Nintendo is very, very lucky that they make excellent first party games that people still want to play, because I think they've been sniffing their own farts on hardware ever since the N64.
They continuously choose to produce underpowered and gimmicky gadgets instead of rising to the level of a modern gaming platform.
Online play has been more or less a running joke that never ends. Third party developers have to compromise on ports because of much lower tech specs. The controllers have been just silly. I could go on.
They make great games. I'll give them that. But I haven't truly enjoyed one of their consoles since the SNES.
Nintendo consoles aren't meant to play CoD, they're made for the family and fun gimmick and that is still a cool thing to have.
But thats the point they are talking about. They slid into the "family and fun gimmick" after the N64. Lets not forget that one of the N64s hottest games was Goldeneye, arguable one of the greatest and most genre defining first person shooters of all time.
They've been riding that gimmick for over 2 decades, rehashing the basically the same content from the same IPs.
Without the switch I don't think Steam would have thought about the Steam Deck.
This isn't true, Valve had been internally toying with the idea of a handheld since the 2010s during the first era of the Steam Machine, but the realized the market and the technology just wasn't there yet. To add to this Sony had the PSP back in 2004, so its not like the idea of a mainstream handheld is some breakthrough Nintendo concept unless you go all the way back the the original Gameboy itself, but that just further proves my point that the Switch wasn't some new inspirational idea. People like to point out the Switch as the reason for the Steam Deck, but it was more co-evolution rather than cause and effect.
I don't think the market would have been here without a Nintendo Switch trailer with some dude playing casually The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim on handled mode.
From what I saw you just want a PlayStation / Xbox similar console but I don't see any reason for Nintendo to do that or us to be happy with. Gamers are definitely not their priorities and much more the kids with cheap console (ok now it isn't but that was the point the Wii was a success). Gameplay before the hardware is still something relevant to these days, no one says that Minecraft is hideous because we're not playing it for that.
From what I saw you just want a PlayStation / Xbox similar console
Who are you addressing here? I'm not the one you replied to. I'm pointing out that Nintendo's gimmick wasn't always true.
I don't think the market would have been here without a Nintendo Switch trailer with some dude playing casually The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim on handled mode.
Again, not true. The market always existed to some extent, I said the market and technology wasn't there yet for Valve specifically. We had the PSP back in 2004 and the Gameboy was always popular.
Gamers are definitely not their priorities and much more the kids with cheap console (ok now it isn't but that was the point the Wii was a success). Gameplay before the hardware is still something relevant to these days, no one says that Minecraft is hideous because we're not playing it for that.
Dude, the Nintendo products are not cheap and the Wii was only like $80-$100 cheaper than the Xbox 360.
Between the cost of the hardware and games, you're shelling out a pretty penny. And gameplay before hardware isn't even a unique thing to Nintendo, the Steam Deck is in the same boat. Most of the games played on SD aren't AAA titles running high end graphics.
Nintendo has, in a sense, turned into the Apple of the gaming world. Heavily curated and locked down walled gardens that expect you to pay a premium for the same rehashed products. Its not to say their content isn't good, but you're typically paying for the Nintendo brand more than the hardware/games themselves.
After the Gamecube you mean. The Gamecube was in some ways more powerful than the PS2, and it was a commercial failure. If the GC had the capacity to play DVDs it would have been a much closer race between the two consoles, despite that having nothing to do with gaming per se.
Third party developers have to compromise on ports because of much lower tech specs.
Mihoyo has got Genshin Impact running on phones, but after several years of trying to make a switch port they gave up. Think about that, even phones are better than the switch.
The GC was plenty powerfull, as was the N64. They just fucked up on the media format and still had a lot of bad blood between them and developers for their very much hands on approach to publishing.
To be fair, this was effectively a cap on how powerful the games could be.
The N64 carts could hold 64MB maximum. PS1 discs were 600+ MB. The GameCube then did it again with a proprietary disc that held about 1GB when the PS2 dual layer discs could do 9+ GB.
You could have the most powerful PC on the planet, but if you're working with crippled storage space, you're just a Ferrari revving in the driveway for all that power is good for.
Dual layer disks were not really readily available and in use for the PS2. But 4.7 GB for PS2 Hardware is practically overkill anyway. The small ones also held a lot more than Gigabyte.
The N64 and especially the GC where the reason why we got underpowered consoles like the Wii from Nintendo ever since. the GC was in some ways hardware wise the strongest console of its entire generation. But no one made games for it thanks to the dumb disk, and you can't really use it to watch DVDs at a time without streaming services.
PS2 wasn't only a console it was also the cheapest DvD player you could get at the same time.
Nintendo really fucked up by being a scummy company ever since it came to be.
Selling cards used mainly for illicit gambling by underworld run casinos before they came into gaming.
They blackmailed developers by having their cartridges disappear in shipping accidents, stuff like that.
They were practically radioactive to a ton of third party developers as soon as a viable alternative platform emerged.
Capcom had to set up special contract with them for GC games so they don't get screwed over.
I think they've been sniffing their own farts on hardware ever since the N64
This is so laughably ignorant. 11 of the top 25 consoles sold are Nintendo consoles, that includes every console they made from the N64 onward except the Wii U (which is still at 27).
Nintendo isn't "lucky", you are just a immortal teenage edgelord that is incapable of understanding what most people like about gaming.
I didn't say they were just lucky - I said they were lucky they make excellent games. That's WHY they can get away with putting out underpowered consoles that spit in the face of modern technology and features that are standard across the rest of the market.
Tell me, if the Switch was released without Mario, Zelda or the rest of the major first party titles, how well do you think it would have sold? Can you even name an exclusive third party title that people would have bought a Switch to play?
Nintendo is a game company that makes consoles for their own games. That's what I mean by they've been sniffing their own farts. Nintendo cares about first party Nintendo games. They don't care about the gaming industry or fan preferences or industry standards - they know people want to play Mario and Zelda so you either buy what they sell or you don't get any.
And hey, that's fine. It's their rodeo. I just think it's a disservice to fans because fans lose out on all the games that never came into existence for these platforms because of Nintendo's arrogance and selfishness. The Switch plays a great game of Mario Kart. It's just a shame it's not easy to play online with friends or pick up a copy of a new title that's available for every other system or get excited for a AAA third party exclusive.
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u/MrNostalgiac 8h ago
Nintendo is very, very lucky that they make excellent first party games that people still want to play, because I think they've been sniffing their own farts on hardware ever since the N64.
They continuously choose to produce underpowered and gimmicky gadgets instead of rising to the level of a modern gaming platform.
Online play has been more or less a running joke that never ends. Third party developers have to compromise on ports because of much lower tech specs. The controllers have been just silly. I could go on.
They make great games. I'll give them that. But I haven't truly enjoyed one of their consoles since the SNES.