The current generation of consoles has been an ironic one. Nintendo’s Wii, with its trendy motion controls, dashed to an early and sizeable sales lead over its HD, more powerful cousins, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Consumer demand for the Wii’s motion gaming, as rudimentary as it was, eventually led both Microsoft and Sony to create their own motion-based gaming peripherals.
But things changed. In the last two years, Wii sales have dropped steadily while the PS3 and 360 have gained momentum. What happened? What were Microsoft and Sony doing that could so forcefully change the tide?
While Nintendo’s motion gaming appealed on a novelty level, Xbox Live and PlayStation Network were fundamentally changing gaming forever. To be specific, Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network are creating endless gaming, streaming, purchasing and social possibilities online while Nintendo is running out of new ways to waggle the Wii Remote. With no integrated, easy-to-use, social-based online presence, the Wii is an underpowered, standard definition console with novel controls and limited sociability. There are, of course, great games on offer on Wii, but the vast bulk are single-player only or feature limited online capabilities.
Nintendo knows it is in trouble – and so does the rest of the world – after posting a $628 million dollar loss from March to December 2011. Why do you think the company is coming out with a new console before its competitors?
To change its fortunes, Nintendo has recently announced the Nintendo Network. What is the Nintendo Network? Take a rudimentary version of Xbox Live or PSN and stick it in the Wii U and 3DS. You get the picture. Why do I say ‘rudimentary?’ Well, here is what we know the Nintendo Network will offer based on President Satoru Iwata’s remarks in a meeting with investors earlier this week.
DLC – Publishers will be able to offer paid DLC for online purchase. This means that titles that have been enjoying paid additions on PS3 and 360 for years will finally offer the same on a Nintendo console.
Digital Distribution – Games will be available for purchase online. It remains unclear if this will be limited to non-retail titles because of Nintendo’s relationship with retailers.
Personal Accounts (Not tied to a Specific Console) – Think of your basic PSN or Live account.
This is, of course, a step in the right direction for Nintendo. Something is better than nothing, right? But what about ‘Friends Lists’ and nicknames? What about integrated Voice Chat? What about eliminating the (god-awful) Friend Code system? Where is the comprehensive digital distribution? These services may appear on Nintendo Network sometime in the future, but the lack of any info in such an important Nintendo meeting is not a good sign.
What does this mean for you and Nintendo? It means the Wii U is really just playing catch-up to networks on older, less-powerful consoles. While Sony and Microsoft have been perfecting their online presence for years, Nintendo is just jumping in. Microsoft and Sony have whole teams of people dedicated entirely to their online Networks. Nintendo is still putting one together.
Note what wasn't included yet.
In the end, Nintendo’s Wii U faces an uphill battle. The next Xbox and PS4 will be more powerful than Wii U when they finally launch, their networks will be older, more sophisticated, and stable. They will also likely launch with far more available digital content passed-over from the current generation. Add in the features Mr. Iwata purposely didn’t mention, and Nintendo Network is likely to be a second rate option for at least a few years.
I’m glad that Nintendo is finally joining the world of online gaming in earnest. I’m just a little sad that the wait for a network on par with Xbox and Sony is still so far away.
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“In the end, Nintendo’s Wii U faces an uphill battle. The next Xbox and PS4 will be more powerful than Wii U ”
That means the ps4 and the next xbox face the uphill battle as the system with the better specs barely ever outsells