Wii U

Soldato
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It would also be interesting to know what's more of a success a console where they sell more and make a profit or a console where they only break even on costs half way through it's life but make loads on royaltys.
 
Soldato
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Didn't Nintendo lose billions last financial quarter?

I don't believe they lost money, they still made a profit, it's just a case they didn't do as well with the 3DS as they'd expected and they profit predictions were lowered. As they never had these profits in the first place they didn't actually lose money :)

Edit: Seems about right, still expecting to make about 35 BILLION Yen (divide that by about 100-150 to get pounds).

http://www.zeldainformer.com/2011/1...billion-yen-exchange-rate-a-major-factor.html

That's still profit heh
 
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Soldato
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Say a year after the ps4, 720 is out can you see many of that demographic using that console as their primary?

Agreed. I think it's a mistake that Nintendo aren't going to match the new Sony and MS consoles tech wise this time round. When it comes to first party software Nintendo still dominate - their games alone sell consoles by the millions I can't think of a single developer that could boast one tenth of Nintendo's output over the years. Their online service and 3rd party support both suck, though, and these are what a mainstream console needs. If they released a console that could run MW4 and GTA6 up there with the 720/PS4, and add a decent online system, what could go wrong? Launch with an HD Mario/Zelda and job done - i'd have very little incentive to buy any other console.

I don't believe they lost money, they still made a profit, it's just a case they didn't do as well with the 3DS as they'd expected and they profit predictions were lowered.

Yeah, they just made an obscene amount of money rather than the disgustingly ridiculous amount of money they thought they were going to get.

ds-it-prints-money490.jpg
 
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XPE

XPE

Soldato
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By your logic the 3DS would have been a run away success as well based on the sales on the DS.

The 3DS 1st year sales are track to be better than the DS sales.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/11/11/nintendo-3ds-likely-to-outperform-dss-first-year-sales-in-us/

On to your next point, this gen has killed so many dev's due to high development costs, if by your logic the next gen leap will be big, its going to kill all but the biggest dev's/pubs, at what point do consoles become too powerful to devlop for.

Will the next round of consoles be more power yes, but its not going to be as big as say ps2 to ps3.
 
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Soldato
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I wouldn't say graphic fidelity directly makes a game more expensive to develop for. Imagine say Skyrim released for the next with uncompressed textures, sound and a massive draw distance similar to the pc version I'd imagine.

What you have to remember about the DS was that in the portable Market there was no real competition now there's Sony, Apple and Android I can't see the 3DS having anywhere near the same impact in the long run. :)
 
Soldato
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How many family's do you know where the wii is just gathering dust?

In my very limited sample group every Wii owned is unused and each one has maybe 2 games that were bought for it. That obviously isn't reflective of every Wii sold because you don't sell 28 million copies of Mario if nobody is using them. But I think a whole chunk of the people that bought them for the Wii Fit or the Wii Sports don't use it and don't buy games for it. The Nintendo fans do because they like the Nintendo franchises.

So for the few people I know who own or have owned one, half of whom would fall into the "casual" bracket, none will buy the Wii U because they know they didn't get any use out of the Wii beyond the first couple of months. Again, this obviously isn't reflective of the entire Wii owners because you don't sell LOT of a few franchises if nobody is playing. It's just a little anecdote from my very small limited sample. But I think it holds true for a chunk of folk. I'm not saying they would necessarily buy a PS4/Xbox3 either. The casuals in that group may not ever own another console.

The WiiU probably won't be as successfuly as the Wii, but then it probably doesn't NEED to be. Nintendo made a massive amount of money from this generation; and it'll likely hold them through any tight times quite easily.

It needs to be successful, not AS good as the Wii hardware for sure but it still needs to do well. If it doesn't do well then the share prices will tank and suddenly that mountain of cash isn't good enough. If they only make 100million in profit for the year instead of 500milion profit for the year then while it could still be considered a success, for Nintendo that is not good.

