Why does Nintendo insist on creating new home consoles?

Every Nintendo console since the SNES has been gimped in some way (sticking to cartridges, avoiding media features, small disc space, bad release dates), so I don't see the point in them packing it in without going head to head with the competition using comparable hardware.

No we just want Nintendo to be more like the NES/SNES years and less like the Wii and Wii U.

"I enjoy my Wii library a whole lot more then my PS3 library. Its not even close for me. PS3 library was a major let down for me."

So if you had the choice to only own a PS3/360 or a Wii you would choose a Wii? Even if you don't like Sony exclusives there are still a vast selection of quality third party titles you can't play on the Wii. PS3 has both quality and quantity when it comes to good games. The Wii has some quality games but the library is incredibly limited.

The Wii was a decent complimentary system, but if the Wii was the only console someone owned during the 7th generation of gaming I feel bad for them.

And if the NX home console fails to sell any better than the Wii U then what? Just keep on coming up with gimmicks until one sticks?

I guess thats where were different, as much as i love my Shadows of Colossus and Ratchet and Clank games i would go crazy if all i had was PS3. Now i could live with just Wii, trust me, i lived with it for years playing awesome games with high replayability, i havnt replayed not one of my PS3 games other then Mod Nation Racers, and i enjoyed that game no where near my Mario Kart Wii game.

The problem though is that Nintendo doesn't compete with its competitors. Nintendo always releases a half-assed console that 3rd parties shun, forcing themselves into a position where they have to sustain it with first party software, which usually fails.

they can't manage user account, digital rights, or even publishing of their own first party content, let alone garner significant third party support; I think, and I say this out of love for Nintendo and it's IPs, it's time to go third party

Like I said I understand you enjoying Nintendo exclusives more than Sony, but if we are strictly talking quality and quantity I don't think it is a debate that the PS3 or 360 would win that contest. Outside of some of Nintendo's 1st party exclusives what does the Wii really offer?

Why does Sony keep Releasing Consoles? They're going bankrupt making the one they have now.

Why does Microsoft keep Releasing Consoles? They're already making Bank with Windows.

Your thread is bad and you should feel bad.

Quality, Nintendos quality is unmatched, they also have some great third party games, Zack and Wiki, Pandoras Tower, The Last Story, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Monster Hunter, Red Steel 2, had the Resident Evil collection, but now being released on other devices, and also one of my favorites, Little Kings Story. They had a lot more, but those were my gems.

Its cool you like PS3, but those games arent for everyone, especially people who crave Nintendo games, they just dont feel ones appetite. Give me a Nintendo handheld and home console and im set, dont even need my awesome PC games.

Every nintendo console? NES, SNES, N64, and I believe even the Gamecube were built with expansion in mind. NES never really saw it, SNES with the various carts on chip and the ill fated cd add on, and the 64 with carts, the ram expansion, and 64dd. Consumer chose not to adopt, but it isn't Nintendos fault, here. So in ways I'd say most of their consoles have been the opposite of "gimped" seeing that there was a plan in play to envelop the original concept.

Of all people here I know exactly what you mean about that mentality of why play mediocre if you can't have the best. Nintendo games stand on a separate pedestal. They are something one might go to as long as games are around. They're well constructed, etc. As stable as a classic board game or kids playing tag or hide and seak.

But where do you stand on a few other areas? Finally bought a new ps4 game--PES2015; the game is perhaps the greatest sports title I've ever played.

Sony keeps releasing consoles because every Playstation console has been a huge success with the exception of the Vita. The Playstation brand is Sony's most profitable division right now.

Why should I feel bad when it is plainly obvious that Nintendo has been losing their home console install base every generation since the SNES, with the original Wii being the only exception. How many Wii U failures will Nintendo tolerate before just sticking to handhelds, or going multiplatform?

@emgesp: WiiU is making Profit now.

And That didn't invalidate what I stated.

Your thread is still bad.

The gaming division of Sony isn't losing money. MS has the money to make the consoles. I guess there is money in games don't you think?

Ive never played Soccer in real life or in video games. I love NBA2K on PC though, im big into MyPlayer, but it does get kinda boring, i enjoy watching Basketball more then playing. I also play sometimes in real life, so i guess thats what keeps me in tune with it. Im a Blizzard fan, Valve fan, i play Europa IV and other strategy PC games like crazy. I also dip my toes in Indie games a lot on PC and Nintendo consoles, I rock GTA, MGS, Dark Souls on my PC. Im very diverse in my gaming, i just love good games.

That's the point. Thank you for pointing it out.

The N64 and Gamecube were definitely held back by Nintendo's choice in physical media. FF7 was supposed to be a N64 exclusive, but once Square found out how difficult it would be to release such a large game on a 32-64MB cartridge they decided to skip the N64 and release it on the PS1 instead as it wouldn't limit them as much.

