So what exactly are the people at Nintendo thinking?

[Mr.Mattress]

I can not understand why Nintendo hasn't done a World Of Pokemon MMORPG yet. It'd sell Wii Us like hotcakes. Oh the millions that could be made...

As much as I would love that, I can think of a few reason as to why they wouldn't do it:

1) They probably can't do it cheap and quick.
2) They probably can't do it where on Launch day it would work all nice and dandy.
3) They probably don't have the expertise to do it currently.
4) MMO's are dieing sadly.
5) How would an MMO work for Pokemon? Pokemon is very turn-based oriented, and MMO's usually don't translate Turn base very well. On top of that, Pokemon catching would be confusing, there would be no raids (1 Pokemon against 5? That's no fun. And an MMO with no Raids? That's no fun either), and Grinding would get annoying when all the Pokemon are constantly dead.

 

[Roxas1359]

How can you say calling someone an idiot is wrong when they still see Nintendo as a failure? Maybe trying re-reading what Kittypaw (the idiot poster) posted to see the point that I was getting at. If you have trouble ask your parents to help out.

You know, insulting other users, even calling them things such as an "idiot", are still against the rules. Also, that last part of the sentence is very demeaning and isn't called for. You'll learn how it is here soon enough.

 

[Roxas1359]

Right..I'm not the one failing to understand why I called one of the above posters an idiot. I'm not one of your parents (thank God). I'm fine in my article reading and understanding skills. You on the other hand and that idiot poster need to stay in therapy. I know you are just a kid. You are trying to sound like a big man. It's like someone learning a new language and trying to sound intelligent. I weep for the future.

Look, I was just giving some advice since you're new here and might not have known. You should really read the Code of Conduct to see what is and isn't punishable is all I'm saying, no need to attack me.
Also, while I'm definitely not a kid, 19 here, I do like to think I am one at heart, which Nintendo just so happens to cater to from time to time. Now if only they could fix their advertising problem and region locking problem.

 

[Brian Tams]

I can not understand why Nintendo hasn't done a World Of Pokemon MMORPG yet. It'd sell Wii Us like hotcakes. Oh the millions that could be made...

Why do people think this is appealing? I'm honestly curious. I've thought about the possibilities of an MMO, and there isn't a single thing that was appealing to me.

Can someone explain this desire?

 

[Austin Manning]

Those numerous features are mostly irrelevant to a GAME console.
Let us list them.
Facebook
Netflix
YouTube
Twitter
Additional social media stuff.

Am I missing any key features that the PS4 and the XBox 1 have ?

You did forget to mention that Nintendo has a number of those features on their recent consoles as well as other things like the weather network.

Nintendo does actually have an online service for the Wii, WiiU, and 3ds (even for the regular DS, but that is slightly different). This service has game sales (for ridiculously low prices too) along with extras and options for your system.
Also do note that Nintendo has yet to release a firmware patch to add basic functionality to either the WiiU or the 3DS, unlike Sony and Microsoft, who have day 1 patches for the PS4 and XB1 so that those consoles actually function as intended.

Okay I'm going to stop you right their because you've made a factual error. Nintendo released MASSIVE day one patches when the Wii U first launched to the point where journalists were actually writing articles about how the basic Wii U bundle was worthless because its hard drive couldn't hold the both the firmware updates and a single game install.

 

[Bruce]

Okay, here is how I see Nintendo:

If you look at their titles, they tend not to follow established wisdom declaring genres dead. Mario was a platformer for years when there really weren't all that many platformers, Pokemon doesn't have a lot of competition in its genre, The Legend of Zelda hasn't had much competition since Landstalker.

Nintendo sticks with making the games it makes - without really paying attention to what the rest of the industry is doing.

And the net result is - it revived the gaming industry when Atari was supposed to have killed it, it is still a console manufacturer after Sega became a publisher/developer, it is still making money and it is still making excellent games.

To Nintendo what Microsoft and Sony do isn't particularly relevant to their business model, because their model is based on what they want to do.

