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[Jarsonot]

I'd love to be able to go one console next gen. It'd be cheaper, for one, and I don't have the time for all these damn games anymore, either. =)

I'm thinking Nintendo's caught up to (surpassed) this generation's power & graphics, which were perfectly good for me. I'm sure it can look nicer, but I don't give a shit about blu-ray and DVD either. Blu-ray is nicer, but It's not so much nicer that DVDs become unacceptable, ya know? So I think I'll be fine with WiiUs graphical prowess even after the HD twins one-up it.

I am concerned about ports, 3rd party support. I know I'd miss a lot of games going one-console, but it'd be nice to limit the casualties. Obviously I'll miss out on Sony & Xbox exclusives, but I think the 3rd party indie scene should be there (why not?) and hopefully most of "the biggies", but we'll see. If they're there, I'll be one happy camper.

Oh, and cross-game chat, video calls, nintendoland bundled in, & lightning fast OS please.

 

[EDarkness]

I am concerned about ports, 3rd party support. I know I'd miss a lot of games going one-console, but it'd be nice to limit the casualties. Obviously I'll miss out on Sony & Xbox exclusives, but I think the 3rd party indie scene should be there (why not?) and hopefully most of "the biggies", but we'll see. If they're there, I'll be one happy camper.

I have a feeling that the indie scene on the Wii U should be pretty good. Which I'm looking forward to. Though, I always buy all systems, so that part is never part of the equation for me. However, I do hate not seeing an equal spread of games. It's these kinds of things that sour me to the game business. I guess the reality of the business I've wanted to get into since I was a kid sometimes makes me bitter. Heh, heh.

 

[Effect]

I'd love to be able to go one console next gen. It'd be cheaper, for one, and I don't have the time for all these damn games anymore, either. =)

This is why I wanted to go with just the Wii U (Nintendo's IPs as whole won out for me) and why I still will. Having more third party support would be good for the health of the console but when I look back on the games I got this generation they were largely first party titles or exclusives on all three console. I'm not much of a multiplatform consumer in the end, not for a while. I'll have the odd one here and there but it's rare and those are the games his gen I was willing to resell after I was done or disappointed by them. Even on the PC I have more games mainly exclusive to that platform (Anno, Starcraft, Civilazation). I'll miss Sony and Microsoft exclusives, the few I do like, by just going with the Wii U. I really like the Fable series for example so if a Fable 4 comes out it's going to sting a little. Same if there is a Resistance 3 or a Killzone 4.

The lack of third parties would be easier on my wallet but I don't want the system to suffer in the long run. There should be variety for people to buy.

Edit:

Though as suggested it could leave things open for smaller and newer developers, indie, to get noticed if Nintendo puts a focus on them if the big names aren't there in a significant way. I wouldn't be against that at all if it came to that.


Speaking of NintendoLand. Is it just 12 games or is it 12 areas but multiple games in each area. The way Nintendo presented it made it seem like the first. However some podcast are making it seem like it's the later. Which is it?

If it's the second I could see myself buying it, if it isn't a pack-in. It just being 12 games period is what turned me off to possibly buying.

 

[Terrell]

It would make sense, but.... Lol. "demographics" pigeonhole. The biggest Japanese developers are chasing the western dollar anyway, though. Hence double down on this gen's strategy. Lower budget efforts go to handheld.

The problem is that their success in "chasing the western dollar" isn't there, they've ended up making less money overall than they did making the games they used to that they could sell worldwide.

 

[Dreamwriter]

Speaking of NintendoLand. Is it just 12 games or is it 12 areas but multiple games in each area. The way Nintendo presented it made it seem like the first. However some podcast are making it seem like it's the later. Which is it?

If it's the second I could see myself buying it, if it isn't a pack-in. It just being 12 games period is what turned me off to possibly buying.

It's 12 minigames. Though apparently some games will have a couple different modes.

