Official Wii U Discussion Thread

TAG's 3D comments

Its not really an argument over whether its doable -- the PS3 and 360 are doing it now. Its just that it can't really be the main fixture of the system since there are so few 3D TVs out there. Its not like the 3DS where the screen comes with the system.

I personally only know one person who has a 3D ready TV. And he doesn't even have the glasses for it. Its just not very mainstream yet, and if you were to make it a central feature of the system, it would require a very significant investment to take advantage of.

That's not stopped Nintendo in the past

True. lol

You can't rebrand yourself and do a 180°.

That's exactly what Nintendo did with the Wii though. It wouldn't be so shocking to me if they did it again. Though I was and am still a bit skeptical that they're really going after the hardcore again. I'm just saying going against what you'd expect isn't exactly something new for Nintendo.

Nintendo have been the 'poster-child' for unexpected over the last few years.

( Edited 26.04.2011 01:34 by Jacob4000 )

If they u-turn again this generation, they're still going to get a lot of sales from that newly established causal market. Us hardcore gamers all bought the Wii even though most of us were turned off by their philosophy - it's only now the general conception is "not again" unless they get more serious about serious gaming.

So Nintendo will just be prolonging a choice between the hardcore and causal market should they u-turn again with their next system.

I can see them going for both, if they price it right, and stick with a basic design, they might be able to win both. won't they?

if they keep it simple, yet advanced enough for the hardcore players, they could do it. :/ I think

( Edited 26.04.2011 03:15 by Wolvesgod )

Damn, this is getting really crazy. This one right here is definitely the one rumour to get me the most excited thus far.

Sam Kennedy from 1UP followed up his claims that the successor of the Wii won't feature friend codes by saying that "the new console will be designed around the concept of connecting, sharing, and gaming with others". This is where things get interesting.

He provided the following example:

Imagine you have a friend playing Mario Kart on their Wii 2. Instead of just being told that your friend is playing a game, it actually shows you. The supposed streaming feature would allow you to see exactly what’s happening in your friend’s game, in a similar way to how OnLive streams game content. But the real draw is the seamless connectivity:

No waiting until the next match and no buffering to sync up consoles. Just a seamless online experience, exactly as Nintendo would want it.

Aside from those things, he also said something about an improved version of WiiConnect24:

…imagine checking your Project Cafe each morning and seeing new creations from your friends or even Nintendo. New levels for games, new characters or items to use, new demos for games you’re interested in. There could be all sorts of new things to see and do each time you open your console.

If this is true and Nintendo does reveal this at E3, it would absolutely DESTROY everything else featured at the event. I'm not buying this rumor just yet but I'd be lying if I said that the possibility of it isn't just extremely intriguing.

I don’t think my hype level could be any higher at this point. Even using the OVER 9000!!! meme would be a huge understatement. I seriously just wanna see what their next console is all about. E3 can't come soon enough at this point.

( Edited 27.04.2011 01:14 by SirLink )

Nice. I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but that sounds ace. Being able to play classic games online and jump into friends' matches are things that could have been done this gen, but if these things do happen, I'll be ecstatic. A seemless and smooth online experience from Nintendo is what we all want.

Also, online leaderboards for all classic games like Super Mario Kart, and the ability to watch replays of others' times from the leaderboards. Being able to download the ghost data of the fastest time in the world and then racing against it yourself would be awesome. This sort of thing should be added to all classic games.

( Edited 27.04.2011 11:30 by Azuardo )

Thread Reappear. Seriously, what made it disappear?

Anyway, that does sound awesome, I wonder if they'll do something like add an online dogfight mode to SF64 and such.

Also, one thing I'd want to see is installing Wii and maybe GC games (as well as N6 games) on to the Hard drive (or NaND Flash if they use it), just so loading times might be a little faster.

Stulaw said:
Thread Reappear. Seriously, what made it disappear?

Anyway, that does sound awesome, I wonder if they'll do something like add an online dogfight mode to SF64 and such.

Also, one thing I'd want to see is installing Wii and maybe GC games (as well as N6 games) on to the Hard drive (or NaND Flash if they use it), just so loading times might be a little faster.

I'm here to help!

I just hope that the PS4 & NeXtbox doesn't destroy the N6 in graphics, like the Wii this generation. I don't care if N6 is the least powerful, I just want it to get the same 3rd party games.

...Ok to be honest I hate most 3rd party games (first person shooters), I just want some GTA goodness

( Edited 27.04.2011 22:49 by GreythaGreat )

I'm pretty sure if it has a nice flow of good third party efforts, I'm sure everyone would be happy.

I don't understand when people say Nintendo's efforts were bad with the Wii, in fact, with any Nintendo console, the most effort put into the games were their own first party efforts, there's been a lack of third party support ever since the N64, it's just got worse over time.

I think by being the first out of the box, and being the most powerful for a while should help, and I hope they have a good and unique enough feature for people to buy it, that should help. It helped with the PS2 that it came out first last gen (not sure where to put the DC) plus, it was a cheap DVD player at the time.

Lets just hope we don't have another DreamCast, then again, Nintendo has always succeeded where SEGA failed, although from what it was, the DreamCast shouldn't have failed.

Oh yeah, and by the thread disappearing, I mean I literally had to pull it back into existence, not that no-one was posting.

Where'd ya pull that from Marzy? It looks like a giant wing for the most part. Took me a while to actually see the 'stream' in the white. The blue wing stands out more. Can't tell what the grey bit at the bottom really signifies.
Apart from that, I like the text font.

I made it myself.

I was on Photoshop practising how to use the pen tool and I came up with that. It does look a bit basic, I thought and I wasn't sure whether to keep the bottom bit. I put it there to make it look like a shell, as well.

Thanks for the feedback.

( Edited 28.04.2011 18:03 by Marzy )

Cheeky bastard!

Marzy send that to all our rival sites and we will WIN the internet ...
...
..
Looks good btw!

( Edited 28.04.2011 18:06 by jb )

Thanks J.

I could always do a fake Project Cafe one.

Squidboy said:
Battlefield 3 would definitely be on my first third party purchases. And Crysis 2, if it had new modes, a robust online, and touch controls for the suit.

Wow this has just hit me like a brick. If what we are hearing is true and Nintendo is reaching out to 3rd party developers, then this will be the first time ever we as Nintendo gamers will be getting the best third party games!

To think I could be playing the next (and best) version of GTA on a Nintendo console...... CRAZY!!!!

Now I know why websites are saying that it's going to be called stream and use an R700 graphics card And this is it(pdf)

Stulaw said:
Now I know why websites are saying that it's going to be called stream and use an R700 graphics card And this is it(pdf)

And it's called ATi Stream Technology.

what about the Mii characters? are they gonna keep that... or will it be a little bit more advanced, like the 3DS is more advanced then Wii's.

Wolvesgod said:
what about the Mii characters? are they gonna keep that... or will it be a little bit more advanced, like the 3DS is more advanced then Wii's.

Another interesting rumour arises...

[This is a neogaf translation from the Swedish website loading.se]

Exclusively for Loading.se, A source close to Nintendo has all the information regarding the company’s next home console.

June 7th is the date that everyone has been waiting for. Nintendo unveils their next home console at E3 in Los Angeles. But Loading can already now reveal some of the hottest (and most trustworthy) rumors about the machine. This is all we got to know about Nintendo Feel.

Our source, who has a close connection to the company, speaks about the console in a conversation with us. We choose to deliver the information unedited and untranslated [from Eng to Swe]:

�" Nintendo wants to change the way we play �" again. The success of Wii was essentially proof that the controller is every bit as important as graphical technology. When Nintendo unveils its next piece of hardware on June 7th, the presentation will be as much about the feel, as the look, of its new games. The revolutionary aspect will once again be found in the controller itself.

After Touch comes Feel (Haptic Technology) We already know Nintendo is developing a controller with a built-in screen. Since that info got leaked there have been paralels between Apple’s iPad and how Nintendo used the GBA as a controller for a few Gamecube-games. But this new “Screen-controller” brings another dimension �" Feel. Our source uses the name “Nintendo Feel”

�" Haptic technology is a form of tactile feedback used to simulate the experience of touching different objects shown on screen. The player can move their fingertips across a surface and clearly feel the difference between soft, smooth or rugged textures. Electronic companies across the world have been conducting research in this field for years. It’s been rumored that Apple is close to patenting a similar technology, and we’ve seen the Toshiba demonstration of ‘New Sensation UI Solution’, that applies a thin film over a screen in order to achieve a haptic effect. In Nintendo’s case, this is a natural progression of both the Nintendo DS touch screen and the Wii technology.

Haptic Technology

Hardcore meats Casual After having recieved the information on Nintendo Feel from our source we have gotten confirmation that the technology exists. Toