Nintendo HD console in 2012 ("Wii U") (1 Viewer)

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by mattCR


25gb.. hmm... did they bring HD-DVD optics out of the mothballs?

HD DVD was 15SL or 30 DL. I wonder if they are just planning on using a BD25? It would probably be cheaper than coming up with a new format.

 

[Edwin-S]

8 Gigs of onboard storage and no hard drive. Talk about milking the cow. I guess the hard drive will come in the next iteration which will be called the Splat! or some other lame name. Man, Nintendo must think that their customer base is a bunch of saps.

 

[mattCR]

Well, these are rumors for now. So we have no idea what is actually there. We could also have something ala Microsoft's XBOX Arcade which has 4GB, but you can add a drive to it; or Maybe Nintendo is going all cloud storage or who knows. It's also possible that the "rumors" are totally wrong; they were dead wrong with the Wii rumor mill before it came out.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by mattCR /forum/thread/310594/nintendo-hd-console-in-2012-project-cafe#post_3807695

 

[Edwin-S]

Originally Posted by mattCR

Well, these are rumors for now. So we have no idea what is actually there. We could also have something ala Microsoft's XBOX Arcade which has 4GB, but you can add a drive to it; or Maybe Nintendo is going all cloud storage or who knows. It's also possible that the "rumors" are totally wrong; they were dead wrong with the Wii rumor mill before it came out.

They may be just rumours, but the rumoured specs sound just like something Nintendo would do.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

What do you mean by "something Nintendo would do?" Create a really unique product with fun games, regardless of what the competition does? Because that's what I'm expecting.

 

[Sam Posten]

Like this:

 

[Edwin-S]

A company that looks like it intends to take two more generations of consoles after the Wii before installing a hard drive is going to make what that video portrays. Yeah, right. Judging by the look of the thing in that Nintendo fanboy's wet dream, it looks like he thinks Nintendo is going to go into making toasters.

Nintendo hasn't even adopted discrete surround sound for its consoles; the Wii still uses Dolby ProLogic, but they are going to create a head mounted display system that fits in a pair of glasses. The guy who made that video should write fantasy, because he seems to have a knack for it.

 

[mattCR]

Originally Posted by Edwin-S /forum/thread/310594/nintendo-hd-console-in-2012-project-cafe#post_3808923


IN other words: While I believe there is a huge market for high end 3D games, you also run into a lot of people who love the retro gaming.... and if XBL marketplace is right, then these kind of games sell in droves.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Edwin - A majority of the market for the Wii (which was gamers and non-gamers) doesn't have HDTVs (or, at least, doesn't care about HD visuals), surround sound systems, or massive amounts of stuff that needs to be stored on a harddrive. Adding those features to the Wii would have driven the cost up by a noticeable amount and would have probably cut their potential for selling units. I think that having only 8 GB of storage in the next console is too little, but we haven't seen the final specs yet and we don't know if that number is correct. The only benefits to having a lot of HDD space, as I see it, are for downloading videos, game DLC, or installing games onto the HDD to decrease loading. We probably can't download videos on their next console (though streaming with Netflix works fine) and a well designed game can have really well done live data streaming to reduce load times, so the only thing that's left as a concern is DLC, which 8 GBs might be enough for, depending on the game.


Also, the size of the HDD doesn't necessarily make the console's games better or worse. They will supposedly support SD cards, so just grab a 32 GB one and plug it in if you need more space.

 

[Sam Posten]

Originally Posted by Morgan Jolley

Edwin - A majority of the market for the Wii (which was gamers and non-gamers) doesn't have HDTVs (or, at least, doesn't care about HD visuals),

I might be with you on the rest of that, but no, not this. I think HDTV adoption has pretty much floored the slow take up predictions. Accelerated price drop curves have made it happen.


And I think that the slow sales of the Wii back that up today. Developers don't want to develop for an outdated, expensive delivery mechanism and consumers haven't been convinced that anyone's games but those from the First party offer enough of an interesting use of motion control incentive to play on it. Add in their bizarro networking policies and you gotta admit they did REAL WELL with their luddite strategy but it's coming around to bite em now.

