The Punning Pundit

General:

The hardware I expect to see in each of the next gen. systems is what the X-box shipped with, and what the PS2 is being upgraded to: a Hard Drive, and a broadband adaptor. Additionally, I wouldn't be too surprised to see out of the box 4 controller support. It might go without saying, but perhaps I should mention it anyway, that I expect the next gen. systems to have support for Dolby 5.1, progressive scan DVD and other such accoutrement. If it doesn't go digital, it won't go anywhere next time around...

More Specifically:

As for the Hard Drive, The thing is bloody useful. Players are able to turn their consoles into media centers (more on that), bringing convergence around in a way that no one quite saw coming. It also lowers load time dramatically, increasing the intensity of game play by not letting the player pull out of the world...

The Broadband adaptor is another important addition. As PC games showed; nothing is quite as fun as a good death match. Testing one's mad skillz against the computer is one thing, but going up against an entire team is something else entirely. This is called "value added". Also, the ability to download patches, new levels, weapons, and that sort of thing is something that PC gamers have come to expect, but that consol gamers have only just gotten a taste of. While Sly Cooper may not benefit from this sort of thing, the first football game that allows players to DL the latest real-world stats in real time will be a big winner...

The last pair of consol generations have featured a new game input that doubled as other-media input. I remembered reading at one point that the Japanese consumers were going nuts over the PS2 because it was a DVD player that also played PS1 games. I expect this trend to continue. This time around, the hard drive will double as a TiVO type system. In fact, Sony will be testing that out with their new PS2, seeing if the concept works. I can't imagine why it wouldn't, so I expect to see this feature as a standard next time around...

Software:
The biggest problem that any new system has is introducing enough software to satisfy new owners of that consol. Simple backward compatibility would be enough to satisfy that short term. Indeed, done correctly, this could lead to a big early start...

General Advice:

The advice I would give to any consol maker at this point (especially Sony) is to buy the best graphics engine that can be squeezed into a US$300 budget. These graphic engines will be around for 5-6 years; at the end of their life cycle they will begin to look a bit dated. All other things being equal, a game that can be played on (or, more importantly, bought for) either the X-box or the PS2 will be played on the X-box; its graphics are just that much better...

Advice to Nintendo:
Nintendo's strategy thus far has been to create a consol that was kid-friendly. While this has worked for them very well in the past, this time around it has led them to badly underestimate the market. They are selling to the 8 year old crowd, but the average gamer is 15. The market has grown up...

Nintendo can make a bold move here. First, they would need to actually include all the out of the box goodies that the other systems do. If they don't do that, they are dead. Next, how about making the Wavebird the standard controller? And give me 2 of them out of the box...

The next thing they need to do is market the GC2 to people who don't own a GC1. Slash GC1 game prices to dirt cheep levels. Hell, if a game has already made netted a lot of money, cut its price to US$10. These games will be new to a lot of players. To show me that Nintendo thinks I'm an adult, they need to give me (out of the box) a game like Metroid or Eternal Darkness. Make Super Monkey Ball 2 one of those US$10 titles and let parents know that these games are widely available. The point is that these games are new to many of the gamers Nintendo wants to reach. A decent system with lots of games by people who don't think that I am 8 years old will do well...

Controll issues
Nintendo probably has one of the best action game controllers out there. I wouldn't screw with it too much. Indeed, the only thing I would do is make the wavebird the standard and the corded controller optional. There is also one other thing I might consider...

The "big A" button design that the GC1 controller features is simple wonderful for most action games. It is, unfortunately, not well suited for sports games or fighters. Were I Nintendo, I would create an optional controller better suited for those types of games...

Nintendo Conclusions:
Nintendo has a lot of ground to cover. But they do have a firm grasp on their fundamentals. Honestly, even now they seem to have realized their basic mistake of market research and are putting it behind them. They are even in a good spot to turn their biggest problem (no one is playing their games) into a huge windfall (so buy them now!). They will need to be cagey, swift, and brutal, but if they keep their eyes on the prize, they should do allright...