'Nintendo needs to stop living in the past' - Pachter

January 7th, 2012, 23:59 Posted By: wraggster

Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter has damned Nintendo for its design decisions with Wii U's unique tablet controller, which he says ultimately guarantees "limited third party launch support".
"Nintendo has to simply stop living in the past in 2012," he told Industry Gamers. "They had a great deal of success since 1985 by making proprietary hardware and supporting it with proprietary software. They attracted third party support based upon the large installed base they generated for their hardware."They appear to me to be confident that 'if they build it, third parties will support it', but I don't think that is the case for Wii U," he added.
Pachter takes issue with Nintendo's decision to adopt an alternative approach to its controller design - as it has done for all of its home consoles. "By trying to be 'different' with the tablet controller, they have complicated game design for developers, who can't figure out if the Wii U will ultimately support only one or multiple controllers."
He has a point there; Nintendo has 'confirmed' that, as originally reported by CVG, the console will only ship with - and be limited to compatibility with - a single tablet controller, blaming cost issues for the limitation. But conflicting reports have since emerged.
Pachter adds: "Nintendo made the device sufficiently different that they are all but assured of limited third party launch support, which ultimately will lead to modest hardware sales."
He goes on to suggest that Nintendo needs to improve its operations "in the areas of digital downloads, a user-friendly online interface and multiplayer gaming".

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...-past-pachter/

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