Which brings me to this topic. Nintendo has made mistakes with the 3DS and the Wii U, and one of them are inherently related to another because of the first mistake. But before I get into these three mistakes I see Nintendo has made -- thus far -- I have to get into the history of the DS and Wii lines. I also do not want to be considered to have yet another DOOM AND GLOOM thread, so I will end my editorial/post with the future and where I think Nintendo is heading.
History:
Nintendo was in a bad spot with the Gamecube, and they knew it. It was a whole new world and Nintendo was behind the curve. The GCN had HORRIBLE marketing. They did a good job on being everywhere -- theatre's, TV shows maybe even the internet -- but the ad's were weird and didn't convey the right message. The launch was not horrible. However, the third Nintendo President stepped down and for the first time in their 113 years they are appointing a non-family member to be President of Nintendo. That is right, boys and girls. Nintendo -- originally a card playing company -- was a family run company (http://nintendo.wiki...Nintendo_people). This was a good choice because Iwata did a lot of things that made Nintendo a successful company. The Nintendo DS and Wii were his children, and they made Nintendo rich. So people -- remember -- he is making mistakes with the 3DS and Wii U, but his rein as King isn't as bad as it could have been. He brought a new golden age for Nintendo, one the company hasn't seen since the SNES days. He ushered in a console that is one of the fastest selling consoles of all time.
Moving on, the GCN was launched and there was not much he could do. He introduced a silver color to give another option. I am sure he made a lot of other choices that I missed as a child, but really since he wasn't the head huncho during the consoles development he couldn't have made the changes that should have been made. He during this time introduce the idea of the Wiimote. Originally said to be an add on to the GCN, it became clear that the GCN didn't have the install base they wanted. So they started to develop the idea of the Wii.
Interesting enough, Nintendo was not sure if there was a casual market for gamers. They were not sure if a radical new motion controller would be a run away success. So they played it safe. Released a Nintendo DS -- the THIRD WHEEL as it was called -- as a test. They gave it two screens, a basic design and some good games. It was a run away success. Soon we stopped hearing about the Game Boy and the DS was it. Release date of the Nintendo DS is important though. Nov 21 2004 (US). This meant that the DS was released almost two years in advance of the Wii (Revolution at the time). This means they had time to change gears and go another route if it failed. Don't believe me that this was their plan? Explain why they called it the third wheel when we never got the GBA2. Hmm? Any thoughts? It's not like it wasn't in development. It was scratched because Nintendo was trending a different path.
A little unknown fact, Nintendo was rumored to be developing two home consoles. One, was a powerhouse with a regular controller. Another, was a GCN-like console with a radical new redesign and new controller based off motion control. Now the motion control wasn't actually known then, but the specs were part of the rumor. It wasn't until the Wii was revealed that it became clear. Nintendo was making an escape route. If the DS failed, the third wheel goes away, GBA2 would be released and the Wii would never have been born. Who knows, maybe Revolution would have been it's name. A quick tidbit, originally the Wiimote wasn't going to have the nunchuck. It was just the wiimote. Then Retro suggested the idea.
Mistakes:
So, this leads me into Nintendo -- and Iwata's -- mistakes. I shown you how Nintendo tested an idea. Gave themselves enough time to make changes so they wouldn't have two failures in a row. With the 3DS, why didn't they do this again? It was clear that Iwata and Nintendo was trying to help third party developers. Nintendo has always had trouble working with third parties. One of the many reasons developers have trouble is that Nintendo sell's their platforms. People buy the Wii and DS for Nintendo games. They have a 360 or PS3 or Vita for their hardcore games. Nintendo probably thought if they allowed third party developer sell their console and they didn't release anything major right away that developers would spend more money and maybe do better. What ended up happening was a horrible mistake. Those games weren't system sellers, and Nintendo was left out in the cold. Whoever made that choice -- probably Iwata -- clearly made an error that could have been avoided with the Wii U if they didn't release them so close together.
