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[James Scott]

Its also not 10 million. The 3DS hasn't suddenly vanished.

Yeah, 3DS sold mostly on exclusives as well. It's just that a $300+ system is a harder sell to consumers if it doesn't get great support.
As long as Nintendo can secure some of that support like MH and Atlus games they should be fine on the handheld front.
Increasing the perceived value of the console is something pretty important Nintendo should chase after instead of just trying to make it as cheap as possible.
If you tell a consumer that they only have to buy one system and get all of Nintendo's games I think a lot of consumers would buy it.
Asking consumers to invest $500 on two systems to get an acceptable line up isn't going to fly especially if they can settle for one (the cheapest version)

 

[Roo]

Lack of power was never the reason Nintendo didnt get thirdparty support though.

lol

 

[tr00per]

Uhh.. Quantity over quality?

 

[maxcriden]

The assumption is that games that would have normally been exclusive to portable will also now be on console. So, even last year, if you ignore which platform games were released on, you have a release schedule that looks like this:

1. Affordable Space Adventures
2. Amiibo Tap: Nintendo's Greatest Bits
3. Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival
4. Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer
5. BOXBOY!
6. Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash
7. Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.
8. Dementium: The Ward
9. Devil's Third
10. Etrian Mystery Dungeon
11. Etrian Odyssey II Untold: The Fafnir Knight
12. FAST Racing NEO
13. Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water
14. Flipnote Studio 3D
15. Fossil Fighters: Frontier
16. Goosebumps: The Game
17. Gravity Falls: Legend of the Gnome Gemulets
18. Just Dance 2016
19. Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
20. LBX: Little Battlers eXperience
21. Legend of Kay Anniversary
22. LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
23. LEGO Jurassic World
24. LEGO Marvel Super Heroes
25. LEGO Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin
26. Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam
27. Mario Party 10
28. Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash
29. Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars
30. Minecraft
31. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
32. Moon Chronicles
33. Pokémon Picross
34. Pokémon Rumble World
35. Pokémon Shuffle
36. Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon
37. Puzzle & Dragons Z + Super Mario Bros. Edition
38. Rodea the Sky Soldier
39. Splatoon
40. SteamWorld Heist
41. Stretchmo
42. Super Mario Maker
43. The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes
44. Ultimate Angler
45. Ultimate NES Remix
46. Xenoblade Chronicles 3D
47. Xenoblade Chronicles X
48. Yoshi's Woolly World

Note: I manually edited a list, so I may have made mistakes.

I mean, 48 isn't as much as ps4/xb1 last year, maybe not even half, but 48 is way closer than if you take each platform on its own.

(and before anyone points out that this list also includes third party - I know. But PS4 and XB1 would absolutely FLOP if it weren't for third party. My point is, I think NX will do AT LEAST as well as WiiU/3DS, if not better, when it comes to third party.)

Paper Jam came out last year in your region, but so did Stretchmo. Not FullBlox, but Stretchmo. Berenstain universe interloper confirmed 😵

 

[AzaK]

We are all crazy for new NX info. NeoGaf will MELTDOWN after next week's investor's meeting and the E3 digital event or whatever they do.

Fixed

 

[CentralScrutinizer]

If NX becomes nothing but a Nintendo console, I will still buy it. I'm more excited about the next handheld than i am the console, but I will still be there for both on day one.

 

[MacTag]

Take the NES out of there. That sold on having all games, and if you think titles like Megaman, Castlevania, and Contra didn't push sales just as hard as first party titles, you're crazy.

None of those games sold as much as even Metroid or Zelda, much less Mario. NES didn't even have 3rd party games until a full year after launch in both America and Japan. Nintendo really defined the platform and Mario was what sold it. 3rd parties collectively helped keep momentum going later on (particularly after 1988 when Nintendo slowed on game development) but for the most part they were capitaizing on the already successful platform rather than driving it. The most defining 3rd party game on the system was probably Dragon Quest and then even it's impact was limited to Japan exclusively.

