Wii 2 possible specs leaked.
- Thread starter Haggis and tatties
- Start date
Let's not forget the "Wii Blast" light gun peripheral.
Ok, that's enough.
Ok, that's enough.
Here's an anecdote that I found interesting:
My mother has a Wii (and Wii Fit), so I showed her the video to see what her recation of it was as a very casual gamer and it was a mixture of confusion and disappointment. The disappointment was because she was expecting some sort of controller-free system like the Kinect, not a big controller that wasn't at all intuitive. She said that it looks like it would be useful for hardcore games, but not casual games.
Obviously, we can't extrapolate anything definitive from the opinion of a single person, but I think she may be expressing the opinion that a lot of people will have. For some casual gamers, the Kinect is the next natural step in the evolution of accessible gaming, whereas the Wii U appears to be a step back towards the sort of games they're not interested in.
My mother has a Wii (and Wii Fit), so I showed her the video to see what her recation of it was as a very casual gamer and it was a mixture of confusion and disappointment. The disappointment was because she was expecting some sort of controller-free system like the Kinect, not a big controller that wasn't at all intuitive. She said that it looks like it would be useful for hardcore games, but not casual games.
Obviously, we can't extrapolate anything definitive from the opinion of a single person, but I think she may be expressing the opinion that a lot of people will have. For some casual gamers, the Kinect is the next natural step in the evolution of accessible gaming, whereas the Wii U appears to be a step back towards the sort of games they're not interested in.
Yep, see, there we go. It's exactly that kind of reaction that I was trying to present in my other posts. It just really seems to me that the controller might actually be adding a layer of complexity and confusion for those who might not be so savvy.
It's the buttons and the d-pad that are off-putting. If they left those off and showed people using it to play Bejeweled Twist (currently on WiiWare) there wouldn't be an aversion. Given the Remote, Nunchuck and CC Pro will all be supported there's really no reason for those to be there other than using the screen on the display to play games without a TV.
Nintendo hasn't always been that skillful with their marketing, but I'm sure they can overcome that aversion.
Nintendo hasn't always been that skillful with their marketing, but I'm sure they can overcome that aversion.
I think the biggest obstacle for casual gamers and the Wii-U is going to be that dusty Wii sitting on top of the vcr. I think many will remember how excited they were years ago and how quickly that faded.
Being able to play your game on a small screen is actually kind of cool depending on how far away you're allowed to take it away from the system. It's kind of a really rare situation in which you'd want to watch something and someone else wants to play a game. With video on demand and most people with computers there's really many number of ways this problem gets solved that doesn't involve buying another console. If it's really just giving you the option to play the game in front of the TV while the tv is on something else... PiP allowed you to do that years ago. If you can say go all the way to your room or something I could see kids liking it. Being able to play a little more before bedtime is probably pretty convenient.
In a way it kind of works with how things are socially these days. Go to any given social gathering and you'll find at least half the people curled around their smart phones in their private internet bubble anyways. Maybe Nintendo is being smart and trying to get ahead of the curve here. The heart of social interaction is now all about staring at your own private screen dead to the world.
In the end though for me it falls in the same trap the Wii fell in to. It may be a cool idea, but not something to build a system around. I know the Wii sold a bajillion units, but I'd say the 360 won this generation because people actually play it and buy games for it.
Being able to play your game on a small screen is actually kind of cool depending on how far away you're allowed to take it away from the system. It's kind of a really rare situation in which you'd want to watch something and someone else wants to play a game. With video on demand and most people with computers there's really many number of ways this problem gets solved that doesn't involve buying another console. If it's really just giving you the option to play the game in front of the TV while the tv is on something else... PiP allowed you to do that years ago. If you can say go all the way to your room or something I could see kids liking it. Being able to play a little more before bedtime is probably pretty convenient.
In a way it kind of works with how things are socially these days. Go to any given social gathering and you'll find at least half the people curled around their smart phones in their private internet bubble anyways. Maybe Nintendo is being smart and trying to get ahead of the curve here. The heart of social interaction is now all about staring at your own private screen dead to the world.
In the end though for me it falls in the same trap the Wii fell in to. It may be a cool idea, but not something to build a system around. I know the Wii sold a bajillion units, but I'd say the 360 won this generation because people actually play it and buy games for it.
Kudos to the Xbox division at Microsoft for finally making a profit, however modest during the course of this generation, but I think Nintendo wins in the making-money department hands-down and given all three companies concerned are publicly-owned that's the only relevant measure.
Nintendo no doubt have made money with the Wii though they did make losses towards end of 2010. The 360 seems to have a solid price at the moment and sales are still solid enough + Kinect itself is sold at a profit and is seeing strong sales despite lack of software.
I think Live revenue and software sales in the end will give Microsoft a very nice smile at the end of this generation before the 3rd X Box is released in 2014 or 2015 by all accounts.