 

[Edwin-S]

Originally Posted by Morgan Jolley Edwin - A majority of the market for the Wii (which was gamers and non-gamers) doesn't have HDTVs (or, at least, doesn't care about HD visuals), surround sound systems, or massive amounts of stuff that needs to be stored on a hard drive. Adding those features to the Wii would have driven the cost up by a noticeable amount and would have probably cut their potential for selling units. I think that having only 8 GB of storage in the next console is too little, but we haven't seen the final specs yet and we don't know if that number is correct. The only benefits to having a lot of HDD space, as I see it, are for downloading videos, game DLC, or installing games onto the HDD to decrease loading. We probably can't download videos on their next console (though streaming with Netflix works fine) and a well designed game can have really well done live data streaming to reduce load times, so the only thing that's left as a concern is DLC, which 8 GBs might be enough for, depending on the game.


Also, the size of the HDD doesn't necessarily make the console's games better or worse. They will supposedly support SD cards, so just grab a 32 GB one and plug it in if you need more space.

 

[Edwin-S]

I don't know what is going on with this software, but the previous post containing only a quote actually had a post attached to it. I also tried editing that post and that did not go through as well.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Sam - I stick by my statement. A lot of people that I know who own Wiis are either hardcore gamers who also own a PS3 or 360, or don't know much about HD and just want to have fun. Sure, we here on the HTF care a lot about HD and surround sound, but if Nintendo can drop a feature or two that people don't care about and then drive the cost down, many consumers (especially parents buying this hardware for young kids) would probably prefer that. Do you think the launch PS3 really needed all those memory card ports in the front and the PS2's graphics chip inside, or would it have been better to drop those features and knock off $50-100 at launch? I think the next Nintendo console absolutely needs HD and surround sound, but that's in part due to the fact that they're going to try and court both traditional and casual gamers with the new system.

 

[Edwin-S]

If HD didn't matter then Nintendo wouldn't be introducing it into their next generation of consoles. That is why I find the argument that Nintendo's Wii represented some sort of value because it was 200 to 300 dollars as compared to the PS3's intial 600 dollar price to be a lot of hooey. A lot of gamers that bought the Wii will buy Nintendo's new console. Their new console will most likely be beween 200 and 300 dollars. If the specs on their new machine are anything like what is being rumoured, Nintendo buyers will have spent anywhere between 400 to 600 dollars (inclusive of the Wii) and the machine will still be barely comparable to an XBOX 360 or PS3, plus it will have taken Nintendo users almost six years to arrive at the point where XBOX 360 and PS3 users are right now. What is worse is that, due to Nintendo's strategy of short life cycle consoles, Nintendo will have created twice as much plastic landfill of plastic and electronic components to arrive at what amounts to an XBOX 360 or PS3 in terms of capabilities. This is due to the amount of Wiis that will be junked as people upgrade plus the amount of new material to produce yet another console that still will barely have the capabilities of the five plus year old consoles of their competitors. I find Nintendo's console strategy to be cynical and environmentally unfriendly.

I thought it was funny when I read an article where the writer referred to the Wii as becoming "long in the tooth". The Wii was long in the tooth when it was first released, regardless of its mostly worthless motion controllers.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Whoa whoa whoa. You just criticized Nintendo for creating a lot of plastic to fill landfills? That's a new one. If you really want to take that example full throttle you could argue that every single piece of equipment discussed on this forum is an environmental hazard.


Their next console will most likely have HD. Getting all huff and puff about it won't mean anything until they officially announce it. When the Wii was announced and it didn't have HD, people were disappointed but it didn't really diminish the draw of the console. I still don't think a large amount (not necessarily a majority, but a large chunk) of their target audience for the Wii will care if the next console has HD in it or not.


Sony and MS are both hoping to extend the life of their respective consoles for another several years, so the Wii successor being as powerful as them (if not moreso than the 360, as some rumors say) is not going to be a big deal. If Nintendo can have hardware that functions graphically on par with the competition but offers something unique (say, a touch-screen controller that also has motion controls) then they will be ahead of the competition. The Wii was last-gen hardware, repackaged with a new control method and it did very, very well. Sure, it has a lot of crap games that seemed to be aimed at children, and maybe YOU weren't too pleased, but Nintendo is in the business of making money and they seem to have figured out how to do that pretty well.


