The Future of Nintendo, Part 3

High Def:

And I’m not just talking high definition here, I’m talking super high definition. One thing computer systems have over consoles is the ability for super high resolutions. I think the future of both television and consoles lies in tapping into that potential. Now, television have more colors than computer monitors usually do, so if you are far enough away they both look the same. But more and more, people are seeing the crisper view they get on computers. High def is a start, but consoles and TVs still have a ways to go to catch up, and I bet the next generation makes some inroads. The Xbox 360 and PS3 are already a good way there with 1080p support, while the Wii only has 480p.

Surround Sound and More:

Sound is integral to our gaming experience, and the Wii is already making good progress with the speakers in the controllers. Delivering sound on a per-player basis is a wonderful innovation that has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, the sound out of those speakers kinda sucks. Expect that to get better, this generation. Next generation expect much more support for real 7.1 or more digital surround sound. I also expect that one Wiimote attachment is going to be a headset, possibly with a microphone. Nintendo might opt out of the microphone to keep thing kid safe, but the headphones — to give individual people specific sound cues in high quality sound — could have tons of multiplayer uses full of fun.

Developer Tools:

Getting high quality games on the Wii, or any console, is mission critical. I expect that in future generation — when technological progress stops mattering as much as creative progress, a process we are already beginning to see — console produces will provide more developer tools. This might be as simple as controller analysis or as complex as MMO back-end support, both of which I’ve already talked about. I suspect that will start providing simple engines designed low budget third party developers. Just because they don’t have a huge budget doesn’t mean they don’t have a good, innovative game idea.

Just look at what Flash has done for online games. Thousands are floating around now, and a lot of them are very good. I suspect, though, that if tools are provided to make development open, Nintendo will start mandating quality standards, my next point.

Quality Standards:

The Wii is already hurting from the number of bad games it is getting. It is being stuck with a ‘casual only’ image that could be hard to shake. Bad rip-off titles could swing the masses against the Wii. On one hand, Nintendo needs to improve its relations with third party developers. The N64 and GameCube has notoriously bad sales for third parties. Nintendo can’t very well start rejecting some games do to poor quality without further alienating developers. But on the other hand, the bad mini-game packages have to stop. I suspect that once it becomes clearer that the Wii is to be taken seriously, Nintendo will start pushing the quality issue a little harder. By next generation, they will probably be in a position to demand the best.