In a recent interview with A-List Daily , Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime stated that “one of the things that we have to do better when we launch the NX — we have to do a better job communicating the positioning for the product. We have to do a better job helping people to understand its uniqueness and what that means for the game playing experience.” Nintendo wants to do better marketing the NX than it did the Wii U, eh? Well, they better make sure it’s a decent console first. As important as marketing is, I think Nintendo should be more focused on making a console that can speak for itself, in addition to having good marketing. The NX needs inspiring innovation, good games, and a true online account system.
I’d also like to point out that the Wii U didn’t necessary crash because Nintendo didn’t market it well enough. The Wii U just couldn’t compare to the massive success of the Wii. The Wii’s features were so distinct from every other console at the time, but the Wii U wasn’t quite different enough. The Wii was marketed and stole the hearts of casual gamers worldwide. It was the first of its kind for a lot of people, with avant-grade motion controls that Nintendo managed to popularize. Once the Wii U came out, the hype had more or less died down and no one was keen on shelling out money for a slightly upgraded Wii U.
With the NX, however, Nintendo seems to be promising another sweeping innovation. Unlike the Wii U, whose controls are not flawless, the NX is rumoured to not improve on the tablet-like controller but to try something else entirely. The NX has been described as non-traditional by Nintendo, and I think we all hope that it will blow our assumptions out of the water. However, exactly what is so non-traditional about the NX has been kept under lock and key. Thus, rumours have run amok on the internet. The latest has been that the NX is to include motion controls and something that sounds a lot like haptic feedback. In addition, the controller will likely be a tablet with detachable sides – meant for portable gaming. These controllers are expected to be detachable and can connect to a bigger screen, with its controllers housed on either side to make it playable portably as well.
This isn’t quite enough for us to get excited about, but the fact that it is rumoured to run on cartridges – that’s the stuff we normally expect from Nintendo. Something so crazy, it just might work. More space can fit on microchips these days, and they are certainly more advanced than the disks everyone else is using. Nintendo won’t need much clever marketing if they can pull off such a thrilling innovation.
But as always, most gamers buy their consoles for the games. So far, Nintendo is partnering with quite a few promising third parties like Sega, Square Enix, Ubisoft, Activision, and Warner Bros. All of which have great AAA games under their belt, so here’s hoping they’ll show up on the NX too. My expectations are not high, as Nintendo has a reputation for sticking to mostly family-friendly games. However, it is possible to make plenty of good games under the latter rating, like Zelda and Pikmin . Thus, the game line-up for the NX could be the best one yet and appeal to all audiences.
One of the most demanded features for the NX, on top of all others, is a true online account system. Right now, Nintendo’s account system is fractured and spread far too thinly. The Nintendo Network has your purchases linked per console rather than on your account itself. Miiverse is an unnecessarily separate social media where you can follow games and write posts. My Nintendo is ridiculously disconnected from any game that isn’t digital. All of these services need to be connected so that gamers can share their content across their devices and share with friends. For most people, this is where the line will be drawn for the NX. We want our community and a transferrable digital library.
Whether Nintendo writes a sales pitch to seduce all gamers or not, what really matters is the quality of the console itself. The NX needs the innovation Nintendo is famous for, like what the Wii and N64 did. It needs good games; a wide range that everyone can fall in love with. Most importantly, the NX needs to step on the bandwagon of a united online account system. Frankly, I just hope Nintendo doesn’t lose sight of making the NX the amazing console we’re hoping for.