Pre-E3 Thoughts on Project Cafe

At E3 this year Nintendo will reveal their next console which will be a replacement for the Wii and an attempt at recapturing the “hardcore” gamers that Nintendo alienated with the family-focused gaming of the Wii system. Some specs about the console seem to have been leaked prematurely and while those are still rumor they seem to be believable given what we already know about “Project Café.”

The system is meant to recapture the hardcore gamers, that means that it has to be even more technologically advanced than the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. This also means that third party game companies need to support the system with mature games that feature all kinds of violence, language, and other things that Nintendo is not known for.

The controller has been confirmed to include a 6” touch screen and the controller itself detaches from the console and becomes a handheld gaming device. This seems like a cool idea on paper but cost is what bothers me. If each controller is a handheld how expensive will it be? I don’t want to have to buy a $100 controller just to play multiplayer locally because the system only came packaged with one controller.

The new games for the system supposedly run at a native 1080p and the graphics of the system surpass even the Playstation 3 at its best. This will definitely be a hotly contested element of the system but if it is true it may convert some gamers who abandoned Nintendo after the Gamecube. The games that will be revealed at E3 and ready for the launch of the console should be high quality since supposedly developers have had “Wii 2” kits for two years.

Nintendo has also been working with an outside source to beef up their online presence. According to the leaked specs the new online service is nothing like the old friend code system and is even better than the Playstation Network and Xbox Live.

With the exception of the fact that the controller has a touch screen and is the handheld, none of the above has been confirmed by Nintendo, however it seems to be in keeping with what we already knew about the console attempting to be the most powerful gaming system on the market.

My first reaction to the news is mixed, I like the fact that Nintendo is reaching out to the hardcore gamers and is beefing up their online component and the graphics of the system but I can’t help but wonder why? The Wii has been phenomenally successful appealing to a broader base and Nintendo has made huge profits on the sale of the system which routinely outdoes both its competitors. Is Nintendo losing its business sense or is something else going on? I would guess the latter seeing as Nintendo is a well run company.

My guess is that Nintendo doesn’t believe the broader audience that was drawn into the Wii will buy another gaming console, especially one that does the same things the Wii does. If they amped it up only a little the casual gamers wouldn’t really know the difference. So Nintendo is going with the option of competing for the core that the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 now have a stranglehold on. It will be an uphill battle for them but I wouldn’t count them out. There is a reason Nintendo is the only console manufacturer from the 80’s still making consoles.

The big issues with this console are going to be the price, the games available, and how well the online experience holds up. If those three things are in place, and that’s a huge if, this console might be worth checking out when it is released. If not, I might have to stick with the proven track record of the Xbox or the Playstation when their new consoles come out. The Wii is a fun game system but it doesn’t offer the kind of gameplay that I play the most and it is not impressive from a graphics standpoint which is pretty important to me.

We will have to wait and see what E3 holds for Nintendo and Project Cafe, I will probably post a similar article to this after the show to give my thoughts on the project after hearing the official specs and announcements. Stay tuned for E3 coverage, kicking off tomorrow June 6th at approximately 12 PM Noon EST.