 

[daveNYC]

To Nintendo what Microsoft and Sony do isn't particularly relevant to their business model, because their model is based on what they want to do.

That's great, but Sony and Microsoft are direct competitors to Nintendo. So maybe Nintendo doesn't think that Sony and Microsoft are relevant, but reality harshly disagrees with that.

And I'm not sure why people think that Nintendo is doing peachy and has nothing to worry about. Their Q1 and Q2 profit was $6M, Q2 had them posting a nasty loss. On the sales front, the Wii U has moved 4M units worldwide, and that's with an entire year with only the long in the tooth PS3 and 360 as competition. None of these are good things.

So maybe Nintendo is OK with ditching all the inroads it made with the Wii. Maybe their business plan is based entirely on a small but intense customer base that buys every first-party title that Nintendo develops. I hope not though, because that plan is dependent on neither of the other consoles encroaching on Nintendo's turf. They need to take a look at the Wii U, figure out why it's doing so poorly, and then try and do something about it.

 

[Dragonbums]

How can you say calling someone an idiot is wrong when they still see Nintendo as a failure? Maybe trying re-reading what Kittypaw (the idiot poster) posted to see the point that I was getting at. If you have trouble ask your parents to help out.

Right, so not only did you not listen to my advice to not get a warning, you then go ahead and insult my reading comprehension as well. Which lands you with a two solid warnings in a single thread.

Not a stellar track record if you want to stay here for long. Oh well. I guess you can learn by example too.


On that note, I did read what Kittyhawk has said. If you disagreed with what he/she said about Nintendo, there would of been no harm in simply replying to said user and engaging in a debate from there.

If you didn't want to talk to the person simply referencing them in a non inflammatory matter would of sufficed enough to get your point across.

However I was late to the party on this one. Neronium already told you this.

 

[Bruce]

To Nintendo what Microsoft and Sony do isn't particularly relevant to their business model, because their model is based on what they want to do.

That's great, but Sony and Microsoft are direct competitors to Nintendo. So maybe Nintendo doesn't think that Sony and Microsoft are relevant, but reality harshly disagrees with that.

And I'm not sure why people think that Nintendo is doing peachy and has nothing to worry about. Their Q1 and Q2 profit was $6M, Q2 had them posting a nasty loss. On the sales front, the Wii U has moved 4M units worldwide, and that's with an entire year with only the long in the tooth PS3 and 360 as competition. None of these are good things.

So maybe Nintendo is OK with ditching all the inroads it made with the Wii. Maybe their business plan is based entirely on a small but intense customer base that buys every first-party title that Nintendo develops. I hope not though, because that plan is dependent on neither of the other consoles encroaching on Nintendo's turf. They need to take a look at the Wii U, figure out why it's doing so poorly, and then try and do something about it.

I am not entirely sure they are direct competitors. Sony and Microsoft tend to market to young adults, while Nintendo tends to market to young families.

Anyway the major reason why a lot of people aren't that worried about Nintendo is that it has ridden this sort of thing out before with the Game Cube on the strength of its handheld consoles. The 3DS is doing pretty well after getting a year of TLC on the games front, and with the right games Nintendo can still pull off a comeback.

 

[Multi-Hobbyist]

>Nintendo
>thinking

As if they see anything other than $$ in their eyes. I also have it on good authority their brains have been replaced with countless amounts of copy pasted versions of a single game or 2 in their heads. Though, for their most "recent" work, I'll thank them for letting MOTHER 3 see the light of day, even if it was only on their soil.

 

[daveNYC]

I am not entirely sure they are direct competitors. Sony and Microsoft tend to market to young adults, while Nintendo tends to market to young families.

Anyway the major reason why a lot of people aren't that worried about Nintendo is that it has ridden this sort of thing out before with the Game Cube on the strength of its handheld consoles. The 3DS is doing pretty well after getting a year of TLC on the games front, and with the right games Nintendo can still pull off a comeback.

