I don't think they have to worry. While the details remain to be seen, some variation on what we both believe is their strategy going forward should help tremendously.Originally Posted by Tanooki
We'll still have a dedicated Nintendo portable, it just won't be a closed system that's walled off from the console half of Nintendo. While I don't see a dedicated handheld ever again being the hit like the DS was, this should greatly help their quest for profitability with both lines.
Last edited by Leo_A; 03-02-2015 at 08:35 AM.
Yeah we're on the right page I think.
One thing I noticed us here and others who talk about this junk never seem to take into the argument is that while the 3DS has sold less than the DS, it actually in a warped way hasn't sold worse. I know that sentence makes no sense exactly, but I'm looking at it not from total sales, but the total sales from actual gamers/game players. I'd argue the not-so-smart phones of the GBA and DS era helped to take no bite or a minimal one out of their pocket, and because of that people who wanted some cheap entertainment on the go would buy the GBA and especially due to the touch ability of it the DS to do casual games. Look how many more super casual touch puzzles, trivia, and other stuff showed up on the DS, even shitty shovelware ports of FLASH games like Bookworm, Bejeweled, Crosswords, Brain training games, etc. They'd be fine forking over the price for the system, and then they'd buy like 1-3 games for the life of the system. I've seen setups like this often on ebay, flea markets (both states I've lived in), and craigslist. Non-gamers who got their fill of their shovelware/web games and dump it in a cheap clump online or off to make a few bucks back not caring the system alone is worth more than they asked at the time. My mom who hasn't been a game player since the late 70s and a little of the 80s actually ended up with a Nintendo DS, and she had brain training, new york times crosswords, we got her Mario, and she had like one or two more puzzle games, that's it. They were all more or less bought at one time and she played them in bed in the evening or in other random places (like being stuck in an airport/plane) and that was it. I know she still has it, doubt she uses them at all anymore, but she fits that mold of the one and done buyer of casual stuff.
Now that those people don't have to give a crap and already have an Android something or iPhone whatever, they can get those games for freemium IAP abuse or for 99 cents to five bucks. They can make their calls, and touch away in the same lame non-gamer casual games to relax or keep mildly stimulated. Where's that leave us? Actual gamers, people who actively buy the game cards and do the system downloads (dsi forward) who will happily fork over $8 here, $30-40 there for a real game that has full experience controls, game play mechanics, and skill put into it to make that purchase worth the non-touchy based phone game price. I'd think if you stacked up the sales of some key first and third party DS games over a year or two on the market against a similar or same mascot release game on the 3DS the sales probably would look pretty encouraging.
Last edited by Tanooki; 03-02-2015 at 09:48 AM.
Even if you eliminated half of the DS install base for being casuals that have flown the coop leaving this to the domain of true gamers or something of the sort, and cut out half of the PSP install base as having purchased it for nothing but piracy reasons (A gross exaggeration since all one has to do is compare attach rates to see that it sold software at a level not much below that of the DS), the number of 3DS systems at this point in its life is still dwarfed by what that generation of hardware accomplished to the same point (Even if you add what little the Vita contributes to the 3DS totals, we're still way below even 50%).
The 3DS, while successful, has been a much more modest hit that has routinely shown evidence of the changing market conditions. And it sadly hasn't just been the Bejeweled crowd that has left in large numbers. There's a reason why 3rd party development is down so much. Even your beloved JRPG's, several of which you always put forth as representing that 3rd party development is stronger than ever on Nintendo handhelds, are down greatly compared to just what appeared on the DS.
And that's about as non-casual of a genre as they come. More has happened this generation than just a return to normalcy like you're suggesting.
Good games are plentiful still, happily making this academic at this time and mere fodder for forum discussions. But it's going to be forcing change, such as possibly what we've spoken about to shore up both of their primary product lines.
Last edited by Leo_A; 03-03-2015 at 02:12 AM.
Whatever the case something has to be done. It wouldn't be great if you had a Nintendo haneheld ending up like the WiiU with nothing to show for it but Nintendo games and third party downloads of android shovelware, they'd be screwed. I know they're smarter than that, but the question is how smart.
Just remember that the healthier it is for Nintendo themselves, the more attractive it will also be for the 3rd parties. The fortunes of both should go hand in hand, although I'd keep my expectations somewhat in check if I were you.
Obviously, even if Nintendo does every last thing correct with their plans and implementation of their next generation of gaming hardware, it still isn't going to be the place to go for the typical 3rd party fare that MS and Sony has to themselves these days where console gaming is concerned. Took about 20 years for Nintendo to get in this position, and it's impossible for it to be resolved almost overnight.
But hopefully it will much more resemble the DS/Wii years of support than the more modest level of support from 3rd parties this generation, and start things on the path where if dedicated gaming hardware is still how we play games in two or three generations, maybe Nintendo will be a viable option or even the preferred choice as one's only gaming system.
Last edited by Leo_A; 03-03-2015 at 03:29 AM.
Oh I know they buried themselves as far as consoles go. My upbeat feeling would be tied to if they bound the two systems into one set of similar scaled up/down parts that use the same game media on both. A unique piece of handheld hardware that has a beefier optional home console component to use. Something like that they'd end up seeing the low costs of development having third parties want to make some games for it just like on 3DS. I don't see another Wii or DS/GBA in their future, but if they did that they'd I think be in a good spot to last.
Retailers aren't in any way responsible for shitty Vita sales. Sony obviously hasn't learned from their mistakes with the PSP. Although the Vita has dual analog sticks, it suffers from the same mistakes that plagued the PSP. The lack of AAA exclusive games, too many ports, and over priced memory cards.
IMO Vita suffers the same fate as Wii U. Didn't sell 3rd party as expected(and 3rd parties put in actual effort unlike Wii U) so they lost most of that support. I don't think that Sony tried hard enough and they had all but abandoned the thing 2 years in. PS4 became a success and it was obvious it was no longer a priority. They pretty much screwed over the userbase once they had easy money(PS4) to focus on.
Bury me with my money......*dies*
Vita and Wii U are quite a bit different and will have different fates. Sony has stated that Vita will not be getting any more AAA first or second party games. All Wii U gets are AAA first and second party games, and almost noting else. Nintendo seems fine with it becoming the gamecube 2.
Last edited by Dashopepper; 03-05-2015 at 03:15 PM.
Uhh Gamecube 2? The WiiU has nothing comparable to it with the GC. The Gamecube may have been screwed out of some very key third party games such as the Rockstar releases, but go check the release list it has a ton of third party games to play, and in many cases when you discount the online multiplayer stuff getting points taken off they tended to be the best releases of the ports too. GC was the last machine third parties bothered to make third party games with a solid effort.
Apparently Sony found the most successful method of fighting "piracy" with the Vita. Not having games that anyone wanted to "pirate".
I thought the introduction of PS4 remote play via the Vita was going to revitalize Sony's latest handheld. There were even rumors of a PS4/Vita bundle for that very reason although I'm unaware if those were ever released. However, it seems now that the system has been largely forgotten in the US. As much as people like to talk about the failure of the Wii U, the Vita actually makes the Wii U look like a partial success story.
ALL HAIL THE 1 2 P
I don't know why the WiiU gets singled out. Compared to the massive sales of the previous two gens, it seems to me like every system this gen has failed. I think part of that has to do with big, AAA multi-platform games still getting a 360 release more often than not. Since people who had a PS3 likely had a 360 too, there's no reason to get a PS4 or Xbox One when a good chunk of non-exclusives can be gotten for a system they already have.
Social Justice Warrior and proud of it!
This could be true. Just the other day in Target I heard this 20-something year old girl tell her kid brother about her teen sister who was just a little bit off in the distance "Tell her she don't need no Xbox one, she already got a 360"
Not everyone is ready to upgrade. The only reason I got a 3DS and Wii U was because Mario games make me want to play them ASAP. Hardly any other franchise does that for me. The other brands I could still just let wait a while.
[quote name='Shidou Mariya' date='Nov 17 2010, 10:05 PM' post='4889940']
I'm a collector, but only to a certain extent.
Not as extreme as Rickstilwell though.[/quote]
That's no surprise. The jump between the pS2 to PS3 while both held on side by side for that 10 year policy rarely if ever shared a single release. Sony and MS used to have testicles and they'd cut off gamers from new releases and shove them into buying new hardware. This time around everyone seems fairly nutless and just ports the games down to the older hardware to the detriment of some lower quality on the higher end new systems as a side effect of porting ease. The hardware makers and the game makers are not willing to force people to upgrade so this generation is lingering in some crappy limbo of somewhat weak ports with no incentive to upgrade. It's their own fault and worse yet these systems started out (PS4 at least) at a lower price point than the last generation. Nintendo sticking to being Nintendo just had a cheap box and they don't play porting games of that style, they shovel stuff to another system later down the road or on a virtual console download which won't harm new sales.
I'd feel bad about owning the PS4 I do, but seeing I only ended up after some work making it cost me just $200 I don't care, but I would have at $400 a lot. I've only got 6 games for it, and nothing is really unique to it or taps its resources all that well other than Little Big Planet 3. I could have waited but I knew finding another new PS4 at $200 wasn't going to be anytime soon. I bought it for $300 shipped, ended up being a big bundle deal with games I didn't want, sold those off and got it down to what I paid.
I have to disagree. The PS2 is the best selling home console in history and the PS4 is currently the fastest selling console in Sony's history meaning it's doing better at this point than the PS2 was. Sounds like a pretty big sucess to me.
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Pla...ory-70638.html
Lol good one.
Only because it's so true.
*edit*
I almost never purchase digital, but Hotline Miami was amazing so I bought Hotline Miami 2 which is cross buy on the PS4, Vita, and PS3. So really the only good thing about the Vita is that it's getting some decent indie games that are cross buy between the PS4 and PS3. Also every few months we get a good one for free on PS+ that surprisingly I liked and would never have purchased otherwise.
Last edited by kupomogli; 03-14-2015 at 12:17 PM.
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