Patience is a virtue. For Nintendo fans, it's a requirement. Take Nintendo's upcoming console: the Nintendo Revolution. We still don't have final system specs, we still haven't seen any games, and we know very little outside of online and backwards compatibility. Why, then, is Nintendo's approach so frustrating? It's frustrating because Nintendo seems to be handicapping themselves before the next generation even starts.
In a way, I think many loyal Nintendo fans go through similar emotions when it comes to the love-hate relationship with Nintendo. Some of you may like rooting for the underdog, as I do. Rooting for the underdog has its appeal when the underdog is doing their best to compete with the big boys, but therein lies the problem.
Nintendo is quite simply not interested in competing directly with Microsoft and Sony. They've been saying this for years. For their part, Microsoft and Sony's Public Relations personnel have also stated that they aren't in competition with Nintendo. Well, now we know it's not just public relations talk. Nintendo has publicly stated an unwillingness to match the high performance graphics, high-definition output, and next generation functionality of its console-making peers. For long-time Nintendo fans who witnessed the glory days when Nintendo ruled, it seems like an admission of defeat. In other words, Nintendo is not competing for their piece of the pie. How could a video game giant like Nintendo say that they aren't competing for video game market share? How could Nintendo limit its technological options when its peers in the console business try to cram every possible functionality and processing power to ensure their console is still viable in five years?
Make no mistake, Nintendo is the underdog. They're the ones the press and third party developers ignore. They finished third out of three last gen. Their console-making peers are huge companies with goals far beyond console gaming. Still, Nintendo is not an underdog you can root for. They're not scrappy, they're not determined to win, they're not fighting back any of the hype and momentum Sony and MS are amassing. Heck, they don't even want to compete as much as exist and profit. That's not underdog material, that's niche.
If you're a hardcore gamer, Xbox360 and PS3 look golden right about now, while Nintendo.......well, they exist. We know they'll make a console, we might pick it up, but cost-cutting measures are hard to root for over Killzone demos and 50-player Perfect Dark matches. An underwhelming Metroid Prime 3 clip is unlikely to build hype, in any case. Even the Revolution's most exciting revealed feature, downloadable classics, was tempered by the lack of adequate storage space on the console itself.
This is not to say that Revolution will be dead on arrival, either. To write off Nintendo at this point, when we haven't actually seen the controller contraption, and we haven't seen the specs and games, would be a huge mistake. I'm certainly not writing them off, but rooting for Nintendo at this point seems forced, too. What's a Nintendo fan to do? Wait, wait, and wait. We should be used to it.
In a way, I think many loyal Nintendo fans go through similar emotions when it comes to the love-hate relationship with Nintendo. Some of you may like rooting for the underdog, as I do. Rooting for the underdog has its appeal when the underdog is doing their best to compete with the big boys, but therein lies the problem.
Nintendo is quite simply not interested in competing directly with Microsoft and Sony. They've been saying this for years. For their part, Microsoft and Sony's Public Relations personnel have also stated that they aren't in competition with Nintendo. Well, now we know it's not just public relations talk. Nintendo has publicly stated an unwillingness to match the high performance graphics, high-definition output, and next generation functionality of its console-making peers. For long-time Nintendo fans who witnessed the glory days when Nintendo ruled, it seems like an admission of defeat. In other words, Nintendo is not competing for their piece of the pie. How could a video game giant like Nintendo say that they aren't competing for video game market share? How could Nintendo limit its technological options when its peers in the console business try to cram every possible functionality and processing power to ensure their console is still viable in five years?
Make no mistake, Nintendo is the underdog. They're the ones the press and third party developers ignore. They finished third out of three last gen. Their console-making peers are huge companies with goals far beyond console gaming. Still, Nintendo is not an underdog you can root for. They're not scrappy, they're not determined to win, they're not fighting back any of the hype and momentum Sony and MS are amassing. Heck, they don't even want to compete as much as exist and profit. That's not underdog material, that's niche.
If you're a hardcore gamer, Xbox360 and PS3 look golden right about now, while Nintendo.......well, they exist. We know they'll make a console, we might pick it up, but cost-cutting measures are hard to root for over Killzone demos and 50-player Perfect Dark matches. An underwhelming Metroid Prime 3 clip is unlikely to build hype, in any case. Even the Revolution's most exciting revealed feature, downloadable classics, was tempered by the lack of adequate storage space on the console itself.
This is not to say that Revolution will be dead on arrival, either. To write off Nintendo at this point, when we haven't actually seen the controller contraption, and we haven't seen the specs and games, would be a huge mistake. I'm certainly not writing them off, but rooting for Nintendo at this point seems forced, too. What's a Nintendo fan to do? Wait, wait, and wait. We should be used to it.
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