How Nintendo Could Release The Nintendo Fusion Right Now

The writer discusses how Nintendo could smoothly dump the Wii U and 3DS by allowing consumers to pay a small upgrade fee to the Nintendo Fusion.

[Dwalls1171]

Wii u owners would be pissed

[gameboymario]

In the article it specifically states that Wii U owners could make a small fee (say $50) to have their Wii U sent in to Nintendo and have a Nintendo Fusion given to them on the spot. I personally wouldn't be that pissed, you're paying a small fee and getting your old console replaced with a brand new one that is backwards compatibility.

If Nintendo were to do what Sega done however, it would piss off many consumers,

[DJMarty]

Nintendo would have to right off shit loads of Wii U hardware(as they already commited to Wii U manufactering for years), the losses wouldn't make it viable.

[barb_wire]

Hypothetically..

Why should the Wii U owners have to pay though?, since they've already paid premium for the console only to have Nintendo to dump support after just a year.. let Nintendo eat the cost, since it has been their mistakes that would lead upto this.

All hypothetically of course..

[admiralvic]

@ Barb_Wire

Because WE (or at least I, since I bought a Wii U) committed to buy a Wii U, not the right to play whatever Nintendo game releases over the next 3+ years. You got exactly what you paid for and the system does everything described. Yes, it would suck and I would be pissed, but this sort of thing happens all the time. A product fails and a company drops support and life continues on.

[Eonjay]

The imaginary console has an official name now?

[its_JEFF]

@admiralvic

You're talking about an entire platform. I don't know if that's every happened, not after a year, right? Does the Dreamcast apply?

[ABizzel1]

Why are you people still following this Fake rumor. There have been no other major industry sites saying anything about a potential Nintendo Fusion, this is nothing but a concept from someone with a bit of PC sepcs. knowledge.

The majority of you don't even know about specs at all, because when PC GPU / CPU / etc... articles show up on n4g it's only a few of the usual people in there discussing the specs.

The Nintendo fusion is a solid concept and one I've been saying they should do since the Wii U's struggle at retail. The Fusion concept however, would be better served around holiday 2016 where Nintendo can make a console with similar performance to the PS4 / XBO. That way they can give the Wii U an appropriate life span without making anyone bitter, and have the fusion on the market for 4 years if it doesn't take off, because I don't see the PS5/XB? launching until around 2020 so they can reap the benefits from NVIDIA Volt's and AMD equivalents successors.

On top of that the 4DS should be deep in development by then, and they can incorporate that platform into the concept of the fusion console and allow up-scaling of 3DS and 4DS games.

But again this is all just hype for now, and if it were to come it wouldn't be any time soon.

[Oh_Yeah]

Nintendo allowing us to upgrade the wii u for 50$ lol fat chance even though they could afford the loss easily, I could see if Oprah was CEO...Really though, all it needs are its 1st party games to be released and quick, plus new ips, mature ones. Then patch in trophies/achievement system, a price drop to 200, start bundling the system with the pro controller, allow us to turn off the annoying background noises, unlock DVD/blu ray playback, drop game prices quicker/ start them at 50$, free nes/snes/n64/GameCube emulator, all retro games free with a 50$ a year subscription. I would save the wii u so fast it wouldn't even be funny.

[N4g_null]

Why come out with a new home console when you can make a kick azz 3ds upgrade very similar to nvidias grid and use that extra processor like a cloud server locally. Instant FX chip situation.

A 3ds upgrade that rivals the wiiu power and then some is very doable.

While the gpu is making the wiiu shine it can go into game pad mode and suddenly the second controller option is unlocked along with a local cloud device that doubles as your next handheld.

Nerd is working on Nintendo cloud tech right now. Local cloud tech bypasses the problems of Internet infrastructures. Not sure sure if the 3ds would work for this but the upgrade would work way better if a new handheld was launched.

Then Nintendo could offer two routes to get to a super FX like effect... cloud tech Thursday the Internet via a Nintendo network now sub, the new 3ds local cloud tech... which would possibly enable 4 player game pad play. If done right.

