We’ve had the Xbox 360 since 2005. Yes, it’s been that long. Somehow hard to imagine seeing as console generations traditionally have lasted far shorter spans of time, yet here we are. The 360 has managed to evolve through software updates that add new functionality and features throughout the years, and that’s helped the average consumer evade the fact that the hardware is indeed pushing seven years old. But with games like Gears 3, it’s hard to notice. The PlayStation 3 has been with us since 2006, along with the Wii. Of course, the PS3′s strange hardware design has given it some premature wrinkles (lacking the RAM for cross-game chat for instance), but the still-giving hardware is rocking out some incredible looks even now (Uncharted 3, anyone?). Never mind that Blu-Ray is still in the adoption phase, people are still upgrading to HDTV, and the PS3 is still the best Blu-Ray player out there. As for the Wii? It’s pretty much dead. Nintendo stuck to the traditional console cycle. Zelda will send it off into the sunset for those who held on to their units this long, and then we’ll go through that classic 6-month Nintendo drought/hype phase until the successor arrives on the proverbial white stallion.
Is Nintendo late to the party, or early for the next? In a way – both. Sure, Nintendo is late to the HD phase, but they’re early to the next generation. The next-generation is honestly more unsure than any that has come before. We’re in recession. Consumers have made it clear that they are not ready for new hardware. We’ll probably have the PS3 and 360 with us until around 2014 (that’s when Unreal Engine 4 comes out). Right now, Nintendo will have the bleeding edge tech. In a few years, they’ll have the budget box. It’s a classic play, and one that will likely serve them well when Microsoft and Sony launch bigger, badder boxes filled with crazy expensive tech that generate more heat than a furnace and cost about as much as a down payment on a hybrid car.
But what will be different about these boxes? What will set them apart from those that came before? Microsoft will probably lean on improved Kinect technology for people with giant living rooms. Sony will probably push the dead horse that is 3D in order to sell more TVs (if the corpse isn’t rotting by then), and both will likely cram LED touchscreens on their controllers once players realize that the Wii U’s touchscreen controller really is a cool and convenient idea. But fundamentally, they will still be giant boxes that hook to a TV and play video games. Not too different from what we already have, eh?
Years ago, Miyamoto talked about various ideas that Nintendo has had over the years for control interfaces. Most of them have been utilized in some fashion. Then he casually mentioned placing a screen on what would become the Wii Remote, but it was not seen as cost effective. Clearly things have changed. Nintendo may patent an idea once it has been perfected, and not get around to using it for a decade. They come up with wild, outlandish things that nobody sees any rational use for, then make them seem revolutionary once the market is ready. Sometimes they fire a little early. Connectivity and “second screens” were too far ahead of the curve in the still-wired world of 2001 when GameCube was around, not that they didn’t try with the Game Boy Advance system link cable. Now, wireless connectivity seems like natural evolution. Nintendo was experimenting with primitive 3D as far back as 1988 with the NES, and blew it with the Virtual Boy in 1995. Now, the effect works flawlessly on 3DS.
The Wii U seems very much like a swan song for Nintendo, but not in the way many people think. It’s their ultimate console, and a work of genius in many ways. It’s like they took all the cool toys they could think of and threw them into one super machine. But fundamentally, it’s still just a box that hooks to your TV… except it’s not. Wii U is a traditional TV gaming console, but it takes one serious step away from the living room television by including it’s own screen. Your game can be played on this handheld screen. Maybe you’re feeling lazy and want to lay on the couch, or maybe Dad wants to watch the football game in the middle of a dungeon. Either way, Wii U subtly removes the television from the equation.
Is this Nintendo’s way of quietly hinting the oncoming domination of portable gaming or tablets? I don’t think so. More likely, this is Nintendo’s quiet admission that everything that can be done with the television has been done. HD has been done. Sony and Microsoft will have more powerful machines, sure, but the graphical jump will be minimal to the eye of a casual shopper because in 2014, 1080p is still going to be 1080p. 3D will wash away as the cross-eyed fad that comes every 20 years and fails because it’s the same stupid recycled gimmick that never really improves. The kind of 3D people want isn’t the kind of 3D Hollywood can give. That’s where Nintendo steps in.
I think at some point down the road, Nintendo will be the first to admit that television based video games have reached their creative end. Big budget Western shooters, fighters, sports games, and sandbox RPGs will still come out for the Xbox 3 and PlayStation 4, but Nintendo will bow out of that market after their final ride on the Wii train. Make no mistake – Wii U will be an epic console filled with amazing games, but it will likely be Nintendo’s last, but not because they’re planning on-going third party or to start developing games for iPad during the tablet boom like so many Apple slanted journalists would like to believe. Nintendo has too much pride for that. Nintendo has a history of making bold moves, and from this point forward the console industry has nowhere to go but in circles. Why would Nintendo go third party and develop for what will likely start to become a shrinking market?
Television is holding video games back. Nintendo will likely be the first to move video games beyond the television. Wii U is a stop gap until technology becomes cheaper and more practical. I believe someday Nintendo will be the first to utilize low resolution consumer level holographic displays. Rumor reports over the last decade hint that Nintendo has been toying with the tech for some time. Until that time comes many years from now, enjoy what will likely be a really badass machine. I believe Wii U will be the Super Nintendo of its era, but it also has the potential to lead to bigger, better, and radically different things. Time will tell where we go from here, but something major is going to have to change, and I don’t think Microsoft and Sony have the courage to take that risk.
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