wiill

wiill

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Re: Poll: What Did You Think of Nintendo's E3 Digital Event?

wiill

A lot of people are disappointed by the lack of new games announced, including me..

EXCEPT: Super Mario Maker, Star Fox Zero and Xenoblade X - 3 games I will buy in release day this year that I am super excited about. Will buy my first amiibo too (hopefully) if I can get my paws on a the 8-bit Mario.

I only bought Mario Kart on Wii U and AC Rogue on Xbox 360 on release day last year, so that's saying something.

Re: Official Nintendo UK Store Flogs Rare amiibo in Bundles

wiill

Didn't you realise when amiibo was announced that they were designed to be must-have collector's items. Haven't you ever heard of Pokemon cards?
But everyone seems so surprised!
Supply and demand 101. Limit supply, demand goes up! Charge what you like!

Re: Rumour: Nintendo NX Could Use Google's Android Operating System

wiill

The actual next-gen Nintendo OS won't look like your android phone. The 'android os' headline is missing the point a little.

Android is a linux-based OS. Remember that Wii and Wii U are also linux-based systems, it follows then that whatever NX is, it's linux-based, and Nintendo are running Android on it at a development stage, until they can get their own development environment up and running.

This is very very good news for developers, and for gamers. Linux is free, open-source and easy to use. Its compatible with your phone, your mac and your PC. Its very home brew friendly, it's developer friendly, and it's the go-to OS when you want cross device compatibility since it's designed to work on multiple scalable platforms.

What is interesting is that Wii U currently runs its OS on a separate CPU (you'll remember the infamous 1GB reserved for that purpose). With all that heavy duty attention devoted in 2012 to the OS when the Wii U was designed, had nintendo planned this all along? Will this extra 1GB be reserved for communicating with 3DS and NX?

Re: Rumour: Nintendo NX Could Use Google's Android Operating System

wiill

@Kirk

I think NX will be a tablet too, and agree with most of what you say, but they can't squeeze the Wii U into a handheld yet and do it for under £250 - the Wii U's processor runs so hot, that the bulk of the main unit is a massive heat sink and an extractor fan. You think the gamepad has a bad battery life now? You probably don't remember sega Game Gear.

But nintendo are talking about a scalable software development platform, not unlike PC gaming. I think at some point there will be a handheld, a tablet, an iphone/android app and a set top box - they'll all run off variations of the same AMD chipset, but the set top box will have a fancy GPU, so you can play the same games in 1080p, or stream your device to the TV with upscaled graphics.

Re: Japanese Nintendo Direct Coming May 31st 

wiill

I doubt they would give away their E3 secrets so soon. I think it'll be a Fire Emblem special with a few minor announcements like some bizarre jprg/puzzle/karaoke title we've never heard of or Japan-only bundles.

Re: Talking Point: Nintendo's Modest Sales Targets Keep Wii U and 3DS Expectations Under Control

wiill

Nintendo are still pushing all their top IPs to the Wii U, and Zelda will be out prob Christmas 2016. Makes me think that whatever NX is, it'll play Wii U games

They're stressing this unified software platform. I hope that amongst their next consoles there'll be a sub $250 unit that can match PS4 technically (it's possible, 3 years after, hooke's law) and plays hundreds of virtual console titles straight out of the box

I'd buy that for a dollar!

Re: Poll: Is It Time For a Fresh Alternative to the Virtual Console?

wiill

Looking at the eShop the other day, Nintendo seem to have subtly dropped the 'virtual console' branding, instead just referring to 'games from classic systems'

I think we're already heading towards that unified platform Iwata mentioned, with - yes! - crossplay! Including on NX, whatever that turns out to be

@EarthboundBenjy
I hope the next home console will drop the blu ray drive and just use an 3SD slot - cheaper system, silent, faster, potentially bigger storage if they use micro-sd technology. The only drawback might be higher costs for developers, but Nintendo have been making millions of 3DS cards for years so there's probably an economy of scale there, I dunno.

Re: Games Consultant Believes Nintendo NX Could Be "The Defining Video Game Controller Of The Smart Device Age"

wiill

@Quorthon I would certainly called Super Mario 64 avant-garde, and Ocarina of Time. Wii sports too. Granted they're few and far between these days, but nintendo has broken the mould a few times.

Sony are certainly profit positive on ps4s now, though lost money for the first year. MS are still losing money on Xbox1. But my point about the hardware was that as a smaller company, Nintendo can do a lot more with a million dollars (or yen).

I think Nintendo profits very well from their 'exclusive' IPs. They don't call it club Nintendo for nothing. The sense of a buy-in from their fans. There is a sense (true or otherwise, but all value is perception) that Nintendo serves slow cooked gourmet food to seasoned gastronomes. Whatever the truth may or may not be! But they're not dumb.

Honestly I think Mario and donkey kong would sink without a trace on PS4. They need that buy-in to remain 'special'.

Re: Games Consultant Believes Nintendo NX Could Be "The Defining Video Game Controller Of The Smart Device Age"

wiill

@Quorthon agree with most of your points! The reason abandoning hardware in the next decade would be suicide: it was that way for Sega

At the moment Nintendo, as you point out, can validly request people fork out £180 to play Wii sports, or Zelda (this, incidentally, was the Wii's rrp sweet spot - £250 for the Wii U is simply too much). Which means colossal profits for Nintendo. They, unlike Sony and MS, profit off every hardware sale from day 1.

