Official Wii U Discussion Thread

"If the conversation is only really about whether the power is going to match up to another generation of hardware from, say, Sony or Microsoft, I can't answer that question yet. [Wii U] might not be as powerful as those systems when they eventually do come around. But I think that the more important question is... It's not just about power alone, but how to balance what you're offering in terms of power with cost.

The cost to performance ratio is something we do spend a lot of time thinking about. We also think about the environment that we're designing for. So in today's living room, where there are a lot of HDTVs, but they're not yet mostly 3D TVs, I think the console is certainly adequately powerful to create gaming experiences that will look really good on those displays. But whenever we talk about who's winning in a power competition, I think it's easy to lose sight of whether a game is fun or not. Which is certainly going to be more important to me.

I think that we have enough power here to bring the kind of advanced games you see on other hardware in a totally unique form, that is different from the way it's realized in other places. In the case of Wii, we had a really clear decision, because we did not go HD on that platform, we stayed SD. That decision was based on the number of HD displays that were actually in people's homes, and that number has certainly changed since then as well. But at the same time, like now, we're thinking about how to balance our ability to bring a completely unique experience to consumers along with the cost that they'll have to pay to be able to have that experience in the first place. I'm very happy with the balance that we've been able to strike. What's left is how developers use it." - Shigeru Miyamoto

[Miyamoto also discussed the differences in Wii U's hardware and controller since last year's E3 reveal]

"The system itself hasn't really changed. In order to maintain a consistent development environment, you really have to fix your specs at one point and let people know what they're designing for, so they can make good progress.

Yes, the GamePad itself has changed a lot. One of the things we've focused on was making sure it would be very easy for players who are accustomed to the 3DS to pick it up and find it comfortable to use. So to that extent, we lengthened the sticks a little bit, we added the ability to press down on the sticks, and overall I feel like we really were able to improve the quality of that hardware a lot. I'm excited about the prospects of people using the gyro to look around as a second monitor in somewhat hardcore games. That was something we really wanted to add. We spent a lot of time doing hand-holding tests, to make sure that the hardware felt really comfortable. And as a result, we improved the grip and how it feels when you access the L and R buttons, which resulted in a very different overall shape, I think, that is very comfortable."

"If the conversation is only really about whether the power is going to match up to another generation of hardware from, say, Sony or Microsoft, I can't answer that question yet. [Wii U] might not be as powerful as those systems when they eventually do come around."

Of course. I know it's impossible to compare it to Microsoft's and Sony's next consoles. How about comparing it to an Xbox 360? That would be a worthwhile comparison, Nintendo.

Nintendo Direct Coming this Friday:

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/nintendo_direct/index.html

Nintendo now co owns the Project Zero / Fatal Frame IP

http://www.vg247.com/2012/06/21/report-nintendo-has-co-ownership-in-fatal-frame-ip/comment-page-1/

Linkyshinks said:

Nintendo now co owns the Project Zero / Fatal Frame IP

http://www.vg247.com/2012/06/21/report-nintendo-has-co-ownership-in-fatal-frame-ip/comment-page-1/

I'm sure this is very old news.

Linkyshinks said:
Nintendo Direct Coming this Friday:

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/nintendo_direct/index.html

And now my night off is complete.

Stulaw said:

Linkyshinks said:

Nintendo now co owns the Project Zero / Fatal Frame IP

http://www.vg247.com/2012/06/21/report-nintendo-has-co-ownership-in-fatal-frame-ip/comment-page-1/

I'm sure this is very old news.

It's not, this was only confirmed yesterday.

The shaking in that video looks like it'd be annoying, especially when you're trying to look at the screen. I hope they give you the option of just pressing a button in addition to shaking the controller.

I didn't even know you could shake when I played it on the GamePad. Don't worry, TAG - you can hit the ZR trigger to use the Yoshi item, rather than shaking. I assume spin jumping is done the same way - I didn't test that out. When using Wii Remotes you have to shake, but don't know if a button can be used instead.

Must.. resist...trashing last gen... graphics...

