Wii U news thread

I really wouldn't like a hybrid console as basically it'd be Nintendo putting all their eggs in one basket which is too much of a risk especially with the way the wii U has been received.

Me personally? I would support Nintendo going back to a 3 pillar approach.

One - a 3DS2, as it just works and all it needs is more refinement and power.

Two - nPad, a portable, single screen system, about the size of the Wii U gamepad, but much, much thinner and lighter, with the buttons the same as the 3DS, but much closer to the screen so as to make it much smaller than said Wii U gamepad. It could also run 3DS games, simply by splitting the screen

Three - a full sized Wii U2, with the usual more power, still using a gamepad and a regular controller, with the option to use the nPad and 3DS2 as additional controllers.

Additional - all three of them work together, with a single unified account, allowing all three to run any game you buy - 3DS2 and nPad on the television, as well as Wii U2 compatible games played on the 3DS2 and nPad. This would just require the digital code with a retail or full digital sale, which would only be available to be on system you registered at any one time.

Of course there is a lot more to it than this simplification, but I kept it brief. I support Nintendo not competing against the others, as I believe their identity is more important, just do what they do well and do it more - buying more studios, more collaborations.

oldschool wrote:

Additional - all three of them work together, with a single unified account, allowing all three to run any game you buy - 3DS2 and nPad on the television, as well as Wii U2 compatible games played on the 3DS2 and nPad.  This would just require the digital code with a retail or full digital sale, which would only be available to be on system you registered at any one time.

What would be the point of owning a nPad or a 3DS2 or a Wii U2 as they can all play the same game, you would just buy the 3DS2 surely and that it.

Nintendo audience is already shrinking and split with most of it on a the handheld front 50m 3DS compared to 9m Wii U, so putting all there eggs into one basket as Jas puts it I can't see the issue if your making a 3DS2 that can run lets say Wii U quality games. 3rd parties would see it as a handheld, so would get the same sort of support of the 3DS does now.

@Solve the only thing with the Cube was it got nearly all the 3rd party games as it was on par with PS2, Xbox etc and was out same time ish a Wii U2 if same specs as PS4 will be old in 2017 where the PS5 could be on the horizon only a year later. So that's why I think they've even got to go for really powerful, something different like VR or the Hybrid which still makes the sense for me.

Also most PS4 games are 1080p

masofdas wrote:

oldschool wrote:

Additional - all three of them work together, with a single unified account, allowing all three to run any game you buy - 3DS2 and nPad on the television, as well as Wii U2 compatible games played on the 3DS2 and nPad.  This would just require the digital code with a retail or full digital sale, which would only be available to be on system you registered at any one time.

What would be the point of owning a nPad or a 3DS2 or a Wii U2 as they can all play the same game, you would just buy the 3DS2 surely and that it.

Nintendo audience is already shrinking and split with most of it on a the handheld front 50m 3DS compared to 9m Wii U, so putting all there eggs into one basket as Jas puts it I can't see the issue if your making a 3DS2 that can run lets say Wii U quality games. 3rd parties would see it as a handheld, so would get the same sort of support of the 3DS does now.

The point is choice, in that you can play a game in different ways, at home, or on the go on a larger portable screen and a true portable. Plus, that would only be applicable to games not specifically designed for the one format. I would own all three, and so would many others, but that isn't the point, as it is the sum total of hardware that matters. I could never be just satisfied with just a portable unit. Remember I stated that the nPad and 3DS2 are mainly additional controllers in relation to the WiiU2, with the option for cross play where relevant. The WiiU2 would still be the home of traditional, big games.

Just going up against Sony and Microsoft just won't work and competition from mobil devices will only increase, so they have to strengthen their point of difference, they won't succeed as a 'me too' device.

But that would mean Nintendo developing for three platforms, just look at last year 3DS wasn't great as seemed they were focusing on the Wii U and this year 1st half of the year seems to be focusing on 3DS then second half Wii U. If they have three platforms I just can't see how they would cope.

I agree they shouldn't compete with Sony or Microsoft, so I'm not for POWER I'm for different or focus on what you do best and look at all Nintendo hardware.

Console total NES 62m, SNES 49m, N64 33m, Cube 22m, Wii 101m and Wii U 9m = 276m
Handheld total Gameboy 118m, GBA 82m, DS 155m, 3DS 50m = 405m

That to me they do handheld best and having something as powerful as a Wii U maybe more in a dedicated handheld that then can be plugged into your TV is what makes sense to me.

masofdas wrote:

But that would mean Nintendo developing for three platforms, just look at last year 3DS wasn't great as seemed they were focusing on the Wii U and this year 1st half of the year seems to be focusing on 3DS then second half Wii U. If they have three platforms I just can't see how they would cope.

