8
« on: July 12, 2003, 05:20:33 AM »
Wow, nothing has changed at all, still the same Mouse_Clicker, nonjagged and cubedcanuck of old, eh?
Basically, the Gamecube's f*cked now. As much as I love the goddamn system, I don't see it selling bucket loads any time soon. Mario didn't do it, Metroid didn't do it, Zelda didn't do it and Mario Kart surely won't either. All Nintendo can do is please it's current fanbase and perhaps raise some eyebrows along the way, but the people who haven't already gotten a gamecube for the games out now wont get it for the games coming up in the future.
Maybe I'm generalizing, Mario Kart, RE4 and Killer7 could boost console sales a bit, but I'm not forseeing any huge peaks in gamecube's sales. Even if Gamecube is my favorite system this gen and there is none other I'd rather own, it's basically passed it's prime. Xbox and PS2 owners might get second thoughts when they see FF:CC and MGS:Twin Snakes, but they wont jump ship (or even share deck) if they haven't already. And no, connectivity will NOT help either.
Next gen is where it's at, trust me. I'm expecting big things for N5.
First and formost, Yamauchi was around for Gamecube, now it's Iwata, and the recently released GBA SP leaves little to the imagination of Nintendo's next console's "style." I'm thinking along the lines of Nexus actually.
How the console will look is extremely important. They need to let go of the indigo. Seriously, pay that guy who made those nexus prints for his idea and use it. I trust Nintendo in being capable to add the best hardware possible under a set amount of cash, it's one thing they're good at. As for the slogan, make it something along the lines of "Hardcore gamers' only option," but not as retarded. Backwards compatability is a major plus as well, but not as necesary as some might make it out to be.
Second, the head start is a great idea, but if they don't take COMPLETE advantage of it, they're looking at another Dreamcast on the shelves while the streets are full of hype about PS3 and Xbox 2. If they release it a full year before Sony and MS's next consoles, they need to make the public forget about the competition. Showing off N5's hardware capabilities while PS3 and Xbox aren't ready to display more than a spec sheet will be a huge plus. Because Nintendo only needs to manage to surpass this current gen's hardware significantely, just enough to "wow" the public to graphic quality they haven't seen on TV yet. All of this while Sony and Microsoft are still busy with R&D (depsite the fact that their respective hardware might be superior, if the people buy into N5 first, they won't care about the rest when they come out, just look at PS2). Of course, this means loads of advertisment. Ads on TV made the NES known to the public and firmely stated itself as the "second coming" for the videogame industry and N5 deserves no less. Although it without the 3 point:
A wide variety of quality lauch titles! Which should included (but not limited to): Final Fantasy/Chrono Trigger/Secret of Mana/SOMETHING from Square Enix or a full blown Pokemon RPG/MMORPG (hey, we gotta sell this baby in Japan too), Too Human (which should be hyped up to hell and back, really something to grab casuals), A classic Nintendo license (Mario and the like or SSBM2 will do), all of the latest sport titles from EA with graphical upgrades, a realistic racer with a good presentation and any realistic/mature games to add to the list would be a plus (Capcom titles, ect.). All of that = the "PS3 who? Xbox 2 what?" impression long enough for N5 to create a fair userbase before the competition hits, which will eat up atleast SOME of the potential PS2/Xbox2 constumers.
And I'm being pretty generous, that's the absolute minimum Nintendo needs to have to really make an impact. They better be ready with that or equivalent to it.
A good kick in the butt is just what the doctor ordered for Nintendo during next gen. And even if it doesn't sell ALL that well (compared to PS3 that is), I'm sure it will have a lasting impact, and if they released it a full holiday season before the rest of the competition, than I think we're looking at a sure hit.
Show Posts
