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

lunavixen

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and yet I still don't want a Wii-U in the slightest, i'll stick to playstation for the time being, besides, the Wii-U looks really uncomfortable to use
 

Jennacide

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The ending summed up how I felt about the Bayonetta complaints as well. I wasn't even a huge fan of the game, it was fine gameplay wise, but the completely bonkers and nonsensical story didn't jive with me. So when I saw people losing their shit over the exclusivity, I just hung my head in shame that these are the kinds of idiots that seem to represent the greater gamer population.
 

Proeliator

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werewolfsfury said:
Ah. I guess I should take my brother's views of the old days with a little more salt, considering we never owned one. Sega Genesis for the win!
 

xPixelatedx

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Foolproof said:
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.
 

Dr. Crawver

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Jeremy Monken said:
Smart TVs still aren't very close to providing a real hardcore gaming experience. They will, at most, have minigamey little app type games along the lines of Angry Birds or all the cheeseball Kinect games. That's the kind of gameplay the WiiU is likely to offer with a lot of its titles.

So how can the WiiU "win" when it's competing with the Smart TVs while the next entries from MS and Sony will be the hardcore traditional consoles we've come to know and love?

WiiU is trying to take on tablets, consoles and smart TVs all at once while doing nothing to appeal to someone that wants all three. Not to mention the buyers remorse it has to overcome with millions of dusty Wiis out there.

I'm betting on Microsoft in this round.
Congrats, you win the award for paying attention.

No, what he said was that TV's aren't about gaming, they're about everything else (twitter, Facebook, YouTube etc), which both the PS3 and XBOX360 have spent a lot of time and resources working on. If smart TV's really kick off in a big way, it basically means all those resources would have been a waste, while the wii has only focused on games, so loses nothing.

His reasoning then leads him to say it might mean the wii will win, which I feel is a bit of a stretch, but honestly, you have to concede that the wii at least wouldn't lose resources, while the xbox and ps3 would, and I hated the wii myself.
 

New Frontiersman

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Wow, that was really interesting, I had never thought of things from that perspective before. The idea of smart TVs is really interesting, I never would have thought of TV as competition for consoles. While I'm not sure I care for his style that much, I do love the ideas Jim brings up, and I think he comes up with some really good points.

Either way I'm excited for the Wii U, it looks like it's going to be really interesting. I can't wait to get one!
 

crimson sickle2

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Could of used a transition of some kind at 1:00 minute mark. Otherwise, I agree in how the Wii U can pose a threat, but they need to keep a steady supply of good games coming. My Wii library isn't very small in any way when compared to my Xbox library, but the Wii went incredibly long times between good releases.
 

PunkRex

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A good point brought up in the comments of Tony Pounces Bayonetta 2 article is that the WiiU may be the better investment on the part of 3rd party developers as the new Sony/Microsoft hardware is going to be more powerful and there for more expensive to develope/sell on. Although this didn't seem to effect this gen to much... even if bitching over money is all big developers seem to do.
 

GloatingSwine

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I'm not sure that "has no media features" is enough to draw people to the Wii U.

For the first year of it's life, it's got to compete with the Xbox and PS3, which it is only slightly better than, which it is going to mostly have the same games as, but less of them because it's new and won't have that appealing back catalogue of titles now very cheap, and which are both cheaper than it.

That last one is going to be a big deal. The Wii was so successful in part because it was cheaper than its competitors. Cheaper by a good deal, in fact.

The Wii U isn't. It's coming in as the most expensive box on the market, and I think the tablet controller is going to be a harder sell than the original motion controller was, simply because people will look at it and think "but I already have a smartphone", explaining how it integrates with games on the console is going to be a trickier proposition than explaining "wave your arms at the television".
 

Sean951

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GloatingSwine said:
I'm not sure that "has no media features" is enough to draw people to the Wii U.

For the first year of it's life, it's got to compete with the Xbox and PS3, which it is only slightly better than, which it is going to mostly have the same games as, but less of them because it's new and won't have that appealing back catalogue of titles now very cheap, and which are both cheaper than it.

That last one is going to be a big deal. The Wii was so successful in part because it was cheaper than its competitors. Cheaper by a good deal, in fact.

The Wii U isn't. It's coming in as the most expensive box on the market, and I think the tablet controller is going to be a harder sell than the original motion controller was, simply because people will look at it and think "but I already have a smartphone", explaining how it integrates with games on the console is going to be a trickier proposition than explaining "wave your arms at the television".
The most expensive thing on the market by a tiny margin, despite being the next generation. I think it will do fine.
 

Kapol

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May 2, 2010
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Now there's a problem with this arguement that I think is important to take note of. And that's the idea that something with multiple uses will suffer just because games are not the focus, but are rather one of many things it can do. This is possibly true. But at the same time we already have that going on right now in the form of the current console generation. The Wii is devoted to games while the 360 and PS3 branch out, yet the Wii is generally reguarded as the 'worst' console from what I've seen.

