Now, don't take me for a fanboy, as I haven't even bought the Wii U yet, but after Sony's PS4 Conference yesterday on February 20th, I don't think the people at Nintendo have to quake in their boots. And I have three reasons why.
1. The Graphics
As of what we saw yesterday, the unveiling of "the next generation" doesn't look to be too different than the current generation, which many suspected. A lot of people, including myself, bemoaned the "fact" that Nintendo was done for since it had current-gen visuals and would be left behind when the PS4 or next X-Box came out. But looking at what we saw last night, the PS4 is going to innovate in different ways other than graphical performance. So people who are going to choose between the Wii U or the PS4 aren't going to make graphics their deciding factor. The leap from the PS3 to the PS4, at this point at least, is almost inconsequential. Nintendo is very lucky in that regard.
2. Mixed Console Releases
Okay, so I'm not saying that GTA V is ever coming to the Wii U, but honestly, from what we heard last night, if Rockstar wanted it to, it could. And that's because it sounds like developers are still going to be making games for the PS3, long after the PS4 has come out. My primary reason for saying that is because of Bungie's latest project, Destiny, which is supposed to be a decade long game in the making. If what Bungie says is true, then Destiny will come out for both the PS3 and the PS4, meaning that games will continue to come out for both systems simultaneously for at least a decade. This console generation isn't even close to being over yet, no matter what we all saw in the conference yesterday. The Wii U, which many people see as a current-gen system anyway, can still survive with its current-gen specs.
3. The Playstation Vita is Still in the Mix
In last night's conference, Sony spent quite some time talking about how the Vita will be able to play games from the PS4 on the go without interrupting your playtime with it in case you have to go somewhere. This sounds a lot like Nintendo's tablet to me. And while you can't stray as far with the tablet as you can with the Vita, a lot of people also don't have the Vita, and I don't think people are going to rush out to get one just because of this new feature. I could be wrong, but I think the Vita doesn't stand a chance in the future, especially if it will remain dependent on its console brethren to stay alive, as it currently does with the PS3 and its transfarring ability. So Nintendo doesn't have to worry about Sony stealing its thunder (What little it has, anyway) away from their tablet, as Sony's solution isn't any better. Not from where I'm standing anyway.
And those are my thoughts. What are yours? Do you think Nintendo is screwed regardless of what Sony does? Is Microsoft still the 800 lb. gorilla standing in the room? Leave your comments in the box below.
