CPU Wii U just as powerful as PS3, X360, GPU 1,5 times stronger

Maybe theres another side to this. Maybe with this "underpowered" (quotes intentional) console, Nintendo is establishing with Microsoft and Sony that they're no threat and will in turn help prevent a 2013 launch of new consoles from their competitors.

Theres some fairly non-intuitive logic here, but to follow it one must accept that Nintendo is going for the most sustainable business plan they can muster and nothing more.

In that case Wii U will be in an akward midgen range for the release of PS4/720. Maybe.
 
So I'm guessing you didn't buy a Wii then, because that was also six year old tech.

Well that's it for me...

The Wii is now in a place where I would have bought it 3 years ago, but to buy a SD console now is ridiculous...

The same will be true for the Wii U, I'll rather spend 450/500 on a xbox720/ps4 than 300 on a Wii U
 
Like that rumor saying Nintendo was upset about the power comments. Do something about it then.

What? What rumor? When? And what the hell did they expect? Not one game shown even comes close to the best of the OLD current-gen HD systems, let alone beat it. I completely get the system they are putting out, going for "merely" more streamlined hardware, not that much more powerful but spec'd with modern features and more memory... (though i don't understand if they "hid" them again so 3rd parties will not use them like TEV) but BY GOD why not show what it's capable of when you have one year headstart over the competition that will -once again- overpower you in that regard. They have one year to show themselves as a viable platform for the traditional PS360 gamer as well as 3rd parties. No, they are holding games back because "not in te launch window". Well, if the WiiU is out for 6 months before any such games get shown, who of the current PS360 crowd that would not get a Nintendo console regardless, would even bother if the next PS4/Durango are around the corner?
 
I feel that we're getting to a point where graphical advancements no longer really matter. The Wii U is going to be amazing.
Bingo. It just needs a cohesion now, the reveal of the complete package: price, bundles, online features, OS menus, packaging, unannounced japanese titles, EA sports exclusive features, preview of 2013 1st party games... By december we'll get the value. One thing I already know: with all these Wii U local multiplayer games, we are in for 5 years of riots. Can't wait :)
 
If E3 showed me anything it's that Sony and Microsoft already have their teams working on the PS4/720. You can bet kids will have them under their trees come Christmas 2013.

A lot of kids in their twenties I suspect.
Except for me, my parents won't buy me a console. :(
 
To be fair that's only because of the numerous reports and dev comments I've read and because I've seen Wii U graphics the past 2 e3s that align with my view.

There haven't been "numerous" reports and comments supporting what you are saying, and at the same time ignores the other comments that have said otherwise. And also this ignores the fact that other info has pointed to certain issues which have come from some devs which have been pointed to an optimization issue, not just by me. And that all of this is taking place during a launch period which is as I've said before asinine to try an judge any console's power during that time.

What? What rumor? When? And what the hell did they expect? Not one game shown even comes close to the best of the OLD current-gen HD systems, let alone beat it. I completely get the system they are putting out, going for "merely" more streamlined hardware, not that much more powerful but spec'd with modern features and more memory... (though i don't understand if they "hid" them again so 3rd parties will not use them like TEV) but BY GOD why not show what it's capable of when you have one year headstart over the competition that will -once again- overpower you in that regard. They have one year to show themselves as a viable platform for the traditional PS360 gamer as well as 3rd parties. No, they are holding games back because "not in te launch window". Well, if the WiiU is out for 6 months before any such games get shown, who of the current PS360 crowd that would not get a Nintendo console regardless, would even bother if the next PS4/Durango are around the corner?

I think it was a month or two before E3. But yeah, they've poorly communicated Wii U since last year and like I've said I believe this is all an overreaction to what happened with 3DS.
 
In that case Wii U will be in an akward midgen range for the release of PS4/720. Maybe.

And it has a potential 20m install base. If the decision is made to keep supporting the PS360 with toned down versions of new software, then it's a mild stretch to support the WiiU as well. Maybe it gets midrange textures where the PS360 gets low range and the PS4720 gets high range with PC. Maybe by the time the PS720 crowd gets large enough to drop the PS360, the WiiU is at a 40m install base, and it would be crazy to drop support for that. A developer's epeen isn't worth supporting for publishers if they're going to disregard an active 40m userbase....so WiiU support continues for another two years while the userbase grows to 60m....which is where Nintendo announces the Wii 3 at E3. The whole time Nintendo keeps profiting $500 million to $1 billion a year.

They don't conquer the world this way, but they keep in business and keep making a steady profit. It's not an exciting plan, but maybe, just maybe, it's a sustainable plan.
 
