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What if Nintendo converged their systems next generation?

Miles X

Member
I'm a big believer in this idea. All signs are pointing in this direction.

Now if they added phone functionality to this device....they would dominate.

Mm just like how people would pass on iPads because of the Gamepad .... (yes I heard this a fair bit)

Lets not kid ourselves here, Nintendo should stay away from phones.
 
:/
They did it for the gameboy, they did it for the gameboy advance, they didn't do it for the DS for obvious reasons (2 screens, touch etc) but the Gamepad has everything necessary to play DS and 3DS games.

I believe it's completely different to play a game on your DS which has both screens next to each other and the same size than the Wii U setup. Some DS games "could" work but a lot would just be weird and awkward. And DS games stretched in HD screens.... that would look horrible.

And Nintendo would never release 3DS emulation while the 3DS it's still in the market, they want you to buy a 3DS.
 

jdmonmou

Member
If you enjoy people complaining the Wii U's lack of power now, imagine how fun the conversations will be when Nintendo's next living room console is also a handheld, which has to balance system performance with the desire for a battery life that exceeds 5 minutes.

I've been very critical of Nintendo making a less powerful system than the competition in the Wii U, but I think having a platform that doubles both as a home console and portable is a pretty great idea. I, and I think a lot of other people too, would overlook the fact that it may be less powerful than the other systems.

The thing is...I think Sony and Microsoft will be first to market with this since they're invested in the cloud technology. Also, Sony may even expand its remote play feature from being only on local wifi to mobile networks.
 

Ecotic

Member
This would be another bad idea in a long list of bad ideas that have led Nintendo to even consider this bad idea. There's many paths for Nintendo to take to make a successful console, they don't have to take the downsizing path where next time they're just making handhelds and in ten years they're iOS developer, losing the fight to Rovio.
 
A handheld that HDMI outputs into a television is still a handheld. So isn't that just Nintendo dropping out of consoles?

And what about the Nintendo Holy Grail, game design? Do they break up their games into bite sized chunks, like a traditional handheld? Do they make longer, more involved console styled games? Which are third parties supposed to do? How do you support local pick up and play multiplayer in any meaningful way with a console that isn't necessarily plugged in at all times? One of the things with Wii U is Nintendo wanted as little barrier between playing and not playing (Gamepad boots before console, can change inputs with Gamepad, etc). How does having to hook up the hardware to the tv every time you play work into this strategy?

This doesn't get into the financials of the idea, which don't work into Nintendo's favor. Beside the obvious single revenue stream, Nintendo's rule of "one per gen" would have to go out the window. Last gen had two NSMB games and two Mario Kart games that all did over 20 million a piece. So unless you think these series perform twice as well, then Nintendo now has to either release two a gen or take half the profit. Lose lose.

Terrible idea all around, we'll never see it happen.
 

xandaca

Member
They'd be in serious shit if it failed, and there's no reason to believe anyone wants anything like this. Wii U adds portable properties to a home console and isn't exactly setting the world alight. At the moment, the improving fortunes of the 3DS are likely subsidising to some extent the failings of the Wii U. Nintendo would be mad to put all their eggs in one basket when their reputation in the home console market is worse than ever, all they need to do is manage their resources more appropriately. They tend to have a huge number of handheld releases for a while, followed by a huge number of home console releases, with droughts in between. If they can get a more steady stream of games on both and manage their release dates better (for example, it seems a bit silly to have Donkey Kong Country coming out this year in between Rayman and Mario 3DLand - for my money, it'd be more sensible to shift it slightly to fill a gap in the 2014 release schedule, as Wii U has plenty of games around that time), they should be fine to handle two machines at once.

More likely, should they need to make concessions in the distant future (because their cash reserves mean they can continue their current strategy for some time before becoming even remotely worried) is that they go exclusively handheld. Many people are saying handhelds are dying out, but I think the 3DS' growth suggests there is definitely a market for a dedicated handheld gaming machine, and Nintendo would save money developing for home consoles as well. Personally, I want them to stay in the home console market as I don't buy handhelds.
 

