Wii U Speculation thread IV: Photoshop rumors and image memes

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It's not a problem on other platforms, and it's something you can sort out before something goes up.

It reeks of Nintendo trying to repackage games to suit each region, being overbearing with digital delivery (which is one of the problems they face versus Microsoft and Sony), and it plays against the strengths of digital delivery and how games get attention and sales through social networking and being talked about. Publishers and developers want to get their games up everywhere, at the same time, and under the same name is rather helpful!

Stuff like this has to be sorted out if the Nintendo Network is going to make up the ground lost to their rivals.

Yep. I see no reason why Pushmo was renamed Pullblox over here, or Ketzal's Corridors became Speedthru: Potzol's Puzzle.
 
That is totally not why.

>>

<<

And those guys actually thought that Wii U would be weaker than current gen the whole time. I said wow. They are going to be shocked at E3.
people thought Ps360 games looked uglier than PS360 games last E3, if they show games that look better, people will be like OH now it's on par. lol.
 
Yeah. Like I said before, if Nintendo had made Samaritan, everyone would talk about how it looks like a 360 launch game. lol

It's partly Nintendo's fault.

They talked their "gameplay over graphics" PR for the last 5-6 years, and now people have it engraved in their minds that Nintendo makes cheap hardware.

It's up to Nintendo to reverse the stereotype that they helped create about Nintendo hardware.
 
people thought Ps360 games looked uglier than PS360 games last E3, if they show games that look better, people will be like OH now it's on par. lol.

These people will always look for reasons to discredit a Nintendo console. I'm already expecting what you said to happen at this E3.
 
So I got off the phone with Sakurice and zomg ridley in smash bros!!!
Does anyone remember these memes from when Brawl was still in development?



Also what do you guys think the Wii U will be renamed to, if it's being renamed at all?

I don't think they'd keep the Wii name after the brand confusion with 3DS/DS. Iwata said something about using the 3DS launch to know what to do/what not to do with the Wii U launch. Also I expect some proper launch games, maybe Mario. :p
 
Yep. I see no reason why Pushmo was renamed Pullblox over here, or Ketzal's Corridors became Speedthru: Potzol's Puzzle.

It's a bit weird to see the NA and EU branches do their own thing, but both released at the same time right? No reason NA couldn't have the EU name either, just seems like both did their own translation (and possibly trademark issues, probably in NA since the name is weird to start with).
It's basically called "Push&Pull" in japan either way, but I think we agree that 1: translating japanese titles and 2: not using a a literal translation is fine.
If the recommendation system works it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

It's partly Nintendo's fault.

They talked their "gameplay over graphics" PR for the last 5-6 years, and now people have it engraved in their minds that Nintendo makes cheap hardware.

I think it's rather successful PR from the other players (starting with Sega) trying to throw a piece of wood into Nintendo's gears, and reporters and the fanbase lapping it up and running with it.
 
people thought Ps360 games looked uglier than PS360 games last E3, if they show games that look better, people will be like OH now it's on par. lol.

As I said the other day, the only way they could get round it is show PS360 footage first, then show how much better the Wii U's version of the same game is.
 
It's partly Nintendo's fault.

They talked their "gameplay over graphics" PR for the last 5-6 years, and now people have it engraved in their minds that Nintendo makes cheap hardware.
I do agree with that, and it's actually kind of weird. I know Nintendo has a philosophy that games and gameplay is more important than specs, but it's a bit weird that they'd beat around the bush when the console is in fact stronger, just say it.

So I got off the phone with Sakurice and zomg ridley in smash bros!!!
Does anyone remember these memes from when Brawl was still in development?



Also what do you guys think the Wii U will be renamed to, if it's being renamed at all?
I keep saying it but the name Wii 2 solves all naming problems. It's clear that it's a new console, keeps the Wii branding, there is no confusion.
 
Most likely trademark issues. Kind of like how Star Fox is called Lylat Wars in some countries.

All the names are so obscure I doubt any were trademark issues, and it's also happening too frequently on the eShop for that to be the case.

They seem like trying to pick the most appealing name (Nintendo think) in each region to help the game sell, but that's counter-productive in this age where anyone in any country can be talking about something. Delays in getting games up in every region, sometimes long ones, aren't helping with creating that word of mouth effect either.

