The Nintendo Hybrid

  Imagine, if you will, a world in which handhelds and home consoles are one in the same. Imagine buying a new Nintendo console and also getting a handheld as well. Imagine turning off your console and fitting it into your pocket to play later away from home. Now stop imagining, because this very well could be the future of Nintendo consoles.

  Earlier this year it was reported that Nintendo's handheld division and console division merged into one building. One of the reasons cited was to further expand connectivity between console and handheld. With that said, it's a almost a no-brainer what's coming after the Wii U and the 3DS/2DS have run their course. Nintendo is aiming to create a handheld home console hybrid. Why wouldn't they? Their handheld division has always been their strongest. Even their most successful home console, the Wii, pales in comparison to the success of the Nintendo DS.  With industry analyst and everyday bloggers suggesting that Nintendo goes 3rd party or release games on the iOS market, making their next console into a hybrid that doubles as a handheld could seriously silence such asinine comments as those.

  If Nintendo realeases a hybrid for their next console, they could easily grow the fanbases of several of their handheld centric franchises. Pokemon comes to mind. Fans could finally get the home console Pokemon game they've been asking for, and when they're ready to battle, or leave the house, they just carry their hybrid with them as they would their 3DS. Even more casual focused games like animal crossing could benefit from having the portability of a handheld alongside the in home experience of a Nintendo console. Beyond just being able to game anywhere, Nintendo will no doubt add some new innovation that we never thought of. They could potentially add GPS technology, a solar energy sensor (ala solar boy django), or some other idea thats can only be described as Nintendo.

  If they do create a hybrid, there are several benefits. They could make it very affordable, due to cost being lowered. With Nintendo only pumping out hybrids instead of console and handheld, they would save a lot of resources, time, and money. They could produce games faster, since team won't have to debate about putting it on the handheld or the console. However, this hybrid would most likely have to be larger than any other handheld they ever manufactured to prevent overheating and house all this technology. It would probably at the smallest be the size of a Wii U Gamepad or Apple's iPad. The hybrid also would have to have a decent online infrastructure. It would be a waste not to. They could upgrade the miiverse to include voice chat, crossgame chat, and videochat during gameplay.  It would take a lot more effort than the average person would assume it would to get the hybrid just right, but if done right, Nintendo could dominate the home console and handheld market with a single device. 

  So I shall leave you with a little food for thought. If the Wii sold over 100 million units, and the DS sold over 150 million units, imagine how successful they would have been if combined into a hybrid somehow. This is the future console that we very well could get from Nintendo. Is your body ready?

The Wii U Has The Advantage This Holiday Season

By now there's already been thousands of articles claiming the Wii U or Nintendo as a whole is doomed. I find that a bit odd considering the 3DS has been doing great for a long while now, and the Wii U is picking up steam following it's price drop and WindWaker HD bundle. I'm not going to waste time arguing counter points against the doomsayers. Instead, I'm simply going to point out why Nintendo has a clear advantage going into this holiday season.

  The first advantage is the Wii U's price. The Wii U is effectively $100 cheaper than the nearest competitor, Sony's Playstation 4, and even comes bundles with a Zelda game. For the Price of a PS4, a potential Wii U owner could get a Wii U and 2 or more games, depending on what they buy, and for the price of an XBox One, they can get a Wii U and a 3DS/2DS to go along with it. With the majority of consumers who buy consoles during the holiday season being parents, that put Wii U in a nice position. They can buy the cheaper option, and still get the biggest titles such as Batman Arkham City, Assassin's Creed Black Flag, and Call of Duty for their child. Price will definitely give Wii U an edge.

  Another advantage is Nintendo's franchises. We all know Mario sells. Nobody can deny that. In fact 80% of Wii U owners have New Super Mario Bros. U, and a brand new 3D 4-player Mario is coming this holiday season, as well as other famous franchises like Wii Fit, Wii Sports, Mario and Sonic Olympics, and Wii Party. Ever since the announcement of Wii Sports Club, the original Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort have seen a sales spike in the US. Both Titles have made their way back into the top 20 weekly games for consecutive weeks. People are apparently preparing to take the new Wii Sports Club online and challenge the world. The biggest key to Nintendo's success this holiday is not even Wii Sports or Mario, believe it or not. the biggest key to their success is Wii Fit. If a consumer already has the Balance Board, they can effectively get Wii Sports for just $19.99 when they buy a Wii Fit Meter. Wii Fit was already a powerhouse system seller for the Wii, and now its only $20 on the Wii U. That is definitely going to sell some Wii U consoles.

  Last but not least, Wii U will be the only new console available in every major region this holiday season. Neither PS4 nor XBox One will be available in Japan this year. That gives Wii U home field advantage for this holiday. leaving the Wii U alone with no competitor except for  PSVita TV in Japan was not the best idea on their part. So with price, their storied franchises, and availability as there big advantages, The Wii U is set to have a very successful holiday 2013. 