The above would be a much better plan than the knee jerk above.

[LKHGFDSA]

yeah both of them would be pissed.

[3-4-5]

Dump the 3DS !!??

It prints money....

[gpturbo81]

i've gotten my $ worth with the system already, so id be fine with it. parents that just bought it for xmas probably wouldnt be so happy.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

You've gotten your money's worth in a year? A sub-par *launch* year at that?

[gpturbo81]

@Kwietstorm
i find use for things i spend my money on. i dont sit on the internet and bitch about how theres no games(untrue), "Lame" internet, resolution, tflops etc, etc, etc. I play the thing all the time. a year is a long time. i've gotten more use out of my wii u in a year than most people will get out of their consoles in a couple years.when you remove all the bs and just focus on having fun, you'll probably get more use out of your consoles as well.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Minus all the bitching on the internet and other irrelevancies, I still would never say I've gotten my money's worth out of a new console after it's first year on the market, and be ready to move on. That wouldn't even be logical for me. And yea I game all the time too.

[Activemessiah]

You can't just sweep 4 million Wii U owners into the ocean

[likeaboss302]

But you can get close! :)

I'd love some kind of discounted upgrade path if possible.

[kneon]

I just can't see this happening, the cost of such a plan would be in excess of a billion dollars with no guarantees that they will gain any significant market share.

[BX81]

I agree, I don't own a wii u but if they did release a new console Nin would have to do some kind of trade in with the wii u. Not sure when this would happen but sounds like something that peaks my interest.

[sinjonezp]

@Kneon,

Nintendo has the cash and capital to introduce a new console tomorrow and offer an.insentive to those that bought the wiiU. Would it make them look bad? Maybe, but in an electronics world where things are changing every year, they have to stay Competitive. If they introduce a console that has the specs (stronger than the x1 and ps4) with a true mario or zelda next gen game at launch would sell gazillions. Microsoft abandoned the xbox and i think the x360 turned out fine. Im on board if they do it and would buy it.

[kneon]

@sinjonezp

I know they have the cash, but that doesn't mean they should waste it in this manner.

The billion dollars is just the cost of providing the upgrades to existing customers. There would likely be another billion or so in additional costs to bring a new console to market.

And I doubt it would sell that much better, they alienated too many gamers and many gamers have just moved on and just aren't that interested in their type and style of games anymore.

The Wii U sold pretty much what I was expecting as I saw no interest from "normal" people. Non-gamers don't care anymore, they played the wii, they are over it. That market has moved on and isn't coming back.

[deafdani]

More than 5 million, actually. Which makes things worse. These 5 million people are, for the most part, the most loyal and enthusiast Nintendo fans that buy Nintendo consoles on day one. Exactly not the kind of people you want to piss off.

[Reeze]

I, for one, wouldn't be likely to buy a Nintendo console for a while if they cut off the Wii U so soon.

[krubele14]

5.4 million to be exact.

[jmc8888]

There are many 1st party games in development. Wii U owners still would have quite a bit to look forward to.

An ambassador program really wouldn't cost them that much. If they lost $300 per person and 5 million consoles, that's just $1.5 billion..if EVERYONE took them up on some $99 offer or whatever.

We saw Microsoft take such a hit just with RRoD. It is definitely possible.

They were sitting on ~50 billion in cash right around the Wii U launch.

Nothing in life is guaranteed, but one thing is for sure. If 3rd party drops support, the Wii U is dead to the mainstream, if it isn't painfully obvious that both are pretty much dead right now.

Oh I'd still enjoy 1st party offerings. But few are going to buy Nintendo systems ONLY for Nintendo games that haven't already bought the system. Sure they can increase the numbers by dropping the price to $149-199, because there are a bunch of Nintendo fans waiting for that, but overall if they don't have 3rd party support, the majority of gamers overall won't buy it.

