Yeah this is kind of the thing I'm starting to fight against. It is time to live in reality, where Nintendo will never do what the other machines do, and you can be miserable about it forever, or just come to terms with the fact that a Nintendo machine is its own kind of thing, and you either accept it for that or you don't buy it. Wishing it would turn into one of its competitors is like wishing a grizzly bear was a tractor.
This is pretty much where I'm at now, probably have been for a few years now.
IMO there's no ultimate point in wishing Nintendo somehow becomes Sony or MS in set top box gaming - unless of course, one of them drops out and leaves a true, legitimate vacuum to be filled. Perhaps Sony - it seems possible they could eventually bottom out and retire, leaving a real opportunity for Nintendo to expand and fill the vacuum.
But otherwise, there is no sense in being constantly frustrated at Nintendo failing to be something they aren't. They obviously have problems in finding a way to successfully be what they are - they have to find their niche, their sustainable market, find a way to make some kind of growth. This kind of inherited childhood memory of Nintendo being the leading face of all gaming though, and failing miserably when they don't achieve that - unrealistic.
It's like how every time a Zelda game comes out, and it's not the all things to all people superior RPG of the entire industry. Lots of people gather around and act perplexed, wondering why Nintendo "can't figure out how to beat Skyrim" or insert whatever is currently hyped as the genre king for any derivative of adventure or RPG game. Because that series, in this example, was held up and venerated by the gaming public as an end-all of gaming - when it has never even been one of Nintendo's own best sellers.
The industry has become too large, too wide. I feel many folks still see it simplistically. There's "real gaming" and everything else which is "not real gaming". To many, "real gaming" right now is AAA production value "hardcore" targeted games hosted on bleeding edge, sleek black dedicated gaming machine boxes. All wrapped up and optimized for that 20-35 year old male demographic.
The thing about the Wii, and the incredible allergic reaction it triggered among cool gamers, is it demonstrated there was more to it than that. People see the Wii "expanded audience" has having been some kind of trick, fad, or illusion, as that supports the narrative that real gaming is only this one very narrow thing aimed at a specialized group of people. But the audience the Wii tapped into is sustainable - it's just that it turns out platforms like smartphones and tablets may have been an even better fit for said audience. Gaming is just as real a thing over there, as "over here".
Nintendo's challenge isn't in trying to crush destroy Sony or Microsoft and dominate the enthusiast gaming market. It's in trying to figure out a place for themselves to exist doing what they do.
Indeed. What some people are dismissing as late gen fatigue could very well be the entire console market shrinking.
There's way more forms of entertainment including interactive entertainment vying for attention today than in 2005.
In addition to that, I still personally suspect there's some degree of genre fatigue and cynicism among game players due to the industry trying to run certain styles of games into the ground for seven years straight, resulting in a plaque-like buildup of disinterest in gaming as a whole.
Stupid useless anecdote time: was just having a conversation with the manager of our local Gamestop last night. Not a dumb person, not a stereotype of Gamestop employee. He was tired of games, all he's seen and all that's been marketed at him for the last half decade are the same 2 military shooters, the same "serious" open world crime / terrorist games, the same palette of names characters colors. So we asked him about five or six other games that came out in the last couple of years that broke the trend. He'd never really paid attention to them or cared to try the few he'd taken note of, because gaming was just... tired. Dull. That is what audience disinterest looks like.
If nothing else, we did get him to consider trying a few non-stereotypical Doritos Industry games to try and have fun again.