As a relatively small company making relatively huge profits for their size, they can sell 10million and still tick over - Sony would need a lot more to claw back profit. And in that business model, and with a captive market of these Nintendo fanboys you love so much, they can make 10/10 games (and in some cases genuinely avant-garde games), and take their time over them too.

Thrown in to the shark pit with EA and Ubisoft, nintendo's whole design ethos would have to adapt to making titles that sell 100s of millions every year, and something would have to give. It would be like selling sushi at McDonald's. It was the reason REM quit the music industry after their cushy deal with Warner expired.

You can't be consistently interesting if profit is a major concern. Hardware sales give them that cushion.

Re: Games Consultant Believes Nintendo NX Could Be "The Defining Video Game Controller Of The Smart Device Age"

wiill

@Quorthon completely agree with your observation, Nintendo have eventually fallen in with every major trend - DLC, smart phones and the rest. Nintendo going 2nd party on mobiles is happening, Nintendo going 3rd party on Sony and MS for the next decade at least is career suicide. In the interimm. But I think NX is a sign even Nintendo recognise we're heading towards one amalgamated scaleable platform - a world of one game on multiple screens. In 20 years we'll see a Sony/Nintendo hybrid I'm sure of it.

As to why I think Wii U will stick around - Nintendo is notoriously stubborn and in many ways it's methods are predictable based on its design philosophy. I think NX is an escape chute for Wii U in the same way DS was for game boy. They'd be foolish to give up 10 million TV gamers, but NX (if it's a tablet) is an attempt to merge them with handheld gamers. If the NX is a tablet, I think they'll try out an Apple TV type model with a sub $100 Wii U with no bluray drive or gamepad, let's call it Wii U mini. If that goes well, the next TV console will be an upgraded Wii U mini and so on.
So I think rather than pack up Wii U and roll out more fancy machines, I see Nintendo trying to capitalise on their investment with Wii U and turn a disaster into a success. That will keep the shareholders happy, it also happens to be the way the home media industry is going

Re: Games Consultant Believes Nintendo NX Could Be "The Defining Video Game Controller Of The Smart Device Age"

wiill

@abe_hikura I like the idea of a booster, I can really see this fitting in with the unified development framework they've been talking about, and making Nintendo games scalable like PC games - if they can make them somehow x86 scalable then third parties would love it

My guess is NX is some kind of untethered tablet that doubles as a gamepad. Wii U will hang around for a few more years, after that all the hardware and software will be minor upgrades the same way Apple does or Nintendo has been doing with the DS range

Re: Games Consultant Believes Nintendo NX Could Be "The Defining Video Game Controller Of The Smart Device Age"

wiill

@Quorthon I think the endless IP argument is not limited to Nintendo fans. Just look at the endless FIFAs, GTAs and Assassins Creeds. I love those franchises, as well as the Zelda and metroid ones. In reality, gamers want new experiences, in a familiar control environment. Nobody likes the idea of taking time to learn a new game, they want to pick it up immediately. I think that's why franchises and IPs will always be popular. Most game designers know this, and in this respect Rockstar are no different from Nintendo who are no different from Ubisoft!

Re: Games Consultant Believes Nintendo NX Could Be "The Defining Video Game Controller Of The Smart Device Age"

wiill

@Quorthon I would agree that motion controls ended up being a gimmick that didn't last. I would say the true revolution was tapping into a whole generation of non-gamers like granny and mom. In that respect I would say there has been a legacy, I know plenty of people in their 30s who bought a Wii as their first console in 20 years then graduated up to a PS4 last year

Besides, ultimately don't all revolutions fail?

Re: Games Consultant Believes Nintendo NX Could Be "The Defining Video Game Controller Of The Smart Device Age"

wiill

Let's look at the history:

Game & Watch - Innovative, mass market and very affordable: Success
Game Boy - Killer IP (Tetris), Innovative, mass market and very affordable: Massive success
NES - Killer IP (Super Mario Bros) Innovative, mass market and very affordable: Success
SNES - No killer IP, Not as innovative, but still mass market and affordable: Moderate success
N64 - Killer IP (Super Mario 64, Goldeneye), innovative, not mass market (difficult to program for, remember Nintendo's 'dream team'?) , definitely not affordable (until later when Nintendo slashed prices): weak sales
Gamecube - No killer IP, not innovative, incredibly mass market, very affordable: dismal failure
DS - Killer IP (Brain training), innovative, incredibly mass market, eventually affordable: huge success
Wii - Killer IP (Wii Sports), innovative, incredibly mass market, affordable: huge success
Wii U - No killer IP, not innovative enough, 'core gamer' orientated, not affordable: dismal failure

Have we learned anything?

Re: Unity Support Is Coming To The New Nintendo 3DS

wiill

Very good news, especially since Nintendo are working towards a 'cross-platform development environment'. In other words, games you make for New 3DS can, if developers want to, upscale automatically to Wii U and NX without any extra effort. Mean loads more new indie games for a start )