Over time Ive come to see the cd as a more limiting format. Carts did have their weaknesses, space being one, but they offered the option for expansion and for the developer to dictate the cost. Carts are a more dynamic format. For example, all the music in final fantasy 7 could have been midi based, similar to a Genesis game. Backgrounds could have retained a more flat shaded look like the characters and be fully 3D. The only reason that game is so big, I'd imagine, is due to the music and fmv.

Regardless, those consoles being held back was not because of hardware choices but because of consumer and 3rd party choices. Fact of the matter is that all those consoles were potentially going to be elaborated on.

Cartridges were not only limiting in terms of capacity in comparison to CD's, but they were also more expensive to produce. I don't know if you remember, but N64 games on average were $10-20 more expensive than PS1 games. I never seen a PS1 game sell for more than $49.99 unless if it came with some kind of peripheral.

Nintendo didn't have plans for a CD attachment for the N64, nor did they have plans for a DVD drive for the Gamecube. It most definitely alienated a lot of third party developers. Though, I'm still impressed what Capcom was able to achieve with the N64 port of Resident Evil 2. It must have been a pain in the ass trying to compress two disks worth of data on a single 64MB cart.

The Wii U might have been a flop, but it was still profitable.

And in terms of quality hardware and exclusive software, Nintendo is still unmatched in the console market.

More expensive isn't necessarily a bad thing. You get what you pay for, I suppose. Neo Geo carts ranged in price based on the size of the cart. And yes I remember, psx games ranged from $34.99, usually $39.99, and then the $49.99 tag which was usually for double disc games if I remember correctly. Compare that to $59.99 and $69.99 for N64 games. Yeah, its a big difference, but that limiting factor you speak of correlates to what consumer is willing to spend.

You can go to any Neo Geo forum or talk to anybody that owned one and the response will be largely positive. These people payed a premium, but the quality was evident in the product purchased.

Nintendo had the 64dd, and there was an expansion slot on the Gamecube as well I think. Bottom line is that their consoles are built to be expanded on. There was a thread about sega vs nintendo and the snes/genesis comparison came up. People argue all the time that the genesis could do this and that by itself and how snes used chips on carts, yet the structure of the system was designed as such. I think letting the game drive the cost down the line is not a bad idea, especially when prices on memory/etc drop.

64DD was made as a more cost effective way to manufacture games, but for whatever reason they didn't release the add-on worldwide and it was still limited in terms of capacity vs a compact disk. There was no excuse for Nintendo to have stuck with cartridges during the 5th generation outside the fact that they wanted to prevent piracy as its much easier to pirate disk based games than carts.

The only advantage a stock Genesis had over the SNES was its CPU. SNES wins in every other department hardware wise.

They also didnt want slow arse loading screens, thanks Sony.

64DD was in development long before it was revealed. CDs stunk, sorry. The load times were atrocious. The initial batch of psx consoles had drive issues, as well. I fully support Nintendos decision. Can you imagine playing Ocarina of Time with long loading between area transitions? Been on the N64 and Genesis lately and the fast boots and no loadings are great. Love the audio on both those consoles.

***Genesis has higher quality audio output.

Someone has to create the worst hardware, with the worst online.

Preventing piracy was more of their priority than loading times. At the end of the day the N64 not having a CD drive is what started the whole issue with third party developers not wanting to support Nintendo home consoles. The N64 would have probably outsold the PS1 if it had a CD drive. Then Nintendo goofed up again by utilizing mini-discs vs standard DVDs with the Gamecube. They really are incredibly paranoid about piracy. Sony didn't seem to suffer all that much by not utilizing proprietary disk formats. PS1 and PS2 proves that Nintendo were way too paranoid about piracy.

PS1 loading times are really not that horrible. If you want to see horrible loading times then play on a Neo-Geo CD, or a Commadore 64.


The Genesis only had higher quality audio if using the Sega CD. A stock Genesis's FM chip is inferior to Nintendo's Sony DSP chip which was created by non other than the Father of the Playstation, Ken Kutaragi.

@emgesp:

Just look at the game design on the n64. It was critical that carts were used. Loading times were really bad on the disc systems.

Genesis has higher quality audio output vs the snes, this is a fact.

I dont think it was piracy at all, Nintendo was worried about quality, cartridges were just more durable and super fast. I use to have a PS1 that had to run sideways to get the laser to read the disc. On PS2 i went threw 2 lasers. Disc were very easy to scratch and also were not as portable. I remember i could just throw cartridges in my backpack or pants pockets and roll out. Disc i had to put in a grocery bag and be very careful, cant tell you how many times i cracked them silly cheap CD cases.

Nintendo were just ahead of their time like always, thank goodness Nintendo handhelds never had to suffer such woes. Remember when PSP tried to make CD with protector, lol, was funny to see. Id takes cartridges over CDs anytime. I wish we never regressed in innovation and had made cartridges superior, no telling where we would be at today if Sony hadnt set us back dang 3 generations.