Maybe theres another side to this. Maybe with this "underpowered" (quotes intentional) console, Nintendo is establishing with Microsoft and Sony that they're no threat and will in turn help prevent a 2013 launch of new consoles from their competitors.

Theres some fairly non-intuitive logic here, but to follow it one must accept that Nintendo is going for the most sustainable business plan they can muster and nothing more.

I see where you're coming from, but the problem is that it's quite likely that, even if they don't see Nintendo as a threat, they'll both release in 2013 anyway. Sales of XBox360 and PS3 seem to have started declining this year, and I don't think either wants to give the other a year start, so if I were in charge of either company, I'd release in late 2013 regardless.
 
I wanted the Wii U for the Nintendo and exclusives from third parties that made use of the innovative controller.
I however cannot purchase such an underpowered system. 2006 era technology in 2012 is terrible.

Did you also choose not to purchase a Wii because it was also underpowered? I don't think your reasoning makes any sense. So you're willing to miss out on exclusive games/content because the Wii U isn't a super powerful machine? It's still HD, so I don't get what your problem is.
 
I wanted the Wii U for the Nintendo and exclusives from third parties that made use of the innovative controller.
I however cannot purchase such an underpowered system. 2006 era technology in 2012 is terrible.

Damn, when in the hell is someone going to discredit all the FUD out there and make it clear that the WiiU is using 2009/2010 level technology? IT IS NOT 2006 ERA TECHNOLOGY, if the gaming media was worth a damn people would know this. Unfortunately, it isn't because they live by the creed that it is better to be hyped up fan-children who talk about games rather than actual professionals who report FACTS.
 
I think it was a month or two before E3. But yeah, they've poorly communicated Wii U since last year and like I've said I believe this is all an overreaction to what happened with 3DS.

I think it's partially a reaction to the 3DS and partially an awkward shift to a more Apple-style approach of only revealing games a few months before release. To be honest, I have to say I think Reggie is a problem here. He's been a good marketer in the past, but as President of NOA he's Nintendo's go-to guy when they want to know how to approach western gamers. The problem with this is that he just doesn't understand videogames that well, and he certainly doesn't seem to understand the portion of the videogame market which Nintendo missed with the Wii and (presumably) wants to get back. Having Reggie in charge of a strategy to win over the Call of Duty crowd is like having someone who's never seen a game of American football coach a team that's trying to win a Superbowl; he just doesn't seem to be the right guy for the job.
 
Sooooo...

Wii U : TurboGrafx-16 :: PS4/XBox 720 : Sega Genesis/Super Nintendo

Am I doing this right?

More like...
Wii U: TurboGrafx-16
PS4/720: Saturn
 

Found it.

- The recent “rumors” about the Wii U being weaker than PS3 and 360? Apparently, they are far from the truth and Nintendo isn’t happy with the ‘analyst’ that had a vendetta against them enough to spread false rumors. The rumors apparently have scared off investors and downgraded Nintendo’s stock rating. Investors are waiting until E3 to have a better idea of what lies in store for the Wii U rather than buying in advance to E3 to have a leg up for when the hype begins to soar.

Needless to say, but Nintendo didn't help that situation at E3.

I think it's partially a reaction to the 3DS and partially an awkward shift to a more Apple-style approach of only revealing games a few months before release. To be honest, I have to say I think Reggie is a problem here. He's been a good marketer in the past, but as President of NOA he's Nintendo's go-to guy when they want to know how to approach western gamers. The problem with this is that he just doesn't understand videogames that well, and he certainly doesn't seem to understand the portion of the videogame market which Nintendo missed with the Wii and (presumably) wants to get back. Having Reggie in charge of a strategy to win over the Call of Duty crowd is like having someone who's never seen a game of American football coach a team that's trying to win a Superbowl; he just doesn't seem to be the right guy for the job.

Sounds like the same thing in different words at the beginning. And while I agree to an extent with what you are saying about Reggie, that extent is you would think by now he would have a decent enough grasp.
 
I think it's partially a reaction to the 3DS and partially an awkward shift to a more Apple-style approach of only revealing games a few months before release. To be honest, I have to say I think Reggie is a problem here. He's been a good marketer in the past, but as President of NOA he's Nintendo's go-to guy when they want to know how to approach western gamers. The problem with this is that he just doesn't understand videogames that well, and he certainly doesn't seem to understand the portion of the videogame market which Nintendo missed with the Wii and (presumably) wants to get back. Having Reggie in charge of a strategy to win over the Call of Duty crowd is like having someone who's never seen a game of American football coach a team that's trying to win a Superbowl; he just doesn't seem to be the right guy for the job.

