Jimquisition: Why the Wii U May Have Already "Won" Next-gen

[TurboPanda]

I honestly have no idea how the Wii U will do. It doesn't help that IMHO this is first new generation that nobody really wants(not even Sony or Microsoft). Games are already too expensive, we've all seen how spiraling development costs have bled creativity out of game development and more powerful hardware is only going to make this worse. Why should I spend another £300-£400 if all I'm getting is a shinier Modern Warfare clone? I admit it's easy to laugh at the Wii U although Nintendo have proven they can make an under powered touchscreen console work before, they may just be be able to do it again.

 

[Therumancer]

To me the release of the Wii U seems a lot like the second coming of the "Dreamcast", and all the mistakes that involved. The same exact business move that pretty much knocked Nintendo's big competitor... SEGA... out of the hardware aspect of things. A rivalry still remembered in all of the Sonic Vs. Mario stuff which endures despite having lost all real relevency.

Basically we've got the least powerful console coming out first hoping to pre-emptively get an install base before the other big consoles come out. It promises all of these innovative things and gimmicks, but it's doubtful if they will work, or even be as great as they sound if they do work. I look at the Dreamcast's own controller/memory card set up which put a display on your memory unit and could even involved mini-games and such attached to the data cards, and I can't help but think that what Nintendo is doing is simply a new, much more advanced, version of doing that. Not to mention how the Dreamcast as supposed to have internet playable games, things like Armada, which were going to present a persistant world enviroment, that just never really panned out, even as far as development goes.

At any rate, I could be wrong, but I suspect this is going to end much the same way. The Wii U will be the big boy on the block for a little while, and then after it's 5 minutes it's going to get it's block knocked off by the rival consoles.

As far as the "entire entertainment experience" thing, I have to agree that it's a pretty bad idea, in the end I don't think these consoles are going to become the household products for non-gamers that the makers want. In the end it's still going to come down to the games, and the core gaming audience, and really it comes down to what titles you have and how powerful the system is. In the final equasion the other consoles are probably going to produce more and better games with their higher capabilities, which means more gamers will gravitate towards them, and admittedly will probably ignore the rest of the stuff being tacked onto it, as will everyone else.

 

[RobfromtheGulag]

Jim you truly are a gift. Your impersonation of angry gamers, as usual, had me rocking in my chair.

 

[masticina]

Am I exiting about the WiiU? Nah I am not going out 5 days before launch in a tent outside a shop.

But yeah I see a good future for the WiiU. Why? Well not precisely the hardware but the deeper ideas.

With an Ipad and 4 Ipods you can play those old board games...

With WiiU's pad again you can create the ability to have two different things on two different screens.

And that is exiting

 

[Kojiro ftt]

While I usually agree with Jim, I think his criticism over Bayonetta 2 is unjustified. If I were a fan of the game (and I'm not, but if I was) I would be very disappointed. It sucks having to shell out for a whole console that you aren't interested in, just to play ONE game. Maybe Jim can't relate since his job provides him with every console ever. But I can relate: I bought a Japanese Wii just to play Fatal Frame 4. Lame.

 

[masticina]

i just hope i get more use out of it than my Wii, for many of us the Wii was machine for Mario kart and smash brothers,hacks for those two games,collecting dust, and occasionally a 3rd game.

i got way WAAAAY more use out of my ds. especially with 999+ hours i clocked on Pokemon, well my brother and i anyway.

i would like a full fledged Pokemon game on the wii, with a story and multi regions.

i would throw my money at that right now, and so would alot of people, those games still hit million copy figures really close to the launch date.

seriously do it.

True the Wii's "Wii are Different" didn't work out on the long term. Oh sure different type of control method. It works in part, if well programmed. In the end it gave rise to many titles that are just mini games.

Nintendo cannot life alone on Pokemon, Mario and a Zelda

And well a Pokemon game on the WiiU using the full ability would be great

 

[GrimHeaper]

snip

Tablets, like any PC, aren't gaming specific devices; it just so happens you can play games on them, like phones. You can keep contributing the success of Nintendo to waggle/3D/tablets, but in all honesty gimmicks don't create a loyal gaming fan base, the games do. It is also hilarious how many times we keep have this "History won't repeat itself" topic whenever a Nintendo console comes out, even though it keeps totally repeating itself.

