A Compelling Case For Nintendo To Go Third Party (Long Read)

You propose a good argument. Nintendo would be offsetting its hardware manufacturing(and marketing) to other companies, leaving them to do what they do best - make games. In the case of Sony, where Nintendo managed to create its toughest competition 20 years ago, the situation would be flipped. Rather than draw customers away, Sony would become Nintendo's biggest potential revenue stream by allowing their games to reach more gamers. Like you said, Microsoft and Sony would kill for Nintendo games on their platforms - especially as exclusives. Microsoft would shit bricks if they found out Zelda or Mario were to be Sony exclusive. The two companies would be clawing at each other trying to secure those games.

It might also lead to an improvement in other 3rd party games if those developers know they can't just avoid Nintendo's platform. Square may need to rethink its approach to Final Fantasy if they have to compete head to head with their ex-developers at Monolith. Why the hell would anyone buy trash like Knack if they can get Mario on the same platform?

If Nintendo were to go 3rd party, I still want them to make their own controllers compatible with whatever platform they're targeting. I have liked all of their controller designs better than the competition with the exception of the Wii Classic controller. That one was a turd. I could still live without them making controllers, but its a preference.

Lol .. so wii mote >> all controllers up till now ? Thats why majority of sheeps said they would prefer a traditional controller to play their favorite games ? Because it did matter that much right ?

Why you think you would had way better experience with SMG with wii-mote than i would with GC pad !!? Explain !! It would have been the same solid experience lol ! Because we play games not controllers ... daaamn!

@AzatiS

I said no such thing. Besides I have no intention of using that piece of crap.... I'm getting it for my sister. It would be better... For her.

I am a little bit surprised by the amount of people saying that software is what Nintendo does best. Their hardware is very affordable, it's extremely efficient and with very few flaws. I would argue that they are much better at designing hardware than their competitors. They may not provide the flavor of hardware that you are looking for but there is a lot that Sony and MS can learn from Nintendo when it comes to making hardware, not so much the other way around. If there is one area that they are not good at right now, it would have to be naming their products.

Let's not forget that the PS4 and Xbox one come with hidden price tags through subscription fees and advertising, and that Nintendo's motion controls were the only ones that somewhat worked. Yes the PS4 and Xbox One use more powerful hardware but aside from that being a design choice not so much indicative of their abilities, you cannot simply whisk away that they do so at a pricepoint that is pretty much double that of the Wii U. I'd be very surprised if Nintendo couldn't have done better than Sony and MS in terms of hardware power, efficiency and stability if they had used advertisements and fees and a higher price point too. The problem is that better hardware doesn't necessarily sell.

I would be willing to play Nintendo games on the PC, but I would rather they just keep making consoles. I certainly wouldn't be willing to pay for online to play Nintendo games, so if Nintendo were to hypothetically go 3rd party, but remain only on consoles, they would basically be dead to me.

I also think it is probably likely that because Nintendo has the luxury of making games for limited hardware, the costs associated with developing those games is significantly lower, and if they were developing games for high end hardware, they wouldn't be releasing nearly as many titles as they are now.

I dont agree with this... you mention publishing costs and royalties... yet creating their own hardware costs a ridiculous ammount more than that... theyre not selling so great. nobody wants their outdated consoles.... even with the game pad. they are LIGHT YEARS behind in the southware deparment (I dont mean games obviously) ... their services and online structure would cost millions and years to even catch up to an acceptable level at this point.

Competitor royalies versus hardware manafacture/R&D costs ... cmon its a no brainer which is cheaper.

Software sales sink or swim these companies. by going third party they open up to 100+ million other people.... that dont want to buy their crappy hardware.

don't waste your time ... he seems to think that PC/PS/Xbox gamers don't want Nintendo games... something along those lines, yada yada anacdotal "nobody outside of these forums wants this " (how the hell does he know?)

In truth for us gamers there is no good reason. hell, I bet it would be closer to the case if the Wii didn't have its ridiculous "hoola hoop" level fad status for a few years. but oh look, that fad died and now its just useless overpriced hardware/software that is not competitive in any shape or form... not price, not power, not capabaility ... not even a gimmick other than a touchpad controller that weighs the system down more than anything.