 

[georly]

I think you might be looking at this in retrospect and considering the entire libraries comprehensively rather sequentially. At the time what really sold the NES was Mario. It's hard to understate just what a gamechanger it was for everything, every bit as transformative as Wii Sports or Minecraft. The NES then being the mainstream juggernaut it became was what enabled franchises like Mega Man, Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden, Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest to become huge successes. And the depth of library certainly 3rd parties brought added to the appeal and continued the platform's momentum, but it was 1st party games that really defined the system in the public consciousness and what made people want it. Just consider the NES installments of those 5 franchises combined were likely less than the sales of SMB3 alone. And the entire NES libraries combined from those five 3rd party publishers less than the sales of SMB1 alone.

It was much the same with DS where Mario, Pokemon and Touch Generations sold in the tens of millions and brought in both new and lapsed gamers in unprecedented numbers. 3rd parties never came close, even if they were present and highly successful, and they didn't really shape or drive the platform's audience for the most part. Having good 3rd party support isn't really what defined DS as a platform. I'd say your experience at Gamestop might be something of a distorting lens, that's more a window into already engaged audiences. What might be more valuable for the mainstream phenom that was DS is the retail experience of someone at Walmart back in the day.

Sure, that's accurate. I'm mainly thinking of those who wouldn't consider themselves enthusiasts or early adopters, who would have picked up the system a couple of years in. But you're right, both systems launched with strong first party that created that initial install base that led to better 3rd party support. DS less so than the NES (I attribute a large portion of the DSes success mainly to past nintendo portable success and 3rd party betting that it would continue). I don't deny the way brain age and nintendogs elevated the system to insane levels, though.

If NX becomes nothing but a Nintendo console, I will still buy it. I'm more excited about the next handheld than i am the console, but I will still be there for both on day one.

All I need is for them to keep making zelda and i'm a customer for life.

 

[AzaK]

Nintendo is most certainly not happy with the idea of having only 10 million people buy into their ecosystem.

I agree. However I also think Nintendo have never been about the western "core" games and high tech like so many of the enthusiast gamers out there who buy MS and Sony consoles.

With the changes in the market since the iPhone came along, part of me hopes Nintendo realises that that market is not really going to flock to Nintendo devices anymore but it wouldn't surprise me if Nintendo gives it another go and tries to get them as those people are more aligned with Nintendo's style of games compared to the "core" gamers.

So it will be interesting but past history would suggest to me that Nintendo's bigger consumer base will not come from those 50 million XBO/PS4 owner without some major, major rebranding and approaches to marketing, development and their consumers.

 

[Golgo 13]

Not trolling -- genuine question. Why do we pay so much attention to Emily Rogers? Does she have an impeccable track record of accuracy regarding Nintendo? Or is she someone who's been "kinda right" about a few things and we're just in the mood to discuss The NX so we post her speculation?

To me, her output seems to be very broad, almost like something the average market analyst could guess. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[jmizzal]

Weird what people read into things.
"Good specs, but not Exactly as 10k mentioned"=weaker than Xbox One
"Good 1st party support"=rushed first party titles;no 3rd parties
She hasn't said any of that, focusing on increasing the number of exclusives should be a good thing, no?
Right now Nintendo's output is roughly 9/12 exclusives (console/handheld) per year.
If they can bump that number up to 15 on each that would certainly feel better.
Nintendo puts out a lot games but if you don't own both systems you feel like you're not getting a full experience, hopefully they aim to fix this issue as stated in the article

yup, I just dont play handheld games enough to justify owning one and buying games for it, giving the console games full output is good for me.

 

[Ad0ve]

The spin in some of you guys are giving this rumor is hilarious

"Nintendo wants to increase their game output? THEY AREN'T GOING TO TRY TO GET THE THIRD PARTIES AT ALL!!!11"

I wonder, if she had said the opposite "There will only be 2 Nintendo launch games and just five games through the rest of 2017, lol" would you guys be like "ZOMG , THIS MEANS ALL THIRD PARTIES ARE ON BOARD!!!11"

 

[MK_768]

Not trolling -- genuine question. Why do we pay so much attention to Emily Rogers? Does she have an impeccable track record of accuracy regarding Nintendo? Or is she someone who's been "kinda right" about a few things and we're just in the mood to discuss The NX so we post her speculation?

To me, her output seems to be very broad, almost like something the average market analyst could guess. Correct me if I'm wrong.

She is usually right with her leaks. Especially the last few years. Her most recent leak was Paper Mario Wii U

 

[georly]

Not trolling -- genuine question. Why do we pay so much attention to Emily Rogers? Does she have an impeccable track record of accuracy regarding Nintendo? Or is she someone who's been "kinda right" about a few things and we're just in the mood to discuss The NX so we post her speculation?

To me, her output seems to be very broad, almost like something the average market analyst could guess. Correct me if I'm wrong.

She is usually right with her leaks. Especially the last few years. Her most recent leak was Paper Mario Wii U

Yup, she very very clearly knows someone who works at or with some nintendo branch. If I had to guess, it's someone on the PR side for NOE, but who knows?

 

[hatchx]

Well we know three things for sure:

-Zelda NX is a thing, and looks be the best Zelda in a long time. Hell, they've been working on it for over 5 years. It took them an entire generation.

-Retro is working on something.

-EAD Tokyo is working on something.



Those three alone solidify my hope.

 

[Angry Chair]

Not trolling -- genuine question. Why do we pay so much attention to Emily Rogers? Does she have an impeccable track record of accuracy regarding Nintendo? Or is she someone who's been "kinda right" about a few things and we're just in the mood to discuss The NX so we post her speculation?

To me, her output seems to be very broad, almost like something the average market analyst could guess. Correct me if I'm wrong.

She has connections but this blog post is nothing more than hot air.

 

[MK_768]

Yup, she very very clearly knows someone who works at or with some nintendo branch. If I had to guess, it's someone on the PR side for NOE, but who knows?

She says she has a source at NoA. Liam is he one who supposedly has a NoE source.

 

[georly]

Hell, they've been working on it for over 5 years. It took them an entire generation.

They worked on skyward sword for 5 years, too, and a ton of people didn't like it.

(That said, ocarina was also a 5+ year dev cycle after ALttP).

She says she has a source at NoA. Liam is he one who supposedly has a NoE source.

Like I said, I think it's obvious she knows someone working at or with nintendo, I just didn't know specifics. When did she reveal that tidbit?

 

[Zebei]

I wonder, if she had said the opposite "There will only be 2 Nintendo launch games and just five games through the rest of 2017, lol" would you guys be like "ZOMG , THIS MEANS ALL THIRD PARTIES ARE ON BOARD!!!11"

Of course they wouldn't.

It would just be an entire thread where the only posts are "Nintendoomed"

 

[Ad0ve]

Well we know three things for sure:

-Zelda NX is a thing, and looks be the best Zelda in a long time. Hell, they've been working on it for over 5 years. It took them an entire generation.

-Retro is working on something.

-EAD Tokyo is working on something.



Those three alone solidify my hope.

I know what you mean, but im pretty sure every single Nintendo dev is always working on something at all times

 

[Josh5890]

They worked on skyward sword for 5 years, too, and a ton of people didn't like it.

(That said, ocarina was also a 5 year dev cycle after ALttP).



Like I said, I think it's obvious she knows someone working at or with nintendo, I just didn't know specifics. When did she reveal that tidbit?

I still don't get how they took five years to make Skyward Swords when you had to revisit each of the three main worlds several times. Did it really take that long to nail down the motion controls?

 

[Josh5890]

I know what you mean, but im pretty sure every single Nintendo dev is always working on something at all times

We weren't 100% sure of that in 2012 lol

 

[georly]

I still don't get how they took five years to make Skyward Swords when you had to revisit each of the three main worlds several times. Did it really take that long to nail down the motion controls?

Yeah, that's the assumption. I'm sure the game went through several redesigns. There's an iwata asks on it. http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wii/zelda-skyward-sword/0/0

First, we made the Wii MotionPlus1 accessory, then we built it in to the Wii Remote controller in the form of the Wii Remote Plus2 controller, so one challenge this time was seeing how using that would change a Zelda game.

I'm Aonuma, the producer. There have been all kinds of twists and turns since development began almost five years ago.

We had him be director and discussed something that would use Wii MotionPlus, which was developed right around that time, so players could freely operate the game. For about half a year after that, I have to say the mood was very nasty! (laughs)

We tried a bunch of things for Wii MotionPlus, but it was really quirky.

Wii MotionPlus is an incredibly sharp device, but a little distinctive. It's like an unruly horse.

