re: Fils-Aime: an artist at saying a lot without saying anything

I'm pessimistic since they haven't showed a thing since last year. I saw another article talking about Nintendo addressing the negative feedback for their E3 lineup, saying they didn't plan on talking about anything long term, just the near future IP.

quote:

---

All indications at this point suggest that the NX will be both a handheld and a home console. Nintendo has expressed that they're intent on unifying game development between their portable and home platforms, which will likely be accomplished through a shared hardware architecture and OS.

---

This has been the rumor for over a year, and while I like it, I'm just not certain it's smart because.....

quote:

---

The portable will likely run games at a lower resolution with reduced graphical effects, while the home console will run the same games at a higher resolution and graphical fidelity.

---

You're right that this would be one of a few ways to do it, but that puts the nail in the proverbial coffin about Nintendo every making a current-gen console. The only thing that people could hope for in terms of 3rd parties is that Nintendo can woo developers to make ports, finally, that run on both. That might be the saving grace of the system, but I'm not sure that can happen.

Plus, I don't want handheld quality games for most genres on my home console. Madden on handhelds has always been gimped. It's always a different team handling a handheld game, so never the same.

quote:

---

Each system may have a few exclusives (ie, Pokemon on the handheld), but the goal is to produce a steady output of software on both systems via the unification of the development teams.

Iwata has stated numerous times that they're envious of Apple's current paradigm with iOS, which indicates that they're developing a Steam like ecosystem for all future iterations of their hardware platforms.

---

It's a nice goal but they have to do it right.

That's what I use it for but i never play those games.

quote:

---

If anything, Nintendo is on the verge of transforming the entire console paradigm, as I'm sure Sony and Microsoft will quickly follow in Nintendo's footsteps. As these slides indicate, Nintendo has realized that they can no longer support two separate platforms with diverged user bases. With every successive hardware release, they've had to wipe the slate clean and start over - in terms of users owning the system, available games, etc.

Now, it seems Nintendo is emphasizing the development of a software ecosystem that will support all of their future devices. With each hardware variant running the same OS, accessing the same programming libraries, and sporting a similar hardware architecture, each system can access the same pool of games. Thus, all future Nintendo systems will have access to the same massive pool of games, similar to Steam and iOS/Android. Nintendo will no longer have to worry about rebuilding new relationships with consumers via hardware - instead, users can download, buy, and maintain their game libraries via their NNID, and can play them on their console of choice.

---

Good points. Do you think they shift their tech even further down the scale, making "indie-typed" sized games with higher production values? That might be the only way to make a game for both systems.

quote:

---

I agree, and I think Smash 4 is a prime example that Nintendo can get this right. No one would dispute the fact that Smash 4 on the Wii U is the definitive version, yet at the same time, the handheld version doesn't feel like a half-baked, poorly conceived afterthought of the Wii U version - it feels like its own distinctly robust game, ideally suited for a handheld.

---

See I think the Smash model is wrong, it's still making two separate games. That just doubles all of their efforts on fewer game types.

quote:

---

I think the goal going forward is to unify their development talent instead of spreading them thin, and it seems they're attempting to do this by homogenizing the hardware and software across all of their future platforms. Ideally, developers will only have to code for one specific architecture, which can then scale across both the handheld and console. This frees up development time and allows Nintendo to allocate resources to additional projects.

---

But that means keeping the Console and Portable Systems relatively close together in terms of power and design correct?

quote:

---

This is why the n64 had cartridges

why the GameCube used those to tiny disks and did not play DVDs

---

Wrong on all three counts here. They used carts and the mini optical disks /c those were both proprietary formats that 3rd party publishers had to pay Nintendo to use.

They didn't have a DVD player on the GCN b/c they didn't want to pay Sony to have one in there due to their experience w/Sony being a terrible partner during the SNES days. First, they sneaked a proprietary piece of hardware into the SNES sound chip that forced companies to pay Sony to access the full power of the chip. Then they were trying to essentially steal Nintendo's IPs and the SNES out from under them when they were working on the Playstation together by hiding specific language deep inside the deal. This is the same reason the Wii can play DVDs if you mod it via Homebrew channel but couldn't do it right out of the box.

quote:

---

why Windwaker was developed

---

Windwaker is a top 3 Zelda game and has aged better than all the 3D games in the series specifically b/c they went with cel shaded graphics.

quote:

---

and why the Wii U exists.

---

It exists b/c they were trying to innovate like they did with the Wii. There were two big mistakes with the WiiU launch. Neither of those involve the tablet controller or making a system that was not as strong as the One or PS4.

Mistake #1 was not clearly differentiating the WiiU from the Wii. Even today I still find people who flat out don't understand that the WiiU is a new system and not just an extra controller for the Wii. Naming it Wii2 or coming up with a non Wii name would have done wonders.

Mistake #2 was listening to the whiny 3rd party game developers who constantly bitched about never being able to get sales of their games vs Nintendo published games. Nintendo said ok, we'll hold off on releasing some of our bigger series so you guys can establish your stuff at launch. Ubi, Activition, EA etc then proceeded to once again put minimal effort in their WiiU iterations of their series which predictably led to lower sales. When you go ahead and tell gamers that a specific system is not getting things like DLC, constant online maintenance, and ship games 6-8 months later than the versions on the other systems you aren't going to sell said games at a solid clip.