I agree they shouldn't compete with Sony or Microsoft, so I'm not for POWER I'm for different or focus on what you do best and look at all Nintendo hardware.

Console total NES 62m, SNES 49m, N64 33m, Cube 22m, Wii 101m and Wii U 9m = 276m
Handheld total Gameboy 118m, GBA 82m, DS 155m, 3DS 50m = 405m  

That to me they do handheld best and having something as powerful as a Wii U maybe more in a dedicated handheld that then can be plugged into your TV is what makes sense to me.  

I think we are potentially seeing a home console as a niche product, with so many other options taking its place. That is why Nintendo have to be different to be relevant, but they need to see/accept it more as a niche market, rather than the one that occurred with the Wii. If they can be profitable at around 20 million units a lifetime, like the Gamecube, then I don't see the problem. The problem is communicating to that market, as well as still drawing in new to replace those that drop out. If you make a single portable/home console, you are limiting what a standalone home console can do, by limiting the power it has. Some games work well as a single proposition, like Mario Kart or Smash Bros, but others wouldn't, like Xenoblade Chronicles X. Having two/three units that have some crossover, but are still separate propositions gives more scope for variety. The consoles should support, not replace each other.

I also think Nintendo need to go stronger on branding themselves. They have that opportunity with the 3DS but don't, in that they need to have nice, bold branding on it, that makes it clear to everyone who sees you playing it that it is a Nintendo product. It has been a missed opportunity.

The GBA is what made money during the Cube era not the Cube.

Yeah you would be limiting the power of the hybrid but Nintendo have shown what they can do with so little power that I don't see that as a issue.

To me I want to buy one system which has all of Nintendos games on which I can play on a TV or on the go and not have to buy more than one system or wait for Zelda as the team is working on X console over Y console.

I agree with Oldschool. It's easy to want Nintendo to offer parity with the competition on core aspects, but in the home console space we just know they aren't going to be able to pull it off (especially in areas like online), and if they do, it's not going to get players back over to Nintendo.

Making your system a close substitute is a somewhat dangerous choice: just look at how people can easily pick PS4 and not regret going for Xbox One.

I think handheld is a different story: Nintendo needs some sort of parity in areas to secure strong indie support (the 3DS is just too specialised), but there should be some specialisation present to ensure that developers don't dump lazy ports on the thing. 3DS gets a bespoke version of nearly everything, for a 3DS game to look good and feel great to play, it has to be made from scratch for the format.

fronkhead wrote:

I think handheld is a different story: Nintendo needs some sort of parity in areas to secure strong indie support (the 3DS is just too specialised), but there should be some specialisation present to ensure that developers don't dump lazy ports on the thing. 3DS gets a bespoke version of nearly everything, for a 3DS game to look good and feel great to play, it has to be made from scratch for the format.

This is why I favour an nPad type device, as it would run pretty much everything, on a single screen, negating some of the problems of ports for the 3DS. You are spot on, 3DS games work best when they are designed from the ground up, so I am not favourable to most ports - it can be done very well, but 3rd party developers normally don't care. A single screened system can bring in some of the games that would otherwise not exist on a Nintendo portable, but also give a new area of opportunity for Nintendo developers themselves.

How would developers even deal with a hybrid device? In my opinion not very well & as Fronkhead says games are at their best when built to use a systems feature set to it's fullest, a hybrid would be a weird middle ground for developers where it would be tough to decide to make something suitable for people to play on the go or something on a grander scale.

I honestly think it would put a lot of developers off because they wouldn't know who their best audience is, it's like when folk ask for an all in one console (something that could play Sony/MS/Nintendo games) sounds good on paper but if you actually done it ideas for games would grow stale very quickly.

(side note: PSP & vita are proof that people don't want a home console experience on the go.)

Personally, I'd just like the power of a home console and the portability of a handheld, with Nintendo's magic touch all over both of them. I don't want the hybrid because that'd mean games that (technical-wise) should have come out in 2015 coming out in 2017; I don't want the nPad because I've always seen tablets as an ugly middle child anyway, unnecessary when I have a 'phone and a laptop (although I seem to be in the minority on that one). We don't need a further reduction in focus when they can't deliver anything the other two platforms can't.

If Nintendo were to suddenly go on a massive acquisition spree, buying up other companies to make this nPad and its games, I'd be okay with that: however, I reckon that'd bankrupt them faster than the two-pillar approach would.

