Nintendo drops Wii U $50 due to poor sales (1 Viewer)

[LeoA]

That's pretty much been my thinking.


I was skeptical that we'd see a handheld that merely featured tv/out capabilities for home use like some were leaning to, so I've long been confident that we'd get distinct console and handheld iterations of the hardware but with a shared software pool.


If true, I hope they go with a tiered approach to game development. One example of what I'm talking about is perhaps software that runs at 480p on the handheld version, but is cranked up to 720p or greater when running on the console hardware (thanks to such reasons of perhaps additional processor cores, greater memory, no concern about battery life, and so on).


PC developers have been doing this scaled approach for years and Nintendo would have it relatively easy in comparison since their hardware is fixed and there would be just two different variations of it that would have to be taken into account.


It's more cost compared to a standalone handheld or console game, but the slight extra expense during development is going to be more than justified when they can sell a game to everyone that owns a next-gen Nintendo system.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I also think that makes sense. Nintendo talked a lot about what they learned putting Smash Bros on 3DS and Wii U and how they want to have a unified code structure so that making a game for handheld or home console is easy and can port between the two quickly. I also think it's a great way to add value to their games. It's kind of like the Android/Apple model where buying a game once gives it to you on every device running that OS, so your iPhone and your Apple TV run the same game you only paid once for. Nintendo doing this is smart, especially if it leads to mobile/handheld games ending up on a console (ahem, Pokemon).


And if they could unify the Virtual Console games to be the same on handheld and console, that would be nice. Buy a game once, get it everywhere, maybe even cloud save storage. But I'm wondering what they would do with something like GameCube/Wii games and if they would simply limit those to the home console (if the handheld is too weak to run them). But the idea of playing a Wii game on a handheld, tilting the console to simulate the remote or tapping the screen to point at stuff, is kind of cool. Unless its Wii Sports, then people will starting throwing them around.


Now, the question would be which would be released first. The rumor I saw said they would announce both units this year (E3 or earlier, through a Nintendo Direct) and release the handheld this fall with the console coming next year. This would be a wise move, especially if they want to keep some life in the Wii U and get Zelda out in 2016.

 

[Bryan^H]

I don't collect Amiibo figures....but if they ever make a Mach Rider Amiibo, I'm in for all of them(I'm a completist). Crossing my fingers they never make a Mach Rider Amiibo.

 

[laser]

I have no problem with using figurines to unlock on-disc content, as long as the figurine doesn't get a markup because of it.


Additionally, if you have to use cards to unlock on-disc content (as Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer & Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival do), they should be both collector quality (good artwork, strong material), and be priced well lower than figurines.

 

[LeoA]

Just as an interesting Virtual Console note, I think it's neat that Nintendo has implemented some extra bells and whistles lately.


All the e-Reader extras were included for the GBA conversion of Super Mario Bros. 3 when it appeared in Japan recently and a game titled Drill Dozer has recently appeared in some regions with its rumble capabilities intact on the Wii U.


I wouldn't of bet any money on either, but M2 came through with these features. Makes me a bit disappointed though that they overlooked the rumble capability that Mario & Luigi and the port of SMB3 had when played on a Game Boy Player.


And while it's meaningless to me since I thought it was already fine, the original Kawasaki banners were restored in Wave Race 64 for its Wii U release (They were substituted with DS & Wii logos on the Wii).


Nintendo often strikes me as lazy and uninspired when it comes to the VC, but sometimes they still surprise me.

Now, the question would be which would be released first. The rumor I saw said they would announce both units this year (E3 or earlier, through a Nintendo Direct) and release the handheld this fall with the console coming next year. This would be a wise move, especially if they want to keep some life in the Wii U and get Zelda out in 2016.

Releasing them simultaneously though would put the emphasis from day 1 on the fact that your handheld Nintendo software can be played on your Nintendo console and vice versa.


If that's indeed the centerpiece for them reinventing themselves with their next-gen hardware, I think it's important that they come out alongside each other so that fact is made clear for even the most casual observers.


So I wouldn't be surprised to see their NX lines launch together and for Zelda U to repeat what went on with Twilight Princess with a cross-gen release Wii U/NX release.

 

[laser]

Nintendo often strikes me as lazy and uninspired when it comes to the VC, but sometimes they still surprise me.

The N64 releases on Wii U VC have a very noticeable brightness difference against the originals (too dark). You'd think they could fix this fairly easily with a few lines of code or some kind of post-filter...

