Okay, now before I say anything, let's get some things clear. I am not a fanboy… Of any company. I am not a hermit, I am not a lemming, I am not a cow, and I am not a sheep. I love my Microsoft, I love my Sony, and I love my Nintendo. This is the best mindset to have if you are a gamer. This way you are not attaching yourself to one (or a select few) companies or consoles. You can have it all. With that being said. Let's begin.
The reason the last three Nintendo consoles have sold so well is for a number of reasons. I will list them here:
(1.) Nintendo over the turn of the 21'st century has become a gimmicky company. Relying on current/upcoming/in development market gimmicks/"innovations" to sell their products right off the bat. I'm definitely not saying that there's anything wrong with that. Nintendo has proven that gimmicks/"innovations" sell. Allow me to give you some examples.
(2.) Nintendo's software/hardware appeals to a larger crowd of people(not to mention most of Japan, The Japanese love their RPG's, Mario, and Pokemon, which is something that Nintendo is ripe with.) Nintendo doesn't appeal nearly as much to core gamers, as much as it does very, very casual gamers, soccer moms/soccer dads, older people who grew up with Nintendo franchises like Mario, little kids, people trying to lose weight without leaving their home(I'm not saying that it doesn't appeal to core gamers at all because it somewhat does, seeing as I like Nintendo) Because of this, Nintendo appeals to a much, much larger consumer pool than Sony, and Microsoft.
(A.) Look at the DS. What was the market becoming crazy about at that time? Touch screens. Nintendo used this as a gimmick/method to sell their product. It worked like a charm. DS's sold like hotcakes. Not to mention developers saw this as a chance to also begin development on this newly found control scheme.
(B.) Now look at the Wii. During it's release what was the gimmick in the market, that was undoubtedly gaining steam? Motion sensitive controls. Which BTW in the Wii's case was often poorly implemented in it's games, also Nintendo had to release the Wii Motion+ to even get their motion controls to the caliber that they first intended it to be.
(C.) Most recently look a the 3DS. Nintendo is doing it again. Using a current market gimmick to sell their product. And once again. It will work like a charm.
Nintendo seems to believe that all you need is an up and coming/current gimmick or innovation of the traditional game pad/joypad/joystick to crop in the sells. Which so far has been true. Many people prefer the traditional control schemes as opposed to motion controls or touch screens though. But everyone wants to try whats "new" or "in". So the systems end up selling well anyway. They are only taking risks in the theoretical sense. Not the literal sense. Think about it. Honestly, what crowd does the Wii generally appeal to? Not hardcore gamers(albeit some hardcore gamers do like the Wii) it appeals to families, soccer moms/soccer dads, people who want to lose weight, little eight year old kids, ETC. With that being said the Wii appeals to an undoubtedly larger audience than the PS3/360. Why do you think a very large portion of it's exclusives are kid/family orientated? Why do you think that it has outsold the two consoles? Because it's target audience is much larger. The Wii implementing motion controls and being graphically a weaker console was not a risky move. Not only did the Wii have the backing of Nintendo's cult-like following, but because of the fact that it was cheaper to make than the other two consoles, it could be sold at a much lower price not to mention the fact that it had the motion controls( that were usually poorly implemented) to propel it to astronomical sales, and profits for Nintendo. The Wii wasn't necessarily created to be an excellent gaming system, it was created to sell to the teeming masses, and it has. Creating the Wii may of seemed like a risky move to the untrained eye, but it wasn't.
Contrary to popular belief the Microsoft/Sony are taking risks. By selling their products at a lose. That is undoubtedly a risky move. Not to mention Sony having free online(I'm not saying that the Wii doesn't because it does, but it is a known fact that the Wii's online is horrible. Not even worth a monthly fee.)
People like to argue that Nintendo's console haven't sold from gimmicks, but from content. This is not true. On average Wii owners play their consoles fewer hours a week than 360/PS3 owners. This is a fact. I'm definitely not saying that Nintendo has bad games they do have good ones, but the PS3/360 on average have better. Go to the following pages on gamespot.com, and look at the highest rated for each of the three consoles. On average the Wii has a lower "Highest Rated" score than the other two consoles. Not to mention that 3rd party multiplatform games are usually absolute garbage on the Wii compared to it's PS3/360 counterparts. Sometimes 3rd party companies don't even bother with the Wii. What is this telling you? That graphics/horsepower/processing power definitely help at making an excellent game. I have given you evidence. Nintendo is gimmicky. Not to mention that with the Wii, Nintendo pretended like their factories were having trouble keeping up with supply, so the consumers would be tricked into buying their product by thinking something like this: "O_o That Wii console must be incredible, it's selling so well that manufacturing plants are having trouble with keeping up with demand, I must have one @_@!!!"(A simple Supply&Demand marketing scheme) People have caught onto this which is why PS3/360 is outselling the Wii as of late both in hardware, and software.