Yup - it's also mapped to the shoulder button (the spin in NSMB Wii U) - but I felt more inclined to just shake it! J

Azuardo said:
I didn't even know you could shake when I played it on the GamePad. Don't worry, TAG - you can hit the ZR trigger to use the Yoshi item, rather than shaking. I assume spin jumping is done the same way - I didn't test that out. When using Wii Remotes you have to shake, but don't know if a button can be used instead.

JB (guest) said:
Yup - it's also mapped to the shoulder button (the spin in NSMB Wii U) - but I felt more inclined to just shake it! J

Thanks! I think it'd be fine to shake the Wii Remote around, but the Gamepad looks like it'd be kind of awkward. Glad there's a button.

That woman seemed to be over doing it with the shake, I'm confident you don't need to be that aggressive.

Sony wants to WooU into using it's memory for WiiU

http://gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=180129

Shantae in works for Wii U.

http://www.nintendojo.com/features/interviews/e3-2012-interview-with-wayforward

ND: Speaking of Shantae, is there anything coming down the pipeline that you can talk about?

Voldi: Um, I mean, I wish I could say something specific, but we are working on it. Like I would expect to see it on, you know, Wii U, uh, it’s just, I don’t want to commit to a time because it always gets- even though we have been working on it, you know, like I said it gets pushed to the back burner, so um, originally we were hoping to have something for launch, but that’s clearly not going to happen. But yeah, Shantae is definitely in the works, and the last one, Risky’s Revenge, kind of left off on, like, a down note, so we have to address that, right? So yeah, definitely more Shantae, for sure.

Best news for WiiU by far ! Wayforward are the kings of 2D for me, in this generation. The idea of seeing them at work on an HD adaptation of their best title yet is a fantastic prospect .

WiiU's online functionality will be free. That's good to know. I've been frustrated with how much Microsoft charges for Live and that a Live subscription is required for almost everything (even Netflix, which requires a separate subscription fee).

I just hope playing multiplayer games is better than on the Wii.

http://mynintendonews.com/2012/07/01/square-enixs-next-gen-luminous-engine-scalable-from-next-gen-to-ipad/

First, please let me elaborate on the social communities for the Wii U in your question. For the Wii U, we are developing a system where consumers exchange their impressions, opinions and senses of accomplishment about games they play with each other through the network functions I mentioned before. We announced it with the service name of “Miiverse” just before E3 this year.

On the other hand, it is true that there are people who behave very badly in the world of computer networks, even though they constitute a very small percentage of the network population. In a community where anonymity is protected, there are those who think that no one will be able to identify who they are no matter how rude they are, and these people sometimes engage in socially-prohibited comments or behaviors that could make other people feel hurt or uncomfortable. That is one point we need to consider. When I answered the previous question on the costs associated with network service operations, I was actually intending to include our determination in this field. Taking this opportunity, let me elaborate on this point further. Above all, how much energy we will pour into the actual operations of such services is going to be very important. More specifically, we have never thought that we would simply build up an environment where we could let our consumers exchange any and all comments freely. We have never intended to operate the service in that way. Everybody knows that there will always be a certain number of people who do not behave themselves in such a community. We have several plans and formats, including the elimination of comments from such people, and other ways to prevent children from being exposed to them. I am afraid I cannot tell you more about our protective measures because the fact is that if we disclose any details here, some might start thinking how to circumvent them to annoy Nintendo. Anyway, we will work steadily on this matter by spending sufficient energy and, if necessary, financial costs.

In addition, there have recently been negative campaigns on the Internet in which false opinions are deliberately posted to ruin the reputation of a product. Such vicious rumors are a big problem and could be considered business interference. On the other hand, however, it is very difficult to tell consumers’ real complaints from those that are posted as part of a negative campaign. If we were to delete anything negative about our games, it could constitute a suppression of free speech and you would not able to believe in even a good reputation. Luckily, those who are engaged just to be engaged in negative campaigns are in fact just a fraction of all users. Therefore, in a community in which a number of users with fair opinions exist, opinions posted just for the purpose of a negative campaign will be gradually overwhelmed by the majority of posts of fair impressions. Also, if a number of game players put a remark to indicate “I think this comment is inappropriate,” the subject comments will be seen as unreliable and thereby decreases their influence on other consumers. In that sense, in the world of the Internet, we cannot afford to always act on “the ethical doctrine that human nature is fundamentally good.” At the same time, however, we would like to believe in the possibility of “the wisdom of crowds,” which could create a very interesting and fascinating world, and make efforts for the services to realize it in one way or another.

- Satoru Iwata

Miyamoto: As I am getting older, I have already started thinking of Nintendo without me in the future and I strongly feel that the company has steadily been preparing for doing business after I leave here. However, last year when I said at an interview overseas that I was doing various things in prospect of Nintendo without me, it led to a direct report on my retirement. So I am aware I have to be careful in talking about this sort of thing.

Iwata: He told the media that he kept referring to his coming retirement in his department to encourage his subordinates not to rely on him too much. Then suddenly a report of the retirement of Shigeru Miyamoto appeared.

Miyamoto: Even now, I am making things and interested in the creative side just as I was before. However, with regard to the big picture of, say, a new “Mario Kart” or the “Super Mario” series, younger people are already taking the main roles and I am just thinking as one of their co-workers. One big thing I recently handled is the Audioguide Louvre - Nintendo 3DS, referred to earlier in this meeting. This has not made money yet, but it has the potential to be one of our core businesses in the future. We are making a game called “Nintendo Land,” but apart from making such games, I often think of other things, such as what the future of the Japanese movie industry will be like. I do not have any concrete visions yet, but I am trying to keep my eyes on a variety of fields and to find any small possibilities for Nintendo to be involved in one way or the other. I should be careful about telling you about these things and I would like to add that we are not announcing any concrete business plans here. I would also be glad if you carefully tell someone else about my remarks. Among these big things in our future prospects, it is so important to carefully choose the next project, and I myself have decided on a specific project like the network issue mentioned before. As I would like people working on each project to be able to do that kind of thing by themselves in the future, I repeatedly say to them that today might be my last day at Nintendo and work with them today at the forefront of development. However, I enjoy creating things and will be in active service at Nintendo for the time being. I hope you will look forward to our future products.

Iwata: What I can add is that Mr. Miyamoto still will be actively creating things but we are working for the transition of power to go to younger people at the same time. Naturally the directors here will inevitably become too old to be able to continue their current positions someday and Nintendo might decrease its competitiveness without competent replacements. We are proceeding with preparations to avoid that situation.

Next 'Super Smash Bros.' might not have a much larger roster

There is a certain charm to games that have huge casts of playable characters, but they tend to have issues with game balance and it becomes very difficult to fine-tune each character and have them all feel distinctive.

My problem with what's said there is that Sakurai has said that he doesn't want SSB to be considered a competitive fighter. So if that's the case, then why even talk about balancing issues for a high numbered roster of characters. Unless these changes to SSB U are to put the game on a more competitive level then yes balancing is a huge problem. Putting in all the work to balance out characters only to throw tripping in the mix was pointless. Why waste all your time on that when extra characters can be added into the game. Hopefully that bit of news means the next smash is going to have a more balanced system, and not a chance of rolling the dice to see rather you win or lose.

As you have just suggested, clearly indicating our growth strategy is probably one way to look at the issue of improving our share price immediately, and speaking as a shareholder of 5,600 shares myself, I understand very well that you are dissatisfied with Nintendo’s current stock price.

However, I would like you to look back on what we have done so far. We said, “We are going to sell the Nintendo DS in this way and expand the gaming population.” We did as we said we would. Did the share price rise at the time of our making this statement? No, it did not. It only rose once the Nintendo DS started to sell well. We also said, “With the Wii, we are going to get people who have never played games to play games.” We achieved what we said we would. But the share price did not rise (at the time of announcing this vision) but it only did so after (the Wii started to sell well). In the end, it’s all about results. Therefore, we believe what we need to do now is show results.

I am of course aware that some people say, “Nintendo’s business model is perhaps now outdated.” Some concern themselves over what Nintendo needs to adapt itself to, and one particular problem they see is how we are going to utilize the Internet and decide what to keep of our existing business model, and what to change from it. As we have already announced the other day, one of our answers to this problem is digital distribution of packaged software, in which “by digitally distributing packaged software, Nintendo will build upon its strengths and prepare itself against changes in the times, and also changes in our business environment.” Again, since this endeavor has no precedent, I do not believe that you will be able to acknowledge the significance of it until we can say how much our digital business has produced in sales and how much it has contributed to our earnings.

Of course, it is one of my duties to talk about the future of Nintendo through IR and PR opportunities, and in regard to the criticism that because my remarks, “lack persuasiveness, the share price is at this level,” I would like to sincerely accept it as an opinion. On the other hand, we are doing everything that we can do and have prepared ourselves well, and I do believe that it is now a matter of showing the results. We would like to fulfill our duties upon showing to you how our work bears fruit and materializes itself in the form of Nintendo 3DS and Wii U sales figures and profit.

Finally, another issue is that the visibility of the future software lineup is unclear. During E3, titles for the overseas markets were highlighted and the titles we introduced then were only the ones to be available at the launch time and within the launch window period, which might make you wonder, “What will become of the software in the next year?” It is our intention to convey a strong message this fall with the information about the price and the launch date and then to create momentum good enough to convince our consumers to buy (the Wii U), but currently, there must be some concerns. Overall, we believe that the current share price has been determined based on what I mentioned today. In the near term, with the introduction of the Nintendo 3DS XL followed by new software titles in July and August, the most important issue is to what degree we can change the business momentum of the Nintendo 3DS in the world. Then, subsequently, when we launch the Wii U, we intend to announce the next step by saying what will happen in the future, and by doing this, we would like to change the evaluation in the market.

- Satoru Iwata

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/stock/meeting/120628qa/04.html

We cannot promise that the Wii U will never be excluded from multiplatform software for eternity, but we can at least assure you that the Wii U will not have such a big difference as the Wii had in comparison to how, on other platforms, developers could expect very different graphic capabilities of generating HD-applicable high-resolution graphics. Other companies might launch a next-generation console with more power, but we don’t necessarily think that the difference between the Wii U and such console will be as drastic as what you felt it was between the Wii and the other consoles because there will be fewer and fewer differentiators in graphics. Naturally some consumers are very sensitive about such a small difference in graphics so that we will make efforts to make the most of the performance of the Wii U to keep up with technological innovations and not to make the system out-of-date soon. However, as the structure of the product called the Wii U is as if we are including both a video game console and a handheld device, if we were not careful about how luxurious both of them were, we could end up having to offer the price of the two hardware systems combined, which would not be an acceptable price for the consumers. We had to design it by balancing the performance and the costs.

I am not sure this is an appropriate expression, but video game consoles have long been “parasites” of TV sets at home. In other words, game consoles have used TV sets in a family instead of being equipped with their own screen. However, the Wii U will be the first console free from TV sets, in which you can play the Wii U while someone else is watching TV or you yourself can watch TV while using the Wii U. As you can experience deeper entertainment with both the Wii U GamePad and the TV screen, we would like to enrich it but, at the same time, we hope to furnish it with games you can enjoy only with the Wii U GamePad. In addition, games on two screens are not just the same with what we did for the Nintendo DS. As the TV screen can be distant from the Wii U GamePad, not like the Nintendo 3DS, we can offer different options for use. Also, in multiplayer games, a player with the Wii U GamePad will play a different role from those with Wii Remote controllers. We are thinking of what we call “asymmetric game play,” in which players have different roles in one game, like in Tag. The player with the Wii U GamePad will be able to know what other players are doing when they are playing on the TV screen. The Wii U GamePad will work as a window where you can communicate with other players in their living rooms. We say that the Wii U GamePad could be a “Social Window,” or a window to link your living rooms to others’.

- Iwata

CPU processing speed lower than PS3 and 360, according to Harada-san.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/news/a392539/wii-u-processing-speed-low-compared-to-360-ps3-says-tekken-producer.html

Little Inferno (Teaser Trailer)

Not sure what genre this is, but as you can probably see (I know I recognised the art style straight away) the designers of the game are none other than 2D Boy! (The creators of World of Goo). It's also designed by the guys that brought us Henry Hatsworth, so expect great things.

The dev team is known as the "Tomorrow Corporation" and it consists of only 3 guys. Although there is no mention of a Wii U version in this teaser trailer, the list of platforms is on the site. Take a look for yourselves.

http://tomorrowcorporation.com/littleinferno

( Edited 11.07.2012 01:32 by Mush123 )