 

[LeoA]

N64 games even ran dark on the Wii, although to a much lesser degree.


I never even noticed it until the Wii U emulator appeared that was obviously very dark. That led me to connect my Wii U and N64 via composite to the same display and compare Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time across all three platforms.


Here's a picture pulled off Google Images that shows what I also saw when I compared my Wii mode downloads to original hardware (I transferred everything off my Wii long before this, so couldn't utilize my original Wii).

Much better than the Wii U situation though.


Rumor has it that it's some sort of deliberate attempt to combat epilepsy. Not sure if I buy that or not, but it affects other Virtual Console platforms as well.


The NES in particular has always been much too dark across all three Nintendo platforms that feature it. GBA games also run dark on the Wii U, although some speculate that it's to combat GBA developers often brightening up their games to compensate for the original's unlit screen. That sounds good in theory, but difficult to reconcile that with the effect occurring on other platforms as well.


Oddly, SuperNes seems fine on the Wii/Wii U although I've never done or seen any comparisons. If they're running dark though, it's not by much.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I doubt Nintendo will release Zelda on Wii U and NX at the same time. At most, I'd see NX being backward compatible but I think they're trying to squeeze just a little more profit out of the Wii U before they accept that it's dead. Zelda is also going to see release this year while the NX may not even be out until next year. Their history of console releases is announce at E3 then release in a year and a half.

 

[LeoA]

Did they ever reconfirm Zelda U for 2016 though? [Edit: Yep, the Nintendo Direct quite clearly says 2016]


I know that when Twilight Princess HD was unveiled in a Nintendo Direct last Fall that a Wii U release was reconfirmed for this upcoming original Zelda, but I can't recall if they ever actually gave a date.


While I'm not stating that I'm confident this scenario will play out, if they didn't state 2016 and the NX doesn't appear until 2017, it wouldn't shock me to see it delayed on the Wii U in order to launch alongside it.


They did it with Twilight Princess a decade ago. The project was virtually complete and then the decision was made to turn it into a Wii launch title at the last moment. So despite the GameCube being in its final days, the title was suddenly delayed and sat for many months in order for conversion to be made to the Wii.


Only a few weeks after the Wii launched did patient GameCube owners like myself belatedly finally get their game. The delay in fact was lengthy enough where the poor old GCN was long out of production and the release calendar basically non-existent when it finally hit.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

The delay for Twilight Princess was mainly because of adding motion controls. The Wii was basically a GameCube, so I doubt the process of porting code added time.

I think Nintendo sees how disappointed fans would be if they delayed the next Zelda just to give the NX a boost. Honestly, even if the NX is out this fall, I could see them pushing Zelda out on Wii U and not NX, too. That said, if the NX really is 2 pieces of hardware, the potential of playing a brand-new console-quality Zelda on a handheld might be appealing.

 

[laser]

Sigh...my Nintendo stock (NTDOY) is at its lowest level since last March (before the mobile announcement). I would've sold when it peaked in October, but the Canadian exchange rate wasn't as favorable as I wanted it...

Hopefully things will perk up a bit when the Q3 results are announced later this month.

 

[LeoA]

The delay for Twilight Princess was mainly because of adding motion controls. The Wii was basically a GameCube, so I doubt the process of porting code added time.

I wasn't suggesting that the delay was solely due to the time it took to convert it to the similar Wii hardware.


But they can't release a launch title until the console itself launches. So they willingly let the GCN version sit for quite sometime in order to allow it to be a cross-gen release and a launch title for their next-gen console.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Maybe time to buy some Nintendo stock.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

They committed to Zelda in 2016 on Wii U way after announcing that work on the NX had begun (technically, I mean, all console makers start working on their next piece of hardware within a year or so of releasing one, so I think its weird when this is a big deal). I doubt they're going to launch new hardware this year and I doubt they'll hold Zelda back another year.

 

[LeoA]

That they said 2016 is good enough for me. I don't believe that Nintendo would give that date in the closing stages of 2015 and then renege on it.


But I'm less sure that it won't also be a NX title this Fall for various reasons, despite past history suggesting that Nintendo is unlikely to reveal and release a console in the same calendar year.


And let's not forget that we still don't even know that this is the planned successor to the Wii U or even the start of a merger of sorts for their two traditional hardware lines. About all we know is that it exists and is dedicated hardware of some sort and that we're slated to learn more about it at some point this year.


