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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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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.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Generally speaking, in the past the announcement of the next gen product coincides with the current product hitting it's stride with the most high quality games.
Obligatory Penny Arcade link
It's almost a given that the first 24 months or so a console is out, most of the games suck, hard. Certainly their are a gem or two in the manure pile, but it takes about 2.5 years for a strong selection of high quality games to be available. By that time you can buy the console for around 1/2 the original cost, and get those few early good games on the cheap.
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).
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
if Nintendo can launch a next gen console that is backwards compatible with the GC, then I think they'll be in great shape. I don't know what their plans regarding compatibility are, but maintaining it is definitely a good thing (e.g., phenomenal PS2 sales).
As for developers and a slew of games, they haven't been doing half-bad in this department. In the past couple of years, they've made deals with some of the bigger names and franchises (getting some Final Fantasy, some Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid), so developers definitely are seeing potential in the big N. Getting to market first with a new console and an exclusive or 2 from a big name (say a Mario game plus an established 3rd party franchise) would really push Nintendo along...
And finally the price, if I'm recalling correctly, Nintendo almost always has the cheapest hardware, both on launch (weren't PS2 and Xbox ~250-300 while GC was closer to 200?) and throughtout the sales cycle, so there's not much worry there.
The GBA and it's remote boot fixed that by letting you play with one cartridge (although you were limited by the GBAs memory). The DS is supposed to keep this feature. This means the new biggest problem is the cable.
The cables are unsightly, you have to carry one around, and they are "short". Sure they may be long, but in practice (like two people in a car or on a plane, one sitting in front of the other) the cable can seem short and get in the way. I've never played 3 or 4 player games, but I would imagine that it only gets worse.
The wireless is fantastic though. Not only do you not need to fuss with the cable, but they could do 8 player, or 16 player, or more! Imagine if you got enough people with a football game, you could have one person play each player on the field! Or do something similar with many other sports. There are many cool things that this opens up; and if it's WiFi/Bluetooth that could mean internet play too.
There are other little bonuses too. Bluetooth has a standard printer protocall (if I understand correctly) to allow cell phones and PDAs and such to print things easily. Think of just walking up your DS to a printer, pressing a button, and having your highscore table printed out, or the sections of the map you know in Metroid, or something like that. Add in that you could take a picture on a cellphone and Bluetooth it to the GBA to put you in the game. This plus the touch screen means the best Mario Paint game ever could be made. Real drawing, printing, saving (move files over BT), internet sharing (BT or WiFi), putting your picture in, etc.
The DS (and WiFi and BT) open up tons of cool opertunities. The tech demos that were shown and such are just the tip of the ice burg.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
I've seen DVD players for 30 bucks. If nintendo put in a DVD player, it would cost an extra 30 bucks or more. A lot of people own DVD players, I think those people would prefer not to pay the extra cash for a feature they already have. Plus, some of that extra money just goes to Sony, since they license the technology. Believe me when I say DVD playback functionality will no longer help sell a significant amount consoles.
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