If the games felt too handheldy they simply wouldn't get a fair chance from me. I enjoy handheld gaming, but at home I want to be playing console games. You rarely catch me hitting up a handheld if I'm at home. I'd rather they kept going the way they are, I like having a separate home console and handheld, I'd just like one with a better account system.

The two pillar system hasn't worked too badly, I reckon, although the handheld usually props up the home console. Time to throw a spanner in the works: won't the third pillar be this magical QoL device, or do we think that's vanished?

@Jas but 80m PSPS does say otherwise that it can work.

And it wouldn't be a console experience on the go it would be a handheld experience on your TV as Zero said the handheld has out sold and propped up especially during the Cube & now with the Wii U in any era.

Also who to say how powerful the hybird I'm saying it could be the same power as a Wii U but could be more, Balla. Just looking at some of the stuff tablets now, some it is impressive and up there with a 360 game in looks. So imagine what you could do a device which is dedicated for games with power.

I am surprised I am in minority on here with the hybird as it's something that is brought up all the time and does seem a support idea by many.

"Up there with the 360 in looks" - not a convincing argument for me. Like I said earlier, looks are one of my least favourite applications for power, and even then, they're sub-Wii U. And I'd want Nintendo's next home console to be sur-Wii U, despite not thinking that it's the most important thing in the world.

"A handheld experience on your TV" is also not a good thing. Among my favourite games of all time, most of those are home console games.

How isn't it as like I said there tablets not made for gaming and there out now, what could a system do that is dedicated to play games do in 2017.

The guys behind the OBox reckon COD for instance will be on android based device's and soon be as good as PS4 and that's next year.

Also look at the 3DS lot of the games like Kart 7 would be fine on a TV, so can't see why Kart 9 wouldn't.

I really believe that anyone pitching a gaming device based on a mobile OS is well off. It keeps getting tried and nobody adopts it.

Sure Mario Kart might be perfectly playable on a hybrid device, but I'd rather be getting bigger and better games, not games I could've been playing for the last 8 years...

When I say nPad, I am not saying an iPad. I really mean a screen size the same as the iPad mini and proper controls on the side, like the N3DS. The only similarity to the iPad would be size. It would house whatever graphics engine Nintendo felt worked and not be a substitute for an iPad, but a dedicated portable gaming device, where all the power is concentrated on games. I don't understand who wouldn't want to play a game like Super Mario Sunshine or Zelda Twilight Princess in HD on such a device. Me, I would kill for a Fire Emblem game like Radiant Dawn on it. Just think Vita, but bigger and with Nintendo games. Just the power of the Vita would be enough.

Reason I bring up those Andy as it shows what you can do with little power and Nintendo also know what they can do with little power you've just got to look at Super Mario Galaxy on Wii & what we've seen so far of Zelda U.

So I believe they could do wonderful things with a very powerful handheld. And I play Nintendo games for there gameplay which will still be intact, so don't really get the bigger & better as that's not what Nintendo do they also don't get what you mean by 8 years either.

Actually what your pitching Oldschool is pretty much what I want the hybrid to be but you can also connect to your TV.

mas wrote:

@Jas but 80m PSPS does say otherwise that it can work.

Aye it eventually sold a lot but I'd argue that it wasn't off the back of ps3-like games.

mas wrote:

And it wouldn't be a console experience on the go it would be a handheld experience on your TV

That'd put me off completely as I barely play my 3ds as it is.

You say that but it's best selling game is GTA.

Also to me most of the best 3DS games could or have been consoles games.

That's more likely because it's GTA and not because folk wanted a console experience on the go.

OS, I wasn't suggesting that your proposed console is actually an iPad: just that I feel that the position tablets occupy, between laptops and smartphones, is similar to the one I feel your nPad would occupy between the home console and handheld. Neither one nor t'other, and risking reducing the focus on both, as Nintendo finds itself having to make games for three different strata of hardware rather than two.

Balladeer wrote:

OS, I wasn't suggesting that your proposed console is actually an iPad: just that I feel that the position tablets occupy, between laptops and smartphones, is similar to the one I feel your nPad would occupy between the home console and handheld.  Neither one nor t'other, and risking reducing the focus on both, as Nintendo finds itself having to make games for three different strata of hardware rather than two.

I believe that an nPad would be more akin to a Vita than a tablet device, so I personally don't see the spacial problem. I see it as a traditional portable device with a larger screen. Maybe you are right about having enough tams to produce enough games, but I like to think it would bridge the gap between the home console and the 3DS, having some games from both of those, as well as unique ones. It would also run a wonderful VC, easily porting Wii and Gamecube games easily for portable use.

TVii has finally been cancelled in the EU.