The eShop is like 2 steps forward, one step back. Nintendo just need to look at what is working, and working extremely well, on other platforms. Back off a bit and let this market drive itself.
 
I keep saying it but the name Wii 2 solves all naming problems. It's clear that it's a new console, keeps the Wii branding, there is no confusion.

Do you really think Nintendo would name it the Wii 2? I mean what you said is valid, but looking at their past they never really went that route before.
 
These people will always look for reasons to discredit a Nintendo console. I'm already expecting what you said to happen at this E3.

It's not unreasonable though, So far Nintendo consoles have always been different than the competition. And people hoping to get an all inclusive multimedia machine have been left disappointed by Nintendo time and time again.

Personally, I do hope Nintendo takes multimedia more seriously, yeah it might add some costs but it would at least stop giving the other console this advantage.

Power wise, other than the Wii I've yet to see people discredit Nintendo's consoles for its power.

I keep saying it but the name Wii 2 solves all naming problems. It's clear that it's a new console, keeps the Wii branding, there is no confusion.

Wii 2 is not an option I think, the same reason why Xbox360 is not "Xbox 2" or PSvita was not called "PSP2". It would make it look inferior in comparison to the PS line (and in Vita's case, the 3DS). It's stupid but for marketing purposes, they have to take that into consideration.
 
Do you really think Nintendo would name it the Wii 2? I mean what you said is valid, but looking at their past they never really went that route before.
once again I bring everyone to the undeniable argument why nobody can know if nintendo will do the thing that makes sense:

"it's nintendo".
 
So I got off the phone with Sakurice and zomg ridley in smash bros!!!
Does anyone remember these memes from when Brawl was still in development?



Also what do you guys think the Wii U will be renamed to, if it's being renamed at all?

I don't think they'd keep the Wii name after the brand confusion with 3DS/DS. Iwata said something about using the 3DS launch to know what to do/what not to do with the Wii U launch. Also I expect some proper launch games, maybe Mario. :p

I think they want the Wii to be part of it. It may be looked down on by certain gamers, but ditching a brand name that sold 90 million is not a good idea.
 
tkbq1.gif


I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually gamers. Every gamer on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the game industry but you gaffers do not. You create new threads that multiply and multiply until the vbulletin post cap is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another thread. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Wii-U threads are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and the Wii-U itself is the cure.

Top 5 posts I've seen on Gaf, bravo.
 
It's not unreasonable though, So far Nintendo consoles have always been different than the competition. And people hoping to get an all inclusive multimedia machine have been left disappointed by Nintendo time and time again.

Personally, I do hope Nintendo takes multimedia more seriously, yeah it might add some costs but it would at least stop giving the other console this advantage.

Power wise, other than the Wii I've yet to see people discredit Nintendo's consoles for its power.

People have been discrediting the Wii U these past few months based on inside sources. I mean I think it comes to a point where you'll see people saying what Pyro said above just because.

once again I bring everyone to the undeniable argument why nobody can know if nintendo will do the thing that makes sense:

"it's nintendo".

I'll give you that. Never know what to expect from them, but I still don't see it happening.
 
It's partly Nintendo's fault.

They talked their "gameplay over graphics" PR for the last 5-6 years, and now people have it engraved in their minds that Nintendo makes cheap hardware.

It's up to Nintendo to reverse the stereotype that they helped create about Nintendo hardware.

There's nothing they can do other than announce that Wii U was fake and their real next gen system is this:

8-core quad-threaded POWER7 @4.2 GHz
8GB GDDR5 RAM @ 5GHz
2x NVidia GTX 680 @1.2GHz
1TB HDD with every system
$499.99

Also, all "kiddie" franchises are killed and Zelda and Metriod become matoor shooters.

Point is, the image is so damaged that they have to do the exact opposite of what they're doing now for people to believe they've changed, and even then those people wouldn't buy it. Nintendo has no choice but to follow their own path.
 
These people will always look for reasons to discredit a Nintendo console. I'm already expecting what you said to happen at this E3.

That's not 100 percent true.