Yes, exactly. No matter what we did, we couldn't tame it. Then Wii Sports Resort6 came out as the first game for Wii MotionPlus.

Kobayashi: We were like, "Aw, here it comes…" (laughs) We didn't have any existing knowledge of how it worked, so we weren't even at the starting point because we had to learn how it worked!
Iwata: So the detour started right at the beginning of development! (laughs)

 

[MK_768]

They worked on skyward sword for 5 years, too, and a ton of people didn't like it.

(That said, ocarina was also a 5+ year dev cycle after ALttP).



Like I said, I think it's obvious she knows someone working at or with nintendo, I just didn't know specifics. When did she reveal that tidbit?

During the Devil's Third incident she said "my sources at NoA." And she also said that in this blog post correct?

 

[georly]

During the Devil's Third incident she said "my sources at NoA." And she also said that in this blog post correct?

All I've ever read is "I’ve been told by my sources close to Nintendo" which could mean anyone related to nintendo (PR, Marketing, etc etc) for any of the english speaking branches, presumably.

 

[Josh5890]

Yeah, that's the assumption. I'm sure the game went through several redesigns. There's an iwata asks on it. http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wii/zelda-skyward-sword/0/0

Thanks for the link. Good stuff. Considering the usually long times for Zelda games, I think it is a minor miracle that in a span of five year we got Orcarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Windwaker with Twighlight Princess only three years after that.

 

[MacTag]

Sure, that's accurate. I'm mainly thinking of those who wouldn't consider themselves enthusiasts or early adopters, who would have picked up the system a couple of years in. But you're right, both systems launched with strong first party that created that initial install base that led to better 3rd party support. DS less so than the NES (I attribute a large portion of the DSes success mainly to past nintendo portable success and 3rd party betting that it would continue). I don't deny the way brain age and nintendogs elevated the system to insane levels, though.

Right and that's not to say 3rd parties didn't contribute to or weren't instrumental to all those platforms over their lifecycles. They most certainly were, even the Wii which tends to get ridiculed for it's 3rd party library. But what mainly defined and sold those systems were still the 1st party games.

Nintendo can certainly sell a platform on the back of their own games, they have a 30 year track record of doing just that repeatedly. And if Nintendo can sell the system then 3rd parties will follow in support and help continue the momentum.

 

[MK_768]

All I've ever read is "I’ve been told by my sources close to Nintendo" which could mean anyone related to nintendo (PR, Marketing, etc etc) for any of the english speaking branches, presumably.

Ah yes, you are right. And the Devil's Third thing was her saying she has sources with NoA contacts.

Oops. lol

 

[georly]

Thanks for the link. Good stuff. Considering the usually long times for Zelda games, I think it is a minor miracle that in a span of five year we got Orcarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Windwaker with Twighlight Princess only three years after that.

Really hope we get back into the "Mainline zelda every 2-3 years" with portables (smaller, less graphics intensive games)/spin-offs in the off years.

Right and that's not to say 3rd parties didn't contribute to or weren't instrumental to all those platforms over their lifecycles. They most certainly were, even the Wii which tends to get ridiculed for it's 3rd party library. But what mainly defined and sold those systems were still the 1st party games.

Nintendo can certainly sell a platform on the back of their own games, they have a 30 year track record of doing just that repeatedly. And if Nintendo can sell the system then 3rd parties will follow in support and help continue the momentum.

Yeah, you're right. You've convinced me.

 

[daxgame]

Won't believe it until I see it.

And first party games isn't the real problem. If the NX doesn't have Destiny, CoD, GTA, Elder Scrolls and the yearly updates of 2K/Madden/Fifa then it's going to flop.

Right, those games are exactly what led the Wii to success.
Spoiler: those ggames don't even sell on Nintendo consoles to begin with

 

[Josh5890]

Really hope we get back into the "Mainline zelda every 2-3 years" with portables (smaller, less graphics intensive games)/spin-offs in the off years.

Call me sacrilegious but I would like to see someone else tackle a handheld Zelda like Capcom did with Seasons and Ages back in the day.