How do I know? How many people in real life and not in places like this actually care about the state of the game industry (or any entertainment industry for that matter) and what happens to these companies?

With the logic in OP then everyone should just go 3rd party and have no consoles and just operating systems.

Just another stab at Nintendo... I dont care if TC claims to be a Nintendo fan or not. This comes on the heels of Nin being the top hardware seller last gen and having the #1 selling hardware this gen with the 3DS. Yes the Wii U has terrible marketing and was a mistake... doesnt mean Nintendo should just give up.

I would really like Nintendo to expand on the Wii U with a console/handheld hybrid next gen. Anything else would be pretty disappointing, really.

@KungfuKitten: i wouldnt entirely agree there.

they are inconsistent in this area. the gamecube was a fantastic console hardware wise (imho the best console ever made for its time). its everything a console should be: simple, reliable, excellent bang per buck, built to last, developer friendly and built only for playing games. no useless fluff. the design was so good they used it twice.

the N64 was a horror show though. from carts to really bad amounts of ram, buggy tools etc...the console itself was pretty dire. in fairness it was breaking a lot of new ground but maybe a lesson in why nintendo (and console manufacturers in general) should not try to break new ground on that specific area. its incredibly specialised and if you get ti wrong your stuck with it for the gen.

the wiiu is also pretty bad. its not developer friendly. the ram is way too slow (Lack of AA will be a common theme for many games on the wiiu). there isnt enough cache to compensate. its very CPU constrained. the OS is slow to do anything (my laptop can boot windows 8 faster than my wiiu can start), half the ram is used by that OS (which is insane), loading times for games are poor (no HDD for caching really stings).....its just not as clever as the gamecube was.

talking about controllers.

• nes pad...well it was version 1 so let it slide :P.
• Snes pad. perfect for the games being made for the snes.
• N64 controller: a lot of ideas and a lesson in how to integrate many of those ideas in a nuts and bolts way...but they got a bit schooled by sony with the dual shock in refining and improving that implementation.
• GC controller. A dam good controller overall but lack of clickable sticks and an L1 bumper button were curious omissions.
• Wiimote and nunchuck: the motion sensor in the nunchuck was too basic. it could detect movement but any sort of accuracy was a lost cause. the wiimote itself wasnt bad at all though. it wasnt until wiimotion + came in that it began to come together (its such a shame nintendo didnt run with the wiimote and nunchuck and make new versions of them for the wiiu).
• the gamepad: the level of integration into the system is second to none. what others see as tickbox features (off screen gameplay), is absolutely ingrained in the wiiu. it sets the standard in streaming games from a console to a controller. the latency is very good, the video feed is excellent and the game still feels very responsive when playing on the pad. its just a shame nintendo havent actually found a good use for it yet. other than the extra tablet like features its your standard controller (i though the position of the sticks would be odd but nope...works just fine). just the lack of a proper trigger for the ZL and ZR buttons (ala gamecube triggers) is a bit dissapointing.

the one thing they do better than any other manufacturer is reliability though overall (personally i have had really bad luck. faulty gamecube, faulty 3DS and a suspected faulty wii.). they arent perfect but they havent had anything close to RROD, YLOD, chronically poor disc drives (many a PS2 went in the bin for that and the PS1 wasnt great either) or exploding power supplies. the DSLite had a problem with its hinges and some wiis had problems reading dual layer discs (an issue for brawl and xenoblade off the top of my head). the 3DS build quality is shockingly bad by nintendo standards but its not breaking a lot. ok blowing into carts back in the day was also a regular thing but they didnt break :P. not a nintendo exclusive problem either...every cart console back then had that issue.

nintendo certainly make the most interesting hardware though. one could predict what the PS5 and X2 will contain with a fairly good level of accuracy. not even god knows what nintendo will do. stick with power PC. go ARM for the CPU? X86_64? pixie power? switch to nvidia? find some small GPU design company no one has heard of in tibet? a very souped up mobile GPU based on power VR? then there is the controller. the gamepad is a misfire so i would be very surprised if nintendo run with that idea again. something like oculus rift combined with an enhanced wiimote and nunchuck? just an enhanced wiimote and nunchuck? customised keyboard and mouse? i have no firckin idea.