Now that isn't neccessarily a look at things to come and Nintendo's focus on gaming over other features could help it. But only if developers find it more appealing to develop on the Wii U then on other systems for fear that their games will be drowned out past the other features. And as other features get left by the wayside that will become less and less of a concern. Plus these Smart TVs aren't yet a viable alternative as opposed to just buying a $200-300 machine. At least not at the moment. These worries may become a real issue in the coming years. But not enough to stop people from getting used to using either the Xbox 720 or the PS4 in the meantime.

The only one that really has a problem that Jim seemed to focus on is Microsoft. As ways to get these features people are paying $60 for each year become easier and easier to access from other places, the number of people using the Xbox for the features they're 'charging' for will dwindle.

Now, there's one competitor that he left out. The PC. The PC has it's issues and many of it's problems will drive people away. Like trying to get some games to work or having to fiddle with settings for a decent length of time to make something you purchased function. But the PC is the most multi-functional 'gaming system' there is and from what I've seen is growing in popularity. I consider myself a console gamer in nearly every way. Yet I've been playing on the PC more then my 3 systems for likely a year now. Given I can just plug in a controller, boot up a game, and play from my PC, it's a good alternative with a lower price-per-game and, as such, is prefered. And yes. I do use a controller to play PC games. Deal with it. :p

EDIT: Of course, to go back to a point I made before, while the Wii is considered the 'worst' system by many, it's still done the best in the past. Lower price and being more 'casual-friendly' helped it. But the Wii U might actually suffer from the Wii. There are plenty of casual players who bought the Wii for Wii Sports and never used it for other things. This means that, while Nintendo did make money on hardware, it still didn't make a giant profit from software. It also means those same casual players will be less willing to buy another system when they have one they didn't want sitting around now. And of course the Wii has a low reputation with more hardcore players for so much shovelware and less actually good material to play.
 

camazotz

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Well damn I started watching this thinking, "What nutty way-out case for WiiU is he going to argue?" and by the end he's sold me on the idea I need to buy a WiiU and get behind Nintendo. WTF
 

geizr

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The one word counter-argument I can think of to this is "graphics". While I am certain many here on the Escapist are not so unsophisticated as to let graphics be the sole (or even the most significant) criterion by which to judge a game or game system, it is, unfortunately, the primary criterion by which a fairly large segment of the general gamer community does judge a game or game system. It is the single property that is first and most expounded upon by the gaming journalists. It is the single property that often attracts people to the game in the first place or piques interest. It is the one property that is most shown-off in shows and screenshots. A lot of emphasis, unfortunately, even after all this time, is still placed on the graphics, first and foremost, even over gameplay, playability, fun-factor, and replay-value (as an aside, I consider replay-value to be measured by how much you want to play a game again purely for the pleasure of experiencing it again, not by the number of achievements and unlocks in the game; to me, that stuff is just tedious busy-work, like chores). Consequently, it ends up being the graphical prowess of gaming systems that people use to judge the quality and worth of the gaming systems. If the Wii U does not match the graphical prowess of the systems from Sony and Microsoft, then, despite the known wisdom that graphics do no make the game, the larger population of gamers will probably not invest much in the Wii U, especially in light of Nintendo's attitude and actions regarding the Wii.
 

TWEWER

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I can't support the direction Nintendo is going with the Wii U and 3DS. Only big name developers will have a chance to make games for the systems do to the technology and support needed to make games that use the bells and whistles of each system. This means there will be less clever new games and more franchise rehashes. You may be excited for new Rayman and Bayonetta games, but how many new IPs are coming out for the Wii U? Bonus points if you can name one without Googling it.
 

Redd the Sock

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That was a side I hadn't considered. Certainly a valid one though. On my PS3 frequently demanded features get ignored, but we get netflix and a youtube app. Can we talk about how you buggered my ability to transfer installed games to a PSP or vita? Maybe if the other features were over and above similar ones found elsewhere, but to date, anything that isn't outright crap still falls a bit flat, and let's not get into how limited the hard drives were originally for this "home multimedia centre". 80 gigs doesn't even hold my game instals anymore. Let's not try and cram video, music, pictures and TV in there as well.

The console market will never be able to keep up with tables, phones and TVs on non game things and probably shouldn't try. I wouldn't give nintendo great points right now. They're trying, but it's still gimmicky, and if the 3DS's history is any indication, may fall flat on its face even if Sony and MS don't follow suit.
 

Fearzone

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The best, most flexible, most powerful experience is still to be had with a PC plugged into the TV. Sure, the Wii-U may be the least offensive of the next generation consoles, but why aim for least offensive?
 

ThunderCavalier

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Our hope for a good and true gaming world is the Wii U.

... Forgive me for sounding cynical, unforgiving, or pessimistic, but where did we go wrong? I mean, the Wii U looks fun but... really?

What happened to us? What happened to when I plugged in a game console because I wanted to be a purple dragon and whack some Rhynocs in the face?