Wii U to be quickly outdated?

[Suave Charlie]

None of my friends an I are even remotely interested in it, I'm just of the opinion that it isn't exactly aimed at me so it hasn't even blipped on my radar.

I do have a question though, have they fixed the laughably bad online? Is it still friend codes or is it...normal online capabilities.

In this thread there seem to be so many people really pining on about how many sales it'll get and how much the wii made, as if that really matters to them, but my perspective is that when the usage stats came out a while back it listed the wii as the least used of all the consoles, to me that's more important really.

I just don't care about nintendo anymore, I grew up with the mario etc games like every kid from the 90s but they just don't hold my interest and there aren't any exclusives that would make me buy the WiiU.

My prediction: They'll make eleventy bajillion dollars and will have better games than the wii, but usage won't come close the the ps3 or xbox. I think they didn't support their core audience enough previously to really strike it big with core games. The casual market will eat it up like sexy hotcakes.

 

[Treblaine]

My prediction: They'll make eleventy bajillion dollars and will have better games than the wii, but usage won't come close the the ps3 or xbox. I think they didn't support their core audience enough previously to really strike it big with core games. The casual market will eat it up like sexy hotcakes.

I don't see how this platform appeals to casual audiences.

They don't care about graphics enough to make the distinction between Wii graphics and WiiU graphics, and Original Wii sales have totally tanked.

Wii appealed to casual for a "neat little controller" that is NOT the case with Wii-U. Xbox 360 has the novel Kinect controller and even Sony has the PS Move. WiiU's appeal is essentially a standard dual-analogue controller with a stylus touchscreen in the middle.

People don't give crap about stylus-based touchscreens any more. Iphone and iPad were loved for their multitouch capacitive touchscreen and plethora of apps. Not the case with WiiU.

Original Wii also appealed for undercutting the Xbox 360 in price. Xbox 360 is now entry price of $199 and even Nintendo's Iwata indicates the Wii-U will be more than $250, that that is a favourable conversion from Yen.

 

[dragongit]

I just don't see the WiiU ad being relativly cheap on launch. Minimum of about 400 USD I'd suspect due to the need of the touch screen with every package. If they somehow managed to cut the cost in some manner, the core system alone could cost about 250 dollars. A stand alone game pad might retail from 100-150 dollars. I mean, a simple wii remote bundle with nunchuck can still cost about 50 dollars depending on retail.

My point in all this? Let's say the WiiU has to be priced at about 500 dollars due to the cost of the pad and accessories. Microsoft or Sony can sell their next console for 500 dollars, but their budget can be spent on better processors/ram/and GPUs. They have a larger consumer budget spent on internal hardware. Things like Vita screens and Microsoft Glasses can be pricey as well, but those are secondary and optional, where as the WiiU will probably require the use of the Wii Pad for most games to function.

I know we don't even know the capabilities of the next generation, but signs point to the WiiU being roughly the same as what we have now if perhaps a bit better, where as Sony and Microsoft might be capable of what the Unreal 4 engine can provide. Perhaps Nintendo didn't opt for a more powerful graphics processor not out of haste, but of cost effeciency.

None of these companies will make cast off their consoles for a long while, they will for a long time and perhaps always sell at a loss. However the longer Sony and Microsoft have to develope, the larger the gap they can strech, and persuade 3rd party developers to their cause. Nintendo will always have it's loyal audience, Mario, Zelda, Pikmin, and even Metroid will top sales charts. Where as the other two will produce their exclusive hits and the income of the third party developed games.

In the end though, it's hard to say if anything I predict is right or complete bull, price or demographic interest. It will sell well, and be on top for a while, I just don't picture it having the strong lead as the original Wii had in the long run.

Sorry if I continue to beat a dead horse, there are simply theories to the future. I might be wrong on ever count, but it's been interesting to see many thoughts on the subject in both directions.

 

[Suave Charlie]

People don't give crap about stylus-based touchscreens any more. Iphone and iPad were loved for their multitouch capacitive touchscreen and plethora of apps. Not the case with WiiU.

Wouldn't it be reasonable to say that the people who mass bought the wii probably wouldn't know the difference? Touchscreen is a touchscreen etc.

