Topic: Surprises from Nintendo in the Future

[Bill Aurion]

Nintendo IS taking the PSP seriously...Harrison said so in that last interview...

[Oldskool]

I think nintendo will go where no gaming company has gone before:

VIRTUAL BOY 2!!! (Guarenteed to make you go blind.)

[mouse_clicker]

Bill:

Quote
Originally posted by: mouse_clicker
They say they're taking Sony seriously, but I don't see this as a very serious response.

[novastar512]

Please of Please, don't release a new gameboy nintendo!!!!

Ok I will be extremely mad at Nintendo if they release a new GB in less than 2 years time.  I bought a GB Color and within a year, the GBA came out.  Then after stuggiling in the dark for over a 1 and a half the GB SP. Came out and I bought it.  During that time I solde my GBColor and GBA, so that I could cut my losses.  And trust me I spent way too mcuh money on gameboys in the past years.  It would have been nice if nintendo released or made an announcment that the GBSP was coming out and then I wouldn't have bought the original!!!

I will be seriously mad at you nintendo if there is a new gameboy in the near future.(which if they make this announcement and relase SDKs, the other companies, including nintendo, with NOT MAKE MORE games for the SP and instead develop for the new system.)

What ever happened to the GB not becoming obselete.  Nintendo, you better be listening, since you will make alot of people mad.

[Bill Aurion]

Quote
Originally posted by: mouse_clicker
Bill:

Quote
Originally posted by: mouse_clicker
They say they're taking Sony seriously, but I don't see this as a very serious response.

Keep in mind that Sony is taking the Nokia path...To put out a multimedia machine, not just a handheld console...Ninty most likely sees this as well: that Sony will most likely be aiming at a completely different market...

[mouse_clicker]

Completely different market my foot- there's only one market for handheld videogames and any entry INTO that market should be seen as a direct attack and handled as such. Nintendo didn't see the XBox as being in direct competition with the Gamecube, and you know what? More Americans wanted an XBox than a Gamecube, forcing Nintendo to start acting like the XBox was in direct competition, and it worked. The simple fact it took them so long says enough, though- they're slow to react, and that's a major problem that needs fixing.

[Pale]

I think what it comes down to is that Nintendo was blissfully and ignorantly blind this generation.  Their solution to the X-Box was convincing themselves it wouldn't compete, then they didn't have to worry about it.  There is no way they can convince themselves of that next generation.  Nintendo will either come out more aggressive than they ever been, or be doomed.  And seeing how long the company has been around for, i'm going with the first option.

[VideoGamerX]

The PSP sounds a whole lot like the Sega Gamegear. Nintendo has been down this road before where a more powerful handheld has hit the market and offered all of the qualities of a homeconsole. I don't know if there is any other strategy to use to combat this PSP from Sony other than to stick to the games that the Gameboy has wait the storm out until it's time for new hardware.

I think it's too soon for Nintendo to start countering Sony's hardware moves in the handheld area. The GBA has over a thousand games at its disposal for a library. The only thing they could really do aside from adding more technology to a handheld is go wireless for multiplayer. I don't think those are leaps and bounds improvements over the GBA. Graphics aside, I think we've seen Nintendo win this battle once before with inferior technology.

I think we should talk about what the PSP won't have rather than what Nintendo has to do to battle it.

[FFantasyFX]

Quote
Originally posted by: mouse_clicker
Completely different market my foot- there's only one market for handheld videogames and any entry INTO that market should be seen as a direct attack and handled as such.

Yes, and that's why Nintendo's handheld market collapsed after Sega released the Game Gear, Atari released the Lynx, SNK released the Neo Geo, and Nokia released the N-Gage.  Oh wait, it didn't.  I think that time and again Nintendo has proven that more advanced technology is not necessarily better in the handheld segment.  

[mouse_clicker]

No handheld has been made by somebody more popular than Nintendo, though- the Game Gear pushed it, but Nintendo eventually defeated it. But now Sony, who has fans who will buy a PSP simply because of its manufacturer, is releasing a handheld, and if Nintendo just brushes it off simply because they've defeated competitors before, the PSP WILL take over a good portion of their market. It's not about superior technology, it's about marketing and hype, which Sony is very good at and Nintendo is not. Nintendo has very little real work to do to insure the PSP doesn't gain any ground at all, they just have to DO it.

[GaimeGuy]

Uh,  "pushed" it?   The Genesis was ahead  of the  SNES for it's entire lifespan:  the SNES ended up being the winner  simply because it  lasted LONGER.   Sega was a company  beating Nintendo in the console business, at the time,  then got their asses handed to them  when they tried to take out the GameBoy.   If the Game Gear isn't a good comparison to the upcoming situation with the PSP,  then I'm not Jewish.  