 

[AzaK]

They did, and they were right to. Point is the onus isn't just on third parties to deliver the goods. Nintendo is often their own worst enemy when it comes to these things.



Right, and the jury is out on the Wii U until it's released and working alongside the rest of next generation, so we can then get a better idea of where it fits.

Which is why I think they are silly to just stick to launch window announcements. It's the potential of the system that I want to see before I buy. Especially after the complete shambles that was the Wii regarding mature western titles.

Plus there's complications with the hardware. On a technical level, if the CPU/GPGPU reports are true then a fair bit of tinkering would be required to make sure games are running stable and bug free. On a design level, most pubs would probably feel the need to adopt some kind of GamePad usage, which requires conceptual work, approval, and then additional game development.

Both if these things worry me if they are used as excuses. Especially the GamePad one. From what we know the Wii U without using the compute shaders is likely as good if not better than the current gen (CPU rumours aside for now), so that should not really be a problem.

The second possible excuse worries me more though. If third parties for some reason think they need to create some completely new experience for the GamePad before they can do a port, then we're fucked because they are unlikely to do so unless they can create a completely unique opportunity like was done on the Wii with dance games and things.

Just chuck a fucking map on it and I'll be happy to be honest if it means the difference between getting a port and not.

And all this time and money, including devkit costs, spent on a system that is not going to push anywhere near as many copies of the game as the other builds will.

There's advantages to porting games to the Wii U, but there's also risks, and it's a new expense introduced very late into an already organised development schedule. What I'd be more concerned about is next generation ports, and whether or not the Wii U will do much good there. I figure it wont, at least from the west, but *shrug*.

While I need to feel that Wii U will get current gen ports to be happy, I agree that next gen for MS and Sony will be more important. The only worry here I see is if they outclass the Wii U completely and at the moment I just don't know, although the rumours about MS and Sony seem to show they are going to be pretty powerful.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

I wonder if Japanese third parties will reward the Wii U with games ala PS3. Wii won this gen, so it makes sense that they'd flock to its successor, no?

How surreal would it be if Wii U was to go to console for Japanese third party games? Surely Japanese game devs are afraid of the jump that awaits them with the PS4/720. 360/PS3s power gave them a nice bite in the ass this gen.

The thing people have to understand is that, yeah, the Wii won this generation. It won it handily. Microsoft may catch up, but for all intents and purposes, the race is over, the pictures have been taken, Nintendo went home with the "Sold the most systems" trophy.

Third parties still consider it a sham victory.

Because for them, the Wii was not a system that could make them money. And a lot of the Fuck Eulogies people give those efforts (the games sucked, they didn't market them, they were only casualized spin-offs) are true. But the reasons don't matter to most third parties. They wanted to continue selling games like they did on the PS2. The Wii actively undermined that by taking sales from the easiest to port to systems.

I am of the belief that, if Nintendo went the high-end route and caught up with the PS3 and 360 instead of making the Wii, they would have caught a 20 million third place hole and investor confidence would have tanked and third parties still wouldn't be happy with them.

But the Wii "winning" is not going to be a motivating factor for most publishers with regard to the Wii U.

 

[Terrell]

The thing people have to understand is that, yeah, the Wii won this generation. It won it handily. Microsoft may catch up, but for all intents and purposes, the race is over, the pictures have been taken, Nintendo went home with the "Sold the most systems" trophy.

Third parties still consider it a sham victory.

Because for them, the Wii was not a system that could make them money. And a lot of the Fuck Eulogies people give those efforts (the games sucked, they didn't market them, they were only casualized spin-offs) are true. But the reasons don't matter to most third parties. They wanted to continue selling games like they did on the PS2. The Wii actively undermined that by taking sales from the easiest to port to systems.

I am of the belief that, if Nintendo went the high-end route and caught up with the PS3 and 360 instead of making the Wii, they would have caught a 20 million third place hole and investor confidence would have tanked and third parties still wouldn't be happy with them.

But the Wii "winning" is not going to be a motivating factor for most publishers with regard to the Wii U.