No, the games had to be designed to work around the N64's limitations in terms of the limiting capacity of cartridges, not the other way around. What kind of games did the N64 have that you didn't see on the PS1? I can't think of any genre games that couldn't work on the PS1 because of CD's.

"Genesis has higher quality audio output vs the snes, this is a fact."

LMAO, actually it is not a fact and I don't know why you believe this. A stock Genesis could only handle audio samples at a maximum quality of 8 bit 22khz sampling rate where as the the Super Nintendo could handle samples at 16 bit 32khz sampling rate, so there goes your theory.

@mesome713:

UMDs were just hilarious. Even when it was revealed I was thinking wtf. A disc drive on a portable game console. Maybe the dumbest design idea the industry has ever seen.

@emgesp: Sorry, but Nintendo isn't in Segaland of fucked. The Wii and esp. DS sold more than God. The Wii U isn't Nintendo's final nail in its coffin. The 3DS alone is selling over 52 million.

Only early Playstation models had major laser issues, later revisions fixed that. Saying Nintendo was ahead of their time by sticking with cartridges during the 5th generation of consoles is kind of an ignorant statement honestly. Look how much third party support they lost because of it. I already mentioned how Nintendo lost FF7 because they didn't switch to CD's. They gained absolutely nothing by sticking with carts, if anything it caused more damage to their brand. They allowed Sony to dominate the 5th generation of consoles and they never fully recovered since.

I wasn't talking about their handhelds, mainly their home consoles.

Perhaps their new strategy is a huge part as more of a reaction from smartdevices "gaming" (phones, tablets).. IDK.. probably not.

idk. They've been struggling since the N64 and they have to much pride to change themselves and their attitude.

I think they'd be better off focusing on portables. A powerful and well designed Nintendo handheld with 100% of Nintendo's support and focus would be amazing.

When it comes to home consoles, they're unwilling to go all the way in every area and make third parties happy as well.

I have absolutely no faith in their upcoming home console, I don't even care to know about it's specs. It'll just turn out the same as ever. I think it's disgusting Nintendo blamed the Wii U for it's performance and not themselves.

They wouldn't be better off handheld only. It'd be like a table missing one leg.

Nintendo would be fine just sticking with handhelds. They make the most money with their handheld line anyways.

They make good money with Wii U, they should stick to being Nintendo and rolling in that dough.

Since when is the truth not a good argument?

the wii u is a great console but not for 3rd party games. Graphics are terrible compared to the pc, and even behind the other consoles, so it doesn't really make sense to purchase 3rd party games on the wii u. On the other hand 1st party games are still the highest quality out there that you can find.

You'd be missing out big time if you would have stuck with a Wii alone, thanks to the fact that multiplat support from big 3rd party developers thrived on the 360/PS3, but the Wii is not the slouch you're proposing. The Wii's library of exclusives dwarfs any one of the other two consoles, as far as i'm concerned.

They lost the casual market in 2010, i don't know what the **** they were trying to do with the WiiU.

So? Killing part of your business is NEVER good and alienates a good chunk of your fandom. They'd be royally fucked if they stuck to handhelds. Again... table missing a leg situation.

Quality hardware as opposed to?

Unmatched? Certainly that was the feeling I had for years but the Wii U has made me step backwards on such feelings. The first party software is good but not necessarily great. As of yet, nothing I've played on the Wii U has been a game I couldn't put down until completion was achieved. Mostly everything is played in short spurts. Nothing is coming to memory in terms of any first party game being the best entry into the franchise. Kart was nice but it never captivated me like the installment on the Wii. Neither Mario games were anything special compared to their predecessors. Galaxy will always be a hard path to follow and the New SMB game was already done on the Wii. Captain Toad felt like nothing short of DLC for Mario. The panache seems to have been lost.

Well if it wasnt for Wii success, i think Nintendo would have stopped being a console manufacturer long ago.

Theres a high chance NX to be their last console if it has Wii Us fate.

People are voting with their wallets and at some point Nintendo is going to have to decide if continuing their home console line will be worth it. I don't believe Nintendo wants to continue releasing home consoles that will only sell 10 - 15 million units per generation. That is the path they are currently on if they don't make big changes. If the NX home console fails to sell better than the Wii U then I will bet you anything it will be Nintendo's last home console.

LOL you failed for posting a video from the biggest loser of SW History!

Gallery

That the Wii's success was fueled by casuals is not a good argument for Nintendo not continuing to make home consoles.

Maybe because they feel that they can make some money and don't have to make ALL of the money?.... This is the problem with the industry in which we are literally seeing devs and publishers abandoning classic PROFITABLE series because they weren't reaching the megahit expectations of other series.. As a consumer your a absolute fool for supporting this kind of trend in the industry because it is going against your own interests.. Text book example of this behavior.. Capcom: Abandon Megaman series completely, even though it was beloved and profitable.. It just didn't make the kind of money they were looking for.. They warped the Resident Evil series from a memorable horror series to a generic action series with 6.. How any one can be supportive of this kind of behavior in the industry is baffling..