Speaking of which, I hope everyone is enjoying their Vitas, lol.

Yes, because fucking once is a pattern.

The Wii never "repeated itself". In case you hadn't noticed, the Gamecube was a dismal failure, and blind luck made them bounce back from it.

And you wanna know the big difference between tablets and PC's? A tablet isn't complex - you see a game, you can buy it in 3 minutes, have it installed in half a minute, and learn how to play it in 10 seconds. Unlike the PC, where you need a masters degree to work the fucking thing if you want to game on it.

The WiiU is more complicated than its chief rival, not less. That means it will not attract the casuals. And with its main strength lost, it will be right smack back in the position it was with the Gamecube - relying solely on its loyal fans.

The Gamecube didn't sell a lot, but it still made profits unlike the ps3.

 

[Darmani]

Sony's slippage into third place was the result of an act of hubris that they are incredibly unlikely to repeat. Besides which, the elements for Microsofts western dominance come basically from the self perpetuating cycle of it being seen as the dominant console. Its strength has lay in the third party games it shares with the Ps3 for years, it only succeeds because of a lower price and because it is seen as the ubiquitous console - both of which could easily change in the next generation.

With an early focus on games to contrast it with Microsofts more-than-likely lack of the same (all of their internal studios, and even most of their third party partners, are working on 360 games, with virtually no-one left over to work on the Xbox 720 exclusives), Sony will likely regain the position of dominance they held for the 5th and 6th generation.

You must admit, the Ps3's lack of success can be attributed largely to a freak case of hubris, one incredibly unlikely to repeat itself.

The Vita does not require me to conclude let alone admit or point to a freak case.
Now I'll give you they may have more lineup...lined up as to the nextbox...but really does it matter?
Again the next gen consoles will not be made over the current limits of PC tech or if they are will become the PS3 all over again. and t he largest problems of development are combination of porting *down* to console limitations and making things to spec in conjunctions with hardware and services. So Third parties, second parties, etc will still be there. Doing more of the same for console players only using the proprietary features of each provider. Again technically the WiiU is a joke with a look at specs its the arrangement and conveniences the layout that makes it possible product out for the masses and something you can't *quite* substitute a PC for without working at it enough specialized equipment purpose is more enticing.

You seriously think MS can't just pullup or dust off or pump up a current project when its been practically snaring the PC market to their standards and so on? Really that's the issue with MS they may not need to make killer app IP. Everyone will gladly, seeing them as the viable alternative for high end and with nintendo's reputation and perceived flaws and market and Sony's lack of western PC relationship, GIVE THEM THEIR OWN. If not the next Halo or GoW (either of them) then the next Minecraft, etc. They have dozens of people they could exalt from the xbla level and again that's assuming they wanna go AAA which is seriously being derided across the board. You can't succeed on the Nintendo console, their IP drowns yours and they have so many demands and I hear they gnaw your bungholes with rats if you suggest you change the temperature of the coffee. MS just has you sell half your first born, regardless if their legitmate or not. So we make two games for them under their thumb my graduation party mistake gets a home in the MS product testing farms, become a big name developer and strike out on our own. Or even better you can be like the half dozen Wii or Kinect modders who get bankrolled or RECRUITED by MS to make them competitive gaming products.

Sony can't bring out the Last Guardian.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

So why would I still not buy a Wii U? Simple. What was on the Xbox 360? Halo, Borderlands, Elder Scrolls, Far Cry, Assassin's Creed, etc, etc. All of them missing on the Wii.

