It' s no secret that Wii is essentially using the same hardware that was used in the Gamecube - a console that launched in November 2001. It might not be exactly the same, but it' s certainly a full generation of console technology behind, and with that in mind, should their strategy to be to compete head on next gen, their next home console would be skipping 2 generations worth of technology.

Now, while Nintendo' s R&D department will be able to keep up, what about the people working on the software side of things? Not only would they be coding for a multi-core HD system but by the time the next generation kicks off (late 2010-ish) graphics card technology could be very different to how it is right now. These guys have been coding for the same hardware for 7 years (and counting) and so it won' t be easy to make the jump to the far more complex technologies.

Will Nintendo even bother releasing another home console? Or will they just shrink Wii hardware into portable form and go completely handheld?

it will be hd, but again i think it wont be nearly as powerfull as the ps4/xbox3.

more motion controlls that for sure.

Interesting question.

Don' t forget this is a very competitive business, and as such, the tech ppl need to keep up with the times, always learning and adapting. Sure enough the Wii is a gen behind , but Nintendo' s next foray (if it will exist) will have to be much more advanced, and the same people HAVE to be up with the times and ready to give an accurate response.

... That or get canned and replaced by fresh blood.

I somehow remember this thread...did we have this discussion already o.o?

Anyway, I think that killemoff is pretty much right. Even though the devs working at Nintendo (and/or developing exclusively for Nintendo systems) are working with old hardware, I' d bet my ass that they are learning how to work with newer technologies, too...even if just for the sole reason that when they change their employer they are properly qualified. Still, I doubt that it will be necessary. If Wii continues to be the success story it is, I really doubt that the next Nintendo console will vary much from that formula. Nintendo' s old formula didn' t work for them, so they were forced to try something new, but if the Wii-formula continues to work like a charm, they won' t attempt something risky and stick to their (new) guns.

I assume that their own people keep up to date with what' s going on in general. Although it' s not exactly the same as having day to day experience with coding that way. Through making mistakes and looking for ways around you tend to learn more of course.

I don' t think that Nintendo would get out the console race though. Not this time at least, considering the amount of money that they' re making now.

They won' t be a single generation behind, they' ll be two. That' s a decade' s worth of technology. Nintendo' s in-house development teams aren' t quite like everybody elses in that when you' re in you tend to stay. Afterall, it' s Nintendo.

Like i said, their R&D department will be up to speed, ...that' s their purpose, ...but in terms of experience with the far more advanced techologies... the guys in the studios are going to struggle. Ofcourse, that' s only if Nintendo go the whole HD-fully-fledged route.

It' s actually made even more complicated by the fact that western developers have overtaken the Japanese as far as software technology is concerned. Lots of Japanese studios have put out games for 360 and PS3 that have paled graphically compared to their western counterparts. There are exceptions like Capcom who have a more western philosophy to their entire design process. However, when you looks at Japanese UE3.0 licensee' s, they' ve all failed to put it to good use save for Mistwalker who had assistance from Microsoft (and Epic).

So not only are the Japanese in general lagging behind, but Nintendo is going to be a whole 10 years behind... give or take, as far as the hardware is concerned.

I think Nintendo will take a beating the next time around.

Lots and lots of people bought the wii, and lots of lots of people never plays it. I think its going to be hard to convince people to buy a similar product again.

So if they do make a powerful console the next time around, i think the programmers will be in fro quite a job catching up.

Games like mario wont be that hard adapting to a new console, its just rounder characters in a cartoony enviroment, but something like Metroid which has to be compared with Next Gen shooters, thats going to be tough

The next generation Nintendo console will probably be HD, but once again, they' ll continue to promote something other than pure horsepower. It will be tech that allows them to comfortably pull off whatever ideas and concepts they have. Outside of this, the technology will probably limited to reduce costs and overhead.

They may have a hard time getting the casual crowd who bought a wii too buy again, many of those people only played once in a while, hell they might even foget they even have it anymore.

Nintendo has proven they can expand the market and set their own course. I don' t think they feel any pressure at all to compete head-to-head with the bleeding edge technology in other consoles.