 

[Vegetable Lasagna]

Don't care about Nintendo's output if they're going to just keep making the same 3 games over and over. They're going to have to dig into their catalog of ips for me to care. That's the only thing that will get me to purchase a NX assuming the hardware is up to snuff. Plenty of 3rd party content on other systems that have proven network services for me to give a shit if Nintendo lands a lot of that support or not.

 

[georly]

Call me sacrilegious but I would like to see someone else tackle a handheld Zelda like Capcom did with Seasons and Ages back in the day.

Nah, that's fine. As long as nintendo is still internally developing some of the zelda games, I don't care if other devs want to tackle other ones. Especially if it means expanding the potential of the series. A sheik game by platinum. A Zelda (playing as zelda) game by Square, whatevers. Give me more zelda, i'll buy and finish every single one. As long as mainline 'traditional' zelda are still developed from time to time, give me as many spin-offs or side stories or 'old school' variations of the franchise from any other dev.

 

[Angry Chair]

Really hope we get back into the "Mainline zelda every 2-3 years" with portables (smaller, less graphics intensive games)/spin-offs in the off years.

I wouldn't be surprised if we got a Majora's Mask-esq sequel to the upcoming Zelda.

 

[MK_768]

Don't care about Nintendo's output if they're going to just keep making the same 3 games over and over. They're going to have to dig into their catalog of ips for me to care. That's the only thing that will get me to purchase a NX assuming the hardware is up to snuff. Plenty of 3rd party content on other systems that have proven network services for me to give a shit if Nintendo lands a lot of that support or not.

Lmfao what?!

I stopped reading after that cause how am I supposed to take this seriously

 

[Josh5890]

Nah, that's fine. As long as nintendo is still internally developing some of the zelda games, I don't care if other devs want to tackle other ones. Especially if it means expanding the potential of the series. A sheik game by platinum. A Zelda (playing as zelda) game by Square, whatevers. Give me more zelda, i'll buy and finish every single one. As long as mainline 'traditional' zelda are still developed from time to time, give me as many spin-offs or side stories or 'old school' variations of the franchise from any other dev.

I wouldn't mind a break from the convention Zelda games that we know. Hyrule Warriors was a good first step. I like your Sheik/Zelda ideas.

 

[meanspartan]

It dangerously sounds like they're gonna ignore third parties again.

If true.

Honestly, who cares? Who is buying NX to play Call of Duty at this point? If they really can significantly increase exclusives, that's enough.

And for fuck's sake dont let this be the time they decide not to do backcompat. If this thing can play Wii U games, I am in day one. If not, I wait.

 

[Josh5890]

I wouldn't be surprised if we got a Majora's Mask-esq sequel to the upcoming Zelda.

If Nintendo was smart they would invest in something like that. Hopefully this game will have a good foundation to make another original game. A main Zelda game in 2019, midway through the NX would be killer.

 

[TunaLover]

Right, those games are exactly what led the Wii to success.
Spoiler: those ggames don't even sell on Nintendo consoles to begin with

Nintendo don't even promote this kind of games, you can't expect sales from them.

 

[takriel]

Well we know three things for sure:

-Zelda NX is a thing, and looks be the best Zelda in a long time. Hell, they've been working on it for over 5 years. It took them an entire generation.

-Retro is working on something.

-EAD Tokyo is working on something.



Those three alone solidify my hope.

Sorry to be that guy, but Skyward Sword took 5 years, as well. At this point, we don't know exactly why it took them so long with Zelda U. Maybe they had development difficulties like with Skyward Sword. Maybe they delayed it just so that it could be a NX launch title.

Regarding the Zelda team, the amount of time they need to develop a new Zelda game does not necessarily correlate with the game's quality, imo.

 

[georly]

I wouldn't be surprised if we got a Majora's Mask-esq sequel to the upcoming Zelda.

This new engine looks way too good to NOT reuse. Heck, I'd love a zelda 1 or 2 remake using the engine. Would be amazing.

I wouldn't mind a break from the convention Zelda games that we know. Hyrule Warriors was a good first step. I like your Sheik/Zelda ideas.

Hyrule warriors gives me a ton of hope that nintendo will license out zelda to make more games in the off-years. 2014 would have been zelda-less without it.

 

[Vegetable Lasagna]

Lmfao what?!

