- I love Nintendo. I love Nintendo. I love Nintendo.
I feel the need to say that over and over again to begin with because this post will inevitably be read by some as some sort of anti-Nintendo screed. I know that because every single time I write anything mildly critical of Nintendo, groups of folks reveal themselves that make Android and iPhone diehards look like placid hippies. Those people are really going to hate this post.
The comments at the end of that article are ... feverish.
The one that starts with "i didn't even read the whole thing, what a load of bollocks" was the best. I feel like I'm listening to audiophiles explaining why 16-guage lamp cord is worth ten bucks per foot. The next console is a USB stick that plugs into a smart TV. The next handheld is an app for various phones. The first old-school game developer that gets this will have another decade of cash. Nintendo started out as a playing card company. This may explain why they still aren't seeing that that they don't need to invest in hardware. They could build a modular API, then introduce games from their famous stable that use the API on various platforms. On one hand, the hardware lock-in from building your own console solves a lot of problems for developers: they know exactly how the software will work each time. However most of the people that would buy a portable game player already have a smart phone and no other front pocket space.
This main issue I see with this is the insistence that Nintendo needs to lock itself into another closed ecosystem. The market is constantly shifting, trying to be available everywhere seems like a much better goal. Release on PC, android, AND iOS. The gamers that grew up on Nintendo are older now, and less likely to want to buy a product solely to play Nintendo IPs. That doesn't mean we don't want to play them. The number of Nintendo games I would buy if they were available where I am already gaming is quite high, and I would be much more willing to pay a higher price for them knowing the track record of quality Nintendo has with their games.