It's not about us that have already bought it, it's all the people who didn't buy them and are enamored with the PS4 and XB1 who will have 3rd party support going forward. Combined Sony and Microsoft have almost doubled in 4-6 weeks what it took Nintendo 13 months to sell. Both products were also more expensive.

They are in a mess. They can take their 50 billion and go home and exit, they can bleed and become irrelevant to 80-90 percent of gamers, or they can use that 50 billion of rapidly diluting dollar much of which is no doubt priced in Yen via Abenomics and put it to use before it withers away and attempt to right the ship.

Paying a couple of billion to right the ship when they are sitting on that much cash makes alot more sense then alienating gamers and devs while bleeding money for the next 5 or so years. They'll be bleeding money and their pile of cash will be diluting.

They are probably sitting on millions of gamepads in sunk cost that are DUMB clients which means it doesn't matter what console they're connected to. They just as easily can be used for the Fusion.

Nothing is for certain, and they have until like E3 to make a decision, because by then we'll have a concrete understanding of the opening of PS4/XB1 consoles, and the next 1-2 years of games will be on display at E3 showcasing to us what Nintendo has to compete with.

My guess is that besides some great 1st or 2nd party games, it's not going to be good versus the competition. We'll start seeing a bunch of games without a Wii U version which will only add to the reason why most gamers shouldn't buy a Wii U. With those games which 3rd party does support, most will be 360 ports.

Nintendo has some great stuff up their sleeves, but even with their own great games, they cannot compete against everyone else combined coupled with everybody combined with better graphics and an assured multiplayer community in games because both systems have double the Wii U's userbase by E3 and rising.

Also remember this isn't them announcing a new console soon, it's about getting something ready that they could then announce in early 2015 or early 2016 for that respective year for launch.

I don't think the rumor is true, the combination of specs simply don't pass muster. But that doesn't mean they can't or shouldn't be fast tracking the development of a new console.

[Slapshot82]

Exactly!

But, that "4 million Wii U owners" is also a focal point that isn't taken into account in this article. If only 4 million people are willing to spend the $300+ for the Wii U - is there really more than this that are willing to spend another $200+ for a console that rivals the PS4 and Xbox One?

Nintendo has little third party support. It has very weak online infrastructure and to the best of my knowledge, little to no cloud-based infrastructure, which is the future online console-based gaming. Nintendo also has a strong reluctance to do what its competition is doing, which all but guarantees that its focus is not on getting the next Battlefield and Call of Duty on its consoles.

These aren't stabs at Nintendo, in any way. People that want Nintendo to be the "most powerful console developer" need to wake up and realize that Nintendo has shifted its business strategy to be what it started out: a toy maker. Nintendo makes brilliant video games that bring toys to life. This is what they are best at and it's how they need to proceed.

Even in the NES era, Nintendo's games didn't make up the bulk of the "hardcore tites". Nope, those went to the third parties. This was reflected even more so with the launch of the SNES.

[_QQ_]

They can't. The 50$ upgrade idea is also extremely illogical.

[KonsoruMasuta]

This is stupid. Why would they dump the 3DS aswell?

[BLKxSEPTEMBER]

At this point I'd at least consider it. My Wii u is useless at this point so I'd consider an upgrade to fusion as long as I could get a deal.

[Rainstorm81]

This is where Nintendo messed up.....the are the best handheld creator in the market if the Wii U controller was actually a handheld as well that wouldve cornered the market.

With the PS4 Vita combo has that time passed by for Nintendo is the question...

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

uh and sony doesn't acknowledge Vita as it own device in the west so what combo

[Rainstorm81]

Im talking functionality....the problem with the PS4 Vita combo is they are sold separately....A portable console that can dock when you get home shouldve been Nintendos focus not thishalfway effort with the Wii-U controller.

Can you imagine if the Wii U controller let you take it with you to continue playing Mario or Zelda or Wonderful 101 on the go via wi-fi or internal HDD in the controller or controller memory cards....That wouldve been a perfect merging or both nintendos portable dominance and console innovations.

