Metroid Prime Dev: Wii U is a Powerhouse, We're Making a New Game For it

[Atmos Duality]

Announced a year too late, I'm afraid.

Power isn't everything and i think the Wii-U could be a good system... if it wasn't most likely already dead.

Oh wait. "His team had to overcome a steep learning curve that came with transitioning from Wii to Wii U" Well if they are comparing it to the Gamecu- i mean Wii, then a potato powered computer would offer more grunt. It's only 'a steep learning curve' if you have only ever worked on Nintendo consoles for the past decade and have missed every single graphical advancement since Half Life 2. Most studios had to make this transition back in 2005/6 so i have no idea how they could be unprepared to enter the HD generation.

There's more to it than that, sadly.
From what I've read, that tablet controller is intimately tied to the main processing handlers as part of the system's streaming function, and not just a peripheral output thing like the Gamecube to GBA connectors.

And that's a big part of why developers don't like the WiiU in the first place: Nintendo mandates that they program around the stupid gimmick instead of doing what they want, and it necessitates additional training because the tablet programming is just bizarre compared to anything else on the market.

 

[Xman490]

Depends. I enjoy Mario 3D World, but it's more like a Mario Sunshine than 64 or Galaxies. A lot of fun, but not quite the same nostalgia trip.

I think you're mistaken. With its odd new enemies and more-realistic-than-ever locales, Sunshine was not nearly a nostalgia trip. 64 and Galaxies were over twice as based on nostalgia than Sunshine was.
3D World is a nostalgia trip through and through, with almost every enemy (the fish in Plessie's way and vine-like piranha plants being the few exceptions) and some mechanics/themes plucked from every single Mario game before it, except for Sunshine.

 

[Sean951]

Depends. I enjoy Mario 3D World, but it's more like a Mario Sunshine than 64 or Galaxies. A lot of fun, but not quite the same nostalgia trip.

I think you're mistaken. With its odd new enemies and more-realistic-than-ever locales, Sunshine was not nearly a nostalgia trip. 64 and Galaxies were over twice as based on nostalgia than Sunshine was.
3D World is a nostalgia trip through and through, with almost every enemy (the fish in Plessie's way and vine-like piranha plants being the few exceptions) and some mechanics/themes plucked from every single Mario game before it, except for Sunshine.

I meant that playing it in the future won't be a nostalgia trip. I play Mario 64 and I'm transported back to getting the N64 and plugging it in for the first time. I play Sunshine and I have fun, because the GC was a pretty solid little machine, but it isn't nearly the same. I also feel that Galaxy will do the same thing in 10 years, but 3D World will not.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Well yes i didn't even touch on that. Having the second screen not be an autonomous device is also a drain on core resources i imagine. I'm not familiar with the architecture but i would assume that the tablet would need at least it's own thread if not logical core.

There has also been grumblings about Nintendo's online systems being developed effectively in a vacuum and therefore being a struggle to utilize. In terms of online play Nintendo has only just left the dark ages.

Based on what I've seen, that would be very, very accurate.
("Friend Codes" were an outdated concept when they were new. And their online matchmaking system was archaic even by 2005 standards.)

 

[Nixou]

We don't want to have to learn a new controll scheme every time to release a console
My arms are slighty more outstretched with the WiiU controller! My brain can't handle the change!

 

[Roxas1359]

So yeah, excuse me if I don't take the "Nintendo-owned company compliments Nintendo hardware" seriously. Still, I'd love a new Metroid if that's what they are working on. They've been wasted on Donkey Kong, in my opinion.

Just to note, Retro isn't actually owned by Nintendo, but they pretty much should be at this point, and them saying positive things about Nintendo consoles is like Naughty Dog saying positive things about Playstation systems. Heck, all of Retro's games have only been on Nintendo's consoles, they've never done a game for another system or company. I think it's more worrying how they note how there was a "steep learning curve from the Wii to Wii U" which shows that Nintendo really didn't bother to do any research on making an HD game despite HD games being a thing for about 6 or 7 years.

Honestly I like my Wii U, but Nintendo has screwed themselves so much because of how they didn't pay any attention to their competition or how tech was advancing, and they hoped that the same audience that bought the Wii would buy the Wii U and that's obviously not the case now.

