Nintendo WiiU : Thread 05

[dataDave]

Okay... I'm not trolling now, but how about a small device that streams stuff to your phone?

Just like traditional consoles rely on a TV set, how about something that can stream to both TVs and phones?

[dataDave]

Forget it. On second thoughts it'd be wank.

[dvdx2]

Not at all but it wasn't as widespread or defining with the PS2. Everyone I knew who had a chipped PS1 bought games at car boot sales on a Sunday but the companies/authorities seemed to get wise and clamp down on it in the PS2-era, look at the Wii, it's the weakest console in history in terms of hacking for piracy but outside of online communities like this few people (in relation to the install base which was PS2-size) bothered.

I think you underestimate piracy in both consoles.

I remember loads of markets and boots installing modchips with lists of pretty much any ps2 game you wanted. It had a massive amount of mod chips available. I bought a jpn ps2 in 2000 (15 years ago) that was modded with a swap trick to play backups

The early wiikey opened up the flood gates for piracy in the wii; again discs for a pound with the FW updates striped out. Not quite DC/DS levels but close if you knew were to look.

[randombs]

What? Japanese companies merge and get bought out all the time. They just spin it how they need to.

It's more likely they're just not doing badly enough to need to merge or go software-only yet.

[Pikate]

Infact I've solved Nintendo's problem. License the next Xbox technology in the Japan region, paint that console white, stick a Nintendo logo on it, you've got immediate third party support of all Xbox games in Japan and in the west they can sell their own games and amiibo in special "Nintendo x Xbox" packaging. Done. Make me CEO.

[dataDave]

No, make me CEO instead and I'll make it a SteamBox.

[Pikate]

What? Japanese companies merge and get bought out all the time. They just spin it how they need to.

It's more likely they're just not doing badly enough to need to merge or go software-only yet.

No they don't, they do this kind of crap:

http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/5/2612255/olympus-scandal

http://kotaku.com/japanese-game-exec-has-disappeared-nobody-can-find-him-1695445689

[Asura]

A Nintendo tablet with actual buttons could be a goer.

I can't help but feel that Nintendo's mobile stuff, and any hypothetical device like this just wouldn't work for them.

In traditional video gaming, Nintendo already have the problem that people complain their games cost ?40, when I would argue they're absolutely worth that much (I paid full whack for Mario Kart 8 and couldn't be happier with what I got). Nintendo might face criticism over many things, but they don't normally compromise on "product quality" - i.e. all those bells-and-whistles that make their games shine.

The PS4/Xbox platforms have a lot of titles which have this problem. I bought Bioshock Infinite for ?24, and it later showed up in various places either for ?3-4 or practically free via PS Plus etc. Many of these games are disposable, with pricepoints that dip. Nintendo's stuff stays high because they dig their feet in as if to say "it's ?40 because it's worth ?40, if you don't think it's worth that, then don't buy it".

Now, I'm not saying that's a wise strategy, or even that it's a good idea - but one thing we do know is that mobile gaming is the polar opposite to this. It's a market where people won't be convinced that games are worth anything - as if $4 for a game is some kind of king's ransom.

Basically I worry they're going to make awesome mobile titles, and people won't pay for them.

[nakamura]

That is indeed a very well reasoned point.

[speedlolita]

Nintendo need to make reasonably priced hardware that plays their games. If not, they may as well go third party.

Nintendo fans buy Nintendo products and not many other people do, so cater for them.

[randombs]

How's Square doing with their Final Fantasy mobile games? They're around ?10-15 aren't they? Do they sell well?

[Asura]

How's Square doing with their Final Fantasy mobile games? They're around ?10-15 aren't they? Do they sell well?

Even if they do, many of them are ports of earlier titles - like Final Fantasy III/IV were ports of the DS version, and Tactics is a port of the PS1 version.

I'm not sure about the likes of Chaos Rings - those would be a better comparison.

Also, worth bearing in mind that mobile games of the likes Squaresoft make are a very different proposition to global-focused mobile titles. Japan had capable feature phones for playing games (along with good quality mobile networking) much earlier than (for example) the UK (to give an example, my bargain-basement phone in 2006 could run full 3D Ridge Racer at 30fps). In summary, Japan's mobile phone game industry (and audience) is 10 years more mature than the west's.

[Pikate]

Another factor is iOS and Android marketplaces take a fair whack of sales revenue (Apple take 30% of all sales and in-app purchases on iOS platforms). Nintendo won't like that.

Additionally developing for iOS devices won't be too problematic as they all use an evolution of the same processor/components and you can set a cut-off point with those but Android devices are so beg, steal and borrowed in terms of components it would be worse than trying to develop for PC and look how buggy the new batman game is there.

[dataDave]

That was an extremely rushed port of a console game. Developing for PC usually isn't that big a task.

[speedlolita]

That Batman port was handled by a third party (Iron Galaxy) and they supposedly had a week to do it. So yeah, that isn't really the most credible thing to cite. The same thing happened with MKX mind, but I'm not clued up on the situation there.