In a very short time a dominant force can get it all wrong and that is none more evident in recent years than Sony. The PS2 is still selling over 4 million units a year (nearly 12 YEARS after its launch), and has actually sold nearly as much as the PS3 has since IT launched in 2006. They made an absolute mint on the PS2 and then got so much wrong with the PS3 (predominantly price point but also being a bit late to market) which gave Microsoft exactly what they needed to gain a foothold and mindshare despite the Xbox being a money sink. If Sony had launched with a DVD format instead and therefore dropped the price and date of entry, they could have completely killed off the idea of a Microsoft home console, especially with all the RROD problems Microsoft gave themselves.

They didn't, they got cocky and arrogant and told people to get 2 jobs because owning a PS3 should be something everyone aspires to and it's cost them dearly. They told everyone what they wanted instead of asking them what they'd like and so for the company the PS3 will be looked back on in years to come as a massive massive mistake.

Now, for gamers the PS3 is a great system, and in terms of sales it has actually sold better than the 360 if you align the launch dates despite the high price of entry for the first 2 years. But for the company it is a disaster. They spunked ALL of the PS2 profit on the PS3 and they are only JUST getting back to profit in that particular section of the division. That the rest of the company is being dragged to its death by the TV division isn't helping.

Nintendo have had fantastic success with the Wii there can be no doubt. Before that though they had the N64 and the Game Cube both of which were, for the company at least, disasters.

Everything can change in a generation, and it can change right back just as fast. There are no certainties and there are no guarantees outside of "it's going to be interesting" and "fanboys are going to make utter arses of themselves on the popular media of the time".

Hopefully for our sakes all three do very well, gaming gets even more popular than it already is, lots of games get made and lots of people have lots of fun.

The 3DS 1st year sales are track to be better than the DS sales.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/11/11/nintendo-3ds-likely-to-outperform-dss-first-year-sales-in-us/

On to your next point, this gen has killed so many dev's due to high development costs, if by your logic the next gen leap will be big, its going to kill all but the biggest dev's/pubs, at what point do consoles become too powerful to devlop for.

Will the next round of consoles be more power yes, but its not going to be as big as say ps2 to ps3.


But those sales only came about because of a massive price cut which, iirc, is costing Nintendo money for every unit sold much like it has for Sony and Microsoft for years. Despite selling more units than the DS in its first year it's also going to cost them a small fortune compared to making a profit on the DS even with weaker sales.

This is not normal for Nintendo at all and it's a business model that they and their shareholders are not particularly happy with because traditionally they make money on hardware AND software.

It'll still continue to sell because they'll continue to pump out the same killer franchises and people will continue to buy them. But make no mistake about it, they are not happy that to beat the DS they are having to sell at a loss.

As for the other two consoles, I agree, the graphics jump will not be as large as it was from ps2 to ps3. They'll have more than the Wii U for sure but they'll also be able to do more multitasking and service based stuff than they do now.

Sorry for the great wall of text. I just find all of this rather interesting.
 
Soldato
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Sorry for not making a long reply to it but I agree with most of it (bar the N64/GC doing badly, they made very big profits).

I just meant relative to the competition (PS1/PS2) they were not good. Both of those made much more by comparison. Yes they made profit but no where near as mush as they could have.
 

XPE

XPE

Soldato
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But those sales only came about because of a massive price cut which, iirc, is costing Nintendo money for every unit sold much like it has for Sony and Microsoft for years. Despite selling more units than the DS in its first year it's also going to cost them a small fortune compared to making a profit on the DS even with weaker sales.

This is not normal for Nintendo at all and it's a business model that they and their shareholders are not particularly happy with because traditionally they make money on hardware AND software.

It'll still continue to sell because they'll continue to pump out the same killer franchises and people will continue to buy them. But make no mistake about it, they are not happy that to beat the DS they are having to sell at a loss.

Any one who thinks the 3DS was ever going to sell as much as much the DS was insane, the DS is like 3 or 4 million away from being beating the PS2 in sales (not an easy task)

what my comment was really aim at all the doom and gloom crap that has been coming out over the last few months, yes they might be losing money now, but with Christmas sales and when they sell enough units the economy of scale will bring the cost down quickly and Nintendo will once again be back to there old ways.

So I guess what I'm trying to say it isn’t doing as bad as some people want it to be.



