...and then they bid adieu (Nintendo to exit from hardware business)

[bahn]

Or at least from what this article below expressed:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/t...endo-games.htm


Followed by a speculative statement from a Gamestop forum member:

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Here's my purely-speculative-but-incredibly-optimistic interpretation of the article.

Nintendo has no plans whatsoever to discontinue the GameCube. And I mean that in a very serious way - that is, they plan on making it THE Nintendo game console, well beyond the typical console life-cycle. So in a sense, they are giving up developing new hardware for the forseeable future. GameCube may well be Nintendo's attempt to either extend the industry's lifecycle, or completely draw the line between a game console and an entertainment system (ironic, seeing as how that was the term used to describe Nintendo's first two systems).

I never thought I'd say this, but I agree with Yamauchi. From a purely graphical standpoint. What hasn't been done graphically by now? Panzer Dragoon Orta pretty much maxes out anything we could hope to squeeze graphically out of a game console. All graphical improvements from here on in will be minor detailing or higher resolution (for HDTV), since we've really reached the "as good as it gets" point in graphics in the big picture.

In short, I think Nintendo is trying to standardize game hardware so that their fans will not be forced to buy new hardware every five or so years. It may sound like it'll age poorly when it reaches the 9-10 years old mark, but really, what is there left to do besides up the resolution on games? And then, Nintendo's plan might just be to make a GameCube v2.0 - same games, stronger hardware to pump out high res visuals.

The line is going to be drawn if this is what they're getting at. In the next hardware generation, IF there is a next one (the need isn't really there that I can see), there will be THREE video gaming formats.

Game Consoles (GameCube)
Set Top Box (Xbox 2, PS3)
PCs.

Maybe a fourth if VR reaches the affordable stages in the next five years, which is entirely realistic but too off-topic to go into here.

Do not take any of this as probable, of course. A solid prediction if anything. It's just speculation on my part, based on the article. Nintendo is likely going to focus on games and forget about hardware for as long as they can.
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ALMOST feels like deja vu.

....comments?

[Metal_Slug]

If true, that would suck large amounts of a-hole... Sony and MS? Blehh....


But then again, I never looked to Nintendo consoles for gaming needs much anyway...


What a crappy industry this is turning into...

[amerlop]

Holy Moly!!

Did you ever, in your wildest dreams, think that it would ever happen?

That is a real downer, if that is true

[Freeter]

So Nintendo's pullin a Sega huh...I thought it would happen eventually.

Doesn't matter to me anyway. GC is far from impressive.

[amerlop]

"I feel like a chef cooking for a king who's full."


That has to be one of the saddest comments I've heard from the industry in a long time. But it is so indicitive of what games and the gamer have become.

[Mode7]

Might want to denote the extremely speculative nature of the post in your topic there, so as to avoid anymore conclusion jumping.

[StriderKyo]

I don't see gaming hardware as having reached any sort of apex. As the old saying goes, everyone wants a holodeck, and we're not even close to that now.

Whatever the intentions behind Nintendo's announcement, all it does is undermine confidence in the Cube having a bright future. Clued -out EB employees everywhere will be telling shoppers that Nintendo's discontinuing the Cube. I can't wait to see how this really shakes out, though.

[SearchManX]

When I read the article, (before reading this topic), I didn't get the feeling that Nintendo would be leaving the hardware industry. I think Iwata is just frustrated with the way the market has become and the fact that game software earnings have decreased so much.

Similar to a post where Brother mentioned that charging for online gaming is a good thing so people will get used to it, I think if game prices get too low, people will get used to it, and games that cost $50 would be dismissed as being too expensive. I admit that I'm starting to feel this way, but maybe it's because I work now and I can't afford to spend money as frivolously as I did when I used my parent's money.

[Johnny]

I didn't read anything in that article that confirms Nintendo dropping out of the hardware business. It just said that they'll focus on better games rather than hardware. Iwata also goes on to trash online play, crap.

[James]

I knew this article would cause a furor. I also don't really believe a word of it.

Nintendo, in my view, is avoiding the Microsoft/Sony mistake of talking about their next console too soon. PS3? X-Box 2? Give me a break, just because we all know they'll put one out eventually is no reason to be talking about them now. It's way too early, these consoles have way too much life in them, to start undermining them with talk of the next generation. I really believe that Nintendo is just spouting off to counteract the fears of parents who'll be afraid of buying their kids a $150 console that will have a 10 minute shelf life before the next big thing comes along. Or even adults buying it for themselves, for that matter.

As far as graphics being pushed as far as they can go, I can argue this for about 3 seconds before getting bored. In a nutshell, though-

Though graphics have gotten decent, they still haven't gotten good. Various things like the lighting effects in the tech demo Doom 3, or hair and clothing that animates like hair and clothing, or even bodies that don't end up half in a wall when they fall down, are all places where improvement could be made. Actually, any item that exists in nature (trees, grass, humans, animals, even rocks and hills) are all still pretty primitive. Sure, we can model corridors and boxes and make them look good, but real living life is still pretty poorly faked if you actually compare what you're seeing on the screen to what you're seeing off it. I'm not saying any of this is necessary to better gameplay, I'm just saying it's there to be improved upon.

As for 2D, I love it as much as the next person here, but the mainstream audience feuling the game industry doesn't. Nothing much to be said on that point...

Game prices dropping, though, would be a bad thing. I like cheap as much as the next person (America's Army free? Oh yes!) but there's bound to be serious problems for the industry when the development cost of a game keeps rising and the retail cost shrinks. Greater monetary risk for a company means less innovative stuff, simple as that, and eventually the dreaded second crash will hit anyway. In the end of the PS1 era games were $40 new, on average. At the start of the new console era (Dreamcast and up) games are $50 on average. It doesn't seem too unfair to me.

So anyway, my opinion. Nintendo will do another console. I miss 2D too. Graphics can improve in many, many areas. Cheap games are cool but an overall bad idea.

And if I'd just said that to start with I would have written a whole lot less.

James