Topic: Switchmas Eve Rumors and Speculations Thread

[Ian Sane]

My general assumption is that Nintendo will cheap out on the specs because that's what they done for a while now.  And they will prioritize architecture that favours their own development and not put any real effort into addressing what third parties want.  Then they will get dick support and only diehard Nintendo nuts will give a ****.

There is a certain level of effort that is required to compete and Nintendo just doesn't like doing that.  Mix that with their notorious stubbornness and penny-pinching attitude and odds are we'll get the Wii U 2.  We don't know for sure and I'm still very interested in finding out the exact details of the NX but I'm not optimistic because Nintendo has given me no reason to be.  Hell, they seem no different today then they did when the Wii U launched.  If they were getting their act together we would already see the difference.

[MagicCow64]

That's like every IanSane post boiled down to its purist essence. Can a mod make a script that just replaces every future post of his with that one?

On topic, there's a dude on the Neogaf thread who seems to be respected as a source, who says that PS4 Xbone ports will be easy and that any barriers will just be business related. Pretty much what was expected.

[EasyCure]

There's an interview with Kimishima over on neogaf (which was transcribed on Reddit) where he's quoted as saying the NX is neither the successor of Wii U or 3DS.

Thoughts? I'd this not a successor in the sense that the original DS wasn't a successor to the Gameboy?

[Adrock]

That's like every IanSane post boiled down to its purist essence. Can a mod make a script that just replaces every future post of his with that one?

It's like he doesn't understand that a company doesn't "cheap out on specs." A custom chipset is still millions of dollars (billions of yen?) in research and development. Nintendo could dump high spec off-the-shelf parts in there and save a ton. Custom hardware is meant to optimize performance so the power it has isn't wasted through inefficiency and/or bottlenecks. Nintendo can't go too high because it still has to sell the thing. I can convince myself to buy a $400 Nintendo console, but I'm an outlier.

On topic, there's a dude on the Neogaf thread who seems to be respected as a source, who says that PS4 Xbone ports will be easy and that any barriers will just be business related. Pretty much what was expected.

Exactly. NX has to be in the ballpark of PS4 and One. Modern engines are highly scalable. If a game plays like ****, the publisher didn't care what it played like when it released the game.

Ultimately, Nintendo isn't getting Western support until it can prove its platform is worth supporting. Big Western publishers generally don't care about dedicated handheld gaming or, you know, the only thing has consistently done well in the last 25 years. Personally, I'd love to see Nintendo release a higher spec machine, but I know it won't be the difference maker. Nintendo has a long road ahead of it, and regaining support is going to be a process. Rumors point to Nintendo battling software droughts with a shared library and focus on Japanese third parties that still see at least Nintendo's handheld as a viable platform. It's a start. Getting multiplatform Western games like Madden and Call of Duty is also important. If you think higher specs are going to blow the doors wide open, you need to manage your expectations.

Thoughts? I'd this not a successor in the sense that the original DS wasn't a successor to the Gameboy?

I took that to mean that NX is the successor to both Wii U and 3DS due to the shared library rumor. It could also mean a stronger focus on the core audience which is also something Nintendo has talked about in the last year or two.

[Caterkiller]

There's an interview with Kimishima over on neogaf (which was transcribed on Reddit) where he's quoted as saying the NX is neither the successor of Wii U or 3DS.

Thoughts? I'd this not a successor in the sense that the original DS wasn't a successor to the Gameboy?

We've heard him say at least twice now about how the NX will offer a new way to play(what ever that means) but honestly I think it's just a PR way to not cannibalize Wii U and 3DS sales too soon. Because yeah, like the 3rd pillar which was the DS, we all knew it was the successor to the GBA. When it's all said and done though we all know it will just be the next thing to play Nintendo games on.

Maybe this is also a way to distance the new machines from the dying brands and start fresh.

[Ian Sane]

That's like every IanSane post boiled down to its purist essence. Can a mod make a script that just replaces every future post of his with that one?

It's like he doesn't understand that a company doesn't "cheap out on specs." A custom chipset is still millions of dollars (billions of yen?) in research and development. Nintendo could dump high spec off-the-shelf parts in there and save a ton. Custom hardware is meant to optimize performance so the power it has isn't wasted through inefficiency and/or bottlenecks. Nintendo can't go too high because it still has to sell the thing. I can convince myself to buy a $400 Nintendo console, but I'm an outlier.