Looking at it as a fact in isolation from all others, yes, this is true, it's not enough. When it becomes compounded with every other fact plaguing the Japanese game industry, however, that's a different story.

 

[fabricated backlash]

Luckily the industry doesn't revolve around Nintendo, so people can continue to buy the games they want on the platforms their available, and enjoy them regardless.

I don't see anybody boycotting Nintendo for making dumb hardware decisions that cost them third party ports, like the Wii.

Yeah right... because people didn't avoid the Wii due to the lack in power and waggle controls.

Yeah I didn't see anyone boycotting them just because of that.

 

[japtor]

I want to go back on comment about Pikmin 3's water reflections' argument.

I think they're there, we just can't see from the close up/ground level angle, where as in the title screen, the camera is much higher, so the reflections are far more apparent. Isn't it like that in real life where the closer you are the less reflections you see especially if you're looking at it from a more flat angle if you get what I mean?

Didn't know there was an argument but I'll jump in after looking at the trailer a bit, looks like it has to do with the lighting, like you can see the sun's reflection in the title screen. Otherwise as far as real life, I think it depends on the relative angles of everything, and otherwise I guess the water itself, like murky vs clear water, or the state of the surface itself.

Just on a whim I looked up "boat on lake" in Google Images just now...reflections vary a lot. Here's one with and without in the same shot:
http://9gag.com/gag/21220

I have a feeling that the indie scene on the Wii U should be pretty good. Which I'm looking forward to. Though, I always buy all systems, so that part is never part of the equation for me. However, I do hate not seeing an equal spread of games. It's these kinds of things that sour me to the game business. I guess the reality of the business I've wanted to get into since I was a kid sometimes makes me bitter. Heh, heh.

The main things I'm hoping for are decent Japanese* and indie support, then some random other stuff I play like Madden (and some other sports) and racing games. That would cover quite a bit of what I play it seems.

*If they can get Cave on board that's an automatic...maybe tens of thousands of sales!

Hell in general I'd like to see more arcade stuff (a la Tanks Tanks Tanks). If priced affordably I think they could do well since they're generally designed to be pretty accessible to most people but can also cater to the "core" (or whatever the hell term you want to use).

 

[fabricated backlash]

Didn't know there was an argument but I'll jump in after looking at the trailer a bit, looks like it has to do with the lighting, like you can see the sun's reflection in the title screen. Otherwise as far as real life, I think it depends on the relative angles of everything, and otherwise I guess the water itself, like murky vs clear water, or the state of the surface itself.

Just on a whim I looked up "boat on lake" in Google Images just now...reflections vary a lot. Here's one with and without in the same shot:
http://9gag.com/gag/21220

As a rule of thumb, the closer you get the less clear reflections become. You're basically just seeing the water with a tint relative to the light that is reflected into your eyes, but any contours or shapes are mostly lost with the normal ripples of the water.
Furthermore, the cleaner water is, the less reflective it is. Now with deep lakes, the reflection is very strong, due to the dark bottom that serves like the silver sheet used in mirrors, but for example, shallow clean water has almost no reflective qualities at all. (at least visible to our eyes)
I made this photograph at a nearby mountain river, and the water in that particular spot is about 1 meter deep. There are literally no visible reflections outside of the ripples of the water.

 

[User Tron]

Sorry if old but amazon.de lowered the price to €349,-

 

[Jarsonot]

First-party titles I'd miss... Halo a little, though the series has become a rental for me. I like the single player but don't have the time to put into multiplayer.

I never got into Gears of War, don't mind missing God of War, or little big planet. Hmmm. Maybe Fable, yeah, but what else am I forgetting?

And honestly I'd LIKE to get by with one console, but I've bought consoles for just one game before, and I can totally see myself doing that again if someone has a killer game. And I have the time and money. =)

 

[Rösti]

Wiiz.fr has posted a supposed Darksiders II cover for the Wii U version: http://www.wiiz.fr/article.php?a=40601

Darksiders II (Xbox 360 and PS3 versions) is rated 16 by USK, so I don't know about this, looks kinda fake. But you never know.

