If you haven’t already read Jack’s hidden costs of HDTV, do it now. Shoo! Otherwise, check out what Red Herring has to say on the issue of HD gaming: “Console makers are embracing HD because consumers want it’at least on their TVs. Research firm iSuppli pegs yearly worldwide shipments of HDTVs (720p and higher) at more than 103 million by 2008, up from 51.2 million this year and 27.7 million in 2005. Meanwhile, sales of analog CRTs’the industry’s old guard’still dominate but are rapidly declining.”
I actually agree with Jack and Ninty that while excellent quality, HD still needs to come down in price a bit before it catches on with the masses. If Nintendo gambled correctly, you can bet they’re planning to support HD with their next console. My only reservation is that Nintendo said online gaming wouldn’t catch on during the GameCube days (though it did) and touted the lackluster GBA link-up cable instead which consumers obviously never cared about. Any chance Nintendo’s current bet against HD could be the same this time? What if HD prices drop like a mug in a few years which would be the middle of Wii’s expected lifecycle? What implications, if any, could this have on Wii’s success?