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
So...what they have right now fits that goal?

You can see another Nintendo home console with even more hi-tech graphics pushing power do you? You see Nintendo staffing up to go toe to toe with studios like Naughty Dog, 343i, et al? I don't. I see them following a path of "good enough for Nintendo IP's", and a PS3 level handheld hybrid will be that.
 

BD1

Banned
I don't know that they will necessarily "converge", but I wouldn't be shocked if the 4DS has technology that streams the game directly to smart televisions.
 
Make the Wii U gamepad with gorilla glass capacitive touch and be the super sized portable tablet system itself (self contained like a super 3DS) with a high res quality screen... Sold. I also want a DS/3DS player for the Wii U. Better yet, build in a slot for those DS/3DS games for my portable Wii 3.

So yea, I basically want a PS Vita with Nintendo games...
 

MisterHero

Super Member
It's gonna be cheap. That means better portable games but weaker console games. It'll be worse at satisfying portable and stationary gamers. Somehow if this hypothetical platform is as powerful as PS4, potential PC/PS5 developers will still think it isn't enough. The idea that this is a "merged console x portable" doesn't work at all.

I'm not nixing the idea completely, but the above is very likely IMO.
 

cloudyy

Member
I believe it's completely different to play a game on your DS which has both screens next to each other and the same size than the Wii U setup. Some DS games "could" work but a lot would just be weird and awkward. And DS games stretched in HD screens.... that would look horrible.

And Nintendo would never release 3DS emulation while the 3DS it's still in the market, they want you to buy a 3DS.
They could give options to show both screen on TV, with different layouts (landscape/portrait) for those specific games. I agree that they want you to buy a 3DS but at the same time they also want you to buy games and sell Wii Us. Also, they can easily sell the DS/3DS cartridge reader at profit. I wouldn't even be surprised if the mysterious connector under the gamepad would serve that purpose.
 
You can see another Nintendo home console with even more hi-tech graphics pushing power do you? You see Nintendo staffing up to go toe to toe with studios like Naughty Dog, 343i, et al? I don't. I see them following a path of "good enough for Nintendo IP's", and a PS3 level handheld hybrid will be that.
PS3 level handheld vs PS5/Xboxtwo/Vita2, really? You think this will compete? This will be even worse than DS > PSP and Wii > PS3/360.

You think third party support is bad now, imagine how bad it'll be then. Lets not even discuss how bad it is to combine the risk of launching one console/handheld vs reducing the risk by launching separately. Imagine the 3DS and Wii U fail launches both rolled into one.
 

Kimawolf

Member
PS3 level handheld vs PS5/Xboxtwo/Vita2, really? You think this will compete? This will be even worse than DS > PSP and Wii > PS3/360.

Well there probably won't be a Vita 2. And I think their next handheld will be closer in power to PS4 than PS3 and for a handheld will be amazing experience.
 

jufonuk

not tag worthy
No Phone stuff,

more of the same in the 3DSXL (no 3ds gimick) but dual analogue that , and have it quad bumper buttons, mutli touch screen, and a HDMI out, increase the specs so Wii U plus

imagine a 3DSXL form factor machine with HDMI out, Wii U + GFX and 3DS and Wii/U Library I would get one, only issue would be second player, so err wii, u route then and have wifi CCPRO etc?

I dunno,
 
Well there probably won't be a Vita 2. And I think their next handheld will be closer in power to PS4 than PS3 and for a handheld will be amazing experience.
I guarantee u there'll be a Vita 2, as much as I can guarantee you Nintendo will ever do this in our lifetime.
 

zhorkat

Member
If Nintendo does do this, they could have 3 screens for gaming. That's 50% more screens than their other platforms! They could even copy Microsoft's SmartGlass and let you use your iPad, giving you a grand total of 4 screens. Imagine the insanity!
 

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
PS3 level handheld vs PS5/Xboxtwo/Vita2, really? You think this will compete? This will be even worse than DS > PSP and Wii > PS3/360.