Yes, that is in fact what I say in the OP- everyone should (and eventually will) go third party, but Nintendo should do it first.

This is very amusing.

Who told Nintendo to give up?

0_0 What? WHAT? Isn't that what this thread is pretty much asking, at least on the console/hardware front? Doesn't this contradict your thread, even that ONE way?

I don't think Sony and Microsoft are moving toward 3rd party at all, at least in the traditional sense. I think both are looking to expand their online services to the point that games can be streamed onto most devices, but they are still going to have exclusive first party games for their respective services. It's going to be the ultimate ripoff, a true horror to behold, and I hope Nintendo continues to stay the course by putting out consoles and physical games until they go bankrupt.

Nope. You probably got the wrong meaning from the thread. I told Nintendo to read the trends towards where the industry (which includes them) is headed anyway, and just get a head start on it all.

Well in that sense, given my prescription in the thread, Nintendo is not going third party either, it would have its own client/storefront online.

Then why did you even bother commenting?

>"A Compelling Case for Nintendo to go third party (even writes a long winded post on why they should give up hardware and do that)"

>Says he's not saying Nintendo should give up on hardware

I'm telling Nintendo to give up on hardware, which is what the entire industry will be doing eventually, I'm asking them to get a headstart so they can survive and thrive, that is, in fact, the very opposite of giving up. Unless you, or enzyme specifically mean 'giving up on hardware' in which case, again, that's happening to the entire industry at large. If no players are left standing on the field, who wins or loses? No one.

Seriously dude, read the actual OP. I know it's long, but any points you are bringing up are sort of irrelevant in the context of this thread because they have already been answered in the OP.

Which, though is asking about it on ONE department, is still saying "GIVE UP! You suck at it!", which I said:

And you say:

Sorry couldn't hear you while I was orgasming at the thought of LoZ, Metroid, Fire Emblem and Star Fox coming to an actual console like the PS4

Gamers treat Nintendo like a 3rd Party company anyway.

"Only buy Nintendo Consoles for Nintendo 1st Party."

Might as well consider Nintendo Consoles are a 3rd Party Peripheral to the REAL consoles.

@LegatoSkyheart:

You want to play Nintendo games, you buy a Nintendo console. Simple as that. Man up and save up some money to do that.

There is no need to bump a year old thread.

Producing their own hardware gives them freedom in software development, along with more control over brand marketing. Period.

I'd rather have them go third party myself. I could keep playing Zelda and metroid without having to buy their consoles. I have had my fill with Mario Kart and Mario games in general.

i like the way old threads get bumped up and ppl restart the discussion :)))))))))))))))))))

Why the heck did you dig up a year and a half old thread for?

nah. just no. i cant give you a reason why not. it wont be the same

I am glad we got Splatoon on a system that doesnt charge you for online.

Edit: Holy Crap this is some cruel thread necromancy.

Gravedigging......Enjoy being banned.

Why is this thread not locked?

It's curious how someone who claims to love nintendo in the end doesn't even have a clue about nintendo's game design philosophy. Nintendo always design their hardware around a gameplay feature they want to exploit, thus saying that Nintendo is limited by the "motion movement" of their control is bullshit. What would limit nintendo creatively speaking is if they were limited to a traditional controller in a traditional console and having to achieve an extremely wide appeal on every game released (so no more metroids nor any riscky experimental games like Pikmin or even Splatoon -now it's a success but I remember a lot of people saying it wouldn't sell more than Wonderful 101 for example).

Hey, wake up, Nintendo is not here to do any bullshit movie-like game and becoming 3rd party would benefit them as much as going 3rd party benefited SEGA.

I don't even have to explain why I locked this one.