 

[Davroth]

Yeah.. I'm starting to get a little tired of people not doing any research before claiming that the Wii U is going to be about the tech level of the Xbox 360. That's just wrong, and there are plenty of very credible sources out there that can attest to that.

Actually, most of the building blocks of the Wii U have already been confirmed, just not which version of those are going to be used. And if you look at the lowest versions of those CPUs and GPUs, and then compare them to the more likely rumors about the PS4 and Xbox720 (you know, the ones that don't claim that they put a GPU with a street price of 500$ in it), you'll see that they are about on par.

And honestly, I don't know what makes that so hard to believe. Nintendo, even though have had a kinda rough last year, made tons of money with the Wii, and is now in a position where they can put the money in research and development to bring a more powerful console on the market (Mind you, the reason why we got the Wii was because at the time, Nintendo couldn't have competed with MS and Sony, simply because they didn't have the necessary cash).

But hey, if you guys just want to stick to what you believe rather then looking into the real data we already have available, who am I to call you out on it?


(captcha: "meet your waterloo" good one, captcha)

 

[him over there]

Yeah.. I'm starting to get a little tired of people not doing any research before claiming that the Wii U is going to be about the tech level of the Xbox 360. That's just wrong, and there are plenty of very credible sources out there that can attest to that.

Actually, most of the building blocks of the Wii U have already been confirmed, just not which version of those are going to be used. And if you look at the lowest versions of those CPUs and GPUs, and then compare them to the more likely rumors about the PS4 and Xbox720 (you know, the ones that don't claim that they put a GPU with a street price of 500$ in it), you'll see that they are about on par.

And honestly, I don't know what makes that so hard to believe. Nintendo, even though have had a kinda rough last year, made tons of money with the Wii, and is now in a position where they can put the money in research and development to bring a more powerful console on the market (Mind you, the reason why we got the Wii was because at the time, Nintendo couldn't have competed with MS and Sony, simply because they didn't have the necessary cash).

But hey, if you guys just want to stick to what you believe rather then looking into the real data we already have available, who am I to call you out on it?


(captcha: "meet your waterloo" good one, captcha)

Speaking of money for research and development isn't Ninty building an entire new R&D building? I heard something like that around here but I'm too lazy to sift through 9 pages.

 

[Treblaine]

People don't give crap about stylus-based touchscreens any more. Iphone and iPad were loved for their multitouch capacitive touchscreen and plethora of apps. Not the case with WiiU.

Wouldn't it be reasonable to say that the people who mass bought the wii probably wouldn't know the difference? Touchscreen is a touchscreen etc.

I don't know. iPad had stuff like extremely responsive and precise to the lightest touch and multi-touch, people aren't THAT dumb to realise all that isn't there.

Stylus touchscreen is late 90's tech. No one would get a modern smartphone with a touchscreen that needed s stylus.

 

[wintercoat]

Yeah.. I'm starting to get a little tired of people not doing any research before claiming that the Wii U is going to be about the tech level of the Xbox 360. That's just wrong, and there are plenty of very credible sources out there that can attest to that.

Actually, most of the building blocks of the Wii U have already been confirmed, just not which version of those are going to be used. And if you look at the lowest versions of those CPUs and GPUs, and then compare them to the more likely rumors about the PS4 and Xbox720 (you know, the ones that don't claim that they put a GPU with a street price of 500$ in it), you'll see that they are about on par.

And honestly, I don't know what makes that so hard to believe. Nintendo, even though have had a kinda rough last year, made tons of money with the Wii, and is now in a position where they can put the money in research and development to bring a more powerful console on the market (Mind you, the reason why we got the Wii was because at the time, Nintendo couldn't have competed with MS and Sony, simply because they didn't have the necessary cash).

But hey, if you guys just want to stick to what you believe rather then looking into the real data we already have available, who am I to call you out on it?


(captcha: "meet your waterloo" good one, captcha)

Speaking of money for research and development isn't Ninty building an entire new R&D building? I heard something like that around here but I'm too lazy to sift through 9 pages.

That they are. [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/309964/nintendo-pumping-pound127-million-into-new-rd-facility/] They also got rid of their NOA headquarters in Redmond, Washington.