Gamers do give all game consoles a chance. Gamers WANT to be impressed. Gamers don't just sit there and want Nintendo to fail. They want Nintendo to surprise or impress them.

Gamers don't just look for any reason to discredit Nintendo. Nintendo gives them reasons to discredit them.

I see a lot of gamers who have bought every Nintendo game console, and they claim the Wii was a huge disappointment. I loved the Wii, but many Nintendo fans did not like it.

I think even the biggest Nintendo fans in this thread will agree that some of the criticism Nintendo receives is well deserved.

They deserve the criticism for poor online.
They deserve the criticism for never adding DVD movie functionality to GameCube or Wii.
They deserve the criticism for handling third party support very poorly.
They deserve the criticism for waiting so long to launch eshop for 3DS.
They deserve the criticism for having many huge software droughts for long periods of time for N64, Gamecube, and Wii.

They deserve the criticism for having hardware that can't play games that other consoles can play. For example the Wii couldn't play 360/PS3 games or the N64 cartridges couldn't hold large PS1 disk games.

Gamers and the gaming media didn't just wake up over night and hate Nintendo.

The anger toward Nintendo has been brewing because of Nintendo's 20 years of poor decisions.

It took years and years of poor decisions to make gamers feel cynical about Nintendo. This didn't just happen because of the Wii.

And when Nintendo makes good decisions, gamers feel like those decisions only benefit Nintendo's profits/revenue but don't benefit gamers.

As long as Nintendo keeps doing this "one step forward, two steps backwards" philosophy, the stereotypes about Nintendo hardware and gamers losing trust in the Nintendo brand will continue to grow.

Is it fair? Maybe not. I'm one of the biggest Nintendo fans you'll ever meet. I've bought every console from them at launch. But it's a harsh reality.
 
Point is, the image is so damaged that they have to do the exact opposite of what they're doing now for people to believe they've changed, and even then those people wouldn't buy it. Nintendo has no choice but to follow their own path.
there's nothing wrong with that too, Apple does it in a lot of areas. While lots of android manufacturers engaged in spec wars, apple was happy to keep things just sufficient to run whatever software they wanted to run at the time. By the time apple gets to putting 1 gig of ram in their phone other companies will put 2. But Apple doesn't need that much to deliver the experience they want to deliver (though apple consistently has the best graphics on their hardware by far). And it has worked out for them.

I do agree though that Nintendo has an image that they just can't shake off, but I say focus on breaking out of it through content and not hardware (though they go hand in hand in ways), secure the games, create a large amount of first party titles. People can only talk shit for so long. There are three groups of people

1) those who talk shit, when in fact they'd never buy a nintendo product because it just doesn't interest them
2) people who talk shit, because they want to buy one but it never seems worthwhile to them
3) people who buy them and just wish for more (more games, better online, etc...)

Nintendo should just focus on groups 2 and 3, because 2 can be lured if you get so much content that they can't pass it up, and 3 will stay as long as you keep them happy.
 
That's not 100 percent true.

Gamers do give all game consoles a chance. Gamers WANT to be impressed. Gamers don't just sit there and want Nintendo to fail. They want Nintendo to surprise or impress them.

I see a lot of gamers who have bought every Nintendo game console, and they claim the Wii was a huge disappointment. I loved the Wii, but many Nintendo fans did not like it.

I think even the biggest Nintendo fans in this thread will agree that some of the criticism Nintendo receives is well deserved.

They deserve the criticism for poor online.
They deserve the criticism for never adding DVD to GameCube or Wii.
They deserve the criticism for handling third party support very poorly.
They deserve the criticism for waiting so long to launch eshop for 3DS.
They deserve the criticism for having many huge software droughts for long periods of time.

They deserve the criticism for having hardware that can't play games that other consoles can play. For example the Wii couldn't play 360/PS3 games or the N64 cartridges couldn't hold large PS1 disk games.

Gamers and the gaming media didn't just wake up over night and hate Nintendo.

The anger toward Nintendo has been brewing because of Nintendo's 20 years of poor decisions.
It took years and years of poor decisions to make gamers feel cynical about Nintendo.

And when Nintendo makes good decisions, gamers feel like those decisions only benefit Nintendo's profits/revenue but don't benefit gamers.

