...They make another one, and tick off many consumers in the process.
The DSi has been on market for nearly a year now, and already Nintendo is apparently prepping a new revision of said hardware -- though this time it isn't as significant as the DSi itself was. With this revision, they are going to further increase the size of the screens: to about four inches to be exact, which is roughly the same size as the PSP 3000's screen.
It is said to be released before the years end in Japan, with no word on release in other territories.
Out of all the revisions the console has seen thus far, this one has to be most unnecessary of the bunch. Bigger screens are nice and all, but do we really need them? The ones on the DSi are big enough, make it any bigger, and you'll have yourself some rather ugly lookin' games, as the bigger screens would no doubt give them a slightly more pixelated look to 'em. And I doubt many people would want that.
Also, if you already have a DSi and are considering getting one of these (assuming they become available outside Japan, and knowing Nintendo, they probably will) and have bought some games off the DSi Store, you'd have to rebuy all those games again, because they can't be transferred from one system to another, thereby further reducing any incentive to buy one of these.
I have to wonder why they would do this; I mean, isn't two DS's enough? What purpose could this possibly serve, other than to attempt to get us to buy yet another version of the same system? I swear, Nintendo's just as bad Sony and Microsoft now, seeing as they all release a new hardware configuration every few months. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if they begin to do the same with the Wii (though I hope they wouldn't).
The past year has seen much rumors and speculation regarding the Wii's eventual successor, with many believing that a "Wii HD" is on its way. The speculation of the new console coming sometime between 2010 and 2011, however, was almost proved false when president of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, saying that a new console is still a ways off back in August. And while that still stands currently, it doesn't necessarily mean that a new console isn't in the works.
As a recent statement from Nintendo creative lead Shigeru Miyamoto has offered a small taste of what we may expect to see from the as of yet unannounced console.
"With both the Wii Remote itself and Wii Motion Plus, what we've been able to do is introduce an interface that is both I think appealing and at the right price for a broad audience," he said during in interview with Popular Mechanics. "And while we don't have any concrete plans for what we'll be doing with hardware in the future, what I can say is that, my guess is that because we found this interface to be so interesting, I think it would be likely that we would try to make that same functionality perhaps more compact and perhaps even more cost-efficient."
Obviously the system is still in the early planning stages currently, as evident by how they "don't have any concrete plans" yet. But his comment on making it more "compact" is intriguing. As the current host of the motion functionality, the Wii remote, is rather compact already, so what could possibly be done to increase that aspect, and what would the benefit for doing so be?
If it's related to the "more cost-efficient" remark he made, then I suppose I could see the benefits of this. As if it can reduce the cost of device, that could help them in a variety of ways, such as possibly increasing the profitability of said device.
Though given his comment on there being no set plans currently, this could (and probably is) just one of the many possible things they could do with the system, and might not see fruition. That said, the fact that a new console is in the works, gives a glimmer of truth to the aforementioned predictions made by analysts and industry members alike. But whether or not a "Wii HD" will be coming in 2011 or so, remains to be seen.
Following the success of the videogame market, there were (and still are) many who developed small electronic game devices that host a variety of simple games that one could walk into a store and buy for a cheap price. The games on these devices paled in comparison to those of consoles, but they obviously still saw some success at retail, otherwise they would have vanished from store shelves some time ago.
Why do I bring this up? Because if a recent statement made by Activision CEO Robert Kotick is true, then Activision games may follow the way in which those games are played: No console required to play.
The quote in question mentioned plans for a "untethered Guitar Hero," and said to expect many of their "products to be playable independent of a console."
In other words, you'll no longer require a console to play games, specifically ones by Activision. And instead, I suspect, will simply have to pug something (possibly the peripheral) into your television to play, much like how similar peripheral based devices have done.
And for that reason, I can see this being beneficial in some ways. The Guitar Hero franchise is quite popular, and this could get it into the hands of more people, which in turn, brings in more money for Activision. And as with any company, that's reason enough to bring this concept to fruition.
Though I have to wonder how the console makers would feel about this... As this would steal potential sales from them, and I can't imagine that they'd be pleased with that.
Still, the idea has some potential. Though I would suggest not taking this as truth just yet, as comments like these have been made in the past and never reach fruition. But I must admit, it sounds like a probable move from Activision. I mean, they've pretty much made it clear that they'll do anything to make as much money as possible, and since this could help them with that, I can easily see this happening. I mean, it's not like anyone's going to stop them, right?
