Post subject: Nintendo's New Console.
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I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I was blown away yesterday morning by the introduction of the Wii U. It is not an addon, it is a standalone console. The reason some people think it's an addon, is because the actual console is not shown in the E3 Trailer for more than a couple of seconds. What is known about the console itself, is that it is more powerful than The Wii, has 1080p High Definition, and is capable graphically of having games coming for it like Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Batman: Arkham City. They showed off what it could do, and it's at least a powerful as the Xbox 360, if not at least as powerful or more so than the PS3. I am excited about this Console's launch next March, so much so that I plan to start saving up now while saving up for a 3DS and it's games, like Ocarina of Time 3D, StarFox 64 3D, Super Mario 3D(TANOOKI SUIT!), Luigi's Mansion 2(Been wanting to see this game coming for a long time!), Mario Kart 3D and Kid Icarus. I have a lot of saving up to do! But I think the 3DS and Wii U will be worth it. :3
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Wii U doesn't look very promising to me, and most games I find interesting are going to be for 3DS, so I'll be focusing on that instead, for the time being.
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So, what does the U stand for? The world shall never know.
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They explained that it is supposed to be for "you". My main concern is that the controller is not rendering the picture itself. This puts limits on the number of supported controllers. In fact, I think that Nintendo have discreetly stated that the limit is just one controller.
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Well, we won't really know that until it launches, right? I'm psyched, so I'm definitely going to get one when it launches. I'm the only gamer in my house, so...
nesrocks
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Nintendo's 2011 E3 strategy was targeted at selling 3DS, because, well, it's the only thing they can sell right now. The Wii U presentation was meant as an introduction, so they focused more on technical aspects. That being said, I liked what I saw, but I fear that third parties will again be conservative on gameplay functionality, akin to what happened on the Wii and happens on kinect. We see homebrews being way more experimental (fun) than retail games, which tend to have traditional gameplay, despite the wild possibilities offered by the hardware. I really hope developers feel more confident about what makes a game fun and less dependent on marketers opinions.
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I hope you all realise they timed this announcement to be just after our first Wii TAS was published so we seem less current.
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Someone go look up progress of 3DS emulation.
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FODA wrote:
Nintendo's 2011 E3 strategy was targeted at selling 3DS, because, well, it's the only thing they can sell right now. The Wii U presentation was meant as an introduction, so they focused more on technical aspects. That being said, I liked what I saw, but I fear that third parties will again be conservative on gameplay functionality, akin to what happened on the Wii and happens on kinect. We see homebrews being way more experimental (fun) than retail games, which tend to have traditional gameplay, despite the wild possibilities offered by the hardware. I really hope developers feel more confident about what makes a game fun and less dependent on marketers opinions.
Well, they have Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Batman: Arkham City I'm assuming as Launch Titles for the Wii U. So I'm thinking there will be more Third Party games for this console.
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I understand Nintendo has to innovate and shit, but why can't they make a controller that makes sense and is actually comfortable to hold and use? The SNES controller was pretty much perfect for its amount of buttons. You could press all of them without moving your fingers, and it didn't look and weigh like a stone slab. A controller with a built-in iPad is NOT my idea of being comfortable, and I prefer not ever looking at it when playing.
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Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
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moozooh wrote:
I understand Nintendo has to innovate and shit, but why can't they make a controller that makes sense and is actually comfortable to hold and use?
I say the same thing about the wiimote. Playing LOZ: Twilight Princess is annoying on Wii, and you can't use the classic controller.
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Yeah, I agree. The controller I'm using for most of my needs right now, HoriPad EX3 Turbo, is rather good: it doesn't make my wrist ache after a couple hours like DualShock 2 does, you can clawgrip it for fighting games, and it has a SNES-style d-pad (perfect!), but it's still very heavy and rather cumbersome. And I maintain the opinion that having more action buttons than you can push without moving a finger more than a few millimeters is improper console controller design (though in my case that's not Hori's fault, but rather Microsoft's). Here we have what seems to be a huge touchscreen we will again (after DS) have to use our third hand for, because obviously you aren't going to hold that slab with one hand for more than a couple seconds at a time. Nintendo had a good idea with the Wiimote, but it's a semi-decent mouse substitute and nothing more. With WiiU I don't even know what to think, because that is obviously inspired by the popularity of the iPad as a gaming medium, and if you're going to target hardcore gamer audience for once, you could definitely find a better source of inspiration than a dreaded hipster tablet.
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Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
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Nintendo certainly could make the perfect controller, but they'd get sued by Sony for copying the DualShock 2. :P Though the Classic Controller Pro is pretty damn nice, I must say.