As long as Nintendo keeps doing this "one step forward, two steps backwards" philosophy, the stereotypes about Nintendo hardware and gamers losing trust in the Nintendo brand will continue to grow.

Is it fair? Maybe not. I'm one of the biggest Nintendo fans you'll ever meet. I've bought every console from them at launch. But it's a harsh reality.

Not disagreeing with any of your points. In fact I disliked the Wii aside from a few games and I own every single Nintendo console aside from the old GB, Virtual Boy, and some of the DS models.

My point is that there will always be that group of people either scarred by Nintendo's poor choices or whatever their reasons they have that will discredit Nintendo's choices. Unless they give Nintendo a chance, they'll keep on discrediting their home console. Is it Nintendo's fault? Yes, but let's see how they can change all this at E3.
 
Regarding talk of unifying the online system and shop for Wii U, I really wish NOJ would take more control over it themselves for release schedules, lineup, ect. because NOA did a terrible job with VC/Wii Ware and they're already running the eShop into the ground with stagnation. Just make one set release schedule for the stores on Japan, U.S., and Europe (bearing in mind of course there'd still be a few delays here and there due to rights clearances and regional differences for titles, ect).
 
Having looked through a bunch of documents regarding IBM's investor relations, I do not believe the actual presentation of the IBM 1Q 2012 Earnings Announcement on the 17th of April will provide any news about Wii U. The Q&A session might, but I believe there is some persuasion to be done ASAP for any investor or analyst to ask questions about Wii U.

IBM is expected to provide guidance for Fiscal year 2012, and in that there should be at least a mention of Wii U. While the amount of Wii U processors that are going to be shipped by year end surely doesn't account for any larger segment of IBM's business, it is certainly something special and something that doesn't occur too frequently. The 50 millionth processor for Wii was shipped in March of 2009, which then would have equaled an average of 1 724 137 processors shipped a month. I'm bad at providing estimated guesses, but perhaps something around 1-2 million Wii U processors ought to be shipped by year end. Wii sold in its first week on the market approximately 600,000 units. Whether Nintendo is aiming for a higher or lower mark than that with Wii U is anyone's guess.

I do not know who will be attending this event, but Goldman Sachs (William Shope attended the most recent call) and similar firms almost always attend. It's a hassle to get someone to ask a certain question, but I will see if I can get in contact with them on Monday. The Q&A session anyway accounts for a large part of the call, as much as 44.4% for the most recent call.

One thing that everyone can participate in though is by submitting a question to IBM's Annual meeting of stockholders on the 24th of April: http://www.ibm.com/investor/services/question-form.wss

If they get a few hundred questions about Wii U's microprocessor, they might realize there is much interest in it. The question form is not intended for this, but if sent directly to this upcoming event, things might happen. If you submit a question, word it professionally.

Also, there's the Q1 2012 Advanced Micro Devices Earnings Conference Call on the 19th of April. This should be a bit more interesting and relevant to the gaming community, and why wouldn't they at least mention the GPU in Wii U, they have so before, albeit shallowly.

Sources: http://www.ibm.com/investor/1q12/index.phtml, http://ir.amd.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=74093&p=irol-calendar

And to conclude, we are now approximately 1.72 weeks away from Nintendo's earnings release on the 26th of April.
 
Regarding talk of unifying the online system and shop for Wii U, I really wish NOJ would take more control over it themselves for release schedules, lineup, ect. because NOA did a terrible job with VC/Wii Ware and they're already running the eShop into the ground with stagnation. Just make one set release schedule for the stores on Japan, U.S., and Europe (bearing in mind of course there'd still be a few delays here and there due to rights clearances and regional differences for titles, ect).

Absolutely.

Release schedule, naming, promotion, it all needs to be unified to get the most gains from digital distribution. There's no point going to all the trouble of launching a new service and rebranding if you still get the basics wrong.

Get it right and the customers will take over and make it work for you. Again, they just need to look at other platforms and the models which are proven to be successful at it.
 
Rösti;36943827 said:
SHOCKING NEWS GUYS! Having looked through a bunch of documents regarding IBM's investor relations, I do not believe the actual presentation of the IBM 1Q 2012 Earnings Announcement on the 17th of April will provide any news about Wii U. The Q&A session might, but I believe there is some persuasion to be done ASAP for any investor or analyst to ask questions about Wii U.