 

[Davroth]

I just don't see the WiiU ad being relativly cheap on launch. Minimum of about 400 USD I'd suspect due to the need of the touch screen with every package. If they somehow managed to cut the cost in some manner, the core system alone could cost about 250 dollars. A stand alone game pad might retail from 100-150 dollars. I mean, a simple wii remote bundle with nunchuck can still cost about 50 dollars depending on retail.

Walmart advertised the Wii U for 349$

http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=176472

Though that does by no means mean that it's confirmed it's worth noting that the true price of the Wii was leaked by Walmart, too.

As for what kind of tech is in the Wii U, let me refer to two videos linked before in this thread, that got unfortunately widely ignored.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcnsG11MRE8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIbhzMHzrQU

Add to that that Sony as a company is in deep financial trouble. Building and selling a console on par with a state of the art gaming PC at the price of a console (about 500-600$) is too much of a financial risk for them to actually do it realistically.

I will readily admit that MS could just use all their Windows money to sell something like that at a tremendous loss per unit in an attempt to push the competition out of business. I have no doubt that they have the funds to do that.

 

[Smeggs]

-snip-

Take note that despite the Wii's lacking power and graphics compared to the 360 and PS3, it still managed to outsell them both.

I won't be surprised if the Wii U is the same story, especially considering that any Next Gen consoles released by Nintendo's competitors will be expensive as all hell.

 

[him over there]

Yeah.. I'm starting to get a little tired of people not doing any research before claiming that the Wii U is going to be about the tech level of the Xbox 360. That's just wrong, and there are plenty of very credible sources out there that can attest to that.

Actually, most of the building blocks of the Wii U have already been confirmed, just not which version of those are going to be used. And if you look at the lowest versions of those CPUs and GPUs, and then compare them to the more likely rumors about the PS4 and Xbox720 (you know, the ones that don't claim that they put a GPU with a street price of 500$ in it), you'll see that they are about on par.

And honestly, I don't know what makes that so hard to believe. Nintendo, even though have had a kinda rough last year, made tons of money with the Wii, and is now in a position where they can put the money in research and development to bring a more powerful console on the market (Mind you, the reason why we got the Wii was because at the time, Nintendo couldn't have competed with MS and Sony, simply because they didn't have the necessary cash).

But hey, if you guys just want to stick to what you believe rather then looking into the real data we already have available, who am I to call you out on it?


(captcha: "meet your waterloo" good one, captcha)

Speaking of money for research and development isn't Ninty building an entire new R&D building? I heard something like that around here but I'm too lazy to sift through 9 pages.

That they are. [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/309964/nintendo-pumping-pound127-million-into-new-rd-facility/] They also got rid of their NOA headquarters in Redmond, Washington.

That's really cool and only makes me more hopeful for the wii U's staying power and specs. Plus it feels me with glee that the NOA hq was bulldozed, that'll teach 'em for not giving us Mother 3!

 

[Treblaine]

Yeah.. I'm starting to get a little tired of people not doing any research before claiming that the Wii U is going to be about the tech level of the Xbox 360. That's just wrong, and there are plenty of very credible sources out there that can attest to that.

Actually, most of the building blocks of the Wii U have already been confirmed, just not which version of those are going to be used. And if you look at the lowest versions of those CPUs and GPUs, and then compare them to the more likely rumors about the PS4 and Xbox720 (you know, the ones that don't claim that they put a GPU with a street price of 500$ in it), you'll see that they are about on par.

And honestly, I don't know what makes that so hard to believe. Nintendo, even though have had a kinda rough last year, made tons of money with the Wii, and is now in a position where they can put the money in research and development to bring a more powerful console on the market (Mind you, the reason why we got the Wii was because at the time, Nintendo couldn't have competed with MS and Sony, simply because they didn't have the necessary cash).

But hey, if you guys just want to stick to what you believe rather then looking into the real data we already have available, who am I to call you out on it?


(captcha: "meet your waterloo" good one, captcha)

I have done the research and shown it to Matthew94 and he's accepted it.

You have not shown your research. You've said "look for yourself".
You have not accounted for how all demonstrated WiiU graphics have been on par with Xbox 360 and PS3.
You have not accounted for WiiU's stats unable to render 1080p with anti-aliasing (same capability as Xboc 360)

 

[Davroth]

I have done the research and shown it to Matthew94 and he's accepted it.

