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Nintendo's Iwata Says Old Console Cycle Dead
1up is reporting on comments from Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, who has offered up the opinion that the four-year console cycle is a thing of the past. Instead, he says, companies should look to iterate on their hardware when an opportunity presents itself. "Launches should depend on when it can signify a major shift in entertainment, or when they have done everything possible with the current hardware. He also says that scheduling the successor to current hardware on a 4-year life cycle without paying attention to changes in the market 'appears to be too inflexible an approach to us.' This isn't to say that the company doesn't have eyes on the future. 'We need to forecast what the future will be like with the expected evolution of new technologies which are available at any given time, and try to identify the so-called 'sweet spot' of technology over the next few years,' he said."
So did the PSX's laser, for those of us who remember. Later, the hardware got better. Not nearly to the same degree. It's like comparing the WWII wartime atrocities record of Japan vs Canada.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."