IBM is expected to provide guidance for Fiscal year 2012, and in that there should be at least a mention of Wii U. While the amount of Wii U processors that are going to be shipped by year end surely doesn't account for any larger segment of IBM's business, it is certainly something special and something that doesn't occur too frequently. The 50 millionth processor for Wii was shipped in March of 2009, which then would have equaled an average of 1 724 137 processors shipped a month. I'm bad at providing estimated guesses, but perhaps something around 1-2 million Wii U processors ought to be shipped by year end. Wii sold in its first week on the market approximately 600,000 units. Whether Nintendo is aiming for a higher or lower mark than that with Wii U is anyone's guess.

I do not know who will be attending this event, but Goldman Sachs (William Shope attended the most recent call) and similar firms almost always attend. It's a hassle to get someone to ask a certain question, but I will see if I can get in contact with them on Monday. The Q&A session anyway accounts for a large part of the call, as much as 44.4% for the most recent call.

One thing that everyone can participate in though is by submitting a question to IBM's Annual meeting of stockholders on the 24th of April: http://www.ibm.com/investor/services/question-form.wss

If they get a few hundred questions about Wii U's microprocessor, they might realize there is much interest in it. The question form is not intended for this, but if sent directly to this upcoming event, things might happen. If you submit a question, word it professionally.

Also, there's the Q1 2012 Advanced Micro Devices Earnings Conference Call on the 19th of April. This should be a bit more interesting and relevant to the gaming community, and why wouldn't they at least mention the GPU in Wii U, they have so before, albeit shallowly.

Sources: http://www.ibm.com/investor/1q12/index.phtml, http://ir.amd.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=74093&p=irol-calendar

And to conclude, we are now approximately 1.72 weeks away from Nintendo's earnings release on the 26th of April.

Fixed. lol.

I think we'll get a maximum price at the investors' meeting. (Like when Nintendo promised that Wii would not cost more than $250.) Letting investors know that Wii U will either be sold at a profit or a market-friendly price is probably the most fitting thing they could do.
 
...
Point is, the image is so damaged that they have to do the exact opposite of what they're doing now for people to believe they've changed, and even then those people wouldn't buy it. Nintendo has no choice but to follow their own path.

As far as PR or their image goes, they should embrace the current perception of them and just run with it instead of trying to fight it. Let Sony and MS battle over who is more eXtrEME, taking themselves all seriously and shit. All Nintendo has to do is present themselves as the purveyors of fun they already are. People appreciate that kind of honesty more than being treated like teenagers looking to accessorize their egos. It's why the "Wii would like to play" ads were so damn effective.
 
Fixed. lol.

I think we'll get a maximum price at the investors' meeting. (Like when Nintendo promised that Wii would not cost more than $250.) Letting investors know that Wii U will either be sold at a profit or a market-friendly price is probably the most fitting thing they could do.

We'll either get small tibit of them working on wiiu or nothing else until e3.
 
As far as PR or their image goes, they should embrace the current perception of them and just run with it instead of trying to fight it. Let Sony and MS battle over who is more eXtrEME, taking themselves all seriously and shit. All Nintendo has to do is present themselves as the purveyors of fun they already are. People appreciate that kind of honesty more than being treated like teenagers looking to accessorize their egos. It's why the "Wii would like to play" ads were so damn effective.

Still would be nice if they would compete in the online area.

We'll either get small tibit of them working on wiiu or nothing else until e3.

No, they have no choice but to say something big, or the stock will plummet back to pre-DS levels. Investors have zero confidence in them right now.
 
As far as PR or their image goes, they should embrace the current perception of them and just run with it instead of trying to fight it. Let Sony and MS battle over who is more eXtrEME, taking themselves all seriously and shit. All Nintendo has to do is present themselves as the purveyors of fun they already are. People appreciate that kind of honesty more than being treated like teenagers looking to accessorize their egos. It's why the "Wii would like to play" ads were so damn effective.
Yep. That's another layer of brilliance to their Wii strategy. Rather than breaking their backs trying to prove that they weren't just makers of the 'kiddie console', they ran as far from the 'MATURE' hardcore market as they could. They harnessed their family friendly image so as to position Wii as the place to go for simple, accessible local multiplayer gaming.
 
