Nintendo after the Wii U?

One thing which i'm genuinely curious about is where Nintendo will be headed once the Wii U's done and over with. At a glance, it seems that they can simply go all in on handhelds, though I dunno if that will actually work since handhelds can't exactly recreate the same spectacle that you see in home consoles and sufficiently potent PCs. At the same time, I really dunno if we can trust Nintendo with making a competitive home console.

In a few years, Nintendo should be able to realistically market a handheld in the $300 range that is more powerful than the Wii U. I think it would make a lot of sense for them to go all in on an HD handheld that includes a box that would provide storage and stream content to the tv. As long as it costs less than $400, I would buy it. It would be even better if they were able to make it compatible with the Wii U and sell an SKU with no box for less.

Handheld with an hdmi port.

There, no need spread your devs between two platforms

Make a handheld system. It must have games to back it up tho. And please if they go this route, make the screen bigger than a 3x4 frame. Thats ridiculous.

But it would be cool if the portable system came with HDMI, tv hook ups and and wireless controller hook ups so you can play everything on a tv. And when you dont wanna play on a tv, you can just pack it up and play it like a handheld. Perfect combo.

Pretty much.

A handheld that can "dock" into any TV or monitor. You plug it into the TV, sync up a wireless controller to it, and chill on your couch. Unplug the handheld from the TV if you want to take it around town with you (or under your bed covers).

But the design shouldn't just be focused on the functionality. Nintendo needs to make something that developers want to develop for, and gamers want to game on, so I hope they do a lot to redesign their online infrastructure and feature set, and make their system a bit more powerful, and similar to other devices on the market so that devs can port their games to it, and do so pretty easily.

I hope Nintendo keeps the dual-screen design, and re-implements proper motion controls. I'd love a controller that works somewhat like the Razer Edge. One controller that can function as a traditional controller, motion controller, and "Wii U" gamepad depending on how you hook them all together.

the obvious answer is, as mentioned, a handheld with a HDMI port or some sort of hybrid. but since when does nintendo take the obvious route?

i do think there is and will be further restructuring of the way nintendo works. its effect wont be felt until their next handheld and console are out but iwata has talked about building a platform for all their content. so that will be one OS and one store to make games on and sell on (online).

but i think there will be another console....of some sort. hard to say what kind of form its going to take though. i have a hunch it could be ARM based for the CPU with a laptop GPU involved. the reason i think ARM is because nintendo themselves are very familiar with it and 3rd parties also use it alot. ARM processors can also work in many different environments (they already use them in the 3DS and have used them in the DS also (possibly the GBA aswel...i cant remember). so they could have a CPU suitable for both a handheld and a console.

what kind of horsepower is anyones guess.

so why not a hybrid? its a very risky thing to do. if they make a hybrid and that tanks, for whateve reason, then what? they have one product on the market and its not selling. thats really really bad. one of two platforms not selling is bad but 1 of 1....not many companies survive long in that scenario.

if anything i think we may see a bigger variety of hardware from nintendo going forward. the gaming phone, the gaming device (sans phone stuff), the games console, the gamepad (from 7" to 12"....a self contained unit rather than the wiiu setup), maybe even a more portable version of the games console (like a laptop...all self contained)....hell maybe even a gaming watch or gaming bracer....just cause.

the key thing is that any device nintendo makes will run the same platform, use the same store (with UI tweaks where needed). the hardware, though different in specs, will also have a lot in common (i suspect nintendo are taking a good hard look at Nvidia now.....so que them finding some small company in the hymilayas that just so happens to design a mobile GPU that can also be a great desktop GPU :P). so nintendo could make games that would only run on the handheld or only on the console. or they could make a game designed to work on any nintendo device. it would depend on the game.

if they do this route it wont be as wide as the PC market though. any nintendo games console will have a certain spec regardless of form factor. same with the handhelds (the phone, tablets and handheld would have the same spec for example).

so we could see a return of something like the GBA, with somehting more like the DS for the phone version. meanwhile the gamepad would be a self contained unit that comes in various sizes while the console uses an enhanced wiimote and nunchuck and/or traditional controller.

but it makes nintendo more robust, more productive and be able to deliver more content to more types of devices quickly. so scenarios where the 3DS is getting loads of games and the wiiu is getting the clippings of tin would be less likely.

some games would still be exclusive to one type of device or ther other though simply because

1) tempts more people to buy more of the different devices

2) some games are only suitable for one type of device or another.

God only knows. The obvious guess would be a heldheld/console hybrid, but Nintendo often doesn't go with what people guess they'll do.