Why the PSVita TV is a good business decision

It's no secret that I am a fan of the Playstation brand, but lately I've been questioning some of their business decisions. For the life of me, I couldn't understand releasing the PS3 for $599 USD, the existence of the PSP Go, or why they've slowly started to westernize what used to be the console otaku gamers dream of. The PSvita is one of the decisions I questioned initially. Why did they release it in North America with no JRPGs whatsoever and expect it to sell? Did they forget their audience? Had Microsoft convinced them that Americans only want shooters and hack and slash? I was upset with Sony as a whole. The PSVita is a great piece of kit, but it had nothing for me to play.

It seems Sony is well aware that the PSVita is not living up to the sells expectations set by the PSP. When they first announced the PSVita TV, I was confused. Why would Sony do this? They're going to hurt the sells of their own portable. Then it hit me! If people are not buying the PSVita (Sony product) because they are buying the PSVita TV (Sony product) instead, Sony is still making money. It's a brilliant win/win idea. Say somebody wants to play a few Vita games, but don't want to shell out the money for a Vita. Well, now they have a cheaper alternative. Sure it's not portable, but it plays the games they want, plus it has other cool features such as video streaming, and the eventual PS4 functionality. It's definitely a way to cover all bases.

On top of the cheaper price point and Apple TV esque features, The PSVita TV can also be seen as the cheapest entry point to gain access to Playstation Network games. Which, in my opinion, is a great value, considering a lot of my all time favorite titles are on PSN. The only serious flaw i can see with it, is that some Vita games will not work on it, for example: Little Deviants uses the touchpad and touchscreen, So I'm fairly certain that won't work on it. Still, that's just a minor sacrifice for what you get out of this box. I look forward to it's realease (assuming it comes to the US) and would like to see Nintendo and Microsoft's response to this superb idea.

Who is Pokemon Bank aimed at?

In a recent Nintendo Direct, GameFreak announced a new service that will launch alongside Pokemon X and Pokmen Y. That service is called the Pokemon Bank. It is a cloud based storage system that allows you to store up to 3,000 Pokemon in 100 boxes. When I first heard this, I assumed it was aimed only at the type of trainers who have huge collections, and those who EV and IV train their Pokemon into perfection, but maybe I was a bit too quick to judge.

First off, this is a subscription based service, as to be expected of anything dealing with cloud. There will be an annual fee that has been revealed to be only 500 yen, so I would imagine that is around $5 in the US. There will be a trial mode available for those who wish to test it out. In the direct, they talked about storing Pokemon in the bank for years and eventually passing it on to a child or friend. Back when I was PGX, I would have loved a feature like this to store all my eeveelutions. Even before I retired and sold off my Pokemon Diamond game, this could have came in handy. If it existed then, I could have stored my Pokemon in the bank, and eventually transferred them over to X and Y. You see, its not just the collectors that could make use of the Pokemon Bank, but the average trainer as well. If this is to be an ongoing sevice for generations of Pokemon to come, I'd gladly invest a measly $5 a year to keep my Pokemon in safe keeping. Even if you Download the digital version and lose your save data, at least you can keep your banked Pokemon. I forsee people abusing the bank to get all 6 starters in this game. 

So in the end, Pokemon Bank is a great forward thinking idea, that can really add a whole other level of personalization to your Pokemon experience. Seriously, what trainer wouldn't want to pass down his most prized Pokemon to his or her child and tell the stories of all the great battles they had years ago. That aspect alone is tempted me to come out of retirement for one more go at the competitive world of Pokemon. Well, what are your thoughts? Leave your comments below.

Super Smash Bros. Wii U may be the best in the series

unless you've been burried under a rock, you know that Nintendo is releasing a 4th Smash Bros. game for both the Wii U and 3DS in 2014. As per the writing of this article, Villager, Megaman, and Wii Fit Trainer have been announced as the latest Newcomers. It's also been stated that there will be no story mode this time around, but I have not doubts whatsoever, that this will be the best Smash Bros. game ever.

  First of all, Sakurai and his team seem to be really dedicated to balancing the game out as much as possible. This will make the game more enjoyable for competitive tournament players, and those who just play for fun with weapons galore, such as myself. very little if any talk of weapons has been mentioned so far, but if the character balancing is any indication to go by, there will probably be less Smart Bomb type items this time around. Some would argue that a lot of the items in Brawl were over powered, so here's hoping they balance that out along with everything else.

 The next thing that can really make this Smash Bros. the best one yet, is the character roster. Sakurai is looking to cut down on clowns and dud characters like Rob the Robot (shudders....) Yes, yes, I know Villager and Wii Fit Trainer aren't exactly known for being fighters, but for what's been shown, they seem to be formidable opponents. The roster is being chosen very carefully, as to appeal to every demographic that is even slightly interested in Smash Bros. That has to be a plus, right?