Yep. That's another layer of brilliance to their Wii strategy. Rather than breaking their backs trying to prove that they weren't just makers of the 'kiddie console', they ran as far from the 'MATURE' hardcore market as they could. They harnessed their family friendly image so as to position Wii as the place to go for simple, accessible local multiplayer gaming.
but it's hard to deny that while doing that, they fractures their relationships with 3rd parties, and it's impossible to deny how important that is in the long run, because eventually (might even be with the Wii U) nintendo is not gonna hit a homerun with the mainstream market, that's when you need the 3rd parties and the "hardcore" market.
 
I'm almost caught up! Just seven more pages until I'm caught up!
only to fall behind again. D:

The whole fake name was mean. I really hope they either name it Wii Entertainment System or Super Wii. I guess I have gotten used to Wii U but still..

So anywayz: Just wanted to sa-

Wait...
Wat...teh...fuck...?

My nightmares are coming back...oh god...

Edit: lol @ title change.
 
Still would be nice if they would compete in the online area.

Well they do try and Wii-U will be a new shot to nail it. Nintendo either has the chance to just "copy" what others do and eternally be left behind, or they try to find a unique way that works for them. That's what they tried so far and that's what they mostly failed so far. But every mistake brings you one step closer to success, berieve ;P
 
tkbq1.gif


I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually gamers. Every gamer on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the game industry but you gaffers do not. You create new threads that multiply and multiply until the vbulletin post cap is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another thread. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Wii-U threads are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and the Wii-U itself is the cure.
Should've put a subtitle in there

"Wii. Wii, Wii, Wii, Wii, Wii."

"Wii U."
 
but it's hard to deny that while doing that, they fractures their relationships with 3rd parties, and it's impossible to deny how important that is in the long run, because eventually (might even be with the Wii U) nintendo is not gonna hit a homerun with the mainstream market, that's when you need the 3rd parties and the "hardcore" market.
This generation did show that Nintendo can't rely on the casual market, unless they want a console that's only really viable for 2D Mario, Mario Kart, Sport minigames and rhythm games.
Differentiating themselves from the hardcore focused competition was definitely a good idea, even if it damaged third party relations. Nonetheless, they should have tried harder to keep 3rd parties happy. Perhaps more modern architecture was the way to go, but hindsight is 20/20. Wii looks to me like it was a console designed so as not to damage Nintendo's bottom line were it to end up being their final home console.
 
Oh my God! A console with "limitations" and "challenges"!

Unlike other consoles that have no graphical limits or challenges. Even a child could code for them.

Uh oh.... How long before this becomes more evidence that the Wii U is underpowered?
I'm getting the impression that the problems are with the Darksiders devs.....
 
but it's hard to deny that while doing that, they fractures their relationships with 3rd parties, and it's impossible to deny how important that is in the long run, because eventually (might even be with the Wii U) nintendo is not gonna hit a homerun with the mainstream market, that's when you need the 3rd parties and the "hardcore" market.

I don't know, like already often pointed out it's most likely 3rd parties would've put their games on Wii of it had been feasible. Arguably support in japan is pointing upwards, mostly thanks to handheld success and Nintendo/Iwata reaching out. Sony got a lot of goodwill for being immensely far ahead with PS2 and devs followed blindly to PS3 for that, now Nintendo could get something similar.
3rd Party relations were tarnished long before and if anything they've been alleviated by Wii, (the promise of) Money is still the biggest allure. For how much we laugh at devs following Sony like lemmings, at least initially it was just the logical thing to do.
Following Nintendo is the logical thing now, YOU HEAR ME DEVS?!

This generation did show that Nintendo can't rely on the casual market, unless they want a console that's only really viable for 2D Mario, Mario Kart, Sport minigames and rhythm games.
Differentiating themselves from the hardcore focused competition was definitely a good idea, even if it damaged third party relations. Nonetheless, they should have tried harder to keep 3rd parties happy. Perhaps more modern architecture was the way to go, but hindsight is 20/20. Wii looks to me like it was a console designed so as not to damage Nintendo's bottom line were it to end up being their final home console.