 

[schuelma]

The thing people have to understand is that, yeah, the Wii won this generation. It won it handily. Microsoft may catch up, but for all intents and purposes, the race is over, the pictures have been taken, Nintendo went home with the "Sold the most systems" trophy.

Third parties still consider it a sham victory.

Because for them, the Wii was not a system that could make them money. And a lot of the Fuck Eulogies people give those efforts (the games sucked, they didn't market them, they were only casualized spin-offs) are true. But the reasons don't matter to most third parties. They wanted to continue selling games like they did on the PS2. The Wii actively undermined that by taking sales from the easiest to port to systems.

I am of the belief that, if Nintendo went the high-end route and caught up with the PS3 and 360 instead of making the Wii, they would have caught a 20 million third place hole and investor confidence would have tanked and third parties still wouldn't be happy with them.

But the Wii "winning" is not going to be a motivating factor for most publishers with regard to the Wii U.

Right. A much better way of saying what I was trying to get at.

Now, I think things are a lot different in Japan and that at the very least Nintendo has the relationships with the big 3rd parties that they clearly do not have in the West.

 

[BlankaBR]

Hey Guyz, my registration just got accepted, ive been reading the nintendo threads since march 2012, always been a big fan of nintendo and sega since the golden 16-bit era.I own a ps3 and my last nintendo was a gamecube, Im hopping I can get back on nintendo with the U but the latest news havent excited me much...Anyways good to be here!!

 

[Nibel]

Wiiz.fr has posted a supposed Darksiders II cover for the Wii U version: http://www.wiiz.fr/article.php?a=40601

Darksiders II (Xbox 360 and PS3 versions) is rated 16 by USK, so I don't know about this, looks kinda fake. But you never know.

The Wii U cover design looks boring.

:/

 

[Hakai]

Another Junior here! Account just got accepted, I was lurking around since last year!

About the Wii U game cover, I think it's fake, or just a placeholder.

 

[BlankaBR]

Another Junior here! Account just got accepted, I was lurking around since last year!

About the Wii U game cover, I think it's fake, or just a placeholder.

Yeah it looks fake, i wish they make it smaller the size of a music cd

 

[fabricated backlash]

Another Junior here! Account just got accepted, I was lurking around since last year!

About the Wii U game cover, I think it's fake, or just a placeholder.

Yeah it looks fake, i wish they make it smaller the size of a music cd

Ah fresh meat. Welcome^^

The cover is most likely a placeholder, I highly doubt Nintendo is going to use the same border they used for the Wii packaging. It's going to be similar though.

 

[HegeMon]

Wow, GAF must have gone nuts with the approvals: I'm in also!

By way of introduction, I'm probably the oldest dude here. To prove it, the two video games that have brought me the most pleasure in my life are Venture (in part because of the music, which was a revelation for its time) and Sinistar (because it was Asteroids without the Zen).

Wii U excites me because I want to go back to that feeling of surprise and delight in video games. Screw Tentpole Franchise XVIII, as far as I'm concerned.

Oh, and a shout-out to Ideaman, who --- to anyone with the tiniest bit of discernment --- was obviously being truthful as well as generous in every one of his posts. There were so many times I wanted to jump into the discussion, but, of course, I couldn't. Thanks, Ideaman, and I hope you get what you're looking for with this system!

 

[Sadist]

Oh wow junior rush. Stay alert younglings. GAF is watching you

 

[chris3116]

Another Junior here! Account just got accepted, I was lurking around since last year!

About the Wii U game cover, I think it's fake, or just a placeholder.

Yeah it looks fake, i wish they make it smaller the size of a music cd

Welcome fellow junior members!

 

[fabricated backlash]

Another Junior here! Account just got accepted, I was lurking around since last year!