 

[Ghostface2206]

I get incredibly annoyed when people think "game has colourful graphics, therefore is not good graphics"
There is a difference between graphical style and graphical quality, if the former is excellent, then the latter does not matter.
People don't appreciate that the same amount of work goes into the graphics of a colourful game like DKCTF and the graphics of the latest CoD game, except DKC actually has imagination in its graphical design rather than just trying to make a massive muddy brown-greyish battlefield.

 

[Andy Shandy]

So yeah, excuse me if I don't take the "Nintendo-owned company compliments Nintendo hardware" seriously. Still, I'd love a new Metroid if that's what they are working on. They've been wasted on Donkey Kong, in my opinion.

Just to note, Retro isn't actually owned by Nintendo, but they pretty much should be at this point, and them saying positive things about Nintendo consoles is like Naughty Dog saying positive things about Playstation systems. Heck, all of Retro's games have only been on Nintendo's consoles, they've never done a game for another system or company. I think it's more worrying how they note how there was a "steep learning curve from the Wii to Wii U" which shows that Nintendo really didn't bother to do any research on making an HD game despite HD games being a thing for about 6 or 7 years.

Honestly I like my Wii U, but Nintendo has screwed themselves so much because of how they didn't pay any attention to their competition or how tech was advancing, and they hoped that the same audience that bought the Wii would buy the Wii U and that's obviously not the case now.

Huh, I'd always assumed Nintendo owned them. Probably in part due to all their games coming from big(ish, depending on people's personal views) Nintendo franchises. Learn something new every day =P

And I agree on everything after too. I do really want to like the Wii U, but some of Nintendo's decisions can make it difficult.

 

[Roxas1359]

Huh, I'd always assumed Nintendo owned them. Probably in part due to all their games coming from big(ish, depending on people's personal views) Nintendo franchises. Learn something new every day =P

And I agree on everything after too. I do really want to like the Wii U, but some of Nintendo's decisions can make it difficult.

The last company Nintendo fully bought was Monolith Soft back in I think 2007 or so, everything else is second party that they've just not bought. That includes Hal Laboratories, as they are actually not first party at all, but are second party like Retro Studios.

And for Nintendo's decisions, they honestly needed this humility more than anything. It's the same thing that happened with the PS2 going to the PS3. Sony got so big for their britches that they made very bad mistakes that ruined a lot of their image and good will, and now Nintendo has done the same thing since the Wii and DS were huge successes. Heck this isn't the first time Nintendo has made bad decisions because of getting a huge head. The N64, as Yamauchi said, was purposely made difficult to develop for because after the success of the SNES he only wanted "talented" 3rd parties to develop for it. The results, a system that many 3rd parties ignore because of it's price, difficulty to develop for, and not very good storage space when compared to the PS1. It also resulted in a lot of bad games being developed for the N64 as well because while something may be difficult to develop for, doesn't mean that it's impossible to develop for it.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Huh, I'd always assumed Nintendo owned them. Probably in part due to all their games coming from big(ish, depending on people's personal views) Nintendo franchises. Learn something new every day =P

And I agree on everything after too. I do really want to like the Wii U, but some of Nintendo's decisions can make it difficult.

The last company Nintendo fully bought was Monolith Soft back in I think 2007 or so, everything else is second party that they've just not bought. That includes Hal Laboratories, as they are actually not first party at all, but are second party like Retro Studios.

And for Nintendo's decisions, they honestly needed this humility more than anything. It's the same thing that happened with the PS2 going to the PS3. Sony got so big for their britches that they made very bad mistakes that ruined a lot of their image and good will, and now Nintendo has done the same thing since the Wii and DS were huge successes. Heck this isn't the first time Nintendo has made bad decisions because of getting a huge head. The N64, as Yamauchi said, was purposely made difficult to develop for because after the success of the SNES he only wanted "talented" 3rd parties to develop for it. The results, a system that many 3rd parties ignore because of it's price, difficulty to develop for, and not very good storage space when compared to the PS1. It also resulted in a lot of bad games being developed for the N64 as well because while something may be difficult to develop for, doesn't mean that it's impossible to develop for it.