Yeah, while Nintendo's best bet to repeat Wii is to well...make another Wii, if they keep reinventing the wheel with every console they'll utterly fail once in a while. And they're still the least likely to shrug off a failure.
 
This generation did show that Nintendo can't rely on the casual market, unless they want a console that's only really viable for 2D Mario, Mario Kart, Sport minigames and rhythm games.
Differentiating themselves from the hardcore focused competition was definitely a good idea, even if it damaged third party relations. Nonetheless, they should have tried harder to keep 3rd parties happy. Perhaps more modern architecture was the way to go, but hindsight is 20/20. Wii looks to me like it was a console designed so as not to damage the company too badly were it to end up being Nintendo's final home console.
for the bold part, I know nintendo is clueless at times but there is no way they didn't know that releasing a console that much weaker was gonna cause a big problem for them in the end. I mean how does that not come up in meetings or something. I think they just didn't give a fuck, did what they did, collected their moniez, and now they're hoping everything works for the best. But they have a lot of hard work ahead of them.
 
If the Wii U is not atleast a Dreamcast like step up technically from the PS360 then Wii U is pathetic IMO. I'm sure people in the Nintendo cult won't agrea and drink the kool aid no matter what.
 
The thread is now discredited in the eyes of mods :(

A pity because these speculation topics were, are, and will certainly be, a good source of informations about the Wii U, when you separate the wheat from the chaff + a rather good atmosphere with friendly members, well, not when a developer say the Wii U will be underpowered, i must admit :p

I can sometimes be a part of the problem, but it went wayyyy overboard before and after the WES incident. A quick look at the last two pages of Thread 3 show something similar, where every post is either a spoiler]not really [/spoiler]funny picture or somebody increasing the post count by complaining about the post count. Since yesterday or so, I've started to try to every now and again just post synopses of the actual speculation that's been going on or random new speculative queries in the hopes that the thread rolls with insight. I'm hoping a few more people start acting like this, too. We gotta turn this hypetanic around. :)


Banned (I think perm'd) for trying to mislead people with the image he posted about Wii Entertainment System.

It was a fake

It was a permanent ban. EviLore explicitly stated this in a followup post, which I understand is a rare thing to do (the mention of it, not the actual doing of it).


Still would be nice if they would compete in the online area.

I think that Nintendo really wanted third party publishers to do their own online stuff. After all, once a very, very basic framework is established (TCP/IP and account names) the capabilities are there to make networked games. Granted, Nintendo did the first element a little poorly and the second a lot so, but technically any third party could have written flawless network play into all their games with what was there.

The reality was that devs want it to be a lot easier. They don't want to reinvent the wheel for every system they make online multiplayer games for. Sony and Microsoft made it especially easy, while it was a trial on Nintendo systems, especially since (I presume) there wasn't anything in the way of easy netcode middleware for the Wii.

(Aside: Just saying, but "Achievements" are not necessary for "online". It's an interesting perk which can sometimes increase software sales
imho, of games that otherwise mightn't deserve he increase
, but it is not a critical element of online gaming infrastructure. It sort of bugs me, if only slightly, when people insist that you don't really have a good network without a shared point system.)

I think that Nintendo is going to have a lot more of the elements needed for developers to more easily make online games. User-based (not machine-based) accounts are a big step that they've made, but there's a big question mark of their so-called "wild west" approach, which is essentially them saying that they still don't want to do most of the infrastructure work and that they think third parties should handle it.

That said, if more online multiplayer games on Nintendo consoles lead to fewer local multiplayer games on Nintendo consoles, I will rage like it is the end of times and I am a particularly angry heat death of the universe.



No, they have no choice but to say something big, or the stock will plummet back to pre-DS levels. Investors have zero confidence in them right now.

I am curious: What can investors do other than sell their stock? Can they call for Iwata's removal? What are the actual negative implications of Nintendo (whose stock is, I've heard but don't know for sure possibly owned in the majority by current employees as well as the Yamauchi family) deciding to keep tight lipped about their secret operations to the financial world?
 
