So I decided to take a posting break, since my job was getting the better of me anyways, so I got a LOT to reply to... sorry....
I actually disagree with this. The reason exclusives became unfeasible is because this generation was everything last gen WASN'T. The only hardware leader this gen was the Wii, and no one knew how to TOUCH it because there was nothing remotely traditional about it. And the 360 and PS3 basically divided the market in half in NA and Europe, with Japan left to figure out what to do with all the money they invested backing the PS3 essentially going down the tube for the first 4 years of the console's life. It was a giant MESS, so multi-platform for the HD consoles was the ONLY way to make things better.
But we're not walking into that situation this time. This time, we're walking into a generation with Nintendo coming out first, in full fighting spirit. With all we already know, 3rd parties finally have an opt-out on motion controls, HD hardware AND an online platform to work with. It's also first out of the gate.
So while western devs may still multi-plat as they have for EVERY generation since the dawn of time, Japan's development world will likely side with Nintendo, and thus the exclusive will be reborn.
Japan more than any other region usually only picks one pony to bet on. Given Nintendo's current track record and having a console that removes all the previous barriers to entry, I feel confident in saying that horserace has already been decided.
Mark my words. The exclusive will return.
If they were to add hard drives, they'd go for SSDs for the speed advantage. But they're bloody expensive. The other problem is non-NAND hard drives have crap reliability, and I doubt Nintendo would want to release hardware with an unreliable component like that. Not making one allows them to absolve responsibility for it. As long as Nintendo Network allows redownloading via your purchase history, I see no problem there.
And actually,
iSuppli still lists even 16GB of NAND flash as costing $20. Mind you, that's the stuff in the iPhone, they could probably get costs down with a type that has slower data access speeds.
I expected no less from Giant Bomb. It baffles me how people love them here when I get more from reading GAF, both intellectually and news-wise, than I ever have from them.
This... is interesting. I've had this theory that, by introducing asymmetrical multiplayer, Nintendo wants to do away with AI support characters whenever possible. You see everyone complain about how completely useless helper AIs are, so... yeah, just saying that this will be a talk to watch for, I think.
I called Dragon Quest X going to WiiU when GAF's Dragon Quest Defense Force said that we'd fly into the SUN before we ever saw a Dragon Quest on an unproven platform.
And I'm going to call something else... FFVersusXIII is going to come to WiiU, and it will revive interest in the series. Coupled with use of Luminous Engine and a shortening of the production cycle, the series will come back from the dead.
Calling it.
Well, considering the team-up with Microsoft didn't work well for them, I hope to see many more amazing things from Sakaguchi and Nintendo. I say they should re-do The Last Story for WiiU and give it another try at a fan base.