Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata has some thoughts about Nintendo’s next hardware — and what it needs to before it moves on. This is from Iwata’s most recent Q&A with shareholders and is in light of Nintendo’s struggle to make its Wii U console a hit.
Pictures: Koji Sasahara, AP Images
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21 responses to “Nintendo Chief Has Some Thoughts About Nintendo’s Next Hardware”
Damn, sounds like sh#@’s about to go down behind Nintendo HQs doors.
I personally think their best bet is to focus on a single console. Instead of having a home console AND a portable one, why not just have a portable console that has the capability to connect to your TV? Nintendo currently have teams of developers dedicated to either the Wii U or 3DS; imagine what they could do if they focused all their resources and developers on a single console.
Because cost. 3DS processor is weaker than a 5 year old mid-range phone. In order to pump out realistic graphics at 1080p30, it’s gonna take some grunt. The kinda grunt that $800 flagship phones are struggling with.
I was thinking more along the lines that Sony took with the Vita TV. A portable first and foremost but it has the option, if we choose, to play those games on our TVs. Obviously, it’s not going to compare to a dedicated home console or gaming PC, but as Nintendo games such as Mario and Zelda seem to focus more on the art-style rather than trying to achieve realism, I think they could get away with it.
Pull a SEGA, go on Nintendo i dare you…
does no one remember the 32X / Saturn / Dreamcast debacle.
^ yeah. As much as I want Ninty to pull the most buttock booting console out of their… uhhh… buttocks, I hope they don’t pull a SEGA and anger the community.
redacted
he means releasing a bunch of consoles shortly one after the other and dropping support for the previous gen before it’s run its course. sega went from the 32x add-on to the megadrive to the saturn to the dreamcast in about 4 years – way to short a time for people to consider buying new hardware and for 3rd parties to jump to supporting a new console.
A clear idea about their next direction… let me guess, it will spec like an 8-core PC with 8GB RAM and a graphics card. But will probably work with Motion Plus.
I love my 3DS, I don’t play mobile games, don’t like them one bit. My phone is for work and communication / browsing / music. So my 3DS is there. The only thing I would ever ask of from Nintendo at the moment is:
(a) HD Graphics on a new 3DS like console, with full backwards compatibility.
(b) A more adult / modern like UI for it.
(c) Ability to download digital copies of the games I have physical copies of, pretty much like Steam.
I would just love it if Nintendo somehow had a general feedback line or something so these could be put across to Nintendo.
Just please finish and release The Legend of Zelda: Shard of Nightmare, any HD Metroid games are a bonus.
The hell’s a Shard of Nightmare?
Wait until E3
I read that Nintendo have enouh money hidden away that if they lost $250 million (USD I’m assuming) per year they wouldn’t run out of money until 2052. Hopefully though they come back big and change a lot of the problems with the Wii U with their next offering, the main problem being third party support. I’d still not expect a new console to be announced for another couple of years yet, but Nintendo need to keep in mind that these days brand loyalty doesn’t mean as much as it used to and another generation of console or two of missing the mark and people will turn their backs on Nintendo even more-so than they currently have.
That said, I’m still looking to buy a Wii U, it’s just not high on my priority list. Maybe if there’s something like The Last Story on the Wii U then I’d go for it
At the previous meeting they acknowledged their failure in the separate approaches between handheld and home console (and use of the internet and accounts), going so far as to say they need to change perspective to have an overall platform, with hardware just an extension. So the future is sounding more rational. I welcome these comments since, while the current Wii U / 3DS situation is FUBAR and they can’t fix it, they won’t just abandon the customers that actually bought in. A little relieving.
Nintendo should buy SEGA-SAMMY and get Yu Suzuki as Prime Hardware Engineer. Have two exact same versions of the one console – One with Nintendo Branding, One with SEGA branding.
In a perfect woooooooorld…
Why are they even bothering with their next piece of hardware? How about working on the software, which is where the company is failing!
Just don`t confuse consumers by calling it Wii something, that should be foremost… Then get a few good developers like what Rare used to be like and focus on good solid games. Having Retro Studios handling more Nintendo first party titles is a good start, then they should move onto some original IP as well.
Hey Nintendo, here’s a glorious idea.
You know those IPs you’ve been sitting on, doing nothing with for years? I’ll let you figure out the rest. You guys are smart.
A big flaw they had was hardware. Compared to current generation. Its not the fault it was more just timing on release. Just a but to early to use hardware like ps4 and Xbox one. But for the previous generation that it came out near the end of it was quickly outdated.
next nintendo console will be x86 based like the rest of em 😉
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Nintendo_Advanced_Video_System_%28retouched%29.jpg