A quick look over the interwebs indicates that Nintendo has made some grievous errors in code naming their new system "Project Cafe" and most are skeptical(at best) of a controller with a screen. While none of us has any business questioning the most consistent company in gaming(25 years of competitive/dominate contributions to the world of video games, really? who has that kind of track record?), I'm going to put in my two cents. . .
Cafes have become a social gathering location as of 15 years ago. Nintendo has always been the beacon of social gaming. The only current system to support more than 4 controller inputs is the Wii and they've always encouraged people playing games together.(Pokemon, Super Smash Bros., New Super Mario Bros.) Nintendo pushing their social gaming/perpetual gaming/meta gaming agenda is no surprise. They tried with Pokemon to make individuals rely on each other to complete games. They tried to introduce Wii Remotes as vehicles for gamer profiles.(but never had the connection that Xbox Live and PSN had) They've supported multiple titles(Legend of Zelda: 4 Swords Adventure, Mario Tennis) that fostered a connection between portables and consoles. They pioneered "Street Pass" for the DS and 3DS, which creates a passive social interaction between portable gamers. All this to say that Nintendo is no stranger to social gaming on the spectrum of both portables and consoles. Is it too crazy to say that "Cafe" may just be an allusion to Nintendo's precedent of supporting social gaming?
As for the touch screen controller, I'm all in. The idea of playing a game on my console, then taking a portion of it with me to, say, build up a specific member of my party in an RPG or draw up plays in any sports game sounds pretty awesome. While I've never played a Facebook game, this is a kind of social, perpetual gaming I can get behind. I'd get credit and points and experience at home and on the go. I don't have enough down time away from my house to invest in a portable, but if it all funneled into the same save data, into the same game, into the same character: I'm in.
Price will always be and issue. I found myself quite surprised at Nintendo's willingness to put the 3DS at the $250.00 price point when that's where the Wii weighed in 5 years ago. I understand it; the 3DS is no joke. There is a lot of tech in that little box and I'm sure Nintendo is taking a bit of a hit on each one sold. But with the handheld precedent set at $250, where is this "Hardcore-centric" powerhouse with 1/2 of an HD-DS for a controller going to put us? We saw what happened to Sony with the $600.00 price tag, let us hope that Nintendo doesn't overcompensate.
This is all speculation . . .
. . . but I'm still excited
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