You have not shown your research. You've said "look for yourself".
You have not accounted for how all demonstrated WiiU graphics have been on par with Xbox 360 and PS3.
You have not accounted for WiiU's stats unable to render 1080p with anti-aliasing (same capability as Xboc 360)

As for what kind of tech is in the Wii U, let me refer to two videos linked before in this thread, that got unfortunately widely ignored.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcnsG11MRE8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIbhzMHzrQU

Add to that that Sony as a company is in deep financial trouble. Building and selling a console on par with a state of the art gaming PC at the price of a console (about 500-600$) is too much of a financial risk for them to actually do it realistically.

I will readily admit that MS could just use all their Windows money to sell something like that at a tremendous loss per unit in an attempt to push the competition out of business. I have no doubt that they have the funds to do that.

I don't accept your research. But this has been posted at least once before, around page 4 or 5, and it has been ignored back then.

 

[Treblaine]

-snip-

Take note that despite the Wii's lacking power and graphics compared to the 360 and PS3, it still managed to outsell them both.

I won't be surprised if the Wii U is the same story, especially considering that any Next Gen consoles released by Nintendo's competitors will be expensive as all hell.

so did the Playstation 2 als outsell ps3 and 360. Not surprising as both were de-facto previous generation hardware sold for cheap. Wii was CHEAP and low standard, that is why it sold well. Casual appeal of wii-mote only extended that appeal based on how it was already cheap an dthen for a limited time (disappeared by 2011).

WiiU is looking to be expensive, $350 or £280. Sources have already been provided if you read the thread.

 

[Treblaine]

I have done the research and shown it to Matthew94 and he's accepted it.

You have not shown your research. You've said "look for yourself".
You have not accounted for how all demonstrated WiiU graphics have been on par with Xbox 360 and PS3.
You have not accounted for WiiU's stats unable to render 1080p with anti-aliasing (same capability as Xboc 360)

As for what kind of tech is in the Wii U, let me refer to two videos linked before in this thread, that got unfortunately widely ignored.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcnsG11MRE8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIbhzMHzrQU

Add to that that Sony as a company is in deep financial trouble. Building and selling a console on par with a state of the art gaming PC at the price of a console (about 500-600$) is too much of a financial risk for them to actually do it realistically.

I will readily admit that MS could just use all their Windows money to sell something like that at a tremendous loss per unit in an attempt to push the competition out of business. I have no doubt that they have the funds to do that.

I don't accept your research. But this has been posted at least once before, around page 4 or 5, and it has been ignored back then.

Oh you "don't accept" my research? So blind denialism.

I have addressed the subject of those arguments made in those videos and you are the one ignoring what I have to add to them.

 

[Treblaine]

Walmart advertised the Wii U for 349$

http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=176472

Though that does by no means mean that it's confirmed it's worth noting that the true price of the Wii was leaked by Walmart, too.[/quote]

Then the Wii U is screwed. That it is 75% more expensive than the Xbox 360 has been $199 for a long time now and the WiiU is launching with a load of ports of 360/ps3 games that look graphically identical to the PS3/360 version. Pikmin 3 looks no better than any xbox 360 game. This is NOT a "next-gen" system, it cannot HONESTLY justify costing $150 more.

Xbox with kinect bundle is selling for $280 in many places

 

[Active Schizophrenic]

Sadly, there is a startlingly large number of people claiming they will purchase the WiiU on release, regardless of any events leading to that time or the quality of the product itself. I personally see the item as little more than a larger DS and have no doubt in my mind that some time from now, the general opinion will be a mixture of disappointment and apathy--much the same as the 3DS and the Wii before it.

Why is people wanting to buy a console at launch a "sad" thing when they've shown an awesome launch and near launch line-up? I'm getting it because they've got Pikmin 3, ZombiU, AC3, Scribblenauts, an awesome looking Lego City game, Rayman Legends, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Darksiders 2, Arkham City, Metro Last Light and more coming out for it at launch or near launch. I'm also buying it because really, I'm a PC gamer at heart, so I don't want something that I can use to just play less graphically impressive ports of games I can get cheaper on the PC, which is why if the next Xbox or Playstation just stick to the same formula I'm not buying them. I want something new, innovative and fresh and I'm sure the industry needs something like that, that's why I'm getting the Wii U.