Now let's look at the forthcoming handheld match up. Many people like to argue that the 3DS will PWN the NGP in terms of sales because of it's 3D, it's selection of games, and that the NGP will be "overpriced". They also argue that just because the NGP is much more powerful than the 3DS that it will still PWN it because they believe that since(in terms of sales) DS >>> PSP. I will now properly address all of these "issues".
(1.) Because of the fact that the 3DS has 3D without the need for glasses it will sell very well from the beginning. Just as Nintendo's previous consoles/handhelds have done. But I see something happening. I see a small child having a trigged epilepsy(or worse) due to the 3DS. I know very well that such things can be triggered from non 3D systems/consoles, but guess what people? The 3DS has more complex visuals than any console before it(3D without glasses) The media WILL blow things out of proportion, and make things very rough for the 3DS, some eye doctors may even argue that the 3DS is more likely to trigger this than other consoles(This may be true, though I am not sure.) Mothers/Fathers will be wary to buy their children a 3DS after this occurrence. And what does that mean? More sales for the NGP….. Possibly MANY, MANY more sales….
(2.) Now lets look at it's selection of games…. Nintendo hasfamed video games licenses on lock, like Pokemon, Mario ETC. But let's look at the console market for a moment. Especially the console markets of non-Asian countries. Like countries in continents like Europe, and North America. What genre of game dominate these home console markets? Shooters. Without a doubt. Now many of you might say: "What in the hell does that have to do with portable systems?". I'll tell you what…. What is of utmost importance for a controller to have for a shooter to work? Two good/solid/well functioning analog sticks. And until now, no portable gaming machine has had that. Which is why shooters have not yet begun to dominate portable gaming consoles. The NGP has both of these. What is going to happen? The NGP will get all of the excellent/great selling shooters that people love. Hell, Microsoft may even publish some games for it, if it doesn't want to dip it's feet in the handheld market with it's own system. Everyone who even moderately enjoys shooters, and isn't a complete Nintendo fan boy/hates Sony will buy an NGP. There is a reason that shooters dominate the home console market, and not games like Pokemon. So people saying that the NGP will have no games like the PSP need to stop saying that. Not to mention that the NGP is powerful enough to support any kind of game of any genre, not to mention that it has the controls to do so. NGP will have a hefty game selection, it just corrects any reasons as to why the PSP did not.
(3.) The NGP will not be overpriced. Sony has learned from it's mistakes. Which is why a PS3 costs half of what it use to. $299.99 from $599.99. Not to mention if the NGP costs $350, and the 3DS costs $250 you are undoubtedly getting more bang for you buck with the NGP.
(4.) In terms of sales the DS >>> PSP. That is a fact. And people like to use this as an outline as proof that once again Nintendo's handheld will outsell Sony's. But like I stated above, all of those reasons as to why that has happened are being corrected. They also like to use this as proof that graphical power does not make a better console. Well just let me say this: The differences in graphical power is like comparing a Wii, and a 360. The 3DS isn't quite as powerful as the Wii, and the NGP isn't quite as powerful as a 360. It may be the same strength of a 360, but that is questionable. Now as I have stated, and proven before. Graphical prowess does undoubtedly give a console the ability to make better games. Which is why the average game on the 360/PS3 is better than one on the Wii. This is not the DS, and PSP battle here. This is the 3DS and NGP battle. One of them is a powered up DS with 3D, and the other has completely evolved. If there are multiplatform games from 3rd party developers that appear on the NGP, and 3DS. The 3DS version will almost all the time be watered down. Just as multiplatform games that appear on the PS3/360/Wii, the Wii almost always gets the watered down version. The differences in graphic prowess/ and control innovation is just too vast.
TBH the 3DS will outsell the NGP out of the gate. But overtime. The NGP will catch up, and beat out the 3DS in North America, Australia, and Europe. Although The 3DS will definitely outsell the NGP in Japan, and other Asian countries. Due to the specific tastes of easterners, and cultural/social/economical influences. I am not a fanboy. I'm just a gamer who sees things for what they are. And, I will buy both of these handhelds.
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