Supposedly Nintendo is prepping the fusion which uses Power 8 cpu and a 5 teraflop gpu.

inb4 this becomes a Chaz thread.

How many times does it need to be said. Whether it's consumers, gamers, or Nintendo themselves, (Iwata and Reggie) Nintendo DOES NOT TRY TO COMPETE WITH THE OTHER 2. They just play in their own sandbox and beat to their own drum. They don't give a crap about their competition. Nintendo will make a new home console, we already know this. Seeing as Iwata has said even a year ago that their future would probably have a handheld and home console that would have similar architecture. And Nintendo is in a more financial spot then the other 2. Sony is barely alive as a company. The PS4 SYSTEM is literally the only thing giving them profit. They have a small thin feeding tube keeping them alive right now. Sony could disappear from the planet part way through this generation. Microsoft will fail with the Xbox One and I believe simply leave the game console business. (Xbox One isn't even a game console as its focus, that already proves they don't want to be strictly that anymore anyway). Course Microsoft has basically infinite money, but games like Halo and such will go to PC exclusives. My point is Nintendo has been around for 125 years, they have seen competition come and go. They will always out last everyone. That being said Nintendo has been really screwing up the past 2 years with the Wii U. (3DS is fine) however Nintendo has the money to continue to do things their way, and screw up for another 50 years before they risk disappearing as a company. So in the end Nintendo will continue, they always have and always will.

Also what is with you all and the focus on their next handheld? Nintendo has ALWAYS owned the Handheld market. Pokémon owns the handheld market. And to the guy who said but it has to have games....look at the 3DS. Nintendo wont simply kill off the 3DS. Look at the DS it had a big library. Handhelds never have an issue with a games library with Nintendo.

Also, nobody will be able to guess what Nintendo's next plan is. Hopefully not fully focusing on the QOL junk. But to the people who still say oh a more powerful console, a handheld that is HDMI. Wont happen. Nintendo doesn't give a rats behind about super power. Nintendo is Batman not Superman. Nintendo uses their smarts and gives them enough power to do what THEY want. I wouldn't be surprised if the next Nintendo Handheld is 720p but with some random new twist like the games for it can be plugged into the next home console.

They drop out of the games industry completely after the handheld market implodes and shift over to health related products.

@MFDOOM1983: even though they've repeatedly stated that the qol stuff is a side venture not meant to replace their gaming division?

Yeah sure

I just think they are paying for past (not to mention current) mistakes and it's going to take a miracle to reverse the downward trend. There are that many reasons they are failing that addressing them all at once seems impossible because they all work against each other. They can't get the third party, because of their past mistakes, and also, the perception that sales will be low on Nintendo (which they prove to be). So people don't buy consoles, with those third parties in mind. People write them off as kiddy. Their first party is certainly far more "family" oriented than their competitors. But their existing fans want this, and they don't have the resources to do both. Or to cover the huge gulf they are missing out on by not having third party. So the perception remains, and it is well earned. They said the third party would be on board, they weren't. Because they didn't do anything to attract them.

They can trade on nostalgia, as they do, but it's not going to win them the fans they need to increase their base, and to abandon their existing IPs is a huge risk.

Their tech is well behind, they've lied about this but it has proven to be. They have to coax fans away from the others, so they have to outdo them. If my choice is a Sony/Microsoft or a Nintendo with the exact same tech, I'm going to stick with the company I'm already with especially when I know the third party will support them. But they are not on an even plateau, they are catching up. So expecting them to outdo the competition in itself is a miracle. If they go early and ditch the wii u to compete with PS4 and X1, they will lose any good will they have left with the current owners.

If they wait, the situation exacerbates.

Their online is poor. No one is using it. Investing in it seems like a waste for what it will achieve, but then not having it is a disaster. So what do they do?

I honestly don't know where they go from here. Handheld only? Carry on until they're bankrupt? Try to capture lightning in a jar again? Or go third party? I'm not one of those that keen on the last option, but it might be their only option in the end if their console is simply unsustainable.

Either way, their public perception is in the toilet. People are laughing at them. They make mistake after mistake and it's getting worse. They seem to be lost in a maze of catch 22s and it's not going to end well.

They won't abandon the console space. Iwata has already said this. Nintendo is looking to have a common OS across their platforms next gen, similar to iOS, to make porting easier. As for the tech, who knows. Wii U is a lesson for them to heed. Nintendo may be out of touch, but they're not stupid.

@Master_Of_Fools: Nintendo doesn't get to say who they're competing with. The market does. And they are in the console business. Ultimately if they choose to limit themselves in the manner you describe they will wither and die.