A console with that capability would be worth ta 350-400 asking price....maybe more

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

It too big. Plus Nintendo has the 3DS no need.

[Reeze]

"The writer discusses how Nintendo could smoothly dump the Wii U and 3DS"

Why in the world would Nintendo dump the 3DS?

[gameboymario]

They'd kinda have to if they want to do the Nintendo Fusion thingy which somewhat merges Nintendo's handheld and home console market.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

or they can wait til 2018 and release it

[Slapshot82]

Nintendo did merge the handheld and the home console market together. It's called the Wii U!

[N4g_null]

Nope they could go with my idea above. Gamers could choose a 3ds or a 3ds that helps your wiiu reach 4 terabyte of graphical finessing.

This is what cloud tech enables anyway. Add in occlus rift and you have the complete revolution machine. Motion controls with a true vs headset option if you want to eye candy out on the cheap. Gpgpu, distrusted augmented cloud tech is basicly what the cell cup was supposed to be.

[WatDoesTheStarFoxSay]

I haven't bought a Wii U yet. Do It Nintendo!!!

[Phil32]

How Nintendo could release something fictional... Great basis of a story.

[JohnnyTower]

Holy mother....who knows how far Nintendo is in developing this unit? That could be a paper mâché prototype and here everyone is trying to market it. Totally ridiculous.

[LKHGFDSA]

Yeah, no one seems to understand that this is an unofficial leak, and it'd have to be a long time before they even have a final prototype to start working on.

[ziggurcat]

Nintendo fusion?

[EliteGameKnight]

It was a rumor of Nintendo working on a new system that would rival the power of the Xbox One and PS4. Here's a link to the N4G page: http://n4g.com/news/1441089...

Hope this helps

[ziggurcat]

Cool, thanks. + bubble for helpful.

[Metallox]

Nothing important, dude. It's just an imaginary console.

[Retroman]

the Fusion that is FRUITY with fruity taste.

NINTENDO DING!

[WatDoesTheStarFoxSay]

@Ziggurcat
Take the time to read the story?

[EliteGameKnight]

The only way I could see a new system released without most of the backlash is if they gave free "fusions" to every Wii U owner. However the sheer amount of money this would cost is not worth it in any way, even if Nintendo is rich, and it would still make the investors upset.

[HappyWithOneBubble]

Nintendo won't abandon the WiiU this early. They will upset a lot of fans. WiiU isn't doing that bad considering how bad Dreamcast did. If they sell less than 10 million in 3 years then yeah maybe it's time to release a true next gen console.

[N4g_null]

Nah the wiiu won't do that bad. There are still a ton of smash players waiting for the game to drop..... wait.. The same thing happened with the 3ds? The smash brother creator released a 3d kid icu game and suddenly afterwards the 3ds took off.

Is he the true successor to the Mario maker?!

He hasn't released a wiiu game yet also.

[swice]

I would be on board with this if they offered a free or small upgrade fee to current owners, and if I knew FOR SURE that both were backward compatible.

[gameboymario]

That's exactly what the article says...

[swice]

Yes but it's a rumor, so restating what I would do in reality isn't a problem

[Agent_hitman]

Damn it's too early for Wii U successor.. They can still fight, just look at SONY, after all the negative feedbacks and backlash about the PS3's architecture and price, they still manage to go uphill and compete against 360. And now I think it already surpasses the 360 in the worldwide install base because of their effort and first party titles..

[jmc8888]

The difference was that they had 3rd party support and their own 1st party support.

They had blu-ray.

They actually had more power then the 360.

They had a following large enough to allow multiplayer games to...work.

The Wii U only has their 1st party support.

Multiplayer gamers don't want to buy a Wii U version because no one plays the Wii U versions. The most I ever saw on BLOPS2, which was the ONLY multiplayer shooter on Wii U at the time was ~3000. The gamepad was GREAT to use with it. Amazing really. But half the game types had no one in it. By Jan-Feb of 2013 even more types had 0-100 people in them and the quality of matches went down.

