Nintendo Wii U

[Adam Stone]

TA, are you working on the next Sony or Microsoft console, because you are saying a lot of assumptions yet appear to be claiming them fact, just interested
Only a handful of people know the details and none of that is even set in stone, so it's pointless declaring future affairs at this time, believe me. Also it's not safe to assume inferior hardware is going to have such drastic consequences, history has taught us that on various occasions. It really does all come down to multiple factors - its not as black and white as you've been suggesting.
It's certainly going to be an interesting ride for Nintendo, and I'm not yet convinced they are playing all the right cards, however im pretty confident they have a better understanding of their long term goals than I, that's for sure.
As a gamer, I'm excited to see what they do, where they take their franchises and what other cool exclusives they grab. I'm excited for the launch but not as much as other consoles, but funnily enough I'm more excited for the wii u's future and how they make sure they keep new and fresh

[Team Andromeda]

TA, are you working on the next Sony or Microsoft console, because you are saying a lot of assumptions yet appear to be claiming them fact, just interested

I'm just going on what the likes of Ubisoft, EA and others have said and how the next Box and PS will have 4 to 6 times the power of the current 360 or PS3;even if its just 2 times has powerful that will mean the Wii U will have its work cut out to handle EA, Ubisoft next gen AAA big money titles

Also it's not safe to assume inferior hardware is going to have such drastic consequences, history has taught us that on various occasions

Teenagers don't want to play the Wii version of the likes of Fifa, Madden, Call of Duty - They want to play the better looking better sounding versions in the main . Graphics do count for a lot in a lot of games even to some of the casuals

[Adam Stone]

"Teenagers" - ha, love it :-)

Graphics can indeed matter - and some gamers will only play the 'superior' versions - but that is surprisingly the minority. Like you rightly say, It definitely more of an issue in the playgrounds.

On the other hand, not being able to port over future Xbox next or sony next, because of potential hardware limitations, will definitely be a kick in the bum for Nintendo. I hope it doesnt come to that.

[noobish hat]

I'm rather hoping that once the other next gen machines arrive, the 3rd parties will focus on making Wii U exclusive games (which theoretically will lead to better uses of the controller than just tacking crap onto ps360 ports), since ports won't be selling nearly as well. I'd love to know who the hell bought Wii versions of COD etc. OR the reduction in 3rd party games will force Nintendo to increase their own output.

[Neon Ignition]

http://gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=188751

Simple Series is coming to WiiU

[GluedOnBeard]

On the other hand, not being able to port over future Xbox next or sony next, because of potential hardware limitations, will definitely be a kick in the bum for Nintendo. I hope it doesnt come to that.

Won't it definitely be the case as I am assuming here PS4 and the next Xbox are going to be running Unreal Engine 4 and we already know the Wii U can't handle it?

[originalbadboy]

Won't it definitely be the case as I am assuming here PS4 and the next Xbox are going to be running Unreal Engine 4 and we already know the Wii U can't handle it?

Technically the WiiU could handle it as the engine is flexable enough that you could turn off certain features that are not supported, or put too much of a strain on the CPU / GPU. I don't think anybody at Epic ever said that the WiiU wouldn't be able to run it, just that they wouldn't be necesarily porting it over thats all. The Unreal engine is pretty scalable so worst case is that some of the features could be turned off for some games if required.

[Brad]

Surely worst case is that Epic don't port it?

[Team Andromeda]

Teenagers" - ha, love it :-)

Graphics can indeed matter - and some gamers will only play the 'superior' versions - but that is surprisingly the minority. Like you rightly say, It definitely more of an issue in the playgrounds.

?
You only have to play Fifa or COD online to see how many youngsters love the likes of FIFA and COD - And if you're in the 13 to 19 year's old age brackets and a footy or COD nut. You're really going to want to play the better looking version of the game, rather than a cut down version . We've seen this with the likes of Fifa; despite almost every gamer or casual owning a wii,it's the 360 and PS3 versions that always sell the best in the charts .

Technically the WiiU could handle it as the engine is flexable enough that you could turn off certain features that are not supported, or put too much of a strain on the CPU / GPU

And 3rd parties will only go to that trouble and effort if your console sells massive amounts of software . To me it be te Wii all over again and 2 year down the line it be missing out on the next gen AAA big money titles and where the teams just won't bother taking the time and effort to convert them across

[wakka]

And yet for the last 2 years its made massive losses and is forecast to make less money than SEGA this year .