You think third party support is bad now, imagine how bad it'll be then. Lets not even discuss how bad it is to combine the risk of launching one console/handheld vs reducing the risk by launching separately. Imagine the 3DS and Wii U fail launches both rolled into one.

There will be no Vita2. There will be Sony smartphones with gaming slants, but their dedicated handheld dabbling will end. As such Nintendo will have free-reign, not that they don't right now in that space.

Nintendo is out of the traditional home console race. They sort of said that themselves anyway, but then came back and tried a bit with WiiU going for the core again. Maybe they go and gamble for the Wii effect again and come back with holograms or some other off the wall shit the other two don't go all in on, but third parties presumably wouldnt even bother signing on for the first 2 years of another Nintendo home-box. That market that consistently has 80-100 million users though? Yeah theyre still interested.
 
If Nintendo does do this, they could have 3 screens for gaming. That's 50% more screens than their other platforms! They could even copy Microsoft's SmartGlass and let you use your iPad, giving you a grand total of 4 screens. Imagine the insanity!
So I could play dota, watch porn, order pizza and rage quit all at the same time? Ingenius.

There will be no Vita2. There will be Sony smartphones with gaming slants, but their dedicated handheld dabbling will end. As such Nintendo will have free-reign, not that they don't right now in that space.

Nintendo is out of the traditional home console race. They sort of said that themselves anyway, but then came back and tried a bit with WiiU going for the core again. Maybe they go and gamble for the Wii effect again and come back with holograms or some other off the wall shit the other two don't go all in on, but third parties presumably wouldnt even bother signing on for the first 2 years of another Nintendo home-box. That market that consistently has 80-100 million users though? Yeah theyre still interested.
Just like Nintendo won't leave the console market, Sony won't leave the handheld market. You just proved my point with that last bit, a market of 100 million users and Nintendo is just gonna leave it? That is essentially what they're gonna do if they make this hybrid, its essentially a handheld with a TV output.

Its funny you're concluding all this when these products have just essentially launched. This is the attitude that made everyone scream bomba when the PS3 launched. As much as the Wii was selling, the HD twins were doing fine for themselves, things change over time, not everything needs to do gangbusters right out of the gate.
 
They clearly don't have the resources to fully support two different systems on their own. No company does, no company ever has. Sony is the only closest comparison, and even they can't do shit on the Vita.

I know others have talked about this, and I am hardly the first to this idea. But I'd like your thoughts. What if Nintendo just released a portable next-gen, and sold another device that received video output from that portable wirelessly and streamed it to the TV? That second device wouldn't need any real processing power and could easily be sold for less that $100. It's just a proxy device after all. All of the power would be in the handheld.

It would make sense with Nintendo's recent moves to consolidate their hardware groups, and even consolidated their software groups. And we'd have one fully supported system from them with a pure focus. Gaming on the go as well as at home.
Nintendo already released the hybrid system, is called the Wii U.

Now, is up to them to take the next step. They should but the company is so conservative and frightened they might never do it.
 

Kimawolf

Member
They will only succeed with another home console is if they have some kind of really revolutionary feature like something like a lighter/thinner OR technology or something like it that can make people go wow.
 

MercuryLS

Banned
Not this shit again.

Why would a company entertain the idea of getting one of the two main sources of profit from their market?

Because one of them is successful and the other is an abject failure. I would also encourage Sony to get out of portables.
 

GDGF

Soothsayer
I wouldn't mind if something like this happened in the future, but they still need an additional platform for revenue, just because putting all your eggs in one basket is never a good idea.

My proposal for that stream is a low cost DD handheld (by then the market will be ready) that is completely integrated with Miiverse and supported by continued efforts to reach out to the indie community (like their Unity initiative) and a complete roster of Virtual Console titles.

Sell it for 99 bucks and bring it to market one year before any hypothetical combination console/handheld.
 
It's telling that the 3DS is the more desirable Nintendo delivery device based on today's games vs the Wii U. That will change down the line when the real Wii U system sellers finally come out, but given today's libraries, I'd rather own a 3DS. That's the first time in Nintendo console history I've felt that way. You know what I would be perfectly happy if Nintendo focused only on a really deluxe Vita-Like portable device with a 6"+ screen. That's your blue ocean strategy right there!!
 
