After the Xbox One reveal, the hardcore gamers are saying, “I can’t wait until the Game Industry crashes, and we come back with NES 2 in Generation 9.” I completely agree. The 1983 crash keeps being blamed on Atari where much of the blame was due to the third party companies. In order for a healthy console market to exist, the third party companies must be kept in check. Xbox One is showing that Microsoft is letting third parties run rampant which is why there are no used games, no rentals, and all the other BS. I expect Sony to behave similar. Nintendo is the only console company that can resist the Game Industry.
I’m expecting Nintendo to wise up from the smarting it is having with the Wii U and 3DS. With Generation 9, Nintendo will go a different path. I think the Generation 9 console has the potential to be as good as the NES or Wii.
Having lived through all these generations, here is what I believe would make the Generation 9 console rock.
Gen 9 Console needs to be designed in the same context as the Wii. The Wii was designed to be a $99 console. It was only after adding flash memory and some other elements that the price went up. Again, I think it is a good idea to design the console to be as cheap as possible. Considering that Gen 9 console will come out in 2018, much of the power and graphical requirements should be flat.
Gamers really don’t care about the console hardware. They care more about the cost. The ‘better’ hardware it is, the more expensive and the more likely it will break. The Golden Age game consoles were always cheap.
The Wii was $250 with Wii Sports. The NES was $99 with Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt. I believe Super Nintendo was $200 with Super Mario World when it launched. Expensive hardware sucks.
I want an account system. This is not a cloud. Nintendo doesn’t need to make a bazillion server farms. I just want all my games tied to an account and not the hardware. The account can be linked to one hardware at a time. I should be able to purchase Super Mario Brothers and not have to purchase it again when I buy additional Nintendo hardware. Nintendo would be gaining money because the hardware is the toughest thing to sell. So what if people get to bring over their 8-bit and 16-bit games? When people buy the hardware, they are going to buy a main game at least.
I do not want Mii-verse or other crazy OS stuff. If crazy OS stuff is there, I should be able to disable it. Allow me to play the game console how I want.
Nintendo can do their ‘integrated hardware and software’ thing with optional controllers. They can make their own GamePad and sell it separately. The success of the Wii Fit balance board shows that the controller does not need to be bundled with the hardware in order to be successful.
And that is pretty much it. A very cheap console with no frills is what I want. It has an account system. Make it $99 or $149 and watch that baby fly off the shelves.
In an era where everyone is making expensive bloated consoles, the ‘Blue Ocean’, the uncontested marketspace, is inexpensive simplistic consoles. If people want complexity, let them buy expensive controllers separate.
Such a game console would dominate the world!
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