I don't know, like already often pointed out it's most likely 3rd parties would've put their games on Wii of it had been feasible. Arguably support in japan is pointing upwards, mostly thanks to handheld success and Nintendo/Iwata reaching out. Sony got a lot of goodwill for being immensely far ahead with PS2 and devs followed blindly to PS3 for that, now Nintendo could get something similar.
3rd Party relations were tarnished long before and if anything they've been alleviated by Wii, (the promise of) Money is still the biggest allure. For how much we laugh at devs following Sony like lemmings, at least initially it was just the logical thing to do.
Following Nintendo is the logical thing now, YOU HEAR ME DEVS?!
It's a complex situation. In terms of the buying habits of its userbase, PS2 was the ideal platform for the third party developers. Its one thing to follow Sony to PS3 on the assumption that this would be carried over, and another thing entirely to take stock of Wii's success and pledge early support for Wii U. Is there really anything indicating that that's where the money is? For the most part, Wii was not a platform conducive to third party success stories.
 
for the bold part, I know nintendo is clueless at times but there is no way they didn't know that releasing a console that much weaker was gonna cause a big problem for them in the end. I mean how does that not come up in meetings or something. I think they just didn't give a fuck, did what they did, collected their moniez, and now they're hoping everything works for the best. But they have a lot of hard work ahead of them.

The fact is, Wii is the market leader, and if developers actually developed for it like they did for the PS2 then we wouldn't be having this discussion. I find it foolhardy to blame Ninty for not thinking developers would completely ignore the market leader after four straight generations of, well, using the most rudimentary concepts of business sense...

For the most part, Wii was not a platform conducive to third party success stories.

For the most part, Wii was not a platform conducive to third party EFFORT...
 
Uh, shouldn't you be agreeing with those guys?

Agreeing about what?

I'm not taking back my statement that Wii U is probably marginally more powerful than current-gen, I'm just saying using platitudes like "a console had limitations/challenges" to come to a conclusion about a console's capabilities is stupid.
 
This generation did show that Nintendo can't rely on the casual market, unless they want a console that's only really viable for 2D Mario, Mario Kart, Sport minigames and rhythm games.
Differentiating themselves from the hardcore focused competition was definitely a good idea, even if it damaged third party relations. Nonetheless, they should have tried harder to keep 3rd parties happy. Perhaps more modern architecture was the way to go, but hindsight is 20/20. Wii looks to me like it was a console designed so as not to damage Nintendo's bottom line were it to end up being their final home console.

Their best bet is to target both audiences with more focus towards the core this time around. I believe this time they will try to keep 3rd parties considering their approach towards their relationship with 3rd parties is different this time around.
 
but it's hard to deny that while doing that, they fractures their relationships with 3rd parties, and it's impossible to deny how important that is in the long run, because eventually (might even be with the Wii U) nintendo is not gonna hit a homerun with the mainstream market, that's when you need the 3rd parties and the "hardcore" market.

How could third party relations have been any worse after GC? It's not like Nintendo goes out of their way to thumb their noses at third parties. There's not a company-wide conspiracy to trick third parties into going bankrupt or anything crazy like that.

And speaking of reputations, how about some third parties put some skin in the game and admit they fucked up most of their Wii games because they tried to cash in? Is it so hard to believe that this time, third parties wronged Nintendo? Which they obviously did this generation, what with all those mealy-mouthed platitudes, outright horrible games, and borderline trolling like EA's Dead Space:Extraction, and confusing and conflicting reasons for lack of support, the best of which was EA, who stated that Nintendo made too many games for them to compete, and then later stated Nintendo wasn't making enough games.

If it's true that reputation can hurt a product's chances, then I see no better proof than third party games on the Wii itself, which only furthered Nintendo's dominance on their own platform. Nintendo didn't point a gun at various third party heads and force them to make horrible, thoughtless products, but they did anyway. The end result is a console userbase that's 100 million strong that's crazy about Nintendo-branded games and thinks anything else was garbage, and they are right in thinking so, and third parties did NOTHING to correct this.

Maybe this time it might be the third parties who might want to try and repair their reputations? I mean they are in full control of their perceptions, right? And since they allowed themselves to be defined as low-class software makers to the majority console, it is their problem to fix, right?
 
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