Nintendo could start designing and porting most 3DS games to be compatible with Wii U, since after all they align 1:1 in term of input methods. Buy the game in either the 3DS or Wii U, then pay an extra small fee to download the game in the other platform.

This would solve a ton of problems with the Wii U because it could suddenly strenghten the catalogue.

But this company never learns XD
 

JDSN

Banned
Because one of them is successful and the other is an abject failure. I would also encourage Sony to get out of portables.

Theres was a time were people said the same about the 3DS, hell there's still some deep pockets of denial-infested internet in which this "3DS is a failure" is still a fact.
 

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
What blood sacrifice must I make so I don't have to type out the "3DS and PS3 never had the problems WiiU does" argument again so I can stop seeing the lazy "all these things are the same!" line of thinking and projection. How many pints? How many sources? What will you have me do?
 

semiconscious

Gold Member
What if Nintendo just released a portable next-gen, and sold another device that received video output from that portable wirelessly and streamed it to the TV?...

since the gc, i've only really enjoyed the ds & 3ds. this does indeed sound like a very good idea to me...
 
What blood sacrifice must I make so I don't have to type out the "3DS and PS3 never had the problems WiiU does" argument again so I can stop seeing the lazy "all these things are the same!" line of thinking and projection. How many pints? How many sources? What will you have me do?
They sold like shit when they were at a high price and had no games? Yeah thats pretty much the same to me.
 

Urko

Neo Member
This is probably one of the worst ideas I have seen people suggest. Merging handhelds and consoles into one device increases risk. Nintendo would be much better served in continuing to expand their first party output and opening up more western studios.
 
Nintendo is to proud of their long line of successful consoles to allow the Wii U to spoil that for them i don't see Nintendo leaving the handheld or console making business the 3DS is their cash cow no way they would stop producing that and the Wii U will need to be worked on but knowing Nintendo they have a game plan they just haven't revealed all their cards yet ur idea is a interesting one but i don't see Nintendo doing anything like that anytime soon.
 
Too many eggs in one basket, less software diversity within Nintendo, less competition among console manufacturers, no more home console level games from Nintendo, overpriced bulky handheld.

Honestly just sounds like a horrible idea all around.
 

Somnid

Member
I can't say much has changed since the last week or so since we've had this thread.

What I can say in relation to the OP is that some of the underlying ideas do need addressing which is part of their next-gen strategy. They would like to spend less time duplicating work between systems and this is why they are trying to merge the hardware teams. In fact the hope is that this may give them the opportunity to increase their product range beyond 2 devices.
 
Too many eggs in one basket, less software diversity within Nintendo, less competition among console manufacturers, no more home console level games from Nintendo, overpriced bulky handheld.

Honestly just sounds like a horrible idea all around.
The bolded ones are not true. It depends in how developers chose to design the games. Take for example the Baldur's Gate games, some of the deepest most acclaimed RPG's can easily run on a 3DS, yet they are not designed for portable play. So is not the hardware that is defining a "home console level game".

Over priced bulky hanheld, depends on what solution Nintendo could come up for a hybrid system. As an example they could have a "base"designed to be attached to the main screen that helps rendering to higher resolutions and frame rate, while the portable part remains light weight and designed to out put to a smaller resolution of the portable screen.
 

FLAguy954

Junior Member
They clearly don't have the resources to fully support two different systems on their own. No company does, no company ever has. Sony is the only closest comparison, and even they can't do shit on the Vita.

I know others have talked about this, and I am hardly the first to this idea. But I'd like your thoughts. What if Nintendo just released a portable next-gen, and sold another device that received video output from that portable wirelessly and streamed it to the TV? That second device wouldn't need any real processing power and could easily be sold for less that $100. It's just a proxy device after all. All of the power would be in the handheld.

It would make sense with Nintendo's recent moves to consolidate their hardware groups, and even consolidated their software groups. And we'd have one fully supported system from them with a pure focus. Gaming on the go as well as at home.