  Last but definitely not least, is the portability. This will be the first ever Smash Bros. game to be on a portable, the 3DS (or 2DS if you prefer that). If Nintendo are smart, they will find some sort of way to have some form of interactivity between the 3DS and the Wii U version of the game. You can finally falcon punch somebody on a bus (assuming C.Falcon returns) and not get arrested for doing so. As long as the online is smooth and better than the lagfest that was Brawl, its sure to be a hit.

 So with all of this going for it, Super Smash Bros. 4 (thats what I'm calling it) is set to shatter all of our expectations in a good way and deliver a superb, zany, quirky, tightly balanced, fighting game that we all want. Make it happen Sakurai. My Body Is Ready.

Homebrew Channel will keep the Wii alive longer than the HD consoles

This generation of gaming has finally drawn to a close with the Wii leading the way with over 100 million units sold. This gen is also significant as being the generation that sold the most software and hardware ever. The audience was definitely expanded. However, even though this generation is all but over with PS4 and Xbox One coming this holiday season, I have reason to believe the Wii will continue to sell long after the competition stops manufacturing Xbox 360 and PS3.

 The Wii, while currently the lowest selling console on a weekly basis, is the console that I believe will last the longest. It's the top seller for one, and it has a little something called the Homebrew Channel (Granted you know how to exploit the hack) which makes it a go to console for people looking to playing Free Games! It's no secret that the Homebrew channel was a factor in the Wii dominating this generation. Its the cheapest, it introduced motion controls, and it had Homebrew that let gamers play all kinds of roms and actual retail games for free.

  While I do not condone pirating retail games at all, I do know many gamers who did just that, and were able to play every single game they wanted on the Wii, for free. In this age where everyone is used to free to play and 99 cent iphone games, a console having free games is sure to stay around longer than one with $60 and $70 games. Another factor for my theory is that the owners of the Xbox One, thus abandonning the 360 and PS3. this will leave Wii as the last console standing, and when it eventually drops to $99 or less, it will probably reach DS sales numbers, or close to it. There's still to times when the Wii spikes and outsells the Wii U, and there are still applications being made for the homebrew channel. I believe the Wii has a long life ahead of it, as long as Nintendo doesn't pull the plug.

Why is America so anxious to see Nintendo fail?

At some point, I'm not exactly sure when, American gaming media decided to hate Nintendo and wish death upon the company. If I had to guess, I'd say it was midway through the Gamecube's run. It somehow became the cool thing to do. If you want to be part of the cool gamers crowd, you have to hate Nintendo. 

  This type of thinking, in my opinion, is anti-gaming. If you love gaming, and all that it stands for, you shouldn't hate any console manufacturer, especially Nintendo. They've been changing things up since the NES days. Of the 3 major console developers, Nintendo is the only company who's controllers are all noticeably different from the previous console. SEGA used to do the same thing when they were in the console business, because this was a good thing. changing up the controller introduces new ways to play and new ways to interact with your games. How dare the media hate the Wii, but tried their hardest to hype Kinect and Move? How dare they complain about Nintendo milking franchises, but turn a blind eye to the fact that there are more Halo and Uncharted games last gen than main series Mario games? Why is it Nintendo they target? 

  At first I believed it to be simply because they are a Japanese company. Maybe that argument would hold water, if the American media wasn't kissing Playstation's ass almost as much as Xbox's. They only answer I ever get from Nintendo haters is the same repeated uninformed nonsense such as "They're for kids." "Nintendo doesn't make hardcore games." or "I'm sick of Mario and Pokemon." They couldn't be more wrong. Despite the Wii's image last gen, it was home to the three most over the top mature titles and even a game that was almost banned. If they're sick of Mario, don't buy it. Nintendo makes loads of other franchises. They even showed of a new JRPG code named "X" at E3, and there are several rumors floating around about Shigeru Miyamoto revealing a new game soon, and Nintendo obtaining the rights to Baten Kaitos. Yet, it seems like no matter what they do, American media hates them. This is not the case in their homeland of Japan. Pick up any magazine like Famitsu, and you see high review scores, positive Nintendo articles, and praise for DragonQuest X, which is Nintendo exclusive. 

  So Why the hate here? What Did Nintendo do to America? Even The Wii and the Wii U's image is warped into something that they're not here in the US. It's shocking how few people know any game that I mention when they ask me what do I play on the Wii. They expect me to say Wii fit, Wii sports, and Mario, but instead are baffled when I name The Conduit, Red Steel 2, Monster Hunter Tri, No More Heroes, Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World, The Last Story, Xenoblade, and games of that nature. The Wii U seems to be Nintendo's best shot at regaining the respect of the American media, and With games like Watch Dogs, Bayonetta 2, Deus Ex, and the ever so popular Call of Duty, Its seems they have a fair shot. With America already trying to claim the Wii U as a failure, will it even have a chance to get out of the Hater's bracket?  Only time will tell.