The situation is far more complex than you are making it appear. During that time Nintendo launched a new system with the 3DS, an unbelievably costly affair from R&D to manufacturing and marketing.

I would put to you that MS is making a mint of every 360 sold and thanks to its wide spread support is also making a nice sum on royalties

That's true, they are. I never said they weren't, to be fair - but it's questionable whether Xbox overall has made much real profit yet. The original Xbox was a completely loss-making affair, designed to implant MS into the game console industry (which it did very successfully). The Xbox 360 was sold at a loss for years and years, and MS also had to supply many many free systems to replace all the ones that RROD'd, not to mention the fact that they had to extend everyone's warranties to 3 years too.

Of course this isn't too important to MS, as overall Xbox is still a megahit product and future growth potential is excellent - not to mention the fact that they have pots of cash from megamegamegahit products like Windows and Office (although arguably they are beginning to lose relevance but that's a totally different discussion).. I'm not saying that MS and Sony failed, simply that Nintendo did extremely well and managed to sell the most systems despite having a relatively very underpowered console that didn't even have the vast majority of blockbusters released in the last few years. And they only make games! The other two companies have lots of other products to shore up loss making in their console releases.

Huge Rig ? You can get laptops with far more power than the Wii U and I'm sure uncle Bill will take a hit on the hardware to make sure the Next Box comes in at a decent price and I think they'll leave the gimmicks to Nintendo myself

Yeah you can get laptops with far more power than the Wii U. They cost a lot more than ?250 though. I've no doubt Sony and MS will initially make a loss on their systems, but if anything the last generation has shown that the graphical arms race is not really as important as it was. I mean look at how sh*t the graphics were on the Wii. And it wasn't even HD. And it still sold sh*tloads.

Like with the Wii it be the magical game every 2 or 3 years or so . That's not good enough I mean Pikmin III was meant to come out on the Wii and yet its still not ready and its not like MS or SONY won't have exclusive of their own

Kind of does seem like it's good enough though...Nintendo games sell over a very long period of time. The average shelf life of a blockbuster 360/PS3 release is far shorter. When people buy a Nintendo system (for their kids a lot of the time, I don't believe teenagers are the key demographic at all for Wii systems), they want Mario. They want Mario Kart. They want Zelda. They don't care if the game came out a while ago, they already know that those are the games they want to buy. They have hugely long shelf lives, and they rarely come down from RRP. (Probably because Nintendo are ruthlessly price fixing lol).

I'm just going on what the likes of Ubisoft, EA and others have said and how the next Box and PS will have 4 to 6 times the power of the current 360 or PS3;even if its just 2 times has powerful that will mean the Wii U will have its work cut out to handle EA, Ubisoft next gen AAA big money titles

They are hyping the next generation of systems because their continued profits are dependent on their success. They're really not a reliable source of information to be quite honest. It's all so vague - '4 - 6 times the power'? Does this mean that games will look 6 times better than on the Wii U? What does this mean exactly?

I think the gap between the Wii U and the PS4/Xbox 720 will actually be much smaller than the gap between the Wii and the PS3/360. Partly because at least the Wii is in HD this time!

[Brad]

Thing is when the current batch of HD consoles arrived we all saw them demo'd on those little samsung TVs in Game. Then we all bought 28 or 32" 720p TVs and the graphics looked great. Now though, on a 50" 1080p tv they don't look so hot. If the next consoles have more RAM and can render at native 1080p then that'll probably be enough for most people to appreciate the difference. TVs tend to have options to frame-fill and with that on it can look like 60fps. I witch that off for games but I forgot to the other day and I thought ICO HD was 60fps for a while!

[Baseley09]

If you're a PC gamer then turn on your PS3, the lack of decent AA etc is quite startling now.

[Brad]

Yeah, I don't mean to come across as the PC Master race but ignorance is bliss. During my marathon PS3 Dark Souls gaming I completely forgot about the low framerate and resolution - the game is amazing and totally immersive. Same if I play a Wii game for any length of time, the minecraft-like fidelity of standard def just stops being an issue and you enjoy the game. But, when I fire the PC back up again it's like

[NW2013]

WiiU to be sold at a loss: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/26/n...old-at-a-loss/

[Brad]

Welcome to yesterday dude! http://www.bordersdown.net/showthrea...=1#post1997268

;-)