Nintendo likely to come out of next gen the best?

[Ghost]

At the moment there seems to be a huge amount of negativity and doom mongering in the press regarding Nintendo. But out of the three console makers I think that Nintendo will be the one best off in the long run, not in terms of consoles sold (I think the PS4 is going to be the leader next gen) but in terms of profit they make and company stability. The Wii U is struggling at the moment but so far theres not been any real major releases from Nintendo yet. New Super Mario Bros U and Nintendoland were great games which will sell very well in the long term but there was no big system seller there. Once the new 3D Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart and Smash Bros get released the Wii U will pick right up and everyone will forget about how things are now (like the 3DS). Another thing is that Nintendo makes money on every Wii U sold at the moment and their games are budgeted sensibly, even if the Wii U sold just 20 Million over its lifetime similar to the Gamecube it would still not put Nintendo in any financial danger and if their games sold 1-2 million copies they would still make a profit.

In contrast, both Microsoft and Sony will be taking a big hit with each system they will sell, game development costs will be sky high with most games needing to sell at least 3-4 million copies to become profitable and considered a success. If you think of the amount of money it costs to make a GTA or Call of Duty for these next gen systems and then think of the fraction of the cost a new Mario Kart game will cost which will end up selling just the same if not more than those games then its obvious who the big winner is going to be.

Personally I think the industry is heading for a crash, this gen has already seen a lot of developers going under and the mentality of AAA games, huge development teams, spiralling budgets and trying to get the most realistic graphics and physics is just going make next gens casualty list even bigger. Nintendo seem to be one of the only developers that are smart enough to try and avoid all that and just make fun games that can sell.

[J0e Musashi]

Once the VC launches this month, the Wii U will be a much more appetising prospect. The April firmware update speeds up the menu by almost half too.

[Pikate]

Isn't that opinion? Not news?

Regardless, I love Nintendo, I'm personally looking forward to Wii U Virtual Console releases and any of Wind Waker HD / Yarn Yoshi / Game & Wario / Pikmin 3 more than I am the whole PS4/Xbox3 Console/Library combos but at the current rate I don't think Nintendo release enough games for their console to be the dominant platform nor do I think Wii U is "cutting edge technology" enough... It's great but... Yeah.

I honestly don't think you can judge the success of Nintendo against Sony and Microsoft. They will have problems/shakey starts next-gen too but I think one of them will release a patch or a console revision to please the consumer base and capture the general public's imagination and since Sony and Microsoft are both a lot more reactionary than Nintendo the other will do the same and by the end both be at par. I really don't think what Nintendo do or do not matters all that much to Sony or Microsoft anymore, I think those two are focused on each other and Nintendo sit in their own annex of the market. People love "Nintendo" as a brand and are disillusioned with the route other mainstream "Modern Games" are taking or they own a Wii U and/or 3DS in addition to a PS3/Xbox/Gaming PC.

Edit: In terms of profitability and hardware install bases it's too complicated to really say how one company is doing against another. Xbox 360 makes money from adverts in the user interface, it also helps drive brand recognition for Bing and Xbox Music/Movies stores now. In the face of Apple Xbox is probably a good help for keeping people loyal to Windows and we'll see a greater link between Xbox and Windows in the future I think. Also Microsoft also charge publishers/devs more to put things on XBLA than Nintendo do for their service. They don't need to agree such favourable deals with people like EA/Activision as Xbox/PS3 are the bread and butter for those publisher whereas those same publishers don't see Nintendo as a happy hunting ground in the face of Nintendo's own titles. I also imagine Sony still write some value into getting the Sony brand into households with a view to selling TVs. Whereas Nintendo really do live and die by their consoles\games so need to be profitable on consoles in a way the other two just never will need to be.

[Ghost]

Once the VC launches this month, the Wii U will be a much more appetising prospect. The April firmware update speeds up the menu by almost half too.

I thought the VC was set to launch in June/July? Also unfortunetly it seems that when it does release Nintendo are just going re-release all of the NES and SNES games that have already been on the Wii VC for years. Just like the 3DS eShop

[ItsThere]

Due to limited time, TV availability and the "always on" nonsense I might only get a Wii U.

I like the Gamepad really and don't have anywhere near as much free time as I did in the last round of consoles.

Will wait for a decent price drop and then pick up some Nintendo games and that will be me done.

[eastyy]

the wii u i am not even remotely tempted to get at all most of the games i can already get on the pc/xbox ps3 /

new Super mario wii u may be good but to me its not a system seller as with very similar games already out on 3ds and the original wii not sure if its worth actually buying a whole new system

When bayonetta 2 comes out will see then.....but pretty much only reason i would get a wii u is for the nintendo games themselves so give me a full 3d mario/zelda/metroid/starfox/ then i may give it a try

[J0e Musashi]

I thought the VC was set to launch in June/July?

