It's all Nintendo at the moment. The NX has been officially confirmed for March 2017. As has a brand new Zelda game. As have smart device versions of Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem.
However, Nintendo has also announced that it expects to sell less than a million Wii U consoles this year, having today posted year-end earnings of $150 million. That's a fall of 61% on the previous year.
The company is braced for a further 1% fall in sales over the coming year, while expecting a 37% rise in operating profits.
Er... okay. Optimistic.
It remains to be seen how Nintendo intends to achieve such a rise. The 3DS continues to sell reasonably well - though its 6.79 million sales were down by a couple of million on the previous 12 months.
There's also no clear sign of a resurgence in Nintendo's Wii U business, with its customers looking towards the NX, and no major game releases on the horizon. Nintendo appears to be pinning its hopes on sales of existing software; Splatoon for the Wii U shifted 4.27 million copies, with Mario Maker close-ish behind on 3.52 million.
Compare that, however, to the 12 million sales Fallout 4 made in its first 24 hours alone, and the picture for Nintendo is far from fragrant.
Consequently, all eyes are now on the NX. With Nintendo putting more of its eggs in the smart device basket, the NX is destined to be the machine that decides, once and for all, whether Nintendo stays in the hardware game.
I just have one tiny request...
However, Nintendo has also announced that it expects to sell less than a million Wii U consoles this year, having today posted year-end earnings of $150 million. That's a fall of 61% on the previous year.
The company is braced for a further 1% fall in sales over the coming year, while expecting a 37% rise in operating profits.
Er... okay. Optimistic.
It remains to be seen how Nintendo intends to achieve such a rise. The 3DS continues to sell reasonably well - though its 6.79 million sales were down by a couple of million on the previous 12 months.
There's also no clear sign of a resurgence in Nintendo's Wii U business, with its customers looking towards the NX, and no major game releases on the horizon. Nintendo appears to be pinning its hopes on sales of existing software; Splatoon for the Wii U shifted 4.27 million copies, with Mario Maker close-ish behind on 3.52 million.
Compare that, however, to the 12 million sales Fallout 4 made in its first 24 hours alone, and the picture for Nintendo is far from fragrant.
Consequently, all eyes are now on the NX. With Nintendo putting more of its eggs in the smart device basket, the NX is destined to be the machine that decides, once and for all, whether Nintendo stays in the hardware game.
I just have one tiny request...
"YOU'RE A COWARD"
Call me a coward, but this is no time for Nintendo to be taking risks.
All we know about the NX is that it's out in March 2017, and these words from Nintendo's former president, the late Satoru Iwata: “As proof that Nintendo maintains strong enthusiasm for the dedicated game system business, let me confirm that Nintendo is currently developing a dedicated game platform with a brand-new concept under the development codename ‘NX’. It is too early to elaborate on the details of this project, but we hope to share more information with you next year.”
That was him speaking last year. When he was still alive, I presume.
The part of the statement that worries me is "brand-new concept". If we can take anything from the mixed reaction to Star Fox Zero it's that people don't want brand-new concepts from Nintendo every single time they release a console.
The Wii got away with it - primarily because of Wii Sports - but looking back, I tended to default to playing games with the classic controller. Plus, once I removed the Wii from my telly, it was typically months before I plugged it back in again - partly because of the sensor bar. It was just one extra layer of faff. Once they over-egged that pudding with the Wii U's GamePad, it became virtually inedible.
And, in the case of Star Fox Zero, that GamePad, and Nintendo's insistence on using it, got in the way of giving players what they really wanted: a classic Star Fox game that felt like the Star Fox of old - but using the oomph of modern consoles.
Call me a coward, but this is no time for Nintendo to be taking risks.
All we know about the NX is that it's out in March 2017, and these words from Nintendo's former president, the late Satoru Iwata: “As proof that Nintendo maintains strong enthusiasm for the dedicated game system business, let me confirm that Nintendo is currently developing a dedicated game platform with a brand-new concept under the development codename ‘NX’. It is too early to elaborate on the details of this project, but we hope to share more information with you next year.”
That was him speaking last year. When he was still alive, I presume.
The part of the statement that worries me is "brand-new concept". If we can take anything from the mixed reaction to Star Fox Zero it's that people don't want brand-new concepts from Nintendo every single time they release a console.
The Wii got away with it - primarily because of Wii Sports - but looking back, I tended to default to playing games with the classic controller. Plus, once I removed the Wii from my telly, it was typically months before I plugged it back in again - partly because of the sensor bar. It was just one extra layer of faff. Once they over-egged that pudding with the Wii U's GamePad, it became virtually inedible.
And, in the case of Star Fox Zero, that GamePad, and Nintendo's insistence on using it, got in the way of giving players what they really wanted: a classic Star Fox game that felt like the Star Fox of old - but using the oomph of modern consoles.
QUADS
Nintendo believes that its smart device business will "quadruple" its profits, and work in "synergy" with its dedicated games machines.
I don't want to write them off as going the way of Sega - for a start, I'm an idiot, and rarely know what I'm doing, while Nintendo has proven over the years that it seems to know what it's doing, occasionally.
Nevertheless, I'm genuinely braced for the worst. You can smell it in the air: people are ready to slam the NX if Nintendo unveils some weird control gizmo that's going to get in the way of them just playing games. The Wii U GamePad, the Xbox Kinect... these things don't work. People don't want them. Developers don't want to make games which utilise them. They don't always make games better. Just stop with them.
And if Nintendo puts even a pigeon step wrong with the NX launch... there's going to be a backlash that makes the Xbox One launch look like a summer stroll through a lovely meadow. People are at the end of their tether. I'm at the end of my tether. I am desperate for Nintendo to start being Nintendo again.
Please: just get back to the games. It's what your legacy is hewn from. Find new ways to use traditional control systems, but utilising current graphical power. Give us new ideas like you used to, by all means, but not at the expense of playability. Nintendo was always accessible. It invited people in. The more barriers you build between people and your games, the less they're going to want to play.
The Super NES was a great machine - perhaps your greatest - but it was simply a better version of other machines on the market. It was an evolution, not an unwanted revolution.
If you unveiled the NX and it was a traditional-style console, with proper next-gen power behind it, a family-friendly design - and you simultaneously revealed a new Zelda game, a proper new Mario game, an F-Zero, a Metroid, a Pilotwings... people would love you for it. That's all you need to do. Stop focusing on hardware, and put your effort into the games. Like you used to.
Please, loves.
Nintendo believes that its smart device business will "quadruple" its profits, and work in "synergy" with its dedicated games machines.
I don't want to write them off as going the way of Sega - for a start, I'm an idiot, and rarely know what I'm doing, while Nintendo has proven over the years that it seems to know what it's doing, occasionally.
Nevertheless, I'm genuinely braced for the worst. You can smell it in the air: people are ready to slam the NX if Nintendo unveils some weird control gizmo that's going to get in the way of them just playing games. The Wii U GamePad, the Xbox Kinect... these things don't work. People don't want them. Developers don't want to make games which utilise them. They don't always make games better. Just stop with them.
And if Nintendo puts even a pigeon step wrong with the NX launch... there's going to be a backlash that makes the Xbox One launch look like a summer stroll through a lovely meadow. People are at the end of their tether. I'm at the end of my tether. I am desperate for Nintendo to start being Nintendo again.
Please: just get back to the games. It's what your legacy is hewn from. Find new ways to use traditional control systems, but utilising current graphical power. Give us new ideas like you used to, by all means, but not at the expense of playability. Nintendo was always accessible. It invited people in. The more barriers you build between people and your games, the less they're going to want to play.
The Super NES was a great machine - perhaps your greatest - but it was simply a better version of other machines on the market. It was an evolution, not an unwanted revolution.
If you unveiled the NX and it was a traditional-style console, with proper next-gen power behind it, a family-friendly design - and you simultaneously revealed a new Zelda game, a proper new Mario game, an F-Zero, a Metroid, a Pilotwings... people would love you for it. That's all you need to do. Stop focusing on hardware, and put your effort into the games. Like you used to.
Please, loves.
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