Wii-U thoughts so far

[CavZee]

I'm just speaking for myself here but, portability had basically no factor in my decision to purchase my 3DS (and interest in other handhelds). I got one because there was a nice list of games I wanted to play and more on the way. I play my systems predominantly on the sofa in front of my TV. Why? Because there's great games I can't get anywhere else and quite a few of them are from niche genres that aren't well represented elsewhere. Portability is a nice but hardly utilized feature for me. The software sold me the hardware you could say.

[RCBH928]

Don't see things from your perspective, see it from the average consumer. To be honest, I would still buy VHS and N64 games if they were available but you do not see them on the market any more. While some dedicated people like you will continue to buy the portable dedicated gaming devices, its not 2004 any more.

Most people today either own a smart device like an iphone/ipod/android/tablet (By most I mean those who can afford to purchase a $200 gaming devices, not the billion or 2 people who are living in poverty around the world) . When the Gameboy/DS was popular there was NO digital downloads , NO internal memory for storage (The iphone starts at 16GB) , and cellphones could play snake at best!?

Today my iphone(smart device) can do twitter, browsing, calling, SMS, instant messaging, read books, Youtube, watch HD movies AND play games. Not just any games, wonderful full HD games like Bastion, Dead Trigger, Limbo, World of Goo not to mention exclusives like Infiniti Blade , The Room, Sky Gamblers. Add to the mix retro releases like Doom, 7th Guest, and Final Fantasy , all for less than $30 a game(much less!) , its really hard to see much reason for the average consumer to buy a dedicated gaming device. What games on the 3DS will make people justify the $180 investment? As for buttons and the d-pad, yes they do control better , but a $180 buttons and d-pad is a damn expensive option!

[ZenErik]

Yet check the 3DS sales compared to 2004, as you mentioned. How are things looking now?

[Opa Opa]

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/topic/3175 ... gift-card/

Supposedly Target will be giving a $50 Gift Card if you buy the Deluxe Model Wii U.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

What games on the 3DS will make people justify the $180 investment?

For nearly everyone, it's the big name Japanese developers or the obscure Japanese developers. Their presence is pretty small on multipurpose hardware right now.

I use a dumb phone and often carry around a game console. That combo does most of what a smartphone does, so for me it's not much of a tradeoff.

[RCBH928]

Yet check the 3DS sales compared to 2004, as you mentioned. How are things looking now?

i thought Nintendo slashed the prices of the 3DS from $250 to $180 due to disappointing sales?

Any way , The DS survived 7 strong years, 4 them they did not even have a smart phone competitor (after 3 years the iphone was released, and iTunes store with apps was not released until about a year later, meaning the good games got released about 6 months or a year after that).

I will find it very hard to believe that the 3DS will be selling just as much or more than the DS , even though it has competition from those new hand held devices which the DS did not.

@Valkyrie-Favor

People are different and I am glad you found your fit, but a huge advantage of owning a smart phone is the constant internet connection. How do you get that with a dumb phone+3DS combination?

[MyNameIsVince]

Don't see things from your perspective, see it from the average consumer. To be honest, I would still buy VHS and N64 games if they were available but you do not see them on the market any more. While some dedicated people like you will continue to buy the portable dedicated gaming devices, its not 2004 any more.

Most people today either own a smart device like an iphone/ipod/android/tablet (By most I mean those who can afford to purchase a $200 gaming devices, not the billion or 2 people who are living in poverty around the world) . When the Gameboy/DS was popular there was NO digital downloads , NO internal memory for storage (The iphone starts at 16GB) , and cellphones could play snake at best!?

Today my iphone(smart device) can do twitter, browsing, calling, SMS, instant messaging, read books, Youtube, watch HD movies AND play games. Not just any games, wonderful full HD games like Bastion, Dead Trigger, Limbo, World of Goo not to mention exclusives like Infiniti Blade , The Room, Sky Gamblers. Add to the mix retro releases like Doom, 7th Guest, and Final Fantasy , all for less than $30 a game(much less!) , its really hard to see much reason for the average consumer to buy a dedicated gaming device. What games on the 3DS will make people justify the $180 investment? As for buttons and the d-pad, yes they do control better , but a $180 buttons and d-pad is a damn expensive option!

But that's the thing, not everyone owns a smartphone, like myself, and I really don't have a huge desire to own one honestly, and even if I did, I don't really want to get a smartphone just to play games on it. I'm on the internet enough as it is on my laptop and I don't want to pay another 30 dollars or more a month just to use the internet on another device, in addition to my laptop. I'd rather save that money and put it towards games, such as ones for....oh yeah, my DSi.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

The reason people will continue to buy dedicated handheld systems is you simply don't have the same quality of game content on smart phones for various reasons, content control and the lack of physical controls being the major ones. As it stands now, the 3DS is selling about on par with what the DS did, and in fact, was ahead of the original DS for the first year or so.

It's the same reason people will continue to buy consoles and not just play Angry Birds on their smart TV. Do you really think the people that want to play stuff like Mass Effect, Luigi's Mansion, and Call of Duty would be happy with a smart TV and smartphone? That line of thinking is absurd.

The market for casual stuff has grown. That doesn't mean the market for "hardcore" stuff has shrunk. No "smart" consumer device really can hold up to a dedicated gaming device of any sort.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

I remember when the DS came out in 2004. I was around 10 at the time and I was pretty excited! Sales were slow and I was happy with my GBA and then my PSP Didn't actually get one till last year
There's no question a nice smartphone is more powerful than a 3DS, but people will keep buying them as long as the software is there. Developers will keep making the software as long as the market is there. I don't see dedicated handhelds disappearing for a while!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a phone hater. There are a few iOS exclusives I'd like to play.

People are different and I am glad you found your fit, but a huge advantage of owning a smart phone is the constant internet connection. How do you get that with a dumb phone+3DS combination?

Yep, that is the big advantage. If you really need that feature, a smartphone is the answer.

I rarely use the internet away from home. If I really need to, there is free wifi all over the city. This is different if you're driving or in the country or something, but for me it's not an issue. I don't use my dumb phone much either - it's nice to have, but I probably make two calls a month.

3DS sales are stronger than DS sales in the same time frame, but the DS didn't really take off until two years after launch. This year and next we'll see how smartphones affect handheld console sales.

Don't see things from your perspective, see it from the average consumer

What is the average consumer again?

[MyNameIsVince]

The reason people will continue to buy dedicated handheld systems is you simply don't have the same quality of game content on smart phones for various reasons, content control and the lack of physical controls being the major ones. As it stands now, the 3DS is selling about on par with what the DS did, and in fact, was ahead of the original DS for the first year or so.

It's the same reason people will continue to buy consoles and not just play Angry Birds on their smart TV. Do you really think the people that want to play stuff like Mass Effect, Luigi's Mansion, and Call of Duty would be happy with a smart TV and smartphone? That line of thinking is absurd.

The market for casual stuff has grown. That doesn't mean the market for "hardcore" stuff has shrunk. No "smart" consumer device really can hold up to a dedicated gaming device of any sort.

No smartphone, much less an iFuck, will ever replace any of my portable gaming devices. EVER!