Meanwhile even with BF4 in its broken state, the first weekend of the PS4 had more then all of CoD on Wii U for all types combined just in BF4 Obliteration mode...and it had to compete with CoD and KZ:SF. BLOPS2 had no competition for the genre.

Remember folks, if a system came out in late 2015 or late 2016, we're still talking ~2-3 years before it would be launched. It's not too soon because 2/3rd or 3/4th of the time such a generation would comprise of time wise, has yet to be lived.

In politics people have already been talking about the 2016 election for over a year.

If we judge things by what people are buying then the parched mouth of consumers skipped the Wii U and are drowning themselves in the PS4/XB1.

I will enjoy my Wii U for as long as it lasts, but if the vast majority of gamers and devs turn up their noses to the Wii U, then there isn't much that can be done.

The Wii U can be successful to a Nintendo fan for releasing quality Nintendo games.

The Wii U cannot be successful overall to the gaming audience at large (and Nintendo's bottom line) if most of what the mainstream want, made by every other game maker not named Nintendo isn't on the system.

Look at how people love Apple. They have a hardcore base much like Nintendo. But when they were the only ones making the software for their system, PC's ended up dominating them because the world put out more software then Apple could.

Would we buy an Activision console? An EA console? A Ubisoft console? Of course not.

Nintendo still has strong IP's...they just need to combine those strong IP's with everything else the world's software makers make.

$149 and ramping up the production of games can hold them over until they release a new console in 2-3 years (late 2015-late 2016), but for those hoping they try to hold out until 2018 or something then there's little doubt that they wouldn't bleed more then the cost of an ambassador program for the Wii U in 2015 or 2016.

Plus with that they'd then at least seize the initiative and not let their brand decay for all those years.

[rataranian]

Ok heres what they do....create a system that has slots for every single N system ever made. And leave this classic grey case cause its sweet. Free network. Free amazing apps. And make it powerful enough to handle like their own version of Steam for future next gen software.

[DryBoneKoopa85]

The way I see things is whatever to Nintendo coming up with a new system. It will be at LEAST another 4 years before we see a new console from Nintendo. Its the third party situation that needs fixing. They can come out with a brand new console but Nintendo NEEDS to make sure third party developers are going to release software for the hardware or they will see themselves in the same situation as the Wii U. Nintendo should spend the Wii U life time fixing there relationships with third party by asking THEM what they need to be successful.

As much as Nintendo and I LOVE there first party content they need to make sure things are also in place for other developers. Its a nice start to see some of the length Nintendo goes for Indies but they REALLY need to extend that hand even more so to third party developers.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Nope.

Bait.

Portable GameCube level bullshit.

[Brazz]

simple! A "crazy guy" go Nintendo CEO!
This is suicide! this thing will not come in the next 4 years at the very least!

[BenqMagician]

Really isn't this the second year of the Wii U and if Nintendo doesn't get the sales it wants then in 2 years from this November we might have a new console(MS done it and look how it worked out for the 360).

[Brazz]

Wii U > 1 year in 2013 end. > end of 2014 2 years.

4 years from now > 2017

next gen nintendo system isn't coming before 2017...

[Petervincent19]

Hahahahaha we cant even get nintendo to have a regular online service. Dreaming soooooo high.

[BenqMagician]

Look if this year the console doesn't sell amazing with Mario kart & smash bros then it's a great chance it's a repeat of the gamecube in terms of console sales). Hay this is the first console from Nintendo with a real online service oh and it's free to play online. Also it would make sense too have a 4 year cycle now. Because of the problems with game developers(almost all saying weak console) and too have better hardware specs then the ps4 & xb1 for a more then 1 year this time around(but the hardware has too be priced very close too the price of the xb1 & ps4 when it launch's).

[KillrateOmega]

This whole Nintendo thing has become quite the debacle...

[BenqMagician]

I'd let the ps4 have the top specs for the next 3 years if I was Nintendo(then release a better spec console) and at the very least the console cycle for the ps4 & xb1 will be 5 years so that gives Nintendo 2 years too catch up before we see the next gen.