There are a lot of conjectures about the other two failing in your post but just one paragraph earlier, you were claiming Wii U wasn't competing with them. So why bring them up? Microsoft hasn't failed with X1. PS4 hasn't failed. They are already well on their way to becoming great successes. The only console which has failed is the wii u. Your post is pure fantasy? Batman Superman? What on earth are you talking about?

They are making a Wii 3 with a Cell processor.

Wii 3 will be called Wiinus. And it will have....DVD playback!

"NINTENDO IS ORIGINAL AND COOL AND I WANT TO PAY MAD DOUGH TO PLAY A PORTABLE 360 WITH AN HDMI PORT FOR $300 IN 2015 AFTER WIIU DIES I'M PROGRESSIVE!!!"

-Sheep

I don't think Nintendo would release a handheld with an HDMI port. To them, that would be a clumsy solution to handheld/console interoperability, especially since it involves wires.

It's more likely that they would have a home "dummy" console, which connects to the TV, and then a handheld which connects to that dummy console wirelessly. Unlike the Wii U, the handheld/controller would actually have internal hardware on it capable of acting as a fully independent handheld when not transmitting to the home console.

And, just like that, handheld and console become fused together. As an example, see iPads which connect wirelessly to Apple TVs.

I'd be happy with them furthering what they've done with the wii u and making a true handheld-console hybrid.

Idk how it would work, but I want one.

I still want a big focus on handhelds, but I would also like a robust next-gen console.

i just want nintendo to create a gamecube 2....

From what I've seen in the (more recent) past, I don't think Nintendo is a company that is capable of learning from the past. Or if they do, it's years behind when it should've been seen and acted upon at the time. I think in the future their actions wlll be solely based upon what they believe to be the right actions, but these will not at all be contingent upon market forces or any external factors. It's obviously a virtue for them to ignore what's going on around them. And in this, I think they're putting themselves in an incredibly dangerous space. Nintendo seems to pride itself of being so different that they'll insist upon this regardless of what damage it will do to their brand.

If they want to insist on being seen as that special little flower at all costs that they're willing to suffer the consequences, so be it. I just hope they realize what they're risking. Personally I don't see them changing in the near or far future. Their philosophies, massive cultural factors, their past successes, are all coming together to make a company exist today that is so dead-set in their ways that they only way I think this will change is if the management is completely removed out and replaced. But this isn't going to happen. I'm really looking forward to seeing what lies in store for them if they keep this up.

Nintendo probably already knows what they have to do,but they are not going to reveal it yet.They are still a strong company.Whatever they do may not appeal to the hardcore/core gamer that buys a playstation or xbox console, but they know who they have to appeal to for there next console and handheld .They have already talked about things like a true online account system for their next console, handheld and most likely that QOL device.They probably will have incentives for people to buy games on their next console and handheld.The console and handheld will most likely be cheaper and they probably won't be hamstrung by a confusing,useless or hard to explain controllers or features most likely.They are also planning to create an extra revenue source in case they have to deal with another WiiU scenario again. This revenue source will be the QOL if it is able to make money for nintendo.They are planning to unify their next handheld and console in terms of online account system and maybe software and they are also working on a way to make it easier to port features or games between their handheld and console.They are also working on the software problem for their next console most likely.

@DocSanchez:

The market is not a real living thing. Its a term, nothing more. Microsoft hasn't failed with the Xbox One??? More Wii U's out there then Xbox One's nobody likes Kinect, nobody likes the DRM THAT WILL RETURN MARK MY WORDS. People are returning Xbox One's daily and at least here in Canada ANY store you go to that sells gaming stuff has no PS4's and a crap ton of Xbox One's. Hardly anybody wants one. There is 0 reasons anyone could say to make a case for why to get one. And my Superhero refrence was Nintendo is Batman, they use their brains to try something new they aren't Superman who is just a powerhouse who thinks he is invincible which is what Microsoft and Sony do in gaming. Focus on the power of the console and nothing more.

The xbox one will destroy the wiiu in terms of ltd at the end of this gen.It's just slowing down a bit now, but it will start selling at a decent clip by the end of this year most likely.Nintendo is nowhere near doomed and they are still a pretty strong company.And DRM will never be reimplemented on the xbox one. MS already saw the consumer backlash when they revealed it and they won't reimplement it this gen because that would kill any profits they plan to get from the xbox one.

@super600:

And you fail to list a single reason as to what could make the Xbox One sell? Care to point out something?

Way Better 3rd support

Strong exclusive games(like halo, gears and whatever else MS is planning to develop for the xbox one

It's features and xbox live.