On a totally separate hardware front question, when has the most powerful hardware ever been the top selling console of its gen?
 
Soldato
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So I guess what I'm trying to say it isn’t doing as bad as some people want it to be.

On a totally separate hardware front question, when has the most powerful hardware ever been the top selling console of its gen?

Exactly. The 3DS 2 months ago did unquestionably look like is was bombing but Nintendo made changes and now it looks like it is doing much better. There are no doubt people that want it to do badly same as there are some that want the Vita to do badly. As gamers we should want everything to do well because competition means good games and experiences. I can;t imagine how the landscape would look if the Xbox hadn't introduced Online like it had.

And on the powerful consoles. I don't think they ever have have they? I know the PS1 and 2 were not the most powerful of the generation and both "won" and the PS3 is on a raw power basis, more powerful than the Wii and the 360 but it is technically "losing" the generation.
 
Soldato
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Nintendo made a few announcements today one including a worldwide release by the fall of 2012 and also the Nintendo Network :D


IGN.com said:
Nintendo Confirms Nintendo Network
Wii U to get individual online accounts.
US, January 27, 2012

by Richard George

Nintendo has finally confirmed its plans for the Nintendo Network, a formal, branded service for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. Outlining the concept in brief during an investor's program, company president Satoru Iwata confirmed the online infrastructure is already in place for the service.

Iwata quickly drew a contrast with his company's previous Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection program:

"Unlike Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, which has been focused upon specific functionalities and concepts, we are aiming to establish a platform where various services available through the network for our consumers shall be connected via Nintendo Network service so that the company can make comprehensive proposals to consumers."

The publisher's plans are as follows:

Personal Accounts for Wii U - Nintendo will now allow personalized accounts for its next home console, which will allow multiple users per system. Online profiles will no longer be system-based. "We will also be able to construct and offer the [personal account system] by combining a variety of different services and content," Iwata said.

Digitally Distributed Packaged Software -Nintendo is exploring the idea of selling full retail games through the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. The company is not willing to say when this program will start, but it now has the full ability to do so. Iwata noted Nintendo would need to consider retailer relationships first. He also noted SD card space limitations would be another factor. "The significance of this business field will increase," said Iwata.

Paid Downloadable Content - As we've heard previously, publishers will now be able to offer paid DLC for different games, starting with Square's Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, which will allow players to purchase new songs for the rhythm-based game. The title releases in Japan on February 16.

"As a software maker, Nintendo believes that its packaged software should be sold to our consumers in a form so that the consumers will know in advance that they can enjoy playing the software they purchased just as it is," Iwata said. "We believe that our consumers will be able to feel more secure if we offer our add-on content as an additional structure in which those who love the game will be able to enjoy it in a deeper way for a prolonged play time."

Iwata wrapped the Nintendo Network segment of his investor presentation with the following statement: "Whether it's our first-party titles or third parties' titles, for a number of games, we will actively attempt to achieve compatibility so that our consumers can enjoy our online services that we will deploy under the name of the Nintendo Network."

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/121/1217360p1.html
 
Man of Honour
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Couldn't be less interested in the Wii U. Does anyone really care about the core nintendo franchises anymore?

Nintendo brought the biggest gaming innovation this generation to the table, but ultimately no-one into gaming cares anymore. I remember that youtube video around the time the wii came out where a model represented the wii and a dumpy fat women represented the ps3 / xbox... wow how times have changed. Most people into gaming nowadays wouldn't go near a wii with a barge pole.

Of course, it'll still make money as it appeals to families and children, but either I have grown up or nintendo have totally alienated its original audience. They remind me of disney / disneyworld, the world's biggest weaver of twee dross.
 
Soldato
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Im not sure what i want to do, im either gonna get one or get a cheap wii so i can play some of the awesome JRPG thats released like xenoblade chronicles/the last story and pandoras tower.
Ill wait and see what games are announced for the wii u but i aint got a clue whats coming out for apart from the obvious mario and zelda games.

Is there a rough price for this yet?

Edit: Just remembered dragon quest 9, im not sure if thats for the wii or wii u either way i need that game in my life :)
 
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