[7uff1]

Why the hell are people assuming this is Nintendo's real 8th gen system? Wii U is the official 8th gen system, Nintendo will NOT give up on it, they just aren't focusing on Wii U's killer feature like they did on the launch(and SHOULD be doing), the GamePad, ZombiU was an amazing experience and I've been playing Nintendo Land's multiplayer since I got my Wii U, they should make more games like that, since they were throwing those promises of amazing gameplay possibilities at everyone's face when they announced it. Wii U has great potential and it's underestimated.

I highly doubt these specs are true if this is Nintendo's 9th gen system, also specs can change until the last few weeks before the release date, launching a new system before the generation cicle is over would be suicide.

PS: If you're a graphics whore, video games are not made for you, you should probably go outside for a walk, it has unlimited render distance, unlimited poly count, ultra realistic physics and textures, shadow quality is great, awesome lighting and particle effects. The gameplay is not that good though, but I doubt that'll bother you.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

This article would be cute to entertain if it wasn't totally ignoring the fact that a brand new console from Nintendo is nowhere NEAR being ready for release at this point.XD

[filchron]

yup, unfortunately.

[RosweeSon]

I'll take another 20 free games for buying a console early, Nintendo will come good in the end and they won't just abandon their early adopters of the wii u, it's not nintendo's way, Microsoft on the other hand just don't give a crap fullstop.

[truechainz]

Say what you want about Iwata. If we had people who write about these companies actually running them, then Nintendo would have gone under a long time ago.

[filchron]

this upgrade thing seems like a good idea as it would still keep the total cost below a respectable gaming PC. ive been saying this in a lot of topics because people havent really been thinking about it. but imagine a zelda game that is even more immersive and explorative than the new uncharted. nintendo NEEDS to make it. with a more mature tone they can pull it off, http://www.youtube.com/watc... in my opinion this spaceworld demo was pushing the GC hardware MUCH more than the wii-U zelda demo was pushing the wii-U hardware. plus it looked more mature, and no, it didnt need guns or blood to pull that off so it IS possible for nintendo to make mature games. but if the current wii-U owners gripe and get their way we'll probably see metroid in a catsuit with simplistic environments not too long from now :/

[Phils_Libra]

That system trade-in strategy, per the article, will never work. The costs in managing that process alone will defeat the purpose. Besides, is there really competitive room for a third PC-like next-gen console now?

Nintendo should focus solely on the 3 problems with the Wii U: (1) the Wii U gamepad (w/ screen) most core gamers don't want, (2) the lack of many AAA games, and (3) the price.

What I think Nintendo should do is start supporting their Pro Controller for all new games for those whom don't want the Wii U gamepad and sell a Wii U "Lite" version of the system for under $200 with just the core system box and a Pro Controller. Apply patches to existing first-party titles enabling Pro Controller support where it doesn't exist so "Lite" owners can play these titles. Then focus more on games: get a new HD Zelda and HD Metroid Prime out on the system ASAP. Enough core gamers will jump on board increasing the install base; which will in turn attract more third-party and indie developers. Developers can still develop games for the Wii U gamepad (which can be sold separately), they would just have to ensure that is noted on the packaging/advertising.

To me all these changes to the system are not monumental and best of all, has little to no impact to existing owners.

I personally would buy a Wii U if they did all this.

[DC777]

Not sure why anyone would consider WiiU or 3DS being "dumped". Sony and MS haven't dumped their last gen consoles. They're porting most games to both and killing it in software sales by doing so.

[JazBear]

Don't hold your breath on that one.
lets assume nintendo is working on another machine and they're planning to release it as soon as possible it would still take a good 4-5 years.... Just think about it when MS, PS and nintendo showcased X1, PS4 and wiiU at E3 it still took a year to be released.
That's after showcasing it, so if there is a fusion in production you'll be waiting a good while, and for all good reason.