From what I gather, it's part of the April firmware update. I've made a space for it on the GamePad already.

The VC will indeed feature the NES and SNES games of which you speak (all are now 60Hz too), but also N64, GC and GBA games are to feature. Why the sad face? What games did you expect to be on there? It's called Virtual Console, because it's a console that is virtual...

You can pretty much build a custom Nintendo collection by just owning a Wii U, which is what I plan to do. I wont have hundreds of boxes littering the place either.

[kellog7]

The negativity around Nintendo from so-called gamers is thoroughly depressing. So many people seem to want them to abandon the console market altogether, which in my view would be disasterous for the future of gaming. To be honest, the way the next generation is shaping up I doubt I'll be buying into it anytime soon. Western gaming might be alright for the majority, but I miss the fun I was having, say ten years ago, playing the weirder stuff from Japan. By and large, the West doesn't do humour, or for that matter anything left of centre, since the vast budgets dictate that the software needs to appeal to as many as possible. Dark Souls 2 and EDF are the only upcoming games I'm interested in. I'd love a Wii U but I'm not sure how I'd get on with not having adequate internet at home when it comes to downloading mandatory system updates, like the one at launch.

[Pikate]

From what I gather, it's part of the April firmware update. I've made a space for it on the GamePad already.

The VC will indeed feature the NES and SNES games of which you speak (all are now 60Hz too), but also N64, GC and GBA games are to feature. Why the sad face? What games did you expect to be on there? It's called Virtual Console, because it's a console that is virtual...

You can pretty much build a custom Nintendo collection by just owning a Wii U, which is what I plan to do. I wont have hundreds of boxes littering the place either.

The Spring update is just NES/SNES/GBA.

From what I've read Iwata and co's opinion on N64/GC games is that they don't hold up on a 1080p screen so they're possibly going to go back and clean those up on a title by title basis in a similar way to Sega with NiGHTs or Jet Set Radio or how we've seen retail HD rereleases on PS3/360 for MGS/Ico/DMC or how Nintendo are currently doing Wind Waker HD... Wether that means those rereleases are VC or regular Wii U store/disc-based releases (or wether they're even doing rereleases over straight VC ports) remains to be seen though so take all that with a pinch of salt...

I certainly don't think we'll see Pikmin or Pikmin 2 over "New Play Control: Pikmin" or a 3rd version with Pikmin 3's controls. Probably the same for Chibi Robo (which was a "New Play Control" game in Japan).

[smouty]

I can't see that anything will change from this gen to next. Most of the points you made were the same for this gen.

[wakka]

Nintendo make the best goddamn games of anyone in my opinion (and that's opinion, folks!). I'm sure they'll do well this gen, through a combination of cheaper hardware than the competition, the enduring and massive popularity of their franchises, and the fact that their games are always such high quality affairs.

You can pretty much build a custom Nintendo collection by just owning a Wii U, which is what I plan to do.

As opposed to the non-custom collections most gamers have?

The Virtual Console is great, I just wish it wasn't so pricey. Then again, Nintendo games are always expensive. I'm sure we'll see Gamecube games released as full HD rereleases like Sony have done with PS2 games on the PS3, rather than being Virtual Console games necessarily.

[J0e Musashi]

As opposed to the non-custom collections most gamers have?

LOL. I don't even know why I used that word.

[dvdx2]

[QUOTE

You can pretty much build a custom Nintendo collection by just owning a Wii U, which is what I plan to do. I wont have hundreds of boxes littering the place either.[/QUOTE]

You hardly need a wiiu for that; most gamers on here probably have every NES/SNES games running for free in HD via emulation @ 60HZ.

I must admit i liked the wiiu; its a lovely bit of kit, but the lack of exclusive games and nintendos ploddingly slow, drip feed of releases put me right off - in fact in the 7 weeks having since sold it, i think there has been about 4 new retail releases - not enough choice for me i'm afraid and a bizzare way to run a business.

Personally speaking, I dont think the wiiu has a chance once the next gen is out and will be quickly consumed in a fevor of advertising, excitement and anticipation for the nextbox/ps4, It will have its fan base but mainly from those who are chomping at the bit for their HD rehashes of old games and VC games - primarliy were most the excitement, (certainly from this forum) seems to be coming from.

[Brad]

There is something to be said for having a single console with Super Mario kart, LTTP, Super Mario World, OOT, Mario 64, Wave Race 64, Metroid, Wind Waker, Mario Galaxy and Twilight Princess on it... I reckon I'd need one of Yakumo's magic boxes though because those games are going to look like COMPLETE ARSE on a modern tv. Never thought I'd be saying this buy a WiiU might be the only console I have in a little while.

To put it another way, I have no mind of my own and am just copying Daryl.

[J0e Musashi]

The current VC titles look decent enough on a flat panel I reckon.