I think Nintendo will be focusing on " a new way to play" with some new idea/gimmick to try and be innovative and attract non-gamers.

I mean, come on, who wants to play quality games the way they were meant to be played when they can make a fool of themselves in front of a television set in a unique way?

In all seriousness though, I' d like to see Ninty go back to their roots, but whatever they do, as long as they have the great games to go with the console, I have faith in them yet.

Nintendo will definitely stick to console manufacturing after this generation , why would they give up, they are making huge profits and sales are not decreasing. this generation for them is a success story and they would replicate the same basics the next gen, a price point below 250$ and same or some other way to attract non gamers, regardless of what 3rd parties might think.

The horse power would be equivalent of the 360 but what difference would it make if companies will release games set to ps2 standard again ( yeah because now, it' s ranging from dreamcast to n64 graphics)

Nintendo are cool.

They have proved that the Market is much wider than just visual technological advancements.. And that it' s not necessary to do the predicted thing and make Graphics no1 priority to show off a new console or indeed be successful and captivate the market (or a new one).


The big difference between Nintendo and it' s competitors is Gaming Masterminds such as Miyamoto> Masahiro Sakurai >Eiji Aonuma ETC have a big influence towards Nintendo' s Final Decisions when it comes to new hardware.

They have just as much passion for gaming than anyone else and are extremely direct, dedicated and more importantly know what they want out of the system.

Nintendo have set they' re own path and the next generation will only be an issue or go down-hill if either M$ or Sony try and cross into it path by directly competing with it.

This risk is what leads me to believe that the Next wii will be a lot more powerful than expected AND have Advanced Wiimote technology (probably a new clever, useful hook to boot). Developers are already starting feel like Miyamoto did ten years, bored with the same gameplay formulas but with better graphics..

A Wii 2 with just as much power as it' s competitors. with much more scope and control range for devs to help evolve their franchises even further than ever before, even create new ones too. This will be a killer factor. Lets not forget that the games that won' t benefit from Motion controls can be played on an updated Classic Controller .. which I think will happen but aswell as the perfect d-pad, it' ll be wireless have extra buttons.. basically be as good or even better than the controllers packd with it' s competitors controllers.. (I really don' t think M$ or Sony are capable of coming up with a new great controller that will differ too much from these ones.)


So, either way, Nintendo are cool.

I' d like to see Ninty go back to their roots,

Think hard.. Makes no sense?

Long text Virtua, but you didnt touch the subject!

Will the heads at nintendo be able to jump 10 years in tech in one GO

I expect their next console to be as powerful as a 360 or PS3.

Will the heads at nintendo be able to jump 10 years in tech in one GO

The question itself is kind of ridiculous. Has Nintendo permanently crippled their ability to work with the most advanced technology? Of course not. They can adapt and learn to work with it, and they can certainly bring in new hires who are already familiar with it.

If a company could somehow permanently fall behind, we' d be seeing that all the time and there would be fewer and fewer companies, eventually ending up with just Epic and Crytek and one or two other " tech demo" developers out there. In that case it wouldn' t matter if Nintendo was unable to compete with them on a technical level because they' d be competing with all the other companies that couldn' t reach that level of technical expertise. As it stands, they don' t need to worry about any of that. Did you not see the sales figures last month? Wii outsold the " next-gen" consoles by a ratio of 7.1 : 1.8.

Are you freaking out because you were all wrong with your predictions of seeing a huge fall-off of Wii sales this year? Just man up and say you were wrong and you really don' t understand what' s going on!

This is all just more " hardcore gamer" resentment towards Nintendo for expanding the market. Are you guys just gonna settle into becoming old bitches, just like crusty old punk rockers or hip-hop heads who are always grousing , " This isn' t real punk rock! That' s not a real video game! Everything is ruined! Nothing is as good as it used to be!" [:' (]

Here' s a good question: When has Nintendo ever used the most advanced technology available? Maaaybe with the SNES, although it did have a slower processor than the Mega Drive/Genesis. Even going back to their early 80s coin-op days, they didn' t focus on that. They' ve focused on style, design, mass appeal and hooking kids young.

I' ve got multiple theories for the direction in which Nintendo will be taking, none of them concrete in my mind. The one thing I am certain of however is that there' s no way Nintendo would give back ground they took from Microsoft and Sony in the next generation of home consoles. While the DS is wildly successful, it' s not enough to make a brand on, and Nintendo know that. They' re going to need to stay competitive in next-gen' s home console race, and that' s going to mean one of a few things. Either:

Taking the experience Sony and Microsoft are currently, and will be providing in 2010, and going beyond that to attract their userbase. This would require spending billions on the new hardware itself, and trying to totally re-establish their label as having hardware worth writing home about, a position they haven' t held since the N64 days.

OR

The path I consider most likely, they will focus once again on making an individual statement with their console, and not following the direction that Sony and Microsoft are taking, thereby eliminating the need to outperform.

When Perrin Kaplan talked about Nintendo' s " Blue Ocean" strategy back in 2006, it wasn' t limited to the DS and the Wii as hardware platforms. They' re going to try to capitalize on their unique niche in the market (casual gaming for the casual gamer) for as long as possible. They' ve had a lot of success with it, and now they' re going to run with it.

With either choice they make, Nintendo is going to have to update their hardware significantly. By 2010, the HDTV attach rate will be huge, especially with cable switching over later this year. It would be financial suicide not to include support for at the very least, 720p, in their next home console. They simply aren' t going to be able to get by with skimpy RAM, and an outdated processor, due to the hardware demands of HD gaming, more so than the consumer' s interest in a " Good looking" Nintendo machine.

When has Nintendo ever used the most advanced technology available?

Not accounting for choice in media format, the N64 and Gamecube. Generally speaking, both surpassed their Sony counterpart in terms of hardware capability.

Are you freaking out because you were all wrong with your predictions of seeing a huge fall-off of Wii sales this year?

Are we still right where we were a year ago with the low supply, high demand market Nintendo' s created?

Well to be fair to everybody else, it was me who " predicted" that Wii would plateau and sales would drop off as PS3 picked up steam. The rest of these muppets just went along with it because it served whatever anti-Nintendo purpose they had.

I' ve said several times in the past 9 months that i was way off with my estimations of how things would play out with regard to Wii. It didn' t plateau and Sony didn' t cut their price as much as i expected. I bought a Wii and have done my bit raving about how Super Mario Galaxy is tantamount to digital perfection. I still have my gripes about their software lineup, especially for this year, but that doesn' t really factor in here.

The point of this thread isn' t to bolster any underlying anti-Nintendo sentiment, but rather to ask whether working with the same hardware for 10 years, while every other company is keeping " up to date" with the technological developments and evolution of videogame programming... will hinder Nintendo should their strategy going forward be to meet the competition head on gigaflop for gigaflop.

The vast majority of Ubisoft' s lineup last gen was UE2.0 based, ...before that UE1.0. This gen they' re using custom UE2.5 based engines for their staple Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell franchises, and UE3.0 for their Rainbow Six games. Dunia, which is the engine that Far Cry 2 runs on is thought to be a highly modified UE2.5 based engine. Calling it UE2.5 is probably disrespectful towards the guys who have worked towards getting it where it is, but the framework is [more than likely] still there.

So when you look at the developers that have struggled with UE3.0 tech - Silicon Knights, Koei, Namco etc... and the one who haven' t - Ubisoft, Midway, 2K, EA Games etc... one lot have had no previous experience with UE tech and the other lot have.

Renderware powered close to, if not more than 100 games last gen, Unreal Engine 2/2.5 powered even more. So whether it' s Unreal Engine, Gamebryo, id Tech 5, CryEngine 2, Source, RAGE... or whatever-based-tech... if you don' t keep up to speed, surely skipping 2 generations of software technology would be tricky?

Nintendo however tend to use per-game developed proprietary engines, so what i' m asking is whether the hardware will be significantly different enough to Gamecube/Wii to cause their software houses problems when beginning work on launch games for the new platform?

Nintendo are cool.

No no no!!! The proper phrase is " Nintendo is cool" , not " are" . " Nintendo" is a singular entity referring to the entire company as a singular whole. You would say " Nintendo is cool" , but you would say " Nintendo' s employees are cool" . [/grammar nazi mode]