Is Nintendo Dominating the Console Wars Still???

kawaiku

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So after I watched the Luigi's death stare video I scrolled down to see the comments (because lets face it, Youtube comments are highly entertaining) and came across an interesting discussion...

I don't own a Wii U, but I have no problem admitting that the exclusives that Nintendo has put on it in the last 2 years absolutely destroy everything available on the PS4 or Xbox One when it comes to pure fun.

That being said, as a longtime PlayStation fan who grew up a Nintendo kid, I think it's finally time to go "back home". All of these dark, gritty and way-too-cinematic games have almost killed my interest in videogames entirely, but when I see stuff like Mario Kart 8 and 3D World, it reminds me of why I picked up a controller back in the 80s in the first place.
I think I stated this before somewhere here, but Nintendo is the only gaming company that still knows how to make the whimsical game. Others have been turning more and more toward the gritty, serious, depressing stuff. Even the over the top games are still trying to give off the gritty vibe in presentation. But, having not checked out the gaming world for most of spring due to school, I want to know if Nintendo is still dominating the console wars like it did the the Wii? (It's obviously destroying the handheld market but it seems to always be ignored when it comes to the console wars). Anybody have any take on Nintendo?

-Edit- Another person also stated the the WiiU and the newer DS are both backwards compatible. How far back do those go?
 

Scott Tortorice

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So after I watched the Luigi's death stare video I scrolled down to see the comments (because lets face it, Youtube comments are highly entertaining) and came across an interesting discussion...

I think I stated this before somewhere here, but Nintendo is the only gaming company that still knows how to make the whimsical game. Others have been turning more and more toward the gritty, serious, depressing stuff. Even the over the top games are still trying to give off the gritty vibe in presentation. But, having not checked out the gaming world for most of spring due to school, I want to know if Nintendo is still dominating the console wars like it did the the Wii? (It's obviously destroying the handheld market but it seems to always be ignored when it comes to the console wars). Anybody have any take on Nintendo?
In terms of sales, the Wii U has been a failure, sadly:

NINTENDO ANNOUNCES ANOTHER ANNUAL LOSS, 6.17 MILLION WII U CONSOLES SOLD

The figures were revealed as part of its financial report for the year ending March 31, 2014. Just 2.7 million Wii U consoles were sold in the last year bringing the total number sold since its November 2012 launch to 6.17 million - less than the 7 million Sony's PS4 has shifted since November 2013.
However, the 3DS is doing slightly better:

3DS figures on the other hand are more positive, with the company selling 590,000 in the final quarter of the last financial year, bringing the life-to-date total up to 43.3 million, 2.2 million of which are the cheaper 2DS version. Despite this, sales figures for the handheld still came in below predictions.

Despite these poor sales, I am in complete agreement with the OP and your comments concerning games becoming all about "gritty, serious, depressing stuff". Have you noticed the latest trend? Apparently, "survival horror" is the new hot genre (I suppose it is the logical follow-up to the zombie craze). In movies, "survival horror" is usually of the same ilk as "torture porn" so I am not optimistic about where this is going.

I freely admit to enjoying my share of these gritty, serious, and depressing games (I did just blog eloquent about Stalker, after all :D) but, in my defense, I think I have also said on more than one occasion that I wish more games were like Borderlands - cartoonishly colorful and imaginative. Realism has its place, but like the OP said, I used to play games as a form of pure escapism; realism would seem to run contrary to that impulse, and it does. Perhaps this is one reason why so many recent indie games seem to resemble colorful Nintendo games? Maybe others are getting sick of the big studios giving us nothing but "realistic" experiences? Perhaps this is why people so love Minecraft and Kerbal Space Program....

Something tells me there is a blog entry in this discussion :) but for now it will suffice to say that I am completely sympathetic to your position. While it is true that games do not lead to violence, I do think gamers do need to explain why so many titles are obsessed with violence and depravity.
 
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