[Dryden]

Sony is in a great position to release a portable system.  They have game developers on their side.  The Game Gear, Lynx, and the doomed N-Gage are great examples of how important this is.  (N-Gage selling only 5000 units in its first week - the worst launch since...umm...The Angry Ballet)

Nintendo will simply have to keep competing for developers.  This still boils down to keeping market share though, as simple as that.

And as much as I'd love the next Gameboy to be reverse compatible, it better have a similar disc format to Sony's solution as well.  We all know how well Nintendo does with cartridge systems against disc systems.

I think VideoGamerX has it right though - wireless is going to be important - very important.  I doubt that Nintendo will come up with a cost effective solution and keep 4-player compatibilty at the same time.  Two player wireless is much more manageable, unfortunately for Bomberman fans and such.

And I still say the "unconventional" game product is Rubix GameCube.  No joke.

[Dryden]

And Game Gear is a terrible comparison.  Sega stopped making consoles for a reason.  Sony, on the other hand, can make consoles and can run them too.

And the SNES beat Genesis, again, on game developers.  Genesis never had Square, and it took a long time for Capcom to sign on.  And of course, Nintendo' game developers are the best in the world, which never helps the competition.

[Ocarina Blue]

The thing about the PSP, is that so far Sony has released one obviously not going be used concept of it (well, better for Nintendo if they do use it), and some extremely high specs. Nintendo can't just assume that Sony is going to make a system as powerful as they claim the PSP will be at an affordable price. It would be like listening to those guys trying to tell everyone the Phantom will revolutionize the industry then trying to combat that: It's possible it will live up to everything it will be, and it pays to be cautious, but taking probability into account it would be unwise in a business sense to attempt to combat it immediately.

On another note, with Sony claiming that the PSP will be a ‘multimedia machine’, and rumours of Nintendo teaming up with Apple, do you think it’s possible the iPod and the next GB could be somehow compatable?

[BigJim]

The GBA will have an even bigger market lead over the PSP than the PS2 did over the GameCube. By the time the PSP makes any serious dent in the huge GBA penetration, Nintendo may very well be ready to release a new portable... and not necessarily a new platform, but a tricked out GBA.

The one big difference is that Nintendo well knows of their monopoly. They WILL defend it. All monopolies do. They don't necessarily need a whole new platform like some folks are saying. They could likely fend off the onslaught by improving their existing wares. They were sitting on the GBA SP for a long time and it will more than fend off the Nokia. There's no telling what else they have up their sleeve for a year from now.  

[vudu]

i remember back when nintendo had a monopoly in the home console business.  that has ceased to be.

i also remember when nintendo decided they didn't need a whole new platform and instead decided to dabble in expanding its current console; first with the add-on for the snes which eventually developed into the playstation and then with the 64dd for the n64.  as you already are well aware, neither did much for nintendo's benefit.

[p4d4w@n_lInK]

Methinks the new thing is the iQue thing from China. Surprised no one mentioned it. It's on my December NP issue, which came yesterday to my hands. It's a controller/console which uses memory cards to store SNES and N64 games. Not quite sure how it works though. Why is this not on the front page?


--maybe they'll bring it here?--

[Bill Aurion]

That's not it...The i-Que has already been announced publically...

[monk72]

I have some ideas about the "new game product".

1.) animal crossing 2: been in development for a long time, maybe since before AC was released, as that game was an N64 crossover.   I mean you could certainly call AC unconventional, and now Nin knows it is popular and a "game" very easily enjoyed and
played by anyone that can read.  Casual gamers loved it, people that hadn't played games for years bought this to play with their families.  It could be a huge new nintendo franchise and/or liscenced product that makes AC2 totally unique.  Some people speculated that the new game product could be Mario 128, but if you going to consider including a game in this "new game product" catagory, you would have to inclusde AC2.

1a.) some sort of hard drive (or one of those unreleased super memory cards -do not remember the name) with animal crossing 2 installed and ready to go, possibly with online of some kind (more elaborate than password trading, but probably not total online -maybe trading clothing designs, and patterns, or downloading more games).  

2.) iQue Worldwide version, probably under a different name and a huge back catalog of games.   Yes, the china version has been anouced and released, but man I really think this is what is coming, or a more modern version, maybe even some different controller design(s).   "not a console - not a handheld"...hmm.  Sounds like an iQue like product.

[Fluke Worm]

I'm basically posting to keep this thread alive. I'm eager to see what the "surprise" is, I thought it would have been known by now(by Xmas). The "super memory card" sounds like a good canidate to me, I'm sure it would be released in a bundle w/a good(& appropriate) game.  
I know it wont be but I hope the surprise is a light-gun, it would be a surprise wouldn't it.


UPDATE: NewThread
^ this sounds like an even better candidate (Gyro Controller)