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Nintendo's GCNext Direction Outlined By Iwata
Thanks to GameSpy for its in-depth interview with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata regarding "what's gone wrong, what's gone right, and why Nintendo will end up on top." Iwata admits that "the competition is tougher than ever before; and in the short run, we have seen declining profitability", but makes it clear that the next-gen GameCube (which he calls "GCNext or GCN") isn't about raw processing power - rather, Nintendo are "discussing... what should be done to entertain people in a new way; and in order to achieve this, what functionality must be added to our current technology."
They seem to be getting more and more out of touch with the general gaming populace. The first console I purchased this generation was a Gamecube. It had some great games, like the Resident Evil remake, RE Zero, Eternal Darkness, etc. And the Wavebird is an absolutely fantastic controller. However.. I ditched the GC in favor of the XBox after the very poor online game support and selection the GC provided. Wish they would get with the times, because Nintendo publishes some excellent games. I'd like to see them ditch the console hardware business and start publishing for other platforms.
Nintendo has made a lot of bad decisions by failing to address a HUGE hole in their business: networked games. Ok, so there are four ports now, so it's more party-friendly, good for groups of kids who play together. So you've added features including interfacing with the GBA. Great tie-in. But what about adults, the original NES owners, who have their own lives in different areas apart from their good friends but still play regularly with each other? If you ask me, the GameCube has the best chance of creating solid networked games because you've got the potential for four people per Cube without a multitap - ie. the whole idea is multiplayer.
Also, I question the portability issue of the cube. It's not like they got rid of all the attachments necessary to make a gamecube truly portable. You still have to hook up the audio. You still have to plug it into a DC outlet. You still have to bring the controllers along. Sure it's lighter than a PS2, but that still doesn't mean it's a whole lot easier to lug around.
Get something going along networked gaming. M$ and Sony are killing along those lines.
Also, get some adult-themed games going. Maybe even allow independant parties to make games for your system without imposing minimums like a 10,000 minidisc purchase.
In many ways, Iwata has made some good points (while loosing the plot on others of course)... First off, his comment about people finding it hard to notice the graphical improvements with the new formats, while not quite as insignificant as he makes them sound, are probably quite right. I don't know about you, but most non-gamers don't have a clue what the technical differences are between the current 3 formats. Sure some may know the XBox is more powerful than the PS2, but clearly few see it as a big thing. And one could argue that in terms of raw power, the XBox outshines the Gamecube, but lets be fair, you'd be kinda hard pressed to see it when looking at both formats top games. And I think this is the point Iwata was making here. The Gamecube wasn't as powerful as the XBox on paper (save the PPC vs Intel x86 debate guys), but it proved to be little hinderance in the real world, and saved Nintendo lots of money in the long run. Frankly if Nintendo used slightly less powerful parts for a fraction of the cost like they did with the GameCube, I'm all for it. What I'm not too sure Iwata has the right track on is this 'new technologies' thing he refers to. Why are they so hell-bent on changing the way games are played anyway? Sure, innovation is a good thing, but is the dual-screen feature of the DS really an innovation, or a gimmick? Will it be a key part of handheld gaming in the future? I doubt it. And for some reason, this also reminds me of the strange design of the N64 controller which, while very cool after a while, soon saw Nintendo returning to a more conventional design with the GameCube. I think Nintendo try too hard in this catagory and must realise that some things people just like better when they are familiar with them.
All three controllers have a very similar button configuration (two sticks, a dpad, 4 face buttons and 2, or 4 on the PS1/2, shoulder buttons). This would enable Nintendo to simply rearrange the buttons on the controller (the resizing of the face buttons, while a good idea, has hardly been used to its potential) and making the C-stick simply a "right stick" and the d-pad usable (honestly, the thing is just too damn small). The L and R buttons provide a great sense of feedback and control that neither XBox's or PS2's shoulder buttons have, and I believe they're the one truly saving grace of the GCN controller.
All Nintendo needs to do is figure out a better configuration of the same amount of buttons, which would allow for play using an old Wavebird, but sometimes awkwardly (similar to a regular PS1 controller being used on games with the Dual Shock in mind, but not required.)