 

[Vault101]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wii_games
1220 games, tiny, + all game cube games.
It's getting very expensive to make a high end game now, I'm not sure everyone wants to risk their entire company to make a single game.

alot of them were ports or mediocre, or crap at worst

the fact is was the Wii was simply not running in the same leauge as the other consoles, the big games that peopel talked about...Assasins creed, Batman AA, Mass Effect were found elsewhere

now weather or not you think this was a problem or not you cant deny that it makes it very unapealing to the "core" market...Ive owned both a PS3 and a PC and you know where its at? [b/]not exclusives as far as Im concerned[/b]

Infamous series was downright brilliant yes...but aside from that Uncharted is an amusing distraction at best and nothing else interested me....aside from Gears of war I couldnt think of anything I would want as far as the Xbox went

all the games Ive played (and loved) with the exception of Infamous have been multiplatform titles...for me thats important

but then the Wii sold enough anyway...so take that how you will (I still think it was a shitty gaming systm)

 

[Darmani]

So why would I still not buy a Wii U? Simple. What was on the Xbox 360? Halo, Borderlands, Elder Scrolls, Far Cry, Assassin's Creed, etc, etc. All of them missing on the Wii.

which is sort of my own point. They can only raise the floor (not ceiling forget previous post's phrasing) not push the limits. At the very least they need to pull some sort of holding pattern until all the production tools are in place to keep the costs done and studios from imploding even when they make Modern Warfare or IP like Bayonetta fails to catch on for selling "only" 1.5 million where experiments like Binary Domain and Alpha Protocol and etc get tossed into the FAILURE bin for acheiving their aims and pulling in modest numbers.

WE are at the point EVERY studio is trying to put out Star Wars and Avatar level blockbusters ALL THE DAMN TIME or need to pull in that sort of success to pay for the equivalents of the romcoms and action movies while looking at the indie scene making mad bank hand over fist with production expenses that make corporate heads think only three people and intravenous caffeine is needed to run a company if only to save on costs.

As for the Wii... it was a risky first try that promised Revolution and it won...look at Sony and MS now. But that doesn't mean it will inherit the country to be. Joan of Arc was a revolutionary. Well nationalizing possibly insane demagogue/warlord but still very meaningful and different for her time and aims and effects. She didn't rule france afterwards.

It seems, oddly though I'd never bet on it, MS is taking the Wii's prototypical tries and refinining them to make them out and out.. well further and better (Kinnect is awesome and becoming a pervasive bit of equipment, MS GLass, etc) while courting Western and PC and indie development. Though we all are supposed to pretend that's steam because MS is still the enemey somehow.
Also Nintendo is designing things to further develop game technology for what the customer can use not as much developers and tech geeks want to happen. Motion controls didn't go as far as we originally imagined but they aren't dead they've become, get this, a regular part of the gaming and electronic interface spearheaded to the general public with the help of the white miracle machine. Before motion controls seemed arcane snake oil. Now they aren't the miracle promised but everyone knows what they can do and can expect and they are improving on technical limitations and offers. As robust or meaningful subset gaming they are here and get Also unlike Joan and Sony Nintendo tend to know how to aim if not the highest than a stable bit. The GC was a loss of reputation and support not profits or purpose.

 

[weirdee]

considering that the PC platform is not actually owned by a company, we'd just have to look at valve and steam

hmm looks like we got a fuckton of games here, a lot of them indie, yeah maybe valve isn't the publisher for more than a handful of them but you'd have to admit that most of those developers are living based on how much steam does for them, valve might as well be their rich uncle

there's even more than three good games!

(which is odd considering that valve is not able to count that far)

 

[GrimHeaper]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wii_games
1220 games, tiny, + all game cube games.
It's getting very expensive to make a high end game now, I'm not sure everyone wants to risk their entire company to make a single game.

alot of them were ports or mediocre, or crap at worst

the fact is was the Wii was simply not running in the same leauge as the other consoles, the big games that peopel talked about...Assasins creed, Batman AA, Mass Effect were found elsewhere

now weather or not you think this was a problem or not you cant deny that it makes it very unapealing to the "core" market...Ive owned both a PS3 and a PC and you know where its at? [b/]not exclusives as far as Im concerned[/b]

Infamous series was downright brilliant yes...but aside from that Uncharted is an amusing distraction at best and nothing else interested me....aside from Gears of war I couldnt think of anything I would want as far as the Xbox went

all the games Ive played (and loved) with the exception of Infamous have been multiplatform titles...for me thats important

but then the Wii sold enough anyway...so take that how you will (I still think it was a shitty gaming systm)

Are those excuses I hear?
I could say the same for many consoles.
You know what the core market goes towards? Value.