They do go after different demographics, but there's more than enough overlap for them to be in competition for the family entertainment budget. Heck, the 3DS competes with the various tablets for mobile gaming share, though in that case the products are quite different. And focusing like that might allow a company to do a better job of catering to their customers, but the flip side is that you don't have much to fall back on in case Microsoft somehow produces the most popular Kinect party game ever or Sony hits the sweet spot with Little Big Planet World 3D.

The 3DS is doing well, but it's not doing well enough to keep Nintendo going if the entire home console division ends up being dead weight. Not without cutting people on hardware and probably software.

 

[VG_Addict]

Could Nintendo become totally irrelevant in the home console market?

 

[daveNYC]

Atari, Mattel, Coleco and Magnavox all did. It'd be pretty crazy since for a good chunk of the 80s, Nintendo == video_games, at least in my mind, but it's not that outlandish a scenario. Wii U sales don't improve, there isn't enough of a customer base there to really support the software side of the business (for consoles) so they ditch the console biz, focus on the portable hardware, and start making Mario/Zelda/whatever for the other two.

Not likely, but it's not totally loco.

 

[Roxas1359]

Could Nintendo become totally irrelevant in the home console market?

Nah, at most they can become more niche appeal I think, which isn't wrong per say, but they can still be so much more than just niche.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

Atari, Mattel, Coleco and Magnavox all did. It'd be pretty crazy since for a good chunk of the 80s, Nintendo == video_games, at least in my mind, but it's not that outlandish a scenario. Wii U sales don't improve, there isn't enough of a customer base there to really support the software side of the business (for consoles) so they ditch the console biz, focus on the portable hardware, and start making Mario/Zelda/whatever for the other two.

Not likely, but it's not totally loco.

I won't disagree that Nintendo might not be around forever, but as of right now, even with the WiiU, I cannot see Nintendo going the way of Atari, Mattel (Still alive), Coleco and Magnavox (Now a part of Philips) in the Short term. It would take at least 3 WiiU's and 2 Virtual Boys for me to start worrying. As of right now, I'm more worried for Sony, simply because a grand majority of their departments are tanking, their credit rating is junk, and they no longer have an American Headquarters. While the PS4 is doing remarkably well (Right now), I'm still worried for them.

 

[Battenberg]

Should Nintendo stick with the Wii U and try to make the best of it or pull the plug and start a new hardware cycle early? In either case, what would you want to see?

I hugely doubt they ever would after so little time and it's a bit hypocritical given my views on PS4 and XBone but I think they should just give up on the Wii U and make a new console. Still within the Wii range (or at least borrowing heavily from it) but with advances that are actually going to make the console better. The whole second screen thing has always just come across as the hardware equivalent ot using buzzwords on your CV, eye catching but ultimately without substance or purpose. Oculus Rift on the other hand is incorporating motion and a more physical sense of immersion. If Nintendo could combine the original Wii console with something like Oculus Rift that would be pretty awesome and certainly something I'd feel was worth buying (and hopefully something developers would feel is worth making games for, most likely including loads of exclusives). Of course this is more me wanting virtual reality gaming to be a thing than it is me specifically wanting Nintendo to make this console but I still think it would have been a more logical next step than the Wii U was.

 

[kekkres]

Should Nintendo stick with the Wii U and try to make the best of it or pull the plug and start a new hardware cycle early? In either case, what would you want to see?

