It is no secret that the Nintendo Wii has been the most successful console of this generation. With sales exceeding 50 million units worldwide and its closest competitor, the Xbox 360, having just passed 30 million units sold, there is no denying that Nintendo hit all the right notes when designing, developing and marketing its new console.
While many have criticized Nintendo for targeting the mass market with the Wii, and more specifically for releasing heaps of shovelware, it must be said that the company has never focused on “hardcore gaming”, a term which people only really started throwing about in the mid-to-late 90s.
In fact, Nintendo has never made any allusions to being a hardcore gaming platform. With early building blocks such as Mario and Zelda, we should not expect the Wii to release a console that focuses on games such as Gears of War or Killzone.
However, that does not excuse the masses of utterly horrid shovelware titles that have been released for the console.
With recent console price cuts from Microsoft and Sony, many are anticipating a reduction to the Wii, which has retained its launch price until now. It now seems almost certain that the console will be reduced from $250 to $200 sometime in the next few weeks.
The price cut is thought to be in response to decreasing Wii sales, and if Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada is to be believed, the price cut may be a final attempt to further boost the console sales before Nintendo releases a brand new device in 2011.
Speaking to Financial Times, Wada stated that he thinks Nintendo will launch a brand new console in 2011, and that it will be on par with the Xbox 360 and PS3 in terms of functionality and may not feature the popular Wiimote as its primary control device.
“Present game machines already have a lot of functions: they are a network terminal, a Blu-ray or DVD player, and a gaming machine,” said Wada, going on to say, “Compared to these three pillars, motion controllers are quite limited, so the impact may be small. They are an extension of the gaming function.”
With Microsoft and Sony planning their own entries into motion controlled gaming with the soon-to-be launched Project Natal and PS3 Motion Controller, will Nintendo try to remain ahead of the curve?
It seems likely that Nintendo will make sure its next console is at least on par with the Xbox 360 and PS3 in terms of functionality, it remains doubtful however that they will drop the Wiimote because of the commercial success the Wii enjoyed thanks to the innovative input method.
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