I stopped reading after that cause how am I supposed to take this seriously

Okay... I want more than Mario, Mario Kart, Zelda and Smash Bros? Or whatever other genre they want to force Mario into. Splatoon and Mario Maker (ahem) were clearly not enough to make me purchase a Wii U. They're going to have to bring back a lot of series they've been ignoring to get my attention AND up their output for me to care. 3rd party support isn't going to do that. I can get that on PC, Xbox One and PS4. Nintendo is just irrelevant to me in their current state. Sorry.

 

[MK_768]

Okay... I want more than Mario, Mario Kart, Zelda and Smash Bros? Or whatever other genre they want to force Mario into. Splatoon and Mario Maker (ahem) were clearly not enough to make me purchase a Wii U. They're going to have to bring back a lot of series they've been ignoring to get my attention AND up their output for me to care. 3rd party support isn't going to do that. I can get that on PC, Xbox One and PS4. Nintendo is just irrelevant to me in their current state. Sorry.

So you say you don't care about Nintendo's output if they keep making the same 3 games over and over again and then you list 6 games they've created for Wii U. Smooth lol.

 

[georly]

Okay... I want more than Mario, Mario Kart, Zelda and Smash Bros? Or whatever other genre they want to force Mario into. Splatoon and Mario Maker (ahem) were clearly not enough to make me purchase a Wii U. They're going to have to bring back a lot of series they've been ignoring to get my attention AND up their output for me to care. 3rd party support isn't going to do that. I can get that on PC, Xbox One and PS4. Nintendo is just irrelevant to me in their current state. Sorry.

Well, I hope nintendo can please you one day.

 

[Orniletter]

I still don't get how they took five years to make Skyward Swords when you had to revisit each of the three main worlds several times. Did it really take that long to nail down the motion controls?

There is a lot more to SS than just 3 main areas.

Each main area has a second sub-area, it has as many dungeons as TP and everything is lavishly produced. It's a 40 hours puzzle game.
I don't think much work was done on it before Spirit Tracks was finished and it was basically rebooted as another game quite a bit into development.
So yeah, 5 years.

 

[Snakeyes]

This sounds promising, but it still fails to address one of the main reasons why Nintendo consoles have been losing relevance worldwide; nearly all of their development resources have been shifted back to Japan since the early 00s. Having roughly 300 - 400 developers across Retro, Next Level and Monster Games, especially when all three are more or less NCL's farm teams, is just not enough to have a good perspective on the wider market.

What Nintendo needs the most right now are Western studios that can give more breadth to their exclusive lineup, much like Rare did back in the 90s.

 

[Jigorath]

These NX rumors are sounding more and more like fanboy pipe dreams every passing day.

I guess we come back to reality in about a month and a half.

 

[Vegetable Lasagna]

So you say you don't care about Nintendo's output if they keep making the same 3 games over and over again and then you list 6 games they've created for Wii U. Smooth lol.

Yup, 6 games. Same old shit mostly rinse and repeat. Honestly, Splatoon is about the only game on the Wii U that surprised me. And that wasn't enough. When they're releasing a more diverse lineup of games is when I'll start caring. Is that hard to understand?

Well, I hope nintendo can please you one day.

Hopefully!

 

[Dreams-Visions]

I'll believe it when i see it, Emily.

I'm also interested in what they will do when this generation ends for Sony and Microsoft in 2 or 3 years. Are they going to get back into lock step with everyone else or just be in their own world and again far behind in tech for a few additional years?

 

[James Scott]

I still don't get how they took five years to make Skyward Swords when you had to revisit each of the three main worlds several times. Did it really take that long to nail down the motion controls?

The game changed art styles mid development along with control schemes.
It also might be 3 areas, but they're pretty densely packed.
Also pretty sure it was supposed to be finished a few month into the year it came out but they were pretty set on it being a holiday title so they pushed it back to try and sell more.
Could be wrong there.

I'll believe it when i see it, Emily.

I'm also interested in what they will do when this generation ends for Sony and Microsoft in 2 or 3 years. Are they going to get back into lock step with everyone else or just be in their own world and again far behind in tech for a few additional years?

Seems like Sony's not sure about a PS5. Maybe they'll just stick with upgraded hardware every 3 years or so. Nintendo should be able to do the same with NX in case they need to catch up