He clearly isn't. This was clear even long before the Fatal Frame 4 debacle, and became more apparent when Xenoblade & the Last Story weren't supposed to be released in the US. At a time your main platform has an image of being only for casual, kiddy and Nintendo games. Where your platform does not get a follow up to RE4, but a bunch of rail shooters and ports look worse than PS2 games. How i remember his BS the year the Wii launched that they were in talks with all the major devs and publishers to get their prime franchises on the platform, to later hear him say there never even were talks to get a GTA on the Wii. WTF this guy. Other than taking names and kicking ass and hyping up the DS, i never had it in for the guy.
 
I think investors have been allowed to see what our eyes have not though.

I don't. Especially when they continually want Nintendo to make iOS games.

But the next investor's meeting is coming later this month so we'll probably get something after the way E3 went.
 
I thought I'd chime in with a few of the things we know about the Wii U's hardware from the speculation threads (and by "know" I mean info which has been confirmed by multiple reliable sources).

Thanks for posting this. It was easy to follow and very insightful. Nintendo has a lot to prove these next few months if they want people to buy their console.
 
I don't. Especially when they continually want Nintendo to make iOS games.
But the next investor's meeting is coming later this month so we'll probably get something after the way E3 went.
If an investor is not privy to some behind closed door info/showing why they hell would they wanna invest in something, or are all investments pure russian-roulette?
 
Sounds like the same thing in different words at the beginning. And while I agree to an extent with what you are saying about Reggie, that extent is you would think by now he would have a decent enough grasp.

I think the issue with the 3DS wasn't that they showed things off too early, it was that they didn't have enough system-selling software early on in the system's life. They're obviously trying to address this with the Wii U, but the simultaneous decision not to show anything releasing after the first few months of the console's life is a bit of a strange one, and one that Nintendo haven't communicated clearly enough.

I would have thought Reggie would have gotten a better grasp on things by now, but watching him in interviews I still get the impression that he's just sticking to talking points and doesn't really understand what draws people to games like Call of Duty and Uncharted. His understanding of the technical aspects of games is even worse, last year he said the Zelda demo was in 1080p when it very clearly wasn't.

I think investors have been allowed to see what our eyes have not though.

Nintendo is a public company. Any information given to investors has to be made publicly available.
 
I think the issue with the 3DS wasn't that they showed things off too early, it was that they didn't have enough system-selling software early on in the system's life. They're obviously trying to address this with the Wii U, but the simultaneous decision not to show anything releasing after the first few months of the console's life is a bit of a strange one, and one that Nintendo haven't communicated clearly enough.

I would have thought Reggie would have gotten a better grasp on things by now, but watching him in interviews I still get the impression that he's just sticking to talking points and doesn't really understand what draws people to games like Call of Duty and Uncharted. His understanding of the technical aspects of games is even worse, last year he said the Zelda demo was in 1080p when it very clearly wasn't.

Honestly, I don't think he has a choice. NCL is here to blame. I do believe Reggie has some say, but Iwata probably disagrees with his strategy and Reggie ends up defaulting to Iwata's decisions. I don't think Reggie is dumb enough to alienate a group of gamers like this.
 
I would have thought Reggie would have gotten a better grasp on things by now, but watching him in interviews I still get the impression that he's just sticking to talking points and doesn't really understand what draws people to games like Call of Duty and Uncharted. His understanding of the technical aspects of games is even worse, last year he said the Zelda demo was in 1080p when it very clearly wasn't.

I don't entirely disagree, but I think Iwata absolutely does understand both gamers in general and the space Nintendo holds in the market.

I also think Don Mattrick literally has no fucking clue at all about anything, and MS gaming division is worse off for being under him.
 
This is just silly.



Yeah it will only be one year before Sony and Microsoft strike. Wii U may still get ports for a period longer than one year though.

One more year before they release the PS4 and 720, I agree, but you've also got to take each console's 2nd year into account too. By the time the U has started its 2nd year of life the U development would have been done on finished dev kits, the first year of the PS4 and 720's lives the majority of development would have been done on underpowered dev kits. That's one of the biggest advantages of releasing a console a whole year before the others.
 
Damn, when in the hell is someone going to discredit all the FUD out there and make it clear that the WiiU is using 2009/2010 level technology? IT IS NOT 2006 ERA TECHNOLOGY, if the gaming media was worth a damn people would know this. Unfortunately, it isn't because they live by the creed that it is better to be hyped up fan-children who talk about games rather than actual professionals who report FACTS.