"Cheaping out" means not matching the industry standard expectations of hardware specifications.  It means Nintendo going with something that doesn't match up because it will cost them less money and they're usually hoping they can create a larger profit margin for themselves on the hardware.  Think of it like a sports team which will always have a payroll in the millions.  But some teams will let star players leave in free agency because they, for whatever reason, won't pay them the market value and won't sign pricey free agents to fill holes in their lineup.  So they go out with a hope and a prayer that cheaper journeymen and young players that haven't finished their first contract yet will make them compete with the teams that are willing to pay more.  You can argue the justification but Nintendo is not willing to financially invest in hardware that matches the competition.  You can spend $1000 on something and it's a lot of money... but if you really need to spend $2000 to do it properly then you're cheaping out.  It's not the value of the amount, it's the value relative to what you SHOULD spend.

I feel that there are consumer and developer exceptations for a console released in 2016 and if Nintendo wants to get anywhere they have to meet them.

[KeyBilly]

Nintendo (Iwata and Kimishima) have said things like that before, but Nintendo has a certain set of things that they generally say regarding product launches.  It seems to represent an internal philosophy that rarely pans out in the actual products.  A more cynical view is that it is just spin.

The rumors, in my thinking, have fallen into two contradictory tracts.  One is that this is a traditional console with an x86 processor, easy current gen ports, and competitive hardware.

The other is that the NX will be a Wii U in reverse... the horsepower in the handheld portion, making it truly portable.  Wireless HDMI streaming, cartridges, and ARM all fit into this concept.  This is the one that seems to be gaining traction, and Nintendo's E3 plans make sense in that respect.  Since it would likely be weaker than current gen consoles, which are themselves old enough to be getting mid-gen upgrades, showing it at E3 could lead to a slaughter in the gaming press.  Also, showing Zelda so extensively for a console that is on the way out would be more logical if it isn't the clearly inferior version after all.

I really hope that isn't true, since I want higher fidelity Nintendo games like Zelda or Metroid more than any games on competing systems, but I am mentally bracing myself for it.  On the bright side, one combined system (which might be marketed as a third pillar just in case it fails) would potentially mean a constant stream of first party games.

[Soren]

"A dude on NeoGaf" is the new "my uncle who works at Nintendo".

[MagicCow64]

"A dude on NeoGaf" is the new "my uncle who works at Nintendo".

Well, there's not a hell of a lot to work with at this point. There was that one Wall Street Journal article that pointed to "industry leading chips". Almost everything else is broad strokes from insiders and second-hand leakers, as folks are too freaked out by NDAs this time around to drop anything specific. This most recent activity is based on a rumor that the NX will be close to the Xbone in power, which caused a wave of panic, but that's as easily countered by the notion that it will be able to run ports of current gen games without a problem, which has been posited with as much credibility.

The average of all of this seems to point to (if anything) that the NX is going to be in the same ballpark as PS4/Xbone, not run on PowerPC, and thus be easy enough to port to that it won't be a feasible excuse not to support the system.

[King of Twitch]

You can argue the justification but Nintendo is not willing to financially invest in hardware that matches the competition.

And how many years have the competition spent swimming in red ink?

"That would have been a smart move...two years ago. It's too late now."


Well that's like Nintendo's mission statement.  Hell, Twilight Princess should have been released two years ago instead of Wind Waker.  Release the arty Zelda that the mainstream audience won't like first and the more traditional "cool" Zelda at the very end of the console's life when no one cares anymore?  What sort of backwards logic is that?


Nintendo: two years behind where they should be since 1996. 

Does it ever get tiring whipping a dead horse?

[supermario2k]

I've read before as well that despite the fact that the WiiU is pretty similar similar to the 360 in raw specs, there's custom voodoo going on that allows Nintendo to deploy impressive lighting and whathaveyou without eating into main computational tasks. This would track with certain WiiU games looking very good despite the last gen baseline (and I assume ZeldaU will be duly impressive, Xenoblade with better art). I'd expect a similar scenario if the NX ends up being close on paper to the Xbone. Nintendo will be able to punch above that weight even if third parties don't bother learning the special sauce recipes.