The xbox one will also become a more appealing console once they are able to drop the price of that console to a price that will make people want to buy it more.

They have been talking about implementing an account system for years (I'll search for a link on this....). Apple had accounts at the unveiling of iTunes, which occured more than a decade ago. It's far past obvious at this point that Nintendo doesn't want to give people accounts, at least not the kind that they want (where people have easy access with the entry of a user and passcode) to redownload their games. I don't know what the exact reason is, but I think it has something to do with control. I think Nintendo views people having such user-friendly features as somehow stripping power over their wares out of their hands. That's just my theory though.

Or, second possibility: they're so incompetent that it takes years to execute on their plans. As I've said, they've been talking about accounts for at least a few years now. If it takes them so long to do these things, I have no hope for them to survive as such a level of inability and incompetence in such a fast-paced moving and tech focused industry will be their undoing. Personally I think they simply don't want to do accounts and are trying to delay the inevitable as long as is possible.

Nintendo is so much talk followed by inaction or (at the very least) extremely slow action that it's embarrassing.

Uh, what?

The market is very alive; it's in constant fluctuation and very dynamic. It goes far past a simple term.

They won't really implement everything thery talk about until it's ready usually or if there plans did not change. They probably starting thinking about an account system while the WiiU was in development, but they are still working on it unless they started it right after the WiiU launched.

@super600:

Way Better 3rd support: 3rd parties have gone to shit. Other then Destiny I see no other worth while 3rd party game coming this year. And you buy a console for exclusives not multiplats. Plus PS4 will get the better versions of Multiplats anyway. I don't even like Sony but that's just the way it will be. Xbox One has so many issues for dev's I would know I left it after just 3 weeks. 3 operating systems....my god still cant get over how retarded that was. Xbox One has serious issues getting games up to 1080p and 60fps.

Strong exclusive games(like halo, gears and whatever else MS is planning to develop for the xbox one): Halo is dead. 343issue as I call them have killed it. Halo 4 was utter trash. Gears Of War lol, a friend of mine was a total fanboy of GOW, but as he says there is no where to go with the storyline in that franchise anymore its being milked and needs to end.

It's features and xbox live.: Oh yeah...like not being able to have friends...just followers like twitter with ads all over the place again like on the 360 and all this multimedia crap that a "Game Console" doesn't need.

The xbox one will also become a more appealing console once they are able to drop the price of that console to a price that will make people want to buy it more.: The price? Dropping it to $400 and removing Kinect would help, but I wouldn't buy one for $1. Its a worthless, hellish nightmare and nothing more.

Not creating the same spectacle hasn't held back handheld gaming in the past - its games and their style are still fun and appealing.

The bigger worry is that consumers are finding it harder to justify owning a games-only device. There's little reason not to believe that handheld market will continue to transition to platforms that are more versatile.

@MirkoS77:

Nope. Its like "love" its there cause people say it is. Its not a physical thing where you can say oh look, there goes the market, (Unless you are talking about like a grocery store market lol)

I honestly don't care what they do as far as hardware goes. Put out a beast console? Put out another weak sauce console? Make a console handheld hybrid? Or the least likely scenario, cave in and go 3rd party?

I really don't care anymore. As long as they keep making good games with the occasional masterpiece every so often, I'm good.

Well, if you'd like to see the market in action simply look at the floor of the NYSE. Believe what you want, but the market is very alive. Honestly, I can't think of anything more alive when not speaking biologically.

Back to selling cards, I'd guess.

@MirkoS77:

Being "alive" does not equal being real.

3DS doesn't exist?

This will just devolve into a bickering on semantics. But the market is both real, and it is alive.

Not sure tbh. Hybrid console? Powerful console? Another gimmick? Console/handheld library sharing? All of the above? No console at all?

It will be interesting to see in the upcoming future.

One thing that i would like to think, and I know that Nintendo would rather destroy their own offices than do so, is to simply go third party.

Sure, they might have an uneasy time adapting to newer hardware, though honestly, I think that they have much higher respect for their fans than Sega? And who knows? Perhaps they might sell a Majora's Mask remake developed by sufficiently dedicated fans.

I wish they go PC / SteamOS

After they give me Bayonetta 2, Nintendo can go back to making playing cards for all I care.

One does not simply become a Chaz thread

Moar pokemon rehashes.

I really hope Nintendo gets it together soon. (Also - First time posting on teh gamespots in probably 7 years - great to be back!) As far as what they're going to do next, I really hope its something conventional so I can go back to my N64/Gamecube days and get a similar experience.