This sounds like a system that 7 years too late and not worth the price of admission. Your thoughts?

Considering there nothing to look at, it's all speculation. The 3DS was rumored to be near XBox 360/PS3 graphics levels.

Even if it's better than the 360/PS3, the next versions of those will again easily surpass the Wii 2.

The biggest weakness I see for the Wii 2 will be developer support. Almost all mainstream games that were ported to the Wii were watered down versions. IMHO, Nintendo's effort to target the family deterred the hard core gamer from taking the system seriously.

Based on the past few generations the next console should start this year or next year. The sixth generation started in 1999. I can imagine Sony or Microsoft revealing a new console either 2012 or 2013 no way waiting until 2015, PC hardware is already a number of generations ahead.


I'm hoping the next generation console from Nintendo puts less emphasis on gimmicks, while yes some use of motion controllers is fun I would personally get sick of it after too much (I have the playstation move but haven't used it too much as neither my bedroom or office where I tend to do most of my gaming are large enough for effective use).

The new gen of consoles would have probably been out by now if it weren't for the recession. In the next couple years consoles will start showing their age. There's a lot of awesome stuff coming, but there are a lot of bottlenecks that could be easily removed with a new generation.

On whether it's too soon or not, like frob said, I am more interested in whether it provides a compelling experience than when it is released. I'd even consider buying a console every 2 years if they provided new and compelling experiences in one way or another. I think Nintendo needs a new one most of all because they are missing a lot of core features that are now hugely important in the other consoles. Not necessarily from a hardware performance standpoint, but it is sorely lacking in hardware performance as well.

I'm definitely keeping an eye on how this develops, because a hardcore Nintendo console could be interesting, but I'm still not quite sure how I feel about it.

Based on the past few generations the next console should start this year or next year. The sixth generation started in 1999. I can imagine Sony or Microsoft revealing a new console either 2012 or 2013 no way waiting until 2015, PC hardware is already a number of generations ahead.

True but the 5 to 6 years console cycle normally occured when game companies normally have pushed the hardware to the limits. The 360 nor PS3 has been pushed to its limits yet, AFAIK. That's why I say 2015. Also, $600 hardware isn't gonna fly this time, IMO.

I'm hoping the next generation console from Nintendo puts less emphasis on gimmicks, while yes some use of motion controllers is fun I would personally get sick of it after too much (I have the playstation move but haven't used it too much as neither my bedroom or office where I tend to do most of my gaming are large enough for effective use).[/quote]

I think the WiiMote and its successors are not "gimmicks". I would say they've not been fully explored or well implemented. Honestly, I was hoping for the Power Glove and some VR glasses from Nintendo. Not a mini-iPad for a controller

True but the 5 to 6 years console cycle normally occured when game companies normally have pushed the hardware to the limits. The 360 nor PS3 has been pushed to its limits yet, AFAIK. That's why I say 2015. Also, $600 hardware is gonna fly this time, IMO.

I think they still have juice to be squeezed, but there are some limiting pieces of hardware that make it harder. Without significant investment into new hardware both systems could be made much better.

At the end of the day though, I think competition will drive when they start coming out more than when the systems start peaking. Similar thoughts on price; competition will dictate what will fly. If nintendo does release powerful hardware in the next 2 years for ~$300 MS and Sony will both have to come out with something if they want to compete with Nintendo. That could be a big if though.

I think the WiiMote and its successors are not "gimmicks". I would say they've not been fully explored or well implemented. Honestly, I was hoping for the Power Glove and some VR glasses from Nintendo. Not a mini-iPad for a controller
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I would agree on the wii mote. Kind of similar to the above though, I think it had some design flaws on the hardware side that make it less than the concept could be.

I think the WiiMote and its successors are not "gimmicks". I would say they've not been fully explored or well implemented. Honestly, I was hoping for the Power Glove and some VR glasses from Nintendo. Not a mini-iPad for a controller

I will wait and see.

Unlike your statement, I think the mini-screen controller is a good thing. For local multiplayer games it is something I have wished for many different times over the years.

The ability for player sitting next to each other to see a unique screen is a good thing for some games.

There are many games where you want to keep some limited information secret, such as the cards in your hand, or the exact choice of selected values in a guessing game. Imagine games like Clue where each person has their own set of cards and private notebook, or games like Battleship where you have your own private location of boats, or Scrabble where you have your own set of tiles.