3DS Launched March 27 2011 (US) and Wii U Nov 18 2012 (US). Little over a year to make those changes needed. Nintendo all ready planned for their heavy hitters to be released in 2013 when the other consoles were probably going to be released. Not a horrible idea. Compete with Sony and Microsoft by releasing Mario Kart U, Mario U (3D), and whatever Retro is working on. Maybe even tease SSBU for Wii U with an awesome trailer saying it will be released in 2014, looking into the future. As long as third party developers give them a system seller at the launch, all would be fine. ZombiU was probably going to be that game. Problem is, what other exclusive third party game was going to be a system seller? So Nintendo had to do something post-3DS launch. They didn't have time nor could they afford a rushed Mario U. So they made NSMBU. It is 2D, simple and easy. Hopefully that could move some systems while Nintendo works around the clock on getting content ready for the 2013 invasion. Don't believe me? Look at Retro Studios and E3 2012. It was clear that they were building up to something. There was whispers afterwards that Retro pulled their footage because it wasn't ready. Wasn't ready? That's the point. Nintendo didn't have a system seller ready. Pikman 3, the closet thing to a system seller, has even been delayed and was suppose to be a launch title.
So far, I have covered mistake number one and two. As you can see, they are related. If they didn't make mistake number one, mistake number two could have been avoided. The third and final mistake is the IBM Power-Based CPU. And not because it is weak (which I still doubt). It's a mistake, which sadly it is possible they could have seen this coming if they gave them a two year window between 3DS and Wii U launch, because third party developers are going to have to make a choice when making multiplat's. Once the next gen is in full gear and 360 and PS3 are phased out, as we all know they will be, the only console or system using the Power ISA for games will be Nintendo. No one else in the world will be developing games for the Power ISA. In fact, EPIC has made it clear they aren't making Unreal 4 for Power ISA. Sure, they say Wii U but why do you think that is? Let's just assume that EPIC is right, and the Wii U can run Unreal 4 ("You heard the stupid gaffe yesterday about the Wii U," he said. "If someone wants to take Unreal Engine 4 and ship a game on Wii U, they can! If they wanna ship an Unreal Engine 4 game on Xbox 360, they could make it happen." {http://www.engadget....view-gdc-2013/} ) then why wouldn't they use resources to develop Unreal 4 for all three next gen consoles? It's because Microsoft and Sony are leaning towards x86 architecture, not Power ISA. That might be why it took Epic so long to come out and say that. Remember when they wouldn't confirm what platforms will run the Unreal 4 engine? I bet Microsoft hadn't made the choice if the processor would be Power ISA or x86. And in May -- I might eat my words (and hopefully, for Nintendo's sake, I do) -- Microsoft will reveal that they are using an AMD CPU and GPU. ( http://www.slashgear...y-cut-09276992/ ) As you can see, that idea isn't coming from no where. It's based on current speculation.
Which means, EPIC would have to spend more money and time on an architecture that no one will be using. This is not good for them. Why should they do that? I bet when we heard Epic was urging the console makers to use more powerful tech, that the actual conversation was please use x86. It makes it easier for developers and them. Everyone pretty much on the same playing field. Everyone besides Nintendo, of course.
Third party developers could also spend resources developing UNREAL 4 for the Wii U, but why should they. People buy Nintendo systems for Nintendo games.
So, those are the mistakes Nintendo made. In my point of view.
Future:
Now where is Nintendo heading? Are they heading towards their end? Will the House of Mario die out, like the House of Sonic did with the Dreamcast? The answer is no. Nintendo, unlike Sega, is sitting on a lot of cash. They have the money to develop -- unlike with the Wii -- a new form of controlling games and HD hardware. To develop their own DVD that has a lot of space. These things aren't cheap. It's why the Wii U is currently loosing profit on every system sold. It's not because of how much it costs to actually produce the parts or buy them. It's because they have to pay the R&D back, which they aren't currently. It'll get cheaper and better as time goes on. Not a huge problem. Again, Nintendo is sitting on a lot of money.
I believe that once they launch their system sellers there will be no stopping Nintendo. They won't end up last, or if they do it won't matter because the numbers are so close everyone would be at the same spot. As a side note, I don't think anyone will be a looser this gen. Looking at this generation, the PS3 and Xbox 360 are so close that I consider them both second place. You can't say selling over 70 million units is a bad thing. I for one didn't see Sony doing that. They did, though. This generation I see everyone selling, in the end, around the same amount.
I think -- hopefully -- that this experience taught Iwata something. That they don't need gaps in games. With all these games in the works, they should always have system sellers sold every Quarter of the year. If they can do that with little to no gaps, they could end up having a second Wii on their hands -- which means I would eat my words, because the others won't see that success. However, I don't know if Nintendo can do that. Hopefully they can.
I am typing this on my PC, not my cell phone, so hopefully it will be more thought out and less mistakes I am sure I am know for. Hopefully you enjoyed this and hopefully we will have some nice debates that spring from this post. So ... post and debate! Let's have fun
Edited by MorbidGod, 27 April 2013 - 06:33 PM.