Sort of a 50/50 situation if what we're hearing here is to be believed.
 
I lean more towards Linkhero's post Thraktor.

If an investor is not privy to some behind closed door info/showing why they hell would they wanna invest in something, or are all investments pure russian-roulette?

Because it can be considered as insider trading.
 
Damn, when in the hell is someone going to discredit all the FUD out there and make it clear that the WiiU is using 2009/2010 level technology? IT IS NOT 2006 ERA TECHNOLOGY, if the gaming media was worth a damn people would know this. Unfortunately, it isn't because they live by the creed that it is better to be hyped up fan-children who talk about games rather than actual professionals who report FACTS.

Its not 2006, its 2008-2009. At least the gpu is...

But again that doesn't tell us really anything. Wiiu big tell is that small case. Small case= low power parts.


I think investors have been allowed to see what our eyes have not though.
I'm an investor and they do not tell us anything that the public doesn't know.
 
Nintendo uses Nintendo Direct to show off new games now. I don't get why everybody is so worried. They can randomly choose a weekend to show off upcoming games whenever they feel like. I guess it's kinda dumb not doing it at E3, but still they have options.
 
Nintendo uses Nintendo Direct to show off new games now. I don't get why everybody is so worried. They can randomly choose a weekend to show off upcoming games whenever they feel like. I guess it's kinda dumb not doing it at E3, but still they have options.

Everyone is worried because of the lack of third party showing at E3. It's pretty obvious Nintendo will have games to reveal later.
 
Why honestly does anyone care how powerful the Wii U is? Nintendo consoles since the N64 have been all about the 1st party titles anyhow. If you like nintendo 1st party the machine will be good enough for you, if you dont it wont.
 
Is there even a point to trying to place a year on the tech? If its completely custom then its probably as modern as anything else out there.

Yes. It base on a gpu core. They didnt redesign the gpu to make dx11 for example. When people say custom they mean the have tweak and also remove things not needed in a console. Just like the rsx in the ps3 is custom but its still a 7900gs core...
 
I think the issue with the 3DS wasn't that they showed things off too early, it was that they didn't have enough system-selling software early on in the system's life. They're obviously trying to address this with the Wii U, but the simultaneous decision not to show anything releasing after the first few months of the console's life is a bit of a strange one, and one that Nintendo haven't communicated clearly enough.

I would have thought Reggie would have gotten a better grasp on things by now, but watching him in interviews I still get the impression that he's just sticking to talking points and doesn't really understand what draws people to games like Call of Duty and Uncharted. His understanding of the technical aspects of games is even worse, last year he said the Zelda demo was in 1080p when it very clearly wasn't.

Reggie has some serious marketing credentials behind him; the whole reason he was brought in, in the first place, was because he was much more in tune with the "MTV" generation than any one before him at Nintendo.

I wouldn't write him off like that, personally. Half of his public messages are all jazz or hype because he is the President of NOA. Its essentially his company and he's a very competent boss (he has a certain presence that I don't think any of the other North American "bosses" have) but behind the scenes, he knows his stuff. Its partly because of him the Wii and DS were huge successes.

There is discussion between all three main branches, in NCL, NOA and NOE on a regular level.

There are competent marketing teams behind them all too.

I think, personally, a lot of us are disappointed that the Wii U was not shown to the level it should have been shown to at E3. Apparently Retro's game was simply not ready to be shown off, for whatever reason, and that probably would have been their true "ending" to the show. I bet if just one stand out title geared toward the core was shown off at E3, the conference would have been this super awesome one that satisfied people.

But they clearly focused - as Reggie confirmed - on the launch window; the immediate future.

If Nintendo Land is marketed correctly, I think it can become a huge hit. I do think it is not near as intuitive as Wii Sports was, but I don't think anything will ever be like that again. Not even Kinect Sports had anywhere near the effect Wii Sports did on selling the Wii console.

Still, the 20 million plus sales of Wii Sports Resort and 20 million plus sales of Wii Fit/Plus launched well after Wii Sports was released demonstrates that this demographic exists, this market exists.


I mentioned before, that although the core community or gamers on NeoGAF may not appreciate Nintendo's titles, when we consider what games they really showed off, its actually very powerful. Its some serious system selling software.

In fact, on a business level, and this is where Reggie is smart imo, he and NOA have identified the "popular" franchises. This is key.

