PixlBit

*pours champaigne on the casket*

I say just get the PS2. You have so many more gaming options available to you that way.

I'd certainly hope so. I don't always like what Nintendo does with their products, but it's nice to see them try things that Sony and Microsoft wouldn't.

They already did, though, didn't they? Few core gamers thought the Wii would amount to much, and several developers hated it as well. Then it went on to sell the most this entire generation. Considering how badly the Gamecube did before that, it's pretty damn impressive. :)

I personally don't feel that Sony would stand to lose as much, as the Vita is probably a zombie at this point. It might have decent sales in Japan over time, but nobody in the West really cares anymore. I'm almost 100% positive they aren't making another separate set of handheld and console hardware again. Microsoft doesn't have much of a presence in mobile gaming at all, so they only stand to benefit by expanding their potential userbase.

I don't know if Nintendo would be affected too badly, either, as that would simply mean they can leverage all their best properties on one device--rather than having to deal with their constant roller coaster results (and losses) in the console space post-SNES. You'd have one device that plays Pokemon on the go and at home, and could play motion games or be used like a Gamepad when docked. Something like that would sell so much they could bundle it with a bag of money. XD

I'd really love to see this happen, too, TBH.

Well, yeah, obviously. We already know about that. I'm talking about the one after that. :p

Do you mean this upcoming gen or the one after? Because I agree on one and not the other. :p

That should be entirely feasible IMO. But it depends on how open the hardware companies are to non-gaming apps on their respective platforms, though. They've been falling over themselves to be friendly to indie games, but not much beyond that. We'll see.

That's the model I expect the entire industry to go along with the generation-after-next TBH. Considering the WiiU's design, and their merger of the console and handheld divisions, I'm sure they're going to be the first out of the gate. The way things look now, I'm sure mobile technology will be more than capable of allowing such a big paradigm shift.

I think you just gave me an idea for my next blog. :p

But maybe you're right. Maybe they really isn't anything they can do to change the narrative right now, big press event or no. But I just can't shake the feeling that this decision is going to make that perception much worse than it would've been.

Are they really competing on different terms, though? Like Sony and MS, they still need to convince people to buy their new console, even if they're doing it by focusing on new experiences rather than the best specs and most features. And with the sales they had this quarter, they're still having a hard time convincing people that their vision for the WiiU is worth the investment. I just worry that doing something like this will give credence the bleating of the doomsayers who don't even consider the WiiU to be a next-gen console.

I don't know how Nintendo managed to screw that up. Having a new console when the other two didn't should've given them a huge advantage--I was super excited at seeing what they'd bring to the table. And yet I walked away from the E3 coverage more interested in what Sony was doing with their 7 year old box. In that context, giving up on the keynote makes more sense. :/