Shorter timelines haven't been uncommon for Nintendo handhelds through the years and I'd argue that the 3DS, despite the hardware refresh, is more in need of a successor right now than the Wii U that's quietly still on the rise is.


I don't really know how it will all play out, but I'm going to be surprised if Zelda U truly is a Wii U exclusive when all is said and done.

 

[LeoA]

Looks like Twilight Princess HD includes a new dungeon, but it sadly will be behind the Amiibo pay-wall and you'll need the deluxe edition's Twilight Princess figurine to access it.

Sounds like this Amiibo will also allow you to take some aspect of your Twilight Princess HD save file to your Zelda U save upon starting it.


I can't imagine it being anything special though that is truly affected by your previous progress, considering the limited storage capacity on an Amiibo (Unless scanning it unlocks the ability for Zelda U to read your TPHD save file on your console's internal storage).


And the latest reports make this new "dungeon" sound like some sort of challenge area like the boss rush that I believe that we got in Majora's Mask 3D or the Savage Labyrinth that Wind Waker always had.


Much less interesting I feel than the addition of a brand new fully featured dungeon to the game (Which has happened before with Link's Awakening DX and the GBA port of A Link to the Past).

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Where do you get the impression that the Wolf Link amiibo let's you transfer a save file to the new Zelda U? I haven't seen anything remotely similar to that. I also would bet that you don't need an amiibo to transfer a save file that's located on the console.

 

[LeoA]

I believe I read that from Eurogamer, from a translated Japanese source.


As for the rest, I'm surprised that you'd even ask considering that it's clear that you pay attention to the Wii U scene. Of course you don't need an Amiibo for whatever sort of link that Nintendo may be planning between these two upcoming Zelda releases.


The point of various Amiibo functionality such as that is to justify and help drive the purchase of Amiibos, beyond of course the large segment that's purchasing them just for collector's sake.


There's no technical reason for why it would work that way, it's simply a design decision done to help market Nintendo's figurines by providing them with limited in-game functionality across a wide range of titles.


Edit: Nintendo said this themselves when Twilight Princess HD was first revealed. Data saved on the Wolf Link Amiibo will transfer to Zelda U. All that remains is the specifics on just what that entails.


But like I already said, I can't imagine it's of anything of substance. It likely will be something unimportant like perhaps starting you off with a different colored outfit if you scanned in the Wolf Link Amiibo with data on it showing that you finished TPHD.


Nothing special like taking your same character through the entire Mass Effect trilogy and with past decisions sometimes influencing the storyline in subsequent entries.

 

[LeoA]

Sega announced a North American retail collection today of several of these.

It will appear on April 26th for $30 and will include the following classics.

Altered Beast (Genesis version)
Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa (Master System; New, not previously available off the eShop)
Fantasy Zone II W (Arcade; The modern M2 creation that runs on the hardware of the original Fantasy Zone)
Galaxy Force II (Arcade)
Maze Walker (Master System; New, not previously available off the eShop)
Power Drift (Arcade; New, not previously available off the eShop)
Puyo Puyo 2 (Arcade; New, not previously available off the eShop)
Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis)
Thunder Blade (Arcade)

Perhaps the only thing that doesn't please me here is the lack of any mention of it being volume 1 of hopefully a set. There's no shortage of excellent selections for a 2nd volume that deserves a retail release, so I hope this isn't going to be it. We still need to see the rest of these at retail.

Afterburner II
Ecco the Dolphin
Fantasy Zone (Arcade)
Fantasy Zone (SMS)
Gunstar Heroes
Outrun
Outrun 3D
Shinobi III
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Space Harrier
Space Harrier 3D
Streets of Rage
Streets of Rage 2
Super Hang-On

 

[Morgan Jolley]

That Sega collection is only on 3DS. They've previously released a handful of their old games on the 3DS Virtual Console with 3D added, so this is basically just a collection of those games.


I read up on the Wolf Link amiibo data transfer for Zelda Wii U. I guess I missed that! If I had to guess, it will either be something superficial (new outfit, unique item that doesn't do anything exceptional) or something extra that doesn't really change the game too much (like the new dungeon in Twilight Princess HD that you need the Wolf Link amiibo to access). That is, unless, the new Zelda is a direct sequel to Twilight Princess. Then it could be more significant.