Nintendo and the Future

For the past twenty years, the Grandfather of video gaming has always been top dog, there was no stopping them, they defined your childhood but now, Nintendo is up against two of its most fearsome competitors, Xbox and PlayStation. Nintendo clearly lack what the other two have, making Nintendo more of a gimmick rather than a serious business. What does the future hold for Nintendo? With a disappointing but not disastrous financial loss so far this year of £580 million compared to Xbox’s £470 million loss and Play Stations £123 million loss, Nintendo are becoming the underdogs. The 3DS, got off to a shaky start with almost an extortionate price and very few games got fans seriously worried about the future of the business. Nintendo however, aren’t worried about poor sales right now because their innovations have paved the way for them to do whatever the hell they want and keep us Mmm’ing and Ahhh’ing for a while longer.

The biggest problem for Nintendo is the heavy state of confusion about who is their market. They want to have it all, casual gamers, hardcore, children… Especially now that it is believed, if reports are true that the Wii will be running alongside Wii U, keeping the casuals and aiming to lure hardcore gamers. Oddly, Nintendo have just released a redesigned Wii, “Family Edition” – for those of you who don’t care about GameCube compatibility. But it won’t be replacing the older model so come next Christmas Grandma might get confused with what console you wanted for Christmas (“No Grandma! I said a Wii U! You’re like stupid and old!)

Some may say that relying on two consoles to cater for all gamers could be seen as foolish. Surely the sensible thing to do would be to stop putting emphasis on how weird you can make a console and concentrate on bringing out some amazing games for hardcore instead of releasing games we’ve played already. We know that Arkham City is a confirmed release for the Wii U, but how many of us have already played it on another platform? No one wants to play games that our Xbox and PlayStation friends play a year before us. With hints, but no official word that the Wii U could now be released later than the original March date, (which my 26^th birthday is now ruined thanks, Nintendo)it will have a grand unveiling at E3 2012, Wii U may be the hottest Christmas present next year, providing the world hasn’t been destroyed…

Fans hoping for a Smash Bros. Release will be disappointed , while there will definitely be a new title, director for both Smash Bros. and Kid Icarus: Uprising, Masahiro Sakurai explained that a new Smash Bros. title could not commence until Kid Icarus: Uprising was finished which leaves us with a possible further three year wait. But it isn’t all gloom and doom. Nintendo have announced some exciting new titles for 2012. We will see Dragon Quest X, a much need MMORPG set for release on both the Wii and Wii U, Personal favourite Mario Party 9 (Wii) , PokePark (Wii) and Animal Crossing 3DS(no confirmed title). Shigeru Miyamoto has also announced that he and a small team are working on a “Brand New” concept. Although Miyamoto has not said much more, rumours insist it is a new game… So he is definitely not retiring but he will retire eventually like everyone else who ever worked.