They say this every generation, that Nintendo's hardware "limitations" can be easily overcome by magic that only Nintendo possess. It's a myth perpetuated by fanboys that don't accept reality. I remember endless discussions on how The Conduit supposedly looked better than Halo 3 and Gears of War. Sega fanboys said the same thing about the ill-fated Saturn, that nobody could program the thing properly. 30 years latter and we know this was false. The machine was hard to program for but it was also VERY WEAK hardware to begin with.

And how many years have the competition spent swimming in red ink?

Well let's see, you are comparing Sony, a company that invested billions into cell phones, computers, televisions, car audio, tech gadgets, smart tv apps, motion controls, VR, Spider-Man 3, and a whole bunch of other ****, to a company that ONLY invests as much money as they have to stay afloat?


Yeah okay Sony was in dire financial trouble but it was NEVER because of the Playstation brand. You do realize that the PS3 was only unprofitable for a couple of years, and most of that was marketing and focusing all the attention on using Blu Ray to kill off HD-DVD, or did you forget that Sony and friends had to spend 18 months throwing millions of dollars at Blu Ray to get it to the place it is?

Nintendo hasn't always cheaped out on specs, but they have always cut something gamers and developers considered essential to cut costs. Even with NES and SNES they did this but they were able to MASK that by using chips in the cartridges. Something they can't exactly do anymore can they? Maybe that is why they want to bring the carts back to bring back the FX chips to give them an edge?

[Ian Sane]

You can argue the justification but Nintendo is not willing to financially invest in hardware that matches the competition.

And how many years have the competition spent swimming in red ink?

There's a cost of doing business in the console industry and Nintendo won't play ball.  I'm not saying that avoiding red ink isn't a good reason... but if the hardware isn't up to snuff and is in some architecture that turns off third parties the console won't sell.  The average consumer doesn't give a **** what Nintendo's excuse is.  It doesn't match the competition, so they don't want it.  If Nintendo can't or won't meet the expectations set by the competition then there is no point in releasing a console.  Either play ball or go third party.

[Adrock]

"Cheaping out" means not matching the industry standard expectations of hardware specifications.  It means Nintendo going with something that doesn't match up because it will cost them less money and they're usually hoping they can create a larger profit margin for themselves on the hardware.

1. Selling hardware at a small profit was the norm until Sony stupidly started selling at a significant loss (fun fact: even GameCube was sold at a loss at launch). The razor and blade business model is a bad idea for hardware because hardware costs hundreds of dollars. It easy to talk yourself into a razor especially since you probably need one. This worked out so poorly for Sony that it minimized losses with PS4 but ended up with a comparatively sub-par CPU. You can't have it all. Your consumer-focused mentality is understandable, just obscenely unreasonable. Someone has to pay for it yet you don't want that responsibility. In two generations, Sony went so high end that it barely sustained itself then it went middle-of-the-pack yet still sold at $400. I don't see either scenario as ideal, particularly for Nintendo.

2. PS4 was like a mid-tier PC at launch which is where Nintendo would have to be to meet your lofty expectations of what kind of specs NX should have in 2017. I'm still waiting for you to explain how you expect Nintendo to sell a $400 console. Kimishima has already stated NX won't be sold at a loss which is smart (even Sony didn't really want to **** with that anymore), and Nintendo really isn't in a position to retail NX at $100 or more than PS4 and One.

If Nintendo goes with ARM like the most recent run of rumors suggest, it'll be the most forward thinking Nintendo has been in a while. It may cost Nintendo some power now, but it's a better long term move.

[Ian Sane]

Your consumer-focused mentality is understandable, just obscenely unreasonable.

Why is it unreasonable to expect that if company B wants to compete with company A they have to at the very least match company A's product?  Nintendo should at the very least offer a PS4 comparable product at the same price point.  And with these half-step upgrades to the PS4 and XB1 then potentially a higher price point is going to introduced.

An underpowered console with no third party support will sell no better than the Wii U unless it is ridiculously cheap and Nintendo has some killer apps that encourage people to buy it as a second purchase.  Nintendo might just be fucked.  They might be the small business owner priced out of the market by the big chain store.  Consumers don't give a **** what reasons Nintendo may have.  If they notice that all these games come out for every console but Nintendo's then they're not going to buy Nintendo's console and if the hardware is too weak or too different those games aren't coming.  You might not think it is fair or that Nintendo has no other option but that's just how it is.  If Sony was selling supercomputers for 10 cents then that becomes the consumer expectation: 1 supercomputer for 10 cents and anyone that can't compete with that is left out in the cold.

