The N5, Looking Foward
Nintendo has announced that they are indeed working on thier fifth home console, currently code named the N5. I personally want to see this thing crush Sony mercifully but that will not happen unless Nintendo shakes off that kiddy image and does a few things differently.
First off, built-in Online/LAN play is a must. By the time the N5 comes out, everything will be wired to the internet so we need some sort of N5 online service. Now, Nintendo has said an online plan to pay for a given amount of time (month, year, etc.) is not a very good idea, and I think they may be right. The problem with the setup in which you play for X amount of time is this, and I will use Phantasy Star Online as my example. When I first payed I was hooked, played countless hours and loved it, but the fun slowed down and I had enough of it, but still had a good amount of time (infact I still have until the 22nd of this month). So I finally cancelled but still have extra un-used time, a waste of some money. If you want a solid online plan, follow the footsteps of Blizzard. There games are all free over there service battle.net and they make enough money on the games that it pays for itself. Look at StarCraft, that game is MANY years old and I still see people buying it, its still turning up plenty of profit. WarCraft III too, free online play and its selling like crazy. If you want an online plan, make it something that someone who wants to play non-stop on it can, and so that someone who just wants to play once in a while can. All free has to be he best online plan.
Insane launch. If you want this thing to take off from day one you have to give the gamers a reason to buy it, and Luigi’s Mansion isn’t going to cut it. The GameCube’s launch library lacked very much so, where was the traditional launch title. If you release many of the anticipated title’s on launch day, surely it will sell. How cool would it be to have a new Mario title, Metroid Prime title, Half Life 2, and maybe a (please don’t get mad about this) realistic Zelda for launch. I don’t think that can be kiddy at all.
Appearance. If you want to be considered mature, appear mature. Don’t launch in a ridiculas purple color, its going to stereotype you as kiddy right off the bat. The console needs to be sleek looking in a color like black, or a charcole gray. Don’t make the shape of the console laughable, I have heard the GameCube called a lunch pail countless times. The Console needs to be something that will fit perfectly in your TV setup with all you other AV devices (DVD Players, Sound systems, etc.) not something that looks off when placed near them.
Extra Features. I know Nintendo likes to make the ultimate “gaming” machine, but that may not be cutting it anymore. People all want a “one system do all” these days, and if that means adding in a DVD/CD player and a hard drive, then do so. Personally I like the Xbox’s hard drive because I have about 3-4 memory cards for the GC floating around my room somewhere, its a bit of a chore to keep track of them. Hard Drive’s can supply enough memory for ever, and you can still always have a memory card slot as well to transfer data between consoles.
My final thought is, take a look at the competition, if they are doing something that is producing large profit, take note as to something you may want to try. If they do something that is not a money maker, don’t try and make their bad idea suceed, its ver unlikely. Clearly Sony has done something to make PS2’s sell wildly, try and see what it is, while still keeping your quality level of excellent games, because I honestly can’t stand 95% of the crap released for PS2.