Frankly, a
lot of "discussions" I've seen about next-gen consoles in general are just talking about the hardware, whether it be controllers, storage capacities, GPUs, whatever. Yes, that's somewhat important, but I've rarely seen any comments anywhere about the games they offer. I'd say the biggest barrier Nintendo needs to overcome is that they
need to have 3rd party games. The PS2 was more expensive than the Cube and had the worst graphics of current gen, yet sold the most consoles by far. 3rd parties are starting to warm up to Nintendo, but only in the form of spinoffs (Crystal Chronicles) or multiplatforms (RE4) from what I've seen this gen. Red Steel is also a step in the right direction, but I think Nintendo still has a ways to go. Don't get me wrong, Nintendo makes
great games, but when the most of the reasons to buy the a Nintendo console are Zelda, Smash Bros., Metroid, Mario Kart, and Starfox, I feel it loses a little bit of its appeal. Sorry, I'm just like that
I still think it will be the
games that determine popularity this next gen, just like the current gen, last gen, and so on. I'm sure as hell not buying a console because "OMG the controller" or "OMG the graphics". I feel that's taking a narrow point of view.
I'm not going to buy any next gen consoles until 2 years from launch. Hey, I did the same thing with the current gen. First of all, no matter which console you're getting, it'll be cheaper. Second, launch titles are usually crap. In two years, I'll see which console has the most games that I want (among other factors), and choose accordingly. Of course, that means during those two years I'll have to walk through Best Buy or Gamestop or something with my eyes shut and my hands in my ears shouting "LALALA I CAN'T HEAR NOR SEE ANYTHING" because otherwise I'll see what I'm missing and not be too happy about it. But then again, I also have to see what the hell is going on with these new-fangled devices before I pick one