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It's going to be a great generation for games.
You've got Microsoft and Sony competing on the horsepower front.... having two commercial Frankensteins forcing each other to throw their entire weights behind their products is a good thing (expensive, but good.) Gone are the days when companies that wanted to compete visually could manage to turn profit on their hardware.... having to keep up with the Jonses is forcing both of them to cram unbelievable amounts of power into small packages and sell each individual unit at a large loss. They both have interesting, beautiful games on the horizon (and the 360 already has a classic in Oblivion as well as a couple other genuinely great games.) Having just bought a new car my checkbook is spread a little thin at the moment so the 600 dollar price tag is a little daunting.... but I'll find a way to scrape it up.
Nintendo, not having the same amount of financial stability (being a bottomless pit of funds and the ability to take a loss on each hardware unit without batting an eye) as the other two, has taken a completely different route. Given the fact that the console will be a completely different experience and will most likely be dirt cheap I'll definitely pick one up
Fanboys and nostalgia whores aside, the industry hasn't been this appealing in ages.
I suppose Nintendo does have a fair amount of financial stability. At one point they could have simply lived off Game Boy and Pokémon,and they probably still could. I'm just glad that they still feel compelled to innovate.
Not nearly as much as either Sony or Microsoft. Nintendo has nothing to fall back on (if their games fail, they fail. Nintendo is their games.)
Nintendo still makes enormous amounts of profit (for a company that only makes video games).... especially off of their handhelds... they have to or they wouldn't stay afloat.
If Nintendo sustained the sorts of losses Microsoft incurred during the original XBox's days (and with the 360) Nintendo would no longer exist. Microsoft can afford to take such a hit - they don't just make games, they have other things to fall back on. After seeing how much revenue the industry generates Gates was willing to shove his foot in the door and get his toes stubbed - anything to get Microsoft into the party. Nintendo isn't able to compete graphically anymore given what sort of hardware is in the 360 and what will be in the PS3, they can't afford to overextend themselves.
Microsoft and Sony are so busy competing with one another, hoping to gain exclusive control over their competitor's share of the market, and in doing so they have made super fucking expensive machines they have no choice but to sell to us at huge losses. Nintendo can't do this, they may be seen as the "innovators" this round but in reality they have no other choice.... they've been forced into a corner (Keep in mind that Nintendo has always been on the cutting edge of graphics. Also, historically, it didn't cost so much to remain cutting edge graphically. They can't afford it anymore.) And when Nintendo is forced into a corner it sometimes acts like a wild animal or a confused old person, it just does crazy things. They don't know karate, man, but they know crazy - and they will use it. And BAM! The new Wii remote. Luckily for them sometimes crazy desperation pays off.... but sometimes it doesn't.