We have New Super Mario Bros U, the next instalment after NSMB Wii which sold well over 20 million copies and Wii Fit U which also is from a franchise that sold well over 20 million copies (both Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus have respectively, I don't know exact numbers on any of these games though)

We also know, from SA, that Call of Duty is coming to Wii U (it just wasn't revealed) which is a main stream American franchise. Its big.

We know FIFA and Madden will be coming, the two largest EA Sports titles and large franchises in each N.A. and European markets.

We have Just Dance 4 coming, which is one of Ubisoft's largest franchises.

We have a LEGO game; one of WB's best selling franchises if not their best selling

I mean, really, from a business perspective the heavy hitters are all coming to one platform. This could be huge with the general public, and this is really where the video game business matters.

The hardcore gamers are awesome. They are important. Sure it sucks FZERO was not shown in HD at Nintendo's presser this year. But the Dreamcast was a hardcore gamer's machine. It didn't exactly last too long, because it didn't have the needed mass market appeal to sell consoles.

This is where Nintendo is smart and, ironically, the opposite of what is being suggest by "core" gamer forums around the interwebs currently. They have targeted the large franchises and focused on getting those on their platform.

Could GTA V end up on Wii U too? Perhaps. They got Assassins Creed III which is a huge selling franchise. SiNG could be big. Aliens could turn out to be a hit. There's a Tekken. There's a Dragon Quest. They've identified and executed a very important business tactic in securing Ninja Gaiden, in securing Mass Effect, in securing Arkham City, Darksiders II.

We don't know how well Nintendo Land could end up doing; it eventually could become a huge system seller we don't know.


These are very important things to consider. I think the Wii U will do well, and will surprise people.

This might be the most "powerful" launch lineup I've ever seen. I can't think of a single launch ever that comes with so many heavy hitters, in terms of sales value.

Hopefully they all sell. I know I plan on getting many Wii U games in the launch window, quite possibly the most I've ever purchased for any console around launch.


But my point is, before anyone is quick to dismiss Reggie (who was a genius when the Wii sold truck loads) there is much more to consider. It actually makes tons of sense, perhaps not to core gamers, but it has the chance to be something quite spectacular.


Will the execution be there? This I do not know. None of us do; time will tell.
 
Yes. It base on a gpu core. They didnt redesign the gpu to make dx11 for example. When people say custom they mean the have tweak and also remove things not needed in a console. Just like the rsx in the ps3 is custom but its still a 7900gs core...

Well that spec sheet from a few days ago listed compute shaders which is a feature of shader model 5 and that class of GPUs... It started as a 2009 core probably because that's what was available at the time when design began, I can't imagine they spent 2 years on minor changes.
 
Honestly, I don't think he has a choice. NCL is here to blame. I do believe Reggie has some say, but Iwata probably disagrees with his strategy and Reggie ends up defaulting to Iwata's decisions. I don't think Reggie is dumb enough to alienate a group of gamers like this.

I don't entirely disagree, but I think Iwata absolutely does understand both gamers in general and the space Nintendo holds in the market.

I do think Iwata understands gamers and the game industry well, and I think Nintendo is well served by being the only console manufacturer headed by someone who has held almost every position in the industry: programmer and artist (in HAL), hardware designer (the Gamecube), and executive. Of course as CEO he must be held ultimately responsible for any failings, but as someone who's live in Japan all his life (as have almost all of NCL's senior management, I believe), he can't be expected to understand what causes an American teenager to be drawn to a game like Gears of War, and for this he is inevitably going to seek out the advice of the head of the American division of his company. I don't think that Reggie is properly equipped to give that advice.

Keep in mind where Reggie is coming from. His background is in marketing, and before Nintendo he worked in foods and beverages, and for VH1. In these sorts of markets, what you're selling is a lifestyle, and he brought the same approach to Nintendo's marketing for the DS and Wii, both great examples of how you sell the lifestyle associated with a product, and both very successful in attracting casual gamers. The problem is that this approach doesn't work in the "core" gaming demographic; you're not selling a lifestyle to these people, you're selling an experience. I don't think Reggie fully grasps either how to sell experiences to this audience, or even what sort of experiences they want.

Of course Iwata is the one making the final decisions, but he's doing so based on the advice that's available to him, and the source of that advice on western gamers is going to be the head of NoA first and foremost. He needs someone in that position who has a good understanding of the "core" gaming audience, and in Reggie he doesn't appear to have that. Don't get me wrong, I think Reggie is an intelligent guy, and he did a great job with the Wii and DS, but if Nintendo seriously wants to win the audience they missed with the Wii, he's not the man for the job.
 
Top Bottom