Again, worst case scenario, I end up buying this new console and get a really good Mario/Zelda/Metroid/etc. out of it. How is that a bad thing? I'd personally rather have a new Nintendo franchise game that does something unique and different than get another standard FPS (Halo, Call of Duty, Battlefield), action game (God of War, Gears of War), etc. that you typically find on the other consoles. I own plenty of those kinds of games, but there's something much more fun about Super Mario Galaxy 2 than there is about God of War 3. Is it motion controls? Probably not, but that doesn't really matter since the only place to play Mario is on Nintendo's hardware.

 

[mattCR]

The power of the unit doesn't equate to fun. I own all three consoles, and there are games on the Wii that frankly are more fun then most of what's available elsewhere. I can play Mario Kart with the kids and it's a blast. Super Mario Galaxy is one of the best games on any platform. WiiWare had some of the most fun games I've purchased.


It's just a matter of taste. I understand how it feels to people who are devoted and sold on consoles. Owning all three there are games I love on all consoles, but the absolute best games (for me) do not require some crazy hardware. If I had to chose "pick a game" games that would float to the top for me would be: SMG2, Castle Crashers on XBOX, PixelJunk Monsters.


It's not because they are the flashiest greatest graphics ever delivered it's because they are flat out fun. And while the "motion controllers are useless" is fun to say, I've actually found that when they came out, and even now, they can make for a pretty fun experience.


It's all in the eye of the beholder.


Meanwhile, my PS3 is kind of a brick at the moment, so...

 

[Hanson]

Have you seen the new controllers for what is now Wii U?

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/07/nintendo-wii-u-controller-first-hands-on/


The upshot is that it's like a portable gaming system for your home. Here's an interesting Wired article about it that was published back in April:


http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/04/wii-2-announcement/


Anyone remember Golden Eye deathmatch? Now you can do that with everyone on their own private screen. I think this is going to totally revamp the multiplayer experience -- even with a large HDTV, split screen isn't ideal.

 

[mattCR]

I have to say, while people miss it, the concept of me having an entirely different view of a game like GoldenEye then someone I'm playing against while in the same room changes everything. Even on the net it does. If I could sit at a room and on the big screen see my view, look down at my controller and see the view my buddy is showing me.. or if on the screen I could see the full view of whatever and on my screen see my view.. It would definitely change strategy in a serious way. I like that they've seriously upped the processor power; the new IBM Watson based proc should make an interesting spec. While not all specs are out there, here's what we know: * It's HDMI and does 1080P * It supports External USB Hard Drives (they specifically say "hard disk drives") * It supports LPCM MultiChannel Output * SD and Media Card reader * Wireless-N Wifi * Supports 4 USB 2.0 ports w/USB Power Supported The big announcements outside of Super Mario Mii, Zelda 25th and a few others is that you have Ubisoft developing "a revolutionary platform exclusive 1st Person Shooter", and EA committing to a platform exclusive Online "Strategy Gaming Experience" http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jun/07/wii-u-nintendo-games-console

The first tech-demo we played – although it looked suspiciously like a mini-game that you might find in a Wii U version of Wii Play – was called Mii Chase. On entering the room, we had noticed a collection of Wimotes, which seemed odd, but Mii Chase rammed home the message that part of the point of the new controller is about interplay with the familiar remote control. Mii Chase was an ultra-simple game for up to five people. I would navigate Mario, using the new controller, around a maze-like circular level, while four people equipped with Wiimotes would, after I had been given a head-start, try to chase me down within a certain time. The twist was that they had to share a split-screen on the TV, whereas my screen on the new controller showed a third-person view of my character, plus a top-down map with the whereabouts of my pursuers. In gameplay terms, this was almost laughably simple, yet the whole experience felt fresh and innovative, as well as fun. The need for the pursuers to co-operate generated a raucous atmosphere, yet the private information communicated by the new controller's screen meant I could stay one step ahead of them. If you think about it, there are an awful lot of Wiis out there, and if people are going to upgrade to Wii U, they'll be thankful that those Wiimotes, at least, won't become redundant. So to create gameplay from the interplay between the two types of controller could just be a stroke of genius.

Flat out, this sounds like potential fun It may not be for everyone, but give big credit to Nintendo for doing something completely different then everyone else. Don't just refine, innovate.

 

[mattCR]

NINTENDO GOES BLURAY!!!!!