I think Live revenue and software sales in the end will give Microsoft a very nice smile at the end of this generation before the 3rd X Box is released in 2014 or 2015 by all accounts.
Sales might have dropped off and Nintendo might have posted lower earnings, but I don't think they were actually posting losses.
Microsoft on the other hand has been running the Xbox division in the red since inception; it'll take a long time to make up for that, but agreed they've done well with the Xbox Live service and the 360 despite massive quality control issues.
I'm actually impressed by the concept of the tablet gamepad and especially it's connection to the TV display and the possibilities it offers.
It remains to be seen what comes out of it.. it has the potential to be too burdensome and complicated but it also offers something new and that's what Nintendo does best.. find new ways to entertain people.
It remains to be seen what comes out of it.. it has the potential to be too burdensome and complicated but it also offers something new and that's what Nintendo does best.. find new ways to entertain people.
Good for them and their stock holders or people that care about stocks, not so much for consumers or gamers. The PowerBand also sells like crazy and makes tons of money because how cheap it is to make, but I'd hesitate to call it the medical product of the year. For what's a relevant measure for me as a gamer, the 360 did the best. It delivered games, and the thought of Microsoft not making as much money off of me somehow didn't dampen my entertainment.
I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who thought the Wii delivered more quantity and quality of gaming than the 360 did. (Quality maybe for people who really like Nintendo games.) The Wii started off with a lot of promise but has basically gone the same way the gamecube did in the end. One or two tried and true sequels a year and largely nothing else. But hey they made money! Hoooray?
There's a scrabble game for the iPad that I played over Christmas, which I thought was ingenious. The main game table was played on the iPad while the letter trays were the iPhones/iPod Touch, and you'd flick the letters you want onto the play screen where you'd assemble your word. I assume something like that could be done here with this, the difference being that you'd pass around the controller when it's your turn to choose the letters from your tray.
Was there any confirmation on how many of these screens the console will drive? I wonder if there's a bandwidth limit on sending that much info wirelessly. Like if there's a limit for one screen for full video and multiple screens only doing simple video like menu's and whatnot. Everything they've showed so far is with only one controller.
Following on from what I said earlier, I showed my dad the video today to get his opinion as a self-confessed technophobe that manages to enjoy playing Wii. He said that it looked "cumbersome" and, without any prompting from me, he said that something like Kinect is "the direction that they should be going".
What gets me about what they're saying is that they've actually played the Kinect, my brother has one and we played it over Christmas, so even though they know that the Kinect is crap, it still looks more enticing to them than the Wii U. They can see the usefulness that having a touch-screen on the controller presents, but they're just not interested.
What gets me about what they're saying is that they've actually played the Kinect, my brother has one and we played it over Christmas, so even though they know that the Kinect is crap, it still looks more enticing to them than the Wii U. They can see the usefulness that having a touch-screen on the controller presents, but they're just not interested.
I think your mom has it spot on. I absolutely love the Wii U's controller and think it will lead to some fantastic games that will please me. The keyword here is me. Marketing towards my type of gamer is business suicide for anyone. Nintendo has certainly earned the benefit of the doubt from gamers, but I'm puzzled by their strategy.
That seems a bit weak, but I expect it ain't gonna be cheap.
Sadly, only Sony made a profit in 2011. Nintendo and Microsoft both took loses, though nowhere near as bad as in years' past. (Sony managed to pull ahead thanks to the Slim's brisk sales, despite killing the PSPGo. Nintendo had a year off from the DS shipping, effectively. Microsoft is just spending like drunken sailors to keep up their exclusives, etc. No one expects Microsoft to see black.)
^ Microsoft made a loss for the year due to Kinect but this year they expect to make a tidy profit.
Pathetic, just pathetic.
I am also hearing...
Pathetic, just pathetic.
I am also hearing...
One of the bigger problems the Wii had in getting main-stream games was that the Wii was under-powered so multi-console games had to have versions made specifically for the Wii rather than minor tweaks for XBox version over the PS3 version not to mention the interface had to be specifically designed for the Wii over the other consoles.
This Wii U system is going to be faced with similar problems games will have to be specifically designed for the Wii's atypical controller. And man I thought the N64's controller was clunky and unwieldy, how are you going to bowl or play tennis with that thing? (And yeah, I know the original Wiimote will be backwards compatible) I just don't get this controller design at all you should be able to just sit down and play the game with your hands easily able to manipulate the buttons and pads. Not sit down with a giant rectangle.
This Wii U system is going to be faced with similar problems games will have to be specifically designed for the Wii's atypical controller. And man I thought the N64's controller was clunky and unwieldy, how are you going to bowl or play tennis with that thing? (And yeah, I know the original Wiimote will be backwards compatible) I just don't get this controller design at all you should be able to just sit down and play the game with your hands easily able to manipulate the buttons and pads. Not sit down with a giant rectangle.