Xbox One Vs PS4

[kurdt_the_goat]

Really, apart from in the very beginning with NES, buying a Nintendo machine was always mostly for the exclusives. To varying degrees it changed over time; when the Mega Drive took a lot of the market share, there were plenty of 3rd party exclusives to be had there. N64 if not for Rare, which was basically Nintendo back then anyway, would have been entirely supported by Nintendo 1st party. Gamecube had a few notable 3rd party exclusives but by comparison, PS2 and even Xbox had way more. The Wii for a time was getting a lot of support more like NES/SNES era, but given the gulf in hardware specs, there were massive amounts of 3rd party exclusive stuff on PS3 & 360. A lot of Wii's support was also shovelware like PS2, because it had the biggest install base.

Even though Wii U is looking like a commercial flop, i think it's highly unlikely they'll discontinue it (ie, do a Sega). Nintendo know dropping support will reduce consumer confidence in whatever comes next as well.

Though it's true their options are looking limited, i'd say it's most likely they'll just keep on hammering out the exceptional 1st party games they always do, hope the install base grows such that they can get some decent 3rd party stuff... and just ride the Wii U out until the market will accept a new console, and try again. They've proven over and over that their software alone can at least sustain a console. Either way, buying now isn't that bad an idea since typically a console's best years are around end of year 2 into year 3, when development is starting to get into gear.

Personally, i don't consider consoles based on their price at launch or afterwards... if someone were concerned about price then they ought to be thinking long term, like how much am i going to spend total on hardware & games, over the course of this system's life. In that respect, you'd almost want less good games to come out!

The problem of buying multiple consoles and opening doors to all the exclusives is obviously that you have too much choice! I'm doing a balancing act right now with 3DS, Vita & Wii U stuff. Some would argue both Vita and Wii U don't have many games period, but couple them with 3DS, and i am flooded with so many high quality games i can't even get around to playing half of them, and i'm spending a bloody fortune!

[Gutsman Heavy]

Nintendo won't drop the Wii U, they make money off their hardware. Compared to MS & Sony who sell at a loss.
Xbox has yet to turn a profit for MS. Sony's gaming division hasn't made money in years.

It won't print Wii money, but it'll turn a pretty profit.

Oh and re: the Dreamcast, it didn't kill Sega, it just wasn't successful enough to save them from years of costly blunders (32x/CD/Saturn).

[Trent]

The problem of buying multiple consoles and opening doors to all the exclusives is obviously that you have too much choice! I'm doing a balancing act right now with 3DS, Vita & Wii U stuff. Some would argue both Vita and Wii U don't have many games period, but couple them with 3DS, and i am flooded with so many high quality games i can't even get around to playing half of them, and i'm spending a bloody fortune!

I only have a PS3 and even then I can't get the time to play all the games I want. I still have yet to play: GTA 4, GTA 5, Force Unleashed 2, Resistance 3, Assassins Creed 3, Black Flag, DMC, Macross 30, Metal Gear Rising and that's just what I can think of off the top of my head. There are a ton more. Hence why I'm still a few years away from even considering a new console. The good thing is by the. The price will have dropped, the playlist will be good and the graphics will start to be in full swing.

[kurdt_the_goat]

Nintendo won't drop the Wii U, they make money off their hardware. Compared to MS & Sony who sell at a loss.
Xbox has yet to turn a profit for MS. Sony's gaming division hasn't made money in years.

I know that's true for past consoles but wasn't the Gamepad responsible for not making a profit on hardware this time around?

Oh and re: the Dreamcast, it didn't kill Sega, it just wasn't successful enough to save them from years of costly blunders (32x/CD/Saturn).

Ah by my Sega reference i actually meant the 32X being a total stopgap before the Saturn!

[1orion2many]

Nintendo won't drop the Wii U, they make money off their hardware. Compared to MS & Sony who sell at a loss.
Xbox has yet to turn a profit for MS. Sony's gaming division hasn't made money in years.

It won't print Wii money, but it'll turn a pretty profit.

Oh and re: the Dreamcast, it didn't kill Sega, it just wasn't successful enough to save them from years of costly blunders (32x/CD/Saturn).

MMmmmm Dreamcast one of my favourite consoles

[shokwave2]

Every console Nintendo releases is said to be a failure by the industry experts. But every time it hangs in there, probably with a lot of help from the A1 titles such as the Mario's and Zelda's. The Wii only done so well due to the casual games (Wii Sports, Wii Fit, shovelware) which got everyone from baby to grandma buying a console. Although there's a lot of under-rated games on the Wii.

The Gamecube didn't do too good due to the bad choice of media, the 1.4gb mini-discs. Only chosen by Nintendo to combat piracy, which in the end became easy to rip. The hardware was capable of making great looking games for that generation, just look at SW Rogue Leader, Mario Sunshine and Zelda Twilight Princess.

The Wii U is in that stage were for the next year or two the big games will be released. Super Mario (just arrived), Donkey Kong, Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Zelda, and maybe one or two surprises (hopefully a Metroid game). After that we'll probably see ports from other consoles, a few HD remakes and then cheap shovelware. The Wii U has potential, but it needs the big games and third party support. It also needs games that utilise the Gamepad like no other game has done so far. It needs a game changer to make other console fan-boys sit up and take notice, or to get jealous enough to go buy one.

I own a Wii U and all last generation consoles (X360, PS3 & Wii), along with a 2DS, Gamecube, N64, SNES. I have always bought the newest Nintendo console on launch day/night, only because Nintendo know how to make something different and start new trends that other consoles eventually try to copy later down the track (motion controls with the Kinect and Move & 2nd screen gameplay now showing up with tablet integration).

Nintendo know how to make the best games in gaming, no question. Just play Super Mario Galaxy or a Zelda game. But if they want to stay in the game for the next generation (in about 5-7 years) they need to turn their console into a media centre which can play blu-ray/dvd's, download movies, record gameplay, etc, everything pretty much what MS and Sony are doing. Or build a kick-ass handheld with 1080p, movie watching and phone calling capabilities.

[nexusnixx]

How about Neo Geo?

[kurdt_the_goat]

Would have saved all my pocket money for one if they actually sold them here! Don't even know of anywhere that had imports for sale back then. Only time i ever saw one in WA was at a video rental store, where the owner always had imported games and consoles somehow.

I had my fair share of plays on the old 4 and 6 multi game arcade units though!
One day i'll pick up a console in Japan, but maybe a CD variant since the original carts are still damn expensive and also a counterfeit minefield.

[1orion2many]

There was an importer in Subiaco who sold the Neo Geo with good game support and a lot of others. He went under around the time of the Playstation 1 3DO

[llamatron]

Xbox One vs PS4 vs Neo Geo - I choose Mega Drive!