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I can look passed the controller design, personally. I'm more interested in the games and console itself. If the games are really good and control good, people aren't gonna give two shits about the controller design.
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It didn't surprise me at all. The approximate specs were already known as well as that it was capable of streaming games to its controller. The reason for why this will work as oppossed to the PS Vita as a controller is that the controller will be sold with the system, so developers can expect everybody who owns the console to also own that conroller. It's also a smart move because DS titles can easily be ported to the WiiU. On the downside, I don't think it'll be much fun to use this thing. I find it optimal if I'm able to totally forget I'm even holding a controller while playing games. That doesn't happen for me with touch pads and motion control. Nintendo might also have a hard time convincing their consumers to buy their next console once the PS4 and Xbox720 get released, unless they make the WiiU really cheap.
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Well, if they release it earlier than the competitors, like Microsoft did in 2005 with the 360, it can definitely grab a fair share of the market. Moreover, by implementing the tablet design in the stock controller right at the peak of tablet boom they can win over tablet PCs' market by including the same kind of content consumption functionality (audio and HD video playback, making photos, reading, browsing, casual gaming). THAT is a smart business move. Nintendo owns again, others just can't compare. Btw, I'm not really keen on the "streaming to controller" thing because, assuming controller does zero graphics processing of WiiU titles by itself, it means it sends the input by a wireless interface, the console then processes a frame, then encodes the resulting audio/video information and sends it back to the controller by the same interface. Unless Nintendo packs a supercomputer with an ultra-low latency wireless interface chain into a small box like that it's not going to be lag-free. At all. Then again, most won't care because the vast majority of modern games is already plagued by input lag and/or can be played either way due to not being demanding enough. If it contains the equivalent of NDS hardware, it could be used as its substitute for sure, but that seems to be a bit too much for a single input device.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
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From http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=160181
- "Both the controller and the console will be sold as one unit. You won't be able to buy the controller alone." - multiplayer games being created for the system are only being designed to accomodate one Wii Ucontroller - other players have to use Wiimotes
In addition, no Gamecube controller support. To summarize: No thanks, Nintendo. To summarize the summary: Nope. To summarize the summary of the summary: *walks away*
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Nintendo has always been my champion, even when the Gamecube failed, it still had a lot of excellent games like Metroid Prime and Paper Mario: TTYD. And Nintendo is obviously doing something right, because the Wii beat both the PS3 and 360 in terms of sales. I'm optimistic that the price of the Wii U will be manageable. Maybe $250-$400. Whatever the price is, we still have a while to save up. Whatever the time it comes out, it'll still be cheaper than the 720 and PS4. I mean, when the 360 and PS4 first came out, they were both around $500-$600. I can imagine that 720 and PS4 on launch are likely to be somewhere around $600-$900.
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Nintendo does things backwards compared to the other big console developers: they're far more conservative in software, and far less conservative in hardware. And usually this works out decently for them. I don't claim to understand how this new controller is going to work out, but I'm not going to say "it sucks" until I've seen some real-life reports. (Likewise I'm not going to say "OMG best idea ever Nintendo does it again")
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I'm looking forward to streaming the picture to PC for display/capture
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Derakon wrote:
Nintendo does things backwards compared to the other big console developers: they're far more conservative in software, and far less conservative in hardware. And usually this works out decently for them. I don't claim to understand how this new controller is going to work out, but I'm not going to say "it sucks" until I've seen some real-life reports. (Likewise I'm not going to say "OMG best idea ever Nintendo does it again")
I'm a little iffy on the new controller myself. But it'll either be able to play every game on the Wii/Wii U on it's own screen, or at least have a Menu for item selection for the big games like Zelda. I'm excited about the extra power, and I'm a little worried about the controller. Here's hoping Nintendo didn't screw up.
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This looks way too big for its britches. Nintendo has went skydiving without a parachute here. :p What a stupid controller. I hope there is alternate one for people who don't care about playing on an oversized Classic Controller.
YoungJ1997lol wrote:
Normally i would say Yes, but thennI thought "its not the same hack" so ill stick with meh.
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NitroGenesis wrote:
This looks way too big for its britches. Nintendo has went skydiving without a parachute here. :p What a stupid controller. I hope there is alternate one for people who don't care about playing on an oversized Classic Controller.
I didn't really care for the Classic Controller, myself. The one I have doesn't seem to work right, anyway. Can't let controller design cloud your judgement here. I think it's going to be a great console, and the controller itself has the potential to be a ground breaking gaming gimic. Just depends on if Nintendo markets it the right way.
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Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
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Hey, way to back me up here, Nach! :3 This article just makes me want one even more! ^^