The Underground: October 2009

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The Future of Nintendo Consoles

In a recent interview between Popular Mechanics and Shigeru Miyamoto, published on IGN, Miyamoto was asked what he believes is the future of Nintendo's next home console. You can go read the article for yourself in the link provided; but to sum it up, the next console according to Miyamoto is going to include more compact motion controls at a more economical price.

He is also quoted as saying, "What I don't think is particularly true is that the graphics make the game," he said. "We're still going to focus on the game play. We'll take advantage of the technology as it comes out, but right now, this is what we offer."

Now this is all good, a game requires substance. It can look amazing but in the end if the game is horrible, the graphics are not going to save it. But let's be frank, I'm sure many of us are tired of looking at those dated graphics. I would not mind paying a little bit extra for a console that is going to have graphics from this generation and not the last.

Another thing, the hardware is beyond old at this point. We need a system that caters to both the hardcore and the casual crowds. The Wii's hardware is ridiculous. The next console should at least contain 8GB of internal memory. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it isn't very expensive these days to have 8GB of internal flash memory, 8GB USB drives range from $16-30. The next console should also have hardware that can actually run the internet channel without running out of virtual memory every 4 web pages.

Besides the hardware, many of the games coming out for the Wii are atrocious. Like I mentioned in a previous article, the only good games on the Wii are ones produced by Nintendo and a few third party companies. Unless Nintendo upgrades the hardware specs to a level near Sony's and Microsoft's next gen consoles, or at least to the point where they can't port it from a system that is 10 years old (PS2 I'm looking at you), the next console is going to be an utter disgrace.

The hardware and graphics do not need to be incredible, but seriously, let's move on into the future, I'm tired of seeing horrible games being produced everyday at almost no cost with the graphics of a really crappy N64 game.