Ha pasado ya bastante tiempo desde que Wii, PS3 y Xbox 360 empezasen a competir por el primer puesto del mercado de las consolas, y , pese a que aún no se han mostrado todas las cartas de cada plataforma, creo que se podría hacer un breve análisis sobre la situación del mercado actual, con vistas a un hipotético futuro.
It would be stupid not to recognize the resounding success that the Wii is enjoying, and it is largely due to the inclusion in the market of social groups that until now remained untouchable: women and adults. In my opinion, Nintendo may be focusing too much on these two groups, since I, who have been playing all my life, do not feel attracted to the Wii, because, apart from the fact that the catalog does not attract my attention nor do I think it will attract my attention in the short or medium term, I think it is focused more on a collective gaming experience.
The innovation of the Wii is also undoubted. Nintendo was looking for a new way to play and found it, although I would dare say in a fairly limited way. It is limited in that the functionalities that can be given to a controller in the form of a remote control, I don’t think they can go beyond shaking it or pointing it at the screen. Some games use it well, but others (the majority) only use these features “as an excuse”, as if shaking the controller were the wild card we should always turn to when we can’t think of the solution to a problem: “I have to run. How do I do it? Shake the controller”, “I have to jump. How do I do it? Shake the controller.”.
Peripherals such as the Wii Fit Wii Balance Board do nothing more than feed the feeling of alienation of “long-time” users. I strongly disagree with the usefulness that can be given to a board with motion sensors: for Snow Board games, Skateboarding or exercising it is fine, but… Outside of that? I think it will be something like the bongos on Donkey Konga.
More or less the same thing happens with the Nintendo DS, except that the touch screen is more of an extra than an obligation, since it still maintains the typical controls (crosshair and buttons) and the touch screen is only used if it is truly needed. In this way, I believe that Nintendo DS can focus on a broader group of players, as is being demonstrated in its sales and users.
Without a doubt, the future for Nintendo is promising, but… Is it moving away from lifelong users? I think so.