I think this falls well within their historical audience. Nintendo's focus has always been that games are toys meant to be played with, fancy electronic versions of balls and dolls and blocks. They tend to prefer tactile interfaces, tend to prefer bright colors and playful sounds, tend to encompass the entire family rather than just a core gamer, tend to focus on local group play, and by sticking with that route have tended to succeed with the masses.

I'm curious to see how it works out, but I suspect it will do very well.

People said that the Wii wouldn't do well before it came out, too. But Nintendo generated a large base of customers who weren't gamers before-- they really grew the market, and held that segment for a long time because they offered something different from the other consoles.

The Wii 2 could be exactly the same, and in that vein this is the perfect time for it. The Kinect and Move allow the other two consoles to be more Wii-like in a lot of ways. So it's a fine time to expand and show that Nintendo still offers something new and different from Microsoft and Sony, especially because launching before those two companies pulls them out of direct competition with them.

I think that the power argument is starting to become less relevant as well. It's true that a PC is pretty much always going to be more powerful than a console (potentially, at least). But people who make that argument as a negative point for consoles forget that a lot of console gamers aren't going to deal with a PC anyways. They have to be upgraded, maintained, and have any number of problems that prevent them from playing games of any type, let alone ones that really tax the hardware. A console just works once you plug it in, something which really appeals to a lot of gamers.

Not to mention that I think we're nearing a limit of what we can do with a 2D display and controller-based input. Graphics can get better, sure, but are we going to get Mario 64 moment, where everything about gaming is different from that point on? Or even a PS2 to PS3 moment-- how much better resolution can we get, and what's the marginal return on gameplay/quality/immersion? Can the use of a 10 button, 2 stick, single D-pad controller give us more and better ways to interact with our games?

If not, the increased power of consoles will offer a limited return to gamers versus what we've already got. Game worlds might get bigger, or deeper, but the majority of play styles and options will be very similar to what we've had for the last 2 1/2 console generations anyways. The next watershed of gaming could very well come from Nintendo, the less-horsepower but more-experimentation company.

I think that the power argument is starting to become less relevant as well. It's true that a PC is pretty much always going to be more powerful than a console (potentially, at least). But people who make that argument as a negative point for consoles forget that a lot of console gamers aren't going to deal with a PC anyways. They have to be upgraded, maintained, and have any number of problems that prevent them from playing games of any type, let alone ones that really tax the hardware. A console just works once you plug it in, something which really appeals to a lot of gamers.

One oft overlooked point is that the power of a PC does not accurately compare to the power of a console. Console's only have to run a single app and a relatively small performance impact operating system and are designed with a game focus rather than a general computing focus.

A good thing though about advancing console power is that it makes it easier to port PC games to consoles. Some people take that as a negative holding back PC games, but opening up the market can increase the budget of games by a huge amount and I think the result is more and better games for everybody. I'm not a huge fan of gaming at a desk either, but that's a personal issue.

edit: I should clarify to say that advancing power but keeping similar architecture makes them easier to port.

Personally I don't think this time around Nintendo is doing anything innovative. They seem to be playing catch up. Hence the "day late, dollar short" feeling. The 360 and PS3 will have hardware that definitely surpasses the Wii 2 by the time they launch. So once again, the Wii 2 will be getting ports of last-gen games while Sony and MS get the greatest and latest games. To Frob's point about the touchscreens, they're a cool idea and what you said makes sense. But if you're going to do something like that, then use the 3DS for that. Don't make another "portable console" that doubles as a controller.

Personally I don't think this time around Nintendo is doing anything innovative. They seem to be playing catch up. Hence the "day late, dollar short" feeling. The 360 and PS3 will have hardware that definitely surpasses the Wii 2 by the time they launch.

How do you figure on that point? The IGN spec leak says it is more powerful than both of them in most regards. They could also surpass either of the other 2 by fixing relatively small design limitations in the other consoles that would give great advantages over both of them.

[quote name='Alpha_ProgDes' timestamp='1303796483' post='4802946']
Personally I don't think this time around Nintendo is doing anything innovative. They seem to be playing catch up. Hence the "day late, dollar short" feeling. The 360 and PS3 will have hardware that definitely surpasses the Wii 2 by the time they launch.

How do you figure on that point? The IGN spec leak says it is more powerful than both of them in most regards. They could also surpass either of the other 2 by fixing relatively small design limitations in the other consoles that would give great advantages over both of them.
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I meant the 720 and PS4. I was referring to the next gen consoles from Sony and MS. Typo, oops.

And who's the Nintendo fanboy who is rating me down on every post?! At least man up and say who you are.