I know the specs argument annoys some people here but it certainly came across as if the Wii U was Nintendo's very late addition to the PS360 generation rather than the start of a new one.
I presume that's addressed to me.
It's annoying because you put way to much weight behind specs than it really deserves. There's no guarantee that better specs would actually help Nintendo. Gamecube had comparative specs to its competition. It still failed to make the impact Nintendo expected. We know why. While it was certainly a very capable console and there were some nice games on it, Nintendo messed up like everything else from a third party perspective. That said, everything else the same save for better specs, Wii U is still littered with problems. The specs aren't really the issue then.
Collectively, Nintendo needs to get their act together. They continually do things that pisses off third parties. I do not advocate practically groveling like Sony and especially Microsoft have. There has to be a middle ground between that and Nintendo's indifference. That semi-recent Emily Rogers' article where she culled a bunch of old quotes from over a decade ago shows that things haven't changed all that much for Nintendo. "Meh, we're not approaching third parties and asking them to make software for us." Wait, what? When a third party claims Nintendo strolls in with a near-final product and says, "Tada! Support it," that is problematic. When a third party claims Nintendo was unfamiliar with Xbox Live and Playstation Network, that is problematic. Singling out the specs repeatedly is silliness because it is hardly Nintendo's greatest sin. Porting to Wii U has been proven to not be an issue; third parties just didn't want to. These companies only put up with Nintendo's bullshit when it benefits them, like on 3DS because it's so successful. They don't need to do that on Wii U because they have viable alternatives. Would third parties have been more cooperative had Nintendo bothered to goddamn tell them like
anything? Maybe.
I'm not against better specs, per se. At the very least, I understand and accept why these choices were made. Even if you want to claim that that is of no consequence to consumers, I'm just not convinced the specs are as important as you keep insisting they are. I look at the output on 3DS and the idea that Wii U hardware is somehow inadequate from a creative standpoint is difficult to take seriously. Still, Nintendo can have the best specs ever, but it's all for **** if they don't fix the more pressing issues. Ideally, we all want competitive specs
and great third party relations (and at a reasonable price to boot). Given the fact that a lower spec 3DS is making Vita its bitch, I think it's more important to start with the other stuff. It's possible that agreeing on what specs work for both sides will spring from that.
And ultimately, it's silly to continue harping on this over and over again because this is the reality of the situation. It's too late to change it now. Get over it and stop bringing that **** into every goddamn thread.
/drops mic