Lol, Are you me? This is pretty much my exact opinion down to the last point!

 

[Torrasque]

I still don't care how good a game's graphics are if the gameplay is crap, which defines a lot of Playstation games.
I'll buy myself a Wii U because the games are going to be awesome, not because it will have the newest and greatest graphics. If I wanted the newest and greatest graphics, I'd play PC.

 

[Davroth]

I have done the research and shown it to Matthew94 and he's accepted it.

You have not shown your research. You've said "look for yourself".
You have not accounted for how all demonstrated WiiU graphics have been on par with Xbox 360 and PS3.
You have not accounted for WiiU's stats unable to render 1080p with anti-aliasing (same capability as Xboc 360)

As for what kind of tech is in the Wii U, let me refer to two videos linked before in this thread, that got unfortunately widely ignored.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcnsG11MRE8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIbhzMHzrQU

Add to that that Sony as a company is in deep financial trouble. Building and selling a console on par with a state of the art gaming PC at the price of a console (about 500-600$) is too much of a financial risk for them to actually do it realistically.

I will readily admit that MS could just use all their Windows money to sell something like that at a tremendous loss per unit in an attempt to push the competition out of business. I have no doubt that they have the funds to do that.

I don't accept your research. But this has been posted at least once before, around page 4 or 5, and it has been ignored back then.

Oh you "don't accept" my research? So blind denialism.

I have addressed the subject of those arguments made in those videos and you are the one ignoring what I have to add to them.

There are no arguments made in this video. It's a simple side by side comparison of the console's specs, based on confirmed data. If you believe to know better I'm afraid you are the one in denial here.

But let's just address the above points one by one.

"You have not accounted for how all demonstrated WiiU graphics have been on par with Xbox 360 and PS3."

That's a simple one. Just look at the Xbox 360 launch titles compared to the last Xbox titles. It wasn't a quantum leap by any stretch of the imagination. And even more telling, compare those early Xbox 360 titles to the ones from this year. With time, developers learn to use a console more effectively. It's simple as that.

"You have not accounted for WiiU's stats unable to render 1080p with anti-aliasing (same capability as Xbox 360)"

I have no idea how you can know that. You don't happen to have a dev kit, do you?
I ran a search on that and the only thing I found is that first party games are going to 720p for now, but that the console is perfectly capable of rendering 1080p.

 

[dragongit]

So my initial price of 400 dollars wansn't too far off. I was meerly making an example since from what it was worth I didn't hear a price announced at E3 itself. I still stand to believe that Sony and Microsoft will try and develope harder tech then the Wii U.

As it stands, nobody knows either way how powerful the next two systems will be. We have a general idea what the WiiU will be like, but those saying that it will be equal to the PS4 or Xbox3 are giving as much speculation as those who doubt it.

I know the Wii sold more then the PS3 and 360, everyone knows it. In terms of games that are worth getting (as far as personal opinion goes) I haven't found much in the last few years alone. Honestly the majority of my collection of Wii games are Sonic games from being exclusives to the system. Despite the bad games I'm on of those die hard fans. Everything else, I've tried other games, even NSMB Wii and found it dull and samey. It feels like in terms of overall games that are sold are on the PS3 and 360. Call of Duty, Gears of War, God of War, Uncharted, Skyrim, have more substancial sales overall then the Wii's collection.

I hate to be that guy who keeps arguing when I'm perhaps a lot less intelligent then the average joe, but I've always been keen to the next cool thing, and Nintendo's new system, even with their own exclusive titles haven't tickled any sweet spots on me. I perhaps am caring FAR too much then I should, and should have let my own topic drop long ago, but my own curiosity wonders if lightning will strike twice, or if the demographic has moved onto something else. Even at 350 dollars I'm not convinced in dishing out cash for it. Not until a larger exclusive library builds and I see for myself it's true potential.

I would love to be stood corrected, I've not seen the full potential of the WiiU, nor have I even begun to see the compeditors potential. Until then, I'll start a small savings for myself, and see where it goes to.