finalark
SNORLAX
I've been thinking about how Nintendo should handle the NX, and I think Nintendo really, really shouldn't be targeting the casual market. Now, I'm not saying that as any sort of elitist statement or any sort of wish fulfillment, I'm saying that from a business stand point Nintendo really needs to re-prioritize who its target market is.
Let's get real here, the Wii U was born of two things: Hopes that the Wii name could carry it to victory and hopes that the tablet controller could catch the attention of the casual market, who had heavily shifted towards mobile market by the time the Wii U hit shelves. The problem was, the Wii U came out in 2012, not 2006.
IMO the Wii was a once-in-a-lifetime sort of deal. Clever marketing, a gimmick that took the gaming world by storm and good timing is what made the console successful. As I said, the Wii came out in 2006. At that point in time the smart phone market was still in its absolute infancy, to the point where I'd call it more of a fetus than an infant even, and the mobile gaming scene was damn near nonexistent. So casuals who just wanted to grind their brain on Bejeweled for a few hours after work usually did so while dedicated fans played their GCN/PS2/Xbox.
Then the Wii came out. While those of who grew up in the HD era may find this baffling with how much of a joke it eventually became, when the Wii first hit store shelves in 2006 its motion controls were a big deal. No big-name company had attempted anything like this before at this level. Aside from a few naysayers damn never everyone, myself included, were caught up in this thing. Hell, back then I was convinced that motion controls were the future, and many people agreed with me. Regardless of if Nintendo intended it or not, the console's easy to learn controller, low price tag and pick-up-and-play friendly games drew in a casual audience who ate that up like crazy.
Now lets move forward to six years later. The Wii is the best selling console of all time and the toilet paper at Nintendo's offices has been replaced with hundred dollar bills. But at this point the iPhone and iPad was most certainly a thing and the casual audience that had defined the Wii had already moved on to play Bejeweled on their phones. Nintendo went for the obvious answer, make a console that emulates a tablet. Unfortunately for them, the gaming market returned to how it was in the pre-2006 days. People who wanted simple, straight forward time killers were not the same people who were willing to pay $300 for a dedicating gaming machine. This ultimately left the Wii U a confused console that was uncertain what it wanted it be or what to do with its hardware.
With my extended thoughts out of the way, I'm think about what Nintendo could possibly do with the NX. Chances are, they're going to go for some sort of gimmick. This is not immediately a bad thing. The DS was extremely gimmicky but it worked because the gimmick in question actually enhanced game play and allowed for unique games to be made. If Nintendo has to gave some kind of gimmick then they need to make it another DS. That, and they need killer first party titles plus fantastic third party ones to hold us over while we wait for the next big game from Nintendo.
Let's get real here, the Wii U was born of two things: Hopes that the Wii name could carry it to victory and hopes that the tablet controller could catch the attention of the casual market, who had heavily shifted towards mobile market by the time the Wii U hit shelves. The problem was, the Wii U came out in 2012, not 2006.
IMO the Wii was a once-in-a-lifetime sort of deal. Clever marketing, a gimmick that took the gaming world by storm and good timing is what made the console successful. As I said, the Wii came out in 2006. At that point in time the smart phone market was still in its absolute infancy, to the point where I'd call it more of a fetus than an infant even, and the mobile gaming scene was damn near nonexistent. So casuals who just wanted to grind their brain on Bejeweled for a few hours after work usually did so while dedicated fans played their GCN/PS2/Xbox.
Then the Wii came out. While those of who grew up in the HD era may find this baffling with how much of a joke it eventually became, when the Wii first hit store shelves in 2006 its motion controls were a big deal. No big-name company had attempted anything like this before at this level. Aside from a few naysayers damn never everyone, myself included, were caught up in this thing. Hell, back then I was convinced that motion controls were the future, and many people agreed with me. Regardless of if Nintendo intended it or not, the console's easy to learn controller, low price tag and pick-up-and-play friendly games drew in a casual audience who ate that up like crazy.
Now lets move forward to six years later. The Wii is the best selling console of all time and the toilet paper at Nintendo's offices has been replaced with hundred dollar bills. But at this point the iPhone and iPad was most certainly a thing and the casual audience that had defined the Wii had already moved on to play Bejeweled on their phones. Nintendo went for the obvious answer, make a console that emulates a tablet. Unfortunately for them, the gaming market returned to how it was in the pre-2006 days. People who wanted simple, straight forward time killers were not the same people who were willing to pay $300 for a dedicating gaming machine. This ultimately left the Wii U a confused console that was uncertain what it wanted it be or what to do with its hardware.
With my extended thoughts out of the way, I'm think about what Nintendo could possibly do with the NX. Chances are, they're going to go for some sort of gimmick. This is not immediately a bad thing. The DS was extremely gimmicky but it worked because the gimmick in question actually enhanced game play and allowed for unique games to be made. If Nintendo has to gave some kind of gimmick then they need to make it another DS. That, and they need killer first party titles plus fantastic third party ones to hold us over while we wait for the next big game from Nintendo.