I hugely doubt they ever would after so little time and it's a bit hypocritical given my views on PS4 and XBone but I think they should just give up on the Wii U and make a new console. Still within the Wii range (or at least borrowing heavily from it) but with advances that are actually going to make the console better. The whole second screen thing has always just come across as the hardware equivalent ot using buzzwords on your CV, eye catching but ultimately without substance or purpose. Oculus Rift on the other hand is incorporating motion and a more physical sense of immersion. If Nintendo could combine the original Wii console with something like Oculus Rift that would be pretty awesome and certainly something I'd feel was worth buying (and hopefully something developers would feel is worth making games for, most likely including loads of exclusives). Of course this is more me wanting virtual reality gaming to be a thing than it is me specifically wanting Nintendo to make this console but I still think it would have been a more logical next step than the Wii U was.

that would be a horrible idea. lets assume for a moment that the wiiU is in fact a horrible console and will never catch on staying at its current sales rate. they would be better off staying in that scenario than trying to press a "reset button" and telling everyone who DID buy a wiiU "well oops we goofed but this one is going to be good, we promise" and then asking them to buy ANOTHER console. from a business standpoint it makes more sense to suffer though this gen and let the 3DS pull them though and then learn from all their mistakes for next next gen.

 

[Vylox]

Those numerous features are mostly irrelevant to a GAME console.
Let us list them.
Facebook
Netflix
YouTube
Twitter
Additional social media stuff.

Am I missing any key features that the PS4 and the XBox 1 have ?

You did forget to mention that Nintendo has a number of those features on their recent consoles as well as other things like the weather network.

Nintendo does actually have an online service for the Wii, WiiU, and 3ds (even for the regular DS, but that is slightly different). This service has game sales (for ridiculously low prices too) along with extras and options for your system.
Also do note that Nintendo has yet to release a firmware patch to add basic functionality to either the WiiU or the 3DS, unlike Sony and Microsoft, who have day 1 patches for the PS4 and XB1 so that those consoles actually function as intended.

Okay I'm going to stop you right their because you've made a factual error. Nintendo released MASSIVE day one patches when the Wii U first launched to the point where journalists were actually writing articles about how the basic Wii U bundle was worthless because its hard drive couldn't hold the both the firmware updates and a single game install.

2 things.
All of the TV apps and social media apps and software on the Nintendo products is entirely optional. You can even delete them or uninstall at your leisure. This is not the case for the 360, PS3, XBox1, or PS4 as they are built into the firmware and unremovable.

Secondly, while Nintendo did release a firmware patch for the WiiU, it was NOT for BASIC functionality. You could still play games or use the disk reader regardless. It only addressed a single issue about downloading and installing games from the eShop. Unlike the day 1 patch for the PS4 in order for the system to even read or recognize bluray, or the day 1 patch for the XBox1. Those 2 day 1 patches were put up for real functionality issues. Not to address a memory allocation issue (BTW, the patch for the WiiU was to fix how the firmware stored downloaded content. Since the system uses a block based structure, it was reading blocks at the wrong size.) While there was a bit of media attention in regards to this, it wasn't as big of a deal as it was made out to be.
Yet there seems to be no complaints about the day 1 patches for both of the XBox1 or PS4 by those same media people. I wonder why that is?

 

[Saelune]

I can not understand why Nintendo hasn't done a World Of Pokemon MMORPG yet. It'd sell Wii Us like hotcakes. Oh the millions that could be made...

As much as I would love that, I can think of a few reason as to why they wouldn't do it:

1) They probably can't do it cheap and quick.
2) They probably can't do it where on Launch day it would work all nice and dandy.
3) They probably don't have the expertise to do it currently.
4) MMO's are dieing sadly.
5) How would an MMO work for Pokemon? Pokemon is very turn-based oriented, and MMO's usually don't translate Turn base very well. On top of that, Pokemon catching would be confusing, there would be no raids (1 Pokemon against 5? That's no fun. And an MMO with no Raids? That's no fun either), and Grinding would get annoying when all the Pokemon are constantly dead.

Guild Wars 2 doesn't have raids, and its fun. As for a Pokémon MMO, clearly it could not be an action MMO, but why not just have battles be instanced and turn based, just as any Pokémon battle on Gameboy? A Pokémon MMO should probably just play like any regular Pokémon game, but instead of being one story and one region, have all the regions and have other players instead of NPCs. I don't think it would be as hard as people make it seem, but it also shouldn't try to be some huge budget cinematic affair.