About the Wii U game cover, I think it's fake, or just a placeholder.

Yeah it looks fake, i wish they make it smaller the size of a music cd

Ah fresh meat. Welcome^^

The cover is most likely a placeholder, I highly doubt Nintendo is going to use the same border they used for the Wii packaging. It's going to be similar though.

 

[BY2K]

Young souls.

Excellent.

 

[DrWong]

Wii Ung.

 

[RedSwirl]

So apparently Kotaku claims to now have an actual source stating that the Wii U will be "a performance orphan" when the next Xbox and PlayStation come out.

 

[DrWong]

Wii U 'probably' arriving in November - Toki Tori 2 dev

 

[Rösti]

So apparently Kotaku claims to now have an actual source stating that the Wii U will be "a performance orphan" when the next Xbox and PlayStation come out.

Waiting for inevitable thread. ¦¬‡

The article is nice I think, stands out from the rest. For some reason I developed vertigo while reading it though.

 

[DrWong]

Shun Nakamura-san, Producer of Rhythm Thief and the Emperor’s Treasure:

Adam Riley: Do you think you could successfully make a Rhythm Thief game for Wii U? Or would you prefer to make a 3DS sequel instead?

Nakamura-san: I would like to try on both consoles. I would especially like to create a virtual play version of the “Looting the Louvre” part because moving the body really fits into rhythm games.

 

[schuelma]

So apparently Kotaku claims to now have an actual source stating that the Wii U will be "a performance orphan" when the next Xbox and PlayStation come out.

It is actually a pretty good article by Totillo. I am tempted to make a thread about it.

 

[BD1]

So apparently Kotaku claims to now have an actual source stating that the Wii U will be "a performance orphan" when the next Xbox and PlayStation come out.

Here is my silver lining scenario: Wii U does fine, establishes a very healthy install base and Nintendo continues its transformation from Tyrant partner to a welcoming platform holder. Meanwhile, Microsoft and Sony launch their new consoles, and skyrocketing costs and a miscalculated AAA-F2P model causes huge losses and studio closures. EA, Activision, Rockstar and the other mega publishers with enough cash to stay a float keep hitting the Giant, Red Buttons of the Next Gen arms race.

Out of the ashes, smaller, independent and creative developers find refuge on Wii U. With development costs much lower, a system still capable of HD games and a beautiful digital distribution network, these developers flourish. Nintendo becomes the nurturing force behind a creative renaissance. Wii U is social, fun and gamers love it.

Wii U

Spoiler

topia

 

[DaSorcerer7]

It is actually a pretty good article by Totillo. I am tempted to make a thread about it.

another wii u power thread, brace yourselves lol

 

[schuelma]

another wii u power thread, brace yourselves lol

I did the best I could. There are actually a lot of good tidbits and analysis.

 

[Father_Brain]

So apparently Kotaku claims to now have an actual source stating that the Wii U will be "a performance orphan" when the next Xbox and PlayStation come out.

Well, whether the Wii:Wii U analogy is literally true or not, that's how the vast majorities of third parties are treating it if ShockingAlberto is to be believed. Unfortunately, I see little reason to doubt him at this point.

 

[DaSorcerer7]

I did the best I could. There are actually a lot of good tidbits and analysis.

Yeah its a pretty good article. But I wonder how current the CPU info is though.

 

[Fourth Storm]

Calling lherre: We need confirmation of how many threads per core. You helped us once. How about one more leak, buddy?

 

[Lonely1]

I did the best I could. There are actually a lot of good tidbits and analysis.

You should have included the "performance orphan" bit in the title, your thread would have 3 times the numbers of post by now.

 

[Ryoku]

Calling lherre: We need confirmation of how many threads per core. You helped us once. How about one more leak, buddy?

What surprised me was that in the article, the sources called the GPU "impressive", but the CPU the complete opposite. This perfectly coincides with what we've been speculating on this forum, but they made no mention of GPGPU, though. Also, hooray for 2GB RAM?