This shit is absolutely fucking wrong. It has been known for at least the last couple of months that Nintendo has been working on dramatically increasing their workforce to accommodate supporting both a handheld and HD development. Do some goddamn research next time :p (threads of this nature just keep brazenly popping up).
 
This shit is absolutely fucking wrong. It has been known for at least the last couple of months that Nintendo has been working on dramatically increasing their workforce to accommodate supporting both a handheld and HD development. Do some goddamn research next time :p (threads of this nature just keep brazenly popping up).
That's recent. It's been clear since the N64 days that Nintendo has have problems supporting two devices. We don't know yet how well the measures they are taking will stack up.

So OP still has a point.
 

JordanN

Banned
At this point, I'm not sure what Nintendo is going to do next.

If they release another home console and it's not a Wii miracle, it's likely going to die. The lack of any third party support will kill it no matter how much people want to say their first party is infallible.

A converged handheld system represents higher risk but allows them to do more. It would require them to not be lazy anywhere near launch or the first or second year after it. I personally like this idea because their home consoles are now redundant.
 

Gleethor

Member
Let's say they do go with this idea, and they sell just the handheld (or new gamepad as it would likely be called) by itself and also sell it bundled with a console unit.

They'd have to make sure its at least at ps4 levels of power while keeping the price down, but would that even be possible 4 years from now? Could they potentially have games that scale in visual fidelity between the console unit and the handheld unit? Like say, have the base hardware contained in the handheld unit with additional (but not redundant) parts in the console box?

The handheld version of the same game would output at a lower resoultion and maybe have fewer onscreen models and effects, while the console version would utilize the added power of the console box (in tandem with the base parts in the controller). I have no idea if thats even feasible, but with wii u they've invested in super fast local streaming, so maybe some sort of shared-processing solution could work while playing on the hypothetical console unit of this handheld/console hybrid.

I'm sure someone with some actual knowledge about hardware can come shatter my dreams, but if it worked it'd be a hell of a system.
 
I disagree with the premise that nintendo can't support both at once. They have been for over 20 years.

I totally agree with this quote. Nintendo has been proving they can support both since the late 80s when they had both the NES and Gameboy. Just because the company is having difficulty now with one of their platforms (Wii U) doesn't mean they have been struggling forever. Last generation alone, with the Wii and the DS, proves Nintendo can do it.
 

Roto13

Member
Because one of them is successful and the other is an abject failure. I would also encourage Sony to get out of portables.

Their last console was one of the best selling consoles in the history of video games. Why do you act like only the past nine months matter?
 
How about instead of whatever hybrid monstrosity a bunch of people here seem to want, Nintendo builds in some interactions between their home console and handheld so as to give incentive to owning both (for example using a 3DS as a second gamepad, streaming Wii U games to your 3DS for remote play, etc.)
 

Roto13

Member
Did you also forgot about the N64 and Gamecube in those past nine months?

Did you forget the SNES and NES, as long as we're talking about old-ass consoles? Nintendo is perfectly capable of being successful and suggesting that the company responsible for three of the best-selling home consoles of all time should stop making home consoles because they're not constantly in the lead is ludicrous. They've had more successes than Sony and Microsoft combined.
 

zhorkat

Member
There is some really weird correlation between first party support and sales going on here. A console's success in the market, or its lack thereof, is not inextricably tied to the console maker's level of support. There are more factors involved in the sales numbers of the Wii, DS, Wii U, and 3DS then just how many games Nintendo made for each system.
 

Majmun

Member
Did you forget the SNES and NES, as long as we're talking about old-ass consoles? Nintendo is perfectly capable of being successful and suggesting that the company responsible for three of the best-selling home consoles of all time should stop making home consoles because they're not constantly in the lead is ludicrous. They've had more successes than Sony and Microsoft combined.

Ps1 and Ps2 sold more units than any Nintendo console out there. So your last sentence is just wrong.

And the Wii U is just following the downward spiral of sales and popularity of Nintendo consoles that started with the N64. WiiU is no Wii, that's for sure.
 
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