Nintendo To Debut Next-Gen Console At E3 2005

An anonymous reader writes "According to Reuters, Nintendo has indicated it will debut its next-generation console at next May's E3, as part of financial results in which the company showed net profit of 70 billion yen ($625 million) - this figure still 'fell by half in the past business year, hurt by disappointing sales of its GameCube console and currency losses, but [Nintendo] predicted earnings would bounce back this year.' The company also indicated 'target shipments of 3.5 million 'DS' machines', with Nintendo's Yoshihiro Mori saying: 'In order to have the DS out by Christmas, we plan to start production late summer or early fall and boost production every month.'"

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Re:Promises, promises...

[MBCook]

Nintendo had a bit of a problem because by the time it was launched the PS2 was already huge. There were almost certanly people who if they came out much closer whould have gone with a 'cube. But they launched later.

As for the Dreamcast, it launched a year+ early. It wasn't a "next-gen" system so much as a system inbetween generations. It was launched TOO early. If the DC had been released 3-6 months before the PS2, I bet it would have done better. I think it would have still died due to other factors, but it would have done better than it did.

And this is what Nintendo is trying to do. They want to launch about 6 months before the PS3. They will get a head start, but won't be seen as an inbetween generation.

As for the games, they did a decent job with the GBA launch, a good job with the GC launch. We've learned that more good games at launch means a better system, so the companies understand that. The PSP is supposed to launch with a bunch of games, not that "here is 3, and few care about the other two" that the N64 saw. Few games hurt Nintendo in the N64 days, I think they've learned their lesson. I also think that $150 or $200 would be a perfect price point to launch at, especially with Sony probably going near $250 or $300 with the PS3.

That's my take anyways.

Re:Backwards Compatibility?

[MBCook]

I really hope so. The backwards compatability really helped the PS2 (IMO), and I think it would really help the GC2 (or whatever) when it comes out. I'm pretty sure Sony is going to have backward compatability, but MS seems to be waffeling on the issue (which could end-up to their detriment).

As for the mini-disc, while I think they may move off to a different format for the increased storage space (dual layer DVD, maybe blue-laser based DVD), I think that at this point the DVD player aspect of a console is worthless. When the current generation started, a DVD player was $150+. So a $300 PS2 could be thought of a $150+ DVD player plus a $150+ PS1 plus a PS2 so it was a deal. I used my PS2 to watch DVDs for 3 years. But at this point most people who want a DVD player have one, and I doubt that they are going to buy a console simply because it has DVD functionality. You can now buy decent DVD players for $40 or under, so I don't think the ability to play DVDs is a selling point any more.

Now if it plays HD-DVDs (or whatever comes after the DVD), that would be a different story. Sony might do this by using Blue-Ray (their DVD replacement) in the PS3 (my speculation).