Nintendo's latest home console has proven to be far from its most successful gaming device, having
struggled to gain traction right out of the gate thanks to some transition issues between its prior console, Wii, and its new tablet-focused machine, Wii U.
Game designer Shigeru Miyamoto doesn't see the company making that mistake again with the inevitable successor to Wii U, as bridging the gap between console hardware generations in a smooth and consumer-friendly manner will prove to be a major focus at Nintendo next time around.
"Well, we're always experimenting with a lot of different kinds of new hardware. Certainly, we've put a focus more recently on what we can do to better improve the transition from one hardware system to the next," Miyamoto explained in an interview with IGN.
"Going from GameCube to Wii, we were able to mature a smooth transition from one to the next in terms of the development environment. But with Wii to Wii U, there were some hurdles there that we had to overcome in making that transition to the new hardware system," he added.
There's been quite a bit of talk about a potential hybrid system from Nintendo that would consolidate the company's portable and home console efforts onto a single device that could either be taken on the go or hooked up to the television. When asked about such a device, Miyamoto remained relatively tight-lipped, offering a response that neither confirmed nor denied the company's interest in moving in this direction.
The question of whether or not we want to take a portable system and a home console system and decide if maybe, as the computer processing power improves, we could just simply say we'll stick with a portable and make it something that could also be a home console system is a question that ties directly into product strategy, and is something I can't really go into detail on.
But what I can say is that, for the time being, our focus is really on developing and building these environments that will allow us to have a smooth transition from one hardware system to the next going forward. Other than that, you can look forward to what comes next.
Do you think Nintendo should go down the hybrid console route next time around, or is the company better off keeping its handheld and console markets separate? I'm all for the former.
