Zelda fan is going to skip the next Zelda game purely on the principle that they don't have a disc. No mom is going to skip the next Mario Kart purely on the principal that they want physical media. 99.99% of consumers won't care, and the remaining 0.01% will either just deal with it, or be left in the dust.

The NX is going to do to consoles what the iPod and iPhone did to the music and phone industries. And that's exactly what the new membership program that will likely be revealed on Wednesday will address. That program is how Nintendo will hoist everyone into its digital only future. And the whole industry will follow suit. The NX will basically be Steam and iOS combined, tied to Nintendo hardware. The only "physical thing" you're gonna see is Amiibo.

"Increases in downloads don't equal death for discs."

I'm sorry, but yes it does. And it's about time. Physical media has held the progression of consoles back for long enough. We'll see the first digital only platform as soon as with the NX.