That's actually a very apt, and well thought out comparison. Especially since the PS3 didn't "bomb" so much as have a rather poor showing the first year, then playing catch-up once they got some good solid games. Hopefully, the Wii U will do the same. Even if you aren't a fan of Nintendo, they have enough of a name and franchises to have a serious impact if they step out of the console race.

 

[Roxas1359]

That's actually a very apt, and well thought out comparison. Especially since the PS3 didn't "bomb" so much as have a rather poor showing the first year, then playing catch-up once they got some good solid games. Hopefully, the Wii U will do the same. Even if you aren't a fan of Nintendo, they have enough of a name and franchises to have a serious impact if they step out of the console race.

While the PS3 didn't bomb per say, one cannot say that it didn't have very bad consequences for Sony. It helped put them in a financial hole since the actual development costs were lied about by Ken Kutaragi (the 20GB model cost $900 to make, and only sold for $499 and the 60GB model cost $1100 to make and sold for only $600) and when Sony found out about that they weren't too happy. But after that was revealed, Sony suddenly went out on a huge marketing and ad campaign, started dropping the price of the PS3 (that's why the backwards compatibility was taken out, because launch PS3's had an actual PS2 inside them), and suddenly a lot of games started coming out. Sony didn't really start selling more units until around 2009, and by 2010 they had finally started profiting on the PS3 in general.

The Wii U is currently facing similar problems, but while Nintendo has acknowledged many problems, they still aren't really doing anything out it. Advertisement wise, they aren't even trying. I keep my TV on Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon for white noise all day, and as of now I've only seen 2 Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze ads. This is sad, especially since last generation Nintendo had the Wii Would Like to Play ads which were amazing. The Wii U ads on the other hand almost never show the actual Wii U, as they just show the tablet controller which has lead to many believing that the Wii U is just an expensive add-on for the Nintendo Wii.

Then there is the Wii Mini, otherwise known as the most useless device to ever exist. Nintendo is still selling the Wii Mini's and I've seen them in stores everywhere, and given how many consumers are confused that the Wii U is a new console what would look better when a mother was gonna buy a new system for their kids: a Wii Mini that is only $99 (terrible price for that considering the Wii Mini can't connect online nor use component cables) or the $299 Wii U in which the other thinks it's just an expensive tablet.

Then there is another fault they have, the fact that the Nintendo Directs generally have more content about the 3DS than the Wii U, and that not everyone knows when the next Nintendo Directs are. Some people I've seen claim that "oh Nintendo doesn't need to advertise as word of mouth is good enough" (I wish I was joking, there are some on this site that have said that) and that sentiment is completely false. Word of mouth only is good if the consumers actually know what the product is, and even then word of mouth didn't save the Wonderful 101 which flopped hard in the market.

I've seen Nintendo and know that they can do better, but from how they constantly still promote the 3DS and 2DS more than their home console, you get the feeling that they honestly don't care and don't wanna try. It's like seeing someone who has a doctorate in psychology working at a McDonalds not wanting to leave that McDonalds at all. We all know Nintendo can do better, we've seen it, but as of now it seems like they don't really care.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

I'm waiting for the day we moved out of the non-sense that was the "bit wars" from the 90's, because it seems we are still stuck in that mindset after all these years.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Of course the Wii U is a powerhouse, in the same way that the 360 is a powerhouse. Or should I say, WAS a powerhouse. Now there's much better hardware. The Wii U is a generation behind, hardware wise, just like the Wii during its release. And may I remind everyone that better hardware means much more than just better graphics. It means the potential for better AI, more open worlds, more gameplay features, and etc.

I don't think the Wii U will get many devs on it at all. As I said time and time again, everyone's done with the seventh generation. They want to move on to the next. Unfortunately, Nintendo just wants to stagnate in yesterdays party.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

of course the Wii U is a powerhouse; however, due to 3rd parties constantly throwing tantrums and trying to make everything homogenized, they've rendered themselves incapable of working on custom hardware. I thought the old adage was that if you wanted something to work right you had to put in effort. Thinking otherwise is both naive and stupid.