The "sources" also didn't mention that The Wii U has modern shader capabilities and functions which literally prevent it from being in a Wii situation. Rather than work on a different version of the game, a-la Wii, devs would need to make downscaled versions of already-finished games, which with today's engines, is almost effortless. This leads me to question the credibility of these so-called sources.

 

[schuelma]

You should have included the "performance orphan" bit in the title, your thread would have 3 times the numbers of post by now.

And 10x worse discussion.

 

[Ryoku]

And 10x worse discussion.

I've realized that many of the people who make comments in those threads know little to nothing about tech to bring up intelligent, well-thought out discussions.

 

[Azure J]

That Tolito article was really well done, confirms a lot about the system I assumed from the start, barring the issue with the CPU. I'm wondering if (clocks aside) the little chip is overworked or its an issue with code not being done optimally for it as was being speculated on earlier in this thread.

Also, fuck yea @ the GPU & RAM comments.

 

[Fourth Storm]

What surprised me was that in the article, the sources called the GPU "impressive", but the CPU the complete opposite. This perfectly coincides with what we've been speculating on this forum, but they made no mention of GPGPU, though. Also, hooray for 2GB RAM?

The "sources" also didn't mention that The Wii U has modern shader capabilities and functions which literally prevent it from being in a Wii situation. Rather than work on a different version of the game, a-la Wii, devs would need to make downscaled versions of already-finished games, which with today's engines, is almost effortless. This leads me to heavily question the credibility of these so-called sources.

I'm not questioning it anymore. Having a great GPU is only so beneficial when it's forced to pick up the slack for a shittacular CPU. The article was pretty clear about UE4 requiring both performance and particular capabilities. The other next gen systems are going to have GPGPU functionality on top of already solid CPUs.

Edit: Hooray indeed, for 2 GB. Hopefully, Nintendo have also gotten that OS footprint down.

 

[GameplayWhore]

You should have included the "performance orphan" bit in the title, your thread would have 3 times the numbers of post by now.

Could somebody explain what "performance orphan" means exactly? An orphan has no parents. So a performance orphan has no… performance parents?

 

[EDarkness]

And 10x worse discussion.

It's gonna devolve into that anyway. Too many people want to see them fail, or say "I told you so." There's no way to really get a good discussion going and even then how can people have a good discussion with so few facts?

 

[schuelma]

It's gonna devolve into that anyway. Too many people want to see them fail, or say "I told you so." There's no way to really get a good discussion going and even then how can people have a good discussion with so few facts?

It has been pretty good so far.

 

[10k]

The wii u cover looks like the wii one except they added a U. It looks like a placeholder to me. I think Nintendo should make their cases baby blue and white to match the wii u logo.

And in response to the Wii U being a "performance orphan", a few months ago I would have stuck up for the Wii U, but after E3 and what Nintendo has been saying, the wii u is looking more and more like an overclocked 360 with a tablet controller and wii peripherals, so i may agree with them on that. Especially with bgassassins and EatChildren's info on the PS4 and 720 specs

 

[Penguin]

This was my favorite part of the article

"It's the 16-pack of crayons. This is the 128 pack. We've got a lot more options."

The Crayola Generation

 

[Van Owen]

Like I've been saying all along, Wii U is a marginally more powerful 360, which is ok for Nintendo games, but some people here were really believing it would be a much bigger leap over current gen.

Pretty good article by Totillo.

 

[USC-fan]

Like I've been saying all along, Wii U is a marginally more powerful 360, which is ok for Nintendo games, but some people here were really believing it would be a much bigger leap over current gen.

Pretty good article by Totillo.

Well to be fair there have been posters here pushing the wuu would be PS2, Xbox(ps4), and gamecube (x720). When comparing the power of next Gen.

I have always thought it was x360 plus.

Really I think it will be wii 2.0. Which is fine with me. Wii was the best selling console last Gen. Plus I don't think it would be smart to go against ms/Sony on the tech level.