Topic: Touch! - Games that wouldn't be the same without a Touch Screen

[TJ Spyke]

At the lowest, Wii U will be $300. $350  is very much possible.

[Adrock]

I'd love for it to be $300 or lower. I'm preparing for $350. Depending on what's available at launch, I may be willing to go as high as $400 but I think $350 is my limit. I want to buy games and hopefully an extra controller.

[Ian Sane]

I think Nintendo could match the bare bones features and expectations of the competition, while adding unique ideas that make them stand out.  The problem with the Wii was that it was different in a "us or them" way.  They can be different or they can be BETTER.  I think Nintendo could easily have offered everything the competition did, plus MORE in the motion control.  Instead they had nothing BUT the motion control.  And then MS and Sony just copied them.

Plus Nintendo has never given a truly decent effort to compete.  The Gamecube was them showing up to the race with their shoelaces tied together and then they come to the conclusion that they had no chance anyway?  Bullshit.  That's just refusing to admit your own faults.  If they showed up for the race having properly trained and prepared for it they could very well have won.  They didn't really try, failed, and then created their own seperate race that only they run in and declared themselves the winners.  Of course Apple has now entered the "new" race Nintendo created, as has MS with Kinect.  It will always be an arms race.  The idea that they're not competing with these companies is delusional.  If it's truly hopeless then they're going to lose the casuals to Apple or MS anyway.  They're fucked no matter what.

Only it isn't hopeless, they just haven't put in a decent effort since the Super Nintendo.

[Uncle_Optimus]

The Playstation 2 was going to win that console generation pretty much no matter what...everyone was competing on a "sustaining" improvement arc and when this happens the leader from the previous gen almost always comes out on top. The DVD functionality at that point in time, was a real killer app as well, at least moreso than the crap launch lineup anyway (Fireworks, YAY).


With the 'Cube, among a number of miscues we could rehash, Nintendo made serious mistakes in branding, marketing message and perhaps even system design. They downplayed themselves in their hardware power message (as we have discussed before, the 'Cube was relatively quite powerful). A good case can also be made that they tried to copy Apple design cues but lacked the swagger, and the result was the beginning of the relegation of the Nintendo brand into "kiddie" territory (I am sure we all love that word). I think XBox really pounced onits chance to gain footing and played up their "beast" image. Remember that the N64 had the reputation of a beast when it premiered...


This brings us to the N64. Nintendo lost this race for whole other reasons. As the reining industry leader, the only way they were losing their position is if a challenger disrupted their business model and stole all their software support...and that is exactly what happened with the PSX and CD technology disrupting the status-quo publishing model.


My point in this discussion however, is really that Nintendo didn't lose because they failed to "bring their A game". When they were on top they failed to keep pace with innovations in the industry (many good businesses fall prey to this). When they were down they chose to chase the coat-tails of their competitors and found themselves falling further behind (it is easy to forget now, but Nintendo did a lot to bring software to the 'Cube...it was just a losing strategy!) Times and technology change, and no company can expect to be successful relying on the same old strategy.


Who the competitors are, BTW, matters a whole lot. When a larger entity comes to compete in your market you know you can not match their resources...which is why Nintendo eventually knew they had to bow out of the hardware arms race. Sony and especially Microsoft had cash and engineering abilities (and the ability to take losses in their game divisions!) that Nintendo could not match. Likely in the near future, we will see a serious Apple push...and oh man does that company have crazy resources!


This is not to say Nintendo is screwed no matter what (Nintendo has $10 billion in the bank to almost no debt, a very famous brand, blockbuster properties and strong industry relationships); analysts who state such are too short-sighted and probably chasing the attention. But it does mean they have to carefully define how they are different from their bigger competitors and where they can afford to compete.