wii U

[Sel Feena]

^ Tsk. Oh, you!

I'm definitely interested in seeing how this system will be picked up and used by devs, but my initial knee-jerk reaction is 'this a joke, right?'. I can deffo see potential, but we'll see I guess.

[pratty]

I bet if the Wii-U was basically just a white, "gimmick"-less PS3 clone, launched with a Zelda game given the POP: Warrior Within treatment, more people would be looking forward to it.

[Rayne]

The thing is I cannot ever view Nintendo as catering to the hardcore. They'll have to bend over backwards to convince me otherwise and, even if they do, I'd have already bought a PS4 by the time they manage it

[Joey]

I bet if the Wii-U was basically just a white, "gimmick"-less PS3 clone, launched with a Zelda game given the POP: Warrior Within treatment, more people would be looking forward to it.

Nah they will wait till the console is practically dead before releasing the Zelda game.

[Freestyler]

I will only buy the Wii U if nobody else does. I'll then spend the rest of the decade proclaiming how "Leet" I am for my gaming nous.

[retrosofer]

Nintendo missed quite a few tricks with the Wii, i hope they know they got to pull out all the stops for the Wii U.

[pratty]

Nintendo missed quite a few tricks with the Wii, i hope they know they got to pull out all the stops for the Wii U.

I think they do learn from their mistakes but with every generation comes the opportunity to make more. I think Nintendo do listen to what's up with their consoles and try to address those issues with the next hardware. The problem is when they go the next step of experimenting (dare I also say innovating?) and add features, it's also an opportunity to get them wrong and they often create more problems for themselves that need rectifying in future. For example they improved on the DS/DSi in many ways with the 3DS, but also stumbled over some of the new stuff in the process.

Generally I think Nintendo's hardware is going forward but it does feel a bit like 2 steps forwards and 1 step back instead of the big 3 step leap it could be, for example the DS probably should have gone straight from no analogue circle to two with the 3DS. But to be fair nobody's perfect and I still give credit for trying new and sometimes risky stuff even though it doesn't always work as it might first time around.

[Misery]

Actually Atari made them popular for a time and then turned the public against them in a few years and nearly killed them. Nintendo reignited the passion that has lasted for nearly 3 decades. Most people point to Ninteno for introducing Nintendo to Gaming. Atari was a blip. Nintendo is where the industry took off to where it is now.

Nintendo had to clean up Ataris mess.

And then they made their own, all over the rug.

[thevulture]

'I think they do learn from their mistakes but with every generation comes the opportunity to make more'

Very wise words there Pratty.Only to look at Sony with it's latest entry into the hardware market:Got the developers on board, gave the hardware the upgrades people felt were missing from the PSP, got the software right for Europe and USA, but major mistakes made on:Price of memory cards and NO Monster Hunter for Japan, Epic fail i feel, espically since it was doing wonders for PSP.

With titles like Ghost Recon, Ninja Gaiden 3, A.C 3 etc on board, Nintendo clearly trying to say, look our hardware caters for all, but unless the Wii U specific features in these games are something special, danger is it'll be seen as a gimmick and gamers will be happy to stick with PS3/360 versions.Take more than cosmetic differences such as slighty higher resolution, better frame rate.Folks will be thinking..yeah, nice, but wonder what PS4/Xbox Next games will look like.

[pratty]

With titles like Ghost Recon, Ninja Gaiden 3, A.C 3 etc on board, Nintendo clearly trying to say, look our hardware caters for all, but unless the Wii U specific features in these games are something special, danger is it'll be seen as a gimmick and gamers will be happy to stick with PS3/360 versions.Take more than cosmetic differences such as slighty higher resolution, better frame rate.Folks will be thinking..yeah, nice, but wonder what PS4/Xbox Next games will look like.

That's the gamble isn't it. With the Wii-U Nintendo are competing against consoles that basically don't even exist yet. What do they aim for technically? They could shoot for the moon but then the console would be very expensive, and Nintendo like to make profit on hardware if they can.

The flipside is that going first means they can get a head-start and establish themselves, and hopefully acquire a substantial user base already invested in the Wii-U when their competitors arrive. As things stand, once again (not counting phones and tablets etc) Nintendo will be the only big manufacturer with new hardware out this Christmas. How many people claimed they were waiting for the Vita eventually caved and got a 3DS last year instead basically because it was there and the Vita wasn't?

[thevulture]

Not wishing to 'knock' the consumer, but if Sony could sell PS2 on the back of vast hype of Emotion Engine and list of meaningless as far as games go, but it destroys Dreamcast specs on paper, so public ignores things Dreamcast is auctually offering and delivering, in favour of what might be...

Then i honestly hink Nintendo may well have it's work cut out for it.No new Xbox at E3 this year, gives MS (and indeed Sony) plenty of time to see what final features Wii U has, how they are used etc and offer similar, but 'improved' features in their next consoles and of course they'll have the extra string in their bow of newer and more powerful tech, so Nintendo console will be seen as the less powerful console again.

Not that it effected sales this generation, but places like Digital Foundary comments section, sure will be ripe with choice comments when Wii U version is compared to other platforms.

[Antiriad2097]

Not wishing to 'knock' the consumer, but if Sony could sell PS2 on the back of vast hype of Emotion Engine and list of meaningless as far as games go, but it destroys Dreamcast specs on paper, so public ignores things Dreamcast is auctually offering and delivering, in favour of what might be...

But Sony didn't do that. What they did do was generate a huge, justifiable fan base with the PS1. Give the promise of more of the same, but better, or more of Sega's broken promises, there's no way I was buying a DC. And sure enough, just as they pulled the rug from the 32X and Mega CD, then bodged the Saturn, DC didn't get some of the big titles it needed and they killed it young. It had some great games while it lasted, but I'm not buying into a system for just a couple of years, its a long term investment.

(incidentally, I didn't get a PS2 until a while after the slim arrived, I had a GC for that gen).

[The Laird]

Not wishing to 'knock' the consumer, but if Sony could sell PS2 on the back of vast hype of Emotion Engine and list of meaningless as far as games go, but it destroys Dreamcast specs on paper, so public ignores things Dreamcast is auctually offering and delivering, in favour of what might be....

Some of that nonsense still makes me laugh and really makes you wonder just how stupid people are for believing it.

[adippm82]

But Sony didn't do that. What they did do was generate a huge, justifiable fan base with the PS1. Give the promise of more of the same, but better, or more of Sega's broken promises, there's no way I was buying a DC. And sure enough, just as they pulled the rug from the 32X and Mega CD, then bodged the Saturn, DC didn't get some of the big titles it needed and they killed it young. It had some great games while it lasted, but I'm not buying into a system for just a couple of years, its a long term investment.
(incidentally, I didn't get a PS2 until a while after the slim arrived, I had a GC for that gen).

Add to this the very appealing promise which was kept...backwards compatibility, I could play almost all my old games on the PS2, and did so for quite a while, was able to use the PS1 memory cards, did not have to buy a second joypad, as my ps1 dual shock worked just fine. As well as gaining a second DVD player for the spare room, hell even my steering wheel worked for a good while afterwards, and my PS1 fighting stick is still plugged into the ps2 to this day.

The Dreamcast however needed all new memory cards, new controllers, new fighting stick, so I for one waited for the PS2, and bought a Dreamcast much later on.

I was utterly tired of Sega by the time of the Dreamcast release, having bought a Saturn, almost 60 games and all the wheels, sticks and other gubbings, only to see it swept away almost overnight.

I did not feel remotely stupid for following up the PS1 with the PS2.

[thevulture]

@Antiriad2097:as alway's i can only speak from my own, personal exp.at the time, but lot of people i knew, who were NOT PS One owners, bought into all the hyperbole Sony were pumping into the media about 'power' of PS2, they honestly were expecting 'Toy Story' visuals.

Did'nt help with tabloids bigging it up either-Sony banning console exports to axis of evil type places as 'fear' PS2 so powerful it could be used for missile guidance, number crunching on nuclear material processing etc.

Friend of mine who ran just 3 indie game stores back then and i bought my launch Dreamcast off, said so many customers refused to even try a DC, and this had nothing to do with Sega's failures with hardware before it, people bought into this 'imagined' power of the PS2 and were expecting photo-realistic visuals.