I'm just saying that this is what the NX needs to be and maybe that isn't feasible for Nintendo but this is still what the NX has to be.  It's not my decision, it's just the expectation the competition has set.

[MagicCow64]

They say this every generation, that Nintendo's hardware "limitations" can be easily overcome by magic that only Nintendo possess. It's a myth perpetuated by fanboys that don't accept reality. I remember endless discussions on how The Conduit supposedly looked better than Halo 3 and Gears of War. Sega fanboys said the same thing about the ill-fated Saturn, that nobody could program the thing properly. 30 years latter and we know this was false. The machine was hard to program for but it was also VERY WEAK hardware to begin with.

First and second, _fuck_ yourself.

Third, I didn't say any nonsense about Wii games looking like Gears of War. I said that despite having specs in some ways worse than the 360 on paper, the WiiU can in some aspects output better visuals than PS360 because of the system's bespoke architecture that obviously Nintendo knows inside and out. I'd expect them to build in a similar, if not as pronounced given a likely move toward the PC-in-a-box design of the current generation, set of goodies for the NX that would give them some extra juice beyond a raw output similar to an Xbone.

If you want an actually cogent comparison instead of the asinine strawmen you brought up, look into the development of Rogue Squadron on Gamecube.

[Evan_B]

My general assumption is that Nintendo will cheap out on the specs because that's what they done for a while now.  And they will prioritize architecture that favours their own development and not put any real effort into addressing what third parties want.  Then they will get dick support and only diehard Nintendo nuts will give a ****.

There is a certain level of effort that is required to compete and Nintendo just doesn't like doing that.  Mix that with their notorious stubbornness and penny-pinching attitude and odds are we'll get the Wii U 2.  We don't know for sure and I'm still very interested in finding out the exact details of the NX but I'm not optimistic because Nintendo has given me no reason to be.  Hell, they seem no different today then they did when the Wii U launched.  If they were getting their act together we would already see the difference.

I'm saving this for future reference.

[King of Twitch]

Ya'll can't forget that Nintendo is competing with evil multinational monopolies who are BUYING their way into your living room. Remember how brazenly they lied about Xbox/PS2's specs? The rootkits and RRODs? The $600 console thing really happened. I didn't dream it. They really did think with the Gamecube dead, that they could charge whatever they wanted and screw the customers up the warp pipe.


You think they really care about making the greatest looking games or whether they're art? They are playing nice now, but only because Nintendo is still sucking up 10s of millions of customers.

[King of Twitch]

Nintendo has again stressed that the NX is not to be thought of as a system that will simply replace the Wii U, even if its release will negatively impact sales of that system. Nintendo CEO Tatsumi Kimishima said in a new interview with Asahi Shimbun that the NX is "neither a successor to the Wii U nor to the 3DS."

Instead, "It's a new way of playing games, which I think will have a larger impact than the Wii U," he added, according to a translation by NeoGAF's GSR. "But I don't feel it's a pure replacement for the Wii U."

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/nx-will-have-larger-impact-than-wii-u-and-represen/1100-6439849/

Sorry to drag neogas back into the discussion, but it's an interesting development.

[supermario2k]

They say this every generation, that Nintendo's hardware "limitations" can be easily overcome by magic that only Nintendo possess. It's a myth perpetuated by fanboys that don't accept reality. I remember endless discussions on how The Conduit supposedly looked better than Halo 3 and Gears of War. Sega fanboys said the same thing about the ill-fated Saturn, that nobody could program the thing properly. 30 years latter and we know this was false. The machine was hard to program for but it was also VERY WEAK hardware to begin with.

First and second, _fuck_ yourself.

Third, I didn't say any nonsense about Wii games looking like Gears of War. I said that despite having specs in some ways worse than the 360 on paper, the WiiU can in some aspects output better visuals than PS360 because of the system's bespoke architecture that obviously Nintendo knows inside and out. I'd expect them to build in a similar, if not as pronounced given a likely move toward the PC-in-a-box design of the current generation, set of goodies for the NX that would give them some extra juice beyond a raw output similar to an Xbone.

If you want an actually cogent comparison instead of the asinine strawmen you brought up, look into the development of Rogue Squadron on Gamecube.

Well funny how you brought up Game Cube, I wasn't talking about it I specifically mentioned Wii. But okay. Game Cube was NOT as powerful as the Xbox. The Xbox came out the same time as the Game Cube, was on sale for one year LESS than the Game Cube, was priced $150 higher than the Game Cube more than half of it's life and still ended up selling over two million units more than the Game Cube and had over 150 more games released for it than the Game Cube. It was capable of doing things the Game Cube couldn't do and the market responded by buying it. The machine was more powerful than the Game Cube in almost every way yet fanboys continue to bring up how powerful the Game Cube was like it had some magic untapped potential only Nintendo could figure out how to program for.

Except you can compare dozens of games that were on ALL THREE consoles and because the Game Cube had a smaller disc drive that limited the amount of content and the lack of online features meant it had to lose game modes that the other two had. Oh but I guess having some shaders that ONLY Nintendo knew how to make use of suddenly wipes out all of it's flaws. Ok buddy live in your delusion. I live in the REAL WORLD where Sony and Microsoft have kicked the **** out of Nintendo for twenty fucking years and Nintendo limps along by being cheap. Not saying anything about the quality of the games because okay sure Zelda TP was a masterpiece, I guess, but seriously dude compare it to the first God of War and tell me the fucking Game Cube was some magical box that could do things the PS2 couldn't do, it might have had some shaders or some other technical term only nerds even care about but real world performance proved that despite the slower CPU and supposedly weaker GPU the PS2 was easily capable of doing things without trying that developers had to struggle to do on Game Cube because they were too busy deciding what features to cut and they had to get all the shading and lighting and wharever other fuzzy feel good buzzword you need to convince yourself it didn't have flaws.


I won't even talk about the god damn Wii because in terms of power and graphics it was horse **** from day one. It was horse **** the day it died. Wii U was horseshit in HD. Oh so I guess some gibberish about how this game has some imaginary nerd quality that nobody can point to but are told to accept some how proves it is better. I own a fucking Wii u dude, I have played every god damn game I can, I have not played ONE game that was possible on it that could not have been done BETTER on the PS3 considering how many games WERE BETTER on the PS3. Oh except Bayonetta which is the one everyone points to, well that game, while maybe fantastic on Wii U because there is nothing like it, is third tier so-so mediocrity compared to the dozens of vastly superior games in the genre on PS3.

But I guess PS3 sucks because Sony lost money on it or whatever your argument was. But I guess your argument is more sound than mine because whatever.

Post needs two more paragraphs to ensure nobody takes it seriously. Right, will get on that asap.
Something about Motion controls and the Blue Ocean proves Nintendo was right.
Something about how the euphoria of playing Chibi Robo cancels all human thought.
Something about how Super Smash Bros. Melee is the greatest video game of all time.
Something about how Galaxies is super fantastic despite it being 80% empty screen space
something about Sony sucks because Blu Ray should die
something about how Resident Evil 4
something about Resident Evil REmake
something about Pokemon something or other
Something about Nintendo makes more than 4 games a year, if you spend the extra $150+ bucks to get their second machine
something about PSP was a dud or something
something about how Xbots are a plague against humanity (this one I almost believe)
something about how that ONE amazing Star Wars game on GC trumps all the other amazing Star Wars games NOT on Game Cube somehow invalidating their existence
something about Wii Sports and grandmas or something
something about Game Play vs. Graphics = bad graphics automatically means good game play
something about good graphics automatically means bad game play
something about the art of storytelling being lost in the art of something or other
blah blah blah incoherent ramblings on both sides
Oh **** it's time for bed gotta work in the morning to pay taxes so you can sit at home and play video games with your welfare money or something offensive like that
something about how I MUST be a complete idiot because my OPINIONS are not valid because a GOD DAMN DECADE AGO I was a dumb kid.
something about you can call me an idiot, tell me to **** myself, call me a troll and nobody bats a god dman eye but the first time I show a hint of anger, frustration, or some other human emotion I am told to go to fucking hell instead of asked to chill and whatever. Oh it's easier to say **** off we hate you than it is to hit the EDIT key and say, that was not nice dude.
Something about I should kill myself because you all thought it, said it, or wished it at one time.
something about how I try to not care and I don't care and I just want to have fun but mean people are assholes.
something about how I was an asshole first, fair enough I never said I wasn't.
Something about Sega being cool because they just are.

[Wah]

Honestly I do think you have matured, just not a lot


But going back and looking at past posts... Jesus you were an idiot weren't you?, nothing like you really are now.

[Evan_B]

If you like PS3 games more than Nintendo games, you should probably stop buying Nintendo consoles.

See, with how bad the Wii U sold, I now see this is the breaking point- this is going to be where Nintendo either proves that they can continue to be relevant for all those people that have grown tired with their practices. I mean, with how the Wii U performed, they could have bowed out and ceased making consoles- but they are still trying, and I thin this one has to be THE ONE. I can see the NX, ideally, reaching PS4 level sales, maybe... but I can't see it doing any better. Of course, this is assuming it is simply a home console. If it is a hybrid, like it should be, it might reach a middle ground between 3DS and PS4, but that's really stretching it.

Oh, and this "power" argument is bullshit considering consoles become obsolete within like, a year of their release. Not being HD was the Wii's fatal flaw, it was still able to run good games that were fun and pushed the limits of game design. All you can ask for in the hardware of a console is to perform well and do what it needs to do. Name calling and ****-flinging about the limitations of a console is fruitless and petty.


Relax. These are video games we're talking about, and while we all have our moments of entitlement and heated emotions, there's no use talking about how disappointed we were in the past- I'm including myself in this group. The past ain't changing, and the more you argue about it, the more you sound like Ian Sane.

[Stogi]

I don't think it'd be wise for Nintendo to release one system that does it all; one platform for sure, but not one system. And I'll explain while later.  But let me tell you what I'm concerned about

What I'm most concerned about is the controller. I still think the Wiimote is the future of controllers, it just needs more accurate technology and the ability to play console games now (ie two analog sticks, normal button arrangement etc). But if Nintendo wants parity with both their handheld and their console, then motion controls other than basic gyroscopic motion is all we can hope for. Or is it?

Next I'm worried about battery life. Remember people complaining about the 3DS battery life? It'll only get worse with more powerful hardware. There's no way you can run a PS3-like game on a handheld for more than a couple hours. And if that's the case, it's not really portable. It'll be the GG all over again.

And lastly, I'm worried about the market. The PS4 is the system you want for updated last-gen games and a few novel games. Sounds like Nintendo for the past few generations right? So Nintendo can either compete with the PS4 and convince third parties to support their platform or go a different route. If they follow the former, it'll be a system that costs 300-400 dollars, will likely have severe droughts until sales go up, and then maybe third parties would support the system. Meanwhile, customers (and parents) will most likely go with Sony. If Nintendo doesn't follow that path, and go with something more meager, they're now competing with the App store, Google Play, and Steam. They would have much more freedom to explore the landscape of gaming though. And that's a huge plus. And I've mentioned this several times, but Nintendo is at the point where they can pretty much put out any product. Nothing is off the table. And I think it is time to be ambitious so I would go with the latter path.

What is my suggestion? I want a Wii 2 and a Wii U 2. I'll explain. I want motion controls at home. I want the controller to have all the necessary features as  the ones on other consoles while still in two parts and much more accurate. I want game developers to take another whack at ideas that didn't work due to limited technology. Meanwhile, I want a handheld that doesn't push the boundaries but instead solidifies what has worked, while also extending the battery life far past what we have now. Let me play VC games on my handheld for days before my next recharge. And most importantly, I want the two to talk to each other. And this is what I mean by Wii U 2. I want the handhelds to act as separate screens as I play multiplayer. I want the promise of multiple monitors to come to fruition. There were so many good ideas that were never made due to limitations. Take another shot at it! And lastly, I want games from the new handheld to be ported easily to Wii 2 and vice versa (motion controls willing), and a VC that is account locked rather than system locked. Put it all under a name that is completely different from the DS and Wii (ie start over), and sell it as the future.

[Wah]

I love it how me and the PC gamers are just sitting back and laughing.

[Kairon]

My general assumption is that Nintendo will cheap out on the specs because that's what they done for a while now.  And they will prioritize architecture that favours their own development and not put any real effort into addressing what third parties want.

Let it be known that I generally agree with IanSane here! I just see the glass as half-full instead of half-empty ^_^

Nintendo will be Nintendo, and I not only accept that, I'm excited by it. They take different risks, make different choices, and dream up different games and experiences. The videogame medium benefits by them being in it on BOTH the software and hardware sides. And my experience as a player is all the richer too.

Money, profitability, and sustainability are all necessary. So too is creating an environment where other game makers are interested, willing, and excited to make games alongside you. But these are only means to an end. And that end is creating great games that expand our concepts of fun, challenge our understanding of possibility, and deepen our experience of the world we live in.

[ThePerm]

I've read before as well that despite the fact that the WiiU is pretty similar similar to the 360 in raw specs, there's custom voodoo going on that allows Nintendo to deploy impressive lighting and whathaveyou without eating into main computational tasks. This would track with certain WiiU games looking very good despite the last gen baseline (and I assume ZeldaU will be duly impressive, Xenoblade with better art). I'd expect a similar scenario if the NX ends up being close on paper to the Xbone. Nintendo will be able to punch above that weight even if third parties don't bother learning the special sauce recipes.

They say this every generation, that Nintendo's hardware "limitations" can be easily overcome by magic that only Nintendo possess. It's a myth perpetuated by fanboys that don't accept reality. I remember endless discussions on how The Conduit supposedly looked better than Halo 3 and Gears of War. Sega fanboys said the same thing about the ill-fated Saturn, that nobody could program the thing properly. 30 years latter and we know this was false. The machine was hard to program for but it was also VERY WEAK hardware to begin with.

And how many years have the competition spent swimming in red ink?

Well let's see, you are comparing Sony, a company that invested billions into cell phones, computers, televisions, car audio, tech gadgets, smart tv apps, motion controls, VR, Spider-Man 3, and a whole bunch of other ****, to a company that ONLY invests as much money as they have to stay afloat?


Yeah okay Sony was in dire financial trouble but it was NEVER because of the Playstation brand. You do realize that the PS3 was only unprofitable for a couple of years, and most of that was marketing and focusing all the attention on using Blu Ray to kill off HD-DVD, or did you forget that Sony and friends had to spend 18 months throwing millions of dollars at Blu Ray to get it to the place it is?

Nintendo hasn't always cheaped out on specs, but they have always cut something gamers and developers considered essential to cut costs. Even with NES and SNES they did this but they were able to MASK that by using chips in the cartridges. Something they can't exactly do anymore can they? Maybe that is why they want to bring the carts back to bring back the FX chips to give them an edge?

This is one of the worst revisionist Sony fanboy in Mario clothing post I've ever read. Its filled with so many levels of misinformation. I think you need to read the video game industry death thread to even get a picture of how badly Sony was doing during the ps2 and ps3 years. Sure Sony sold a lot of ps2s, and right before ps4 launched finally picked up its ps3 sales, but they were making consoles and selling them at a loss for almost a decade and it was putting a big hole in their pocket so they could propogate the new video format. That being said... I'm glad they got over that hump and are doing well again.

To say Nintendo is living check to check to stay afloat is ridiculous. The company has existed since the 1800s. They save their money and don't spend it. Nintendo could survive several failed consoles.

read this article
http://www.dailytech.com/Report+Nintendo+is+Second+Most+Valuable+Company+in+Japan/article9040.htm

Nintendo did extremely well during the last generation. They sold millions and millions and millions of consoles with a high profit margin which set them up for the next few decades. As soon as Wii got in last years drought mode it was back to negative nancy Nintendo hate.

Fact is despite with Wii U apparently dead I would still rate it better than Wii. I got really well made games from Nintendo and a bunch of good 3rd party games. It's done pretty well to get me to keep playing.

and Saturn wasn't 30 years ago. I was 11 not 2. I can also tell you it was developers talking about that **** and not fanboys. Fanboys who had internet were rare. We all read magazines. Playstation was a piece of **** and so was Saturn. The idea of a video accelerator was new and was barely developed. The previous generation of hardware's focus was how many colors you could put on the screen, and how many sprites and layers could be handled.
Early Saturn games look better than early Playstation games. If they had released Shenmue on Saturn it would have surpassed  many n64 games

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foZUcPQAMvg

but Saturn's sold like **** because the Sonic game never came out. I remember looking at Toy's R Us ads and seeing thing the Sonic Xtreme adds only to have the date pushed back until it got cancelled.

also watch this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_OchOV_WDg