ihateyouron

Wasn't the 3DS in a pretty dire situation in it's first year of release as well? Aside from the fact that Nintendo was selling them at a profit for $250, it seemed pretty grim at the time to see Nintendo drop the price so soon after launch. At the time there really didn't seem to be much on the horizon for that platform either, but now (assuming they can't turn things around with the Wii-U) it may be the product that keeps them trucking along in the immediate future.

While I doubt the Wii-U will achieve the mainstream success of it's predecessor, saying it is "dead" when the system hasn't even been on shelves for an entire calender year seems beyond ridiculous. Nintendo can scale their output appropriately to manage losses in the meantime while they develop software, and work on ways to cut production costs. It might not be a Wii-Like success, but it most certainly has the potential to achieve at least Gamecube level sales figures.

@aterons: That was probably a troll post, and I probably shouldn't even call attention to it but... You're a real idiot buddy.

I think Nintendo is in a much more favorable position than Sega was during the Dreamcast era. You have to imagine, it took multiple major hardware failures for Sega to exit the hardware business. Sure the Dreamcast is often thought of as the failure that led up to that decision, but before that they launched the Saturn which was also a miserable failure. The Saturn was also notoriously hard to program for, which probably burned up a lot of the goodwill Sega had built up with the Genesis.

Oh, and before that they sort of flooded the market and confused customers with a constant stream of terrible peripherals for the Genesis such as the Sega CD, 32x, SegaCD32x, etc.

Nintendo may be in dire straits with the Wii-U at the moment, but they have enough money in the bank and goodwill to sustain them until they can stabilize their losses. Also, as many others in this thread have pointed out, the 3DS is actually selling really well. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that it has had the best lineup of games so far this year.

As for Nintendo's future hardware plans, I think Nintendo is in a great position to completely reinvent themselves if they should wish to do so. If I had to speculate, I'd bet on them further converging the home and portable markets, perhaps a dedicated portable device that streams the games out to your TV.

@averhoeven: I would say that the "confused rambling" is indicative of a lack of a unified vision on the design side of the hardware. If the Xbox One is still launching in November, doesn't it make you the least bit suspicious that they would suddenly abandon the few interesting ideas that they did have in mind? If they had a clear unified vision for these features, why not elaborate?

My guess is that most of those features weren't going to launch with the system anyway.

@explodemode: I agree, used games do not inhibit MS or Sony's ability to roll out great sales on their digital platform, in fact it would only give users an added incentive to purchase their games digitally.

However, based on the way both have handled themselves thus far, I place far more trust in Sony when it comes to the promise of flexible pricing. While the sales on PSN aren't nearly as ridiculous as some of the steam sales we've seen over the years, they have done a much better job of not only being flexible with sales, but also in promoting their digital content and sales.

If Microsoft's plan was to cut out the used market in an effort to reduce game prices, that is all well and fine. But based on their previous business practices, I think it would be smart to take what they say with a grain of salt.

I'm going to be honest and say that I skimmed most of your post, and am only really responding to the specific phrasing you used near the end.

"If you don't have what it takes to have one (disposable income, internet access) why do you think you have the right to it?"

What do you mean "have the right", it's not really about rights at all. It's about what the majority of consumers want, and what Microsoft is willing to concede in order to save face with those consumers. This is the exact sort of messaging that got Sony into the situation they were in this generation with the PS3.

If nothing else, as broadband penetration and internet access around the world continue to proliferate at increasing speeds this box was built to serve for the next decade or so. That world is going to be a little different then than it is now and if it means some people are going to miss out for a while then that is the unfortunate reality.

You're right, although obviously not even Microsoft was willing to take such a risk, hoping to eventually attract a larger audience as the medium trends towards a digital future.

Finally I'll just say that I actually liked a lot of the ideas outlined in the original Xbox One unveiling, I just think (as you yourself noted) that they did a piss poor job with presenting their case. Rather than taking the time to explain some of the potential benefits of this vision to consumers, Microsoft chose to play their arrogance and seemingly hoped to change the narrative with games like TitanFall, and other exclusives. Although it is unfortunate that Microsoft is apparently canning all of their digital lending/trading features in response to their new policies, I'm just really glad that consumer voices were heard. Having flashy games is cool and all, but I'm sorry, that sugar just wasn't sweet enough to soften the blow of their restrictive DRM policies.

@marokai: What bothers me is the assertion that used game sales are intrinsically tied to the standard $60 price model that we see with most games these days. Give consumers an incentive to purchase digitally and the market will naturally trend towards a digital future. There is no need to brute force restrictive policies, that may eventually... maybe... perhaps benefit consumers so far as digital sales go.

To clarify, I mean innovation on the hardware side, as in stuff like the new Kinect and or the idea of trading/sharing your digital library. I'm curious because, in the wake of Microsoft reversing their controversial policies, I have noticed more than a few comments bemoaning both next generation consoles of "lacking innovation", several comments have even went as far as crudely labeling the new consoles as "The PS3-2, and Xbox 360-2."

Am I alone in thinking this is a little ridiculous? While I'm all for innovation in games, I feel like that sentiment presents a really poor criticism. Wasn't this generation of consoles pretty great, as far as the games go at least? Obviously companies like Sony and Microsoft want to capture the attention of a larger audience, but since when are the games not enough for the core audience?

So I suppose what I'm asking is, Do you guys think this sentiment is just typical internet cynicism, or do you believe that this perceived "lack of innovation" is relevant to the average gamer?

That isn't really a fair comparison. Last time I checked the last Smash Bros was released in 2008. I'll concede on Mario Kart, although it typically only appears once per Nintendo platform (which I personally don't feel is all too egregious). As for Super Mario 3D World, I must admit I was a little disappointed by this announcement at first. I suppose I was hoping for some sort of Mario Galaxy esque paradigm shift, but from what I saw in the trailer, I would hardly call it a rehash. People who expect Nintendo to reinvent the wheel with every new game in the Mario franchise are fucking delusional.

While I'll agree that Nintendo seems to be playing it a little safe lately, I think the 2-4 year gap between major Mario and Zelda games gives the franchises enough downtime for most people to not feel too burned out.

I can recall finishing at least 31 games this year. I feel like that's a pretty big amount of time I've devoted to video games this year. So much so that I felt like gauging the GB community to get a rough idea how crazy I am relative to you guys.

Anyway, I made a list of the games I definitely remember completing from start to finish along with the years the games were released.

*(indicates a re-release)

In no particular order-

1.Dark Souls - 2011

2. Mirror's Edge - 2008

3. Ico - 2011/2001*

4. MGS4 - 2008

5. MGS2 - 2012/2001*

6. MGS3 - 2012/ 2004*

7. God of War 3 - 2010

8. Darksiders 2 - 2012

9. Rayman Origins - 2011

10. Assassin's Creed 2 - 2009

11. Assassin's Creed 3 - 2012

12. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - 2010

13. Xcom: Enemy Unknown - 2012

14. Alpha Protocol. -2010

15. Pikmin 2 - 2009/2004*

16. No More Heroes - 2007

17. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - 1991

18. Day of the Tentacle - 1993

19. Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy - 2012/2001*

20. Mass Effect 3 - 2012

21. Persona 3 FES - 2012/2008*

22. Beyond Good & Evil HD - 2011/2003*

23. Journey - 2012

24. InFamous 2 - 2011

25. Dragon Age: Origins - 2009

26. Dishonored - 2012

27. Hitman: Absolution - 2012

28. Jumping Flash - 1995

29. Pokemon: White Ver. 2 - 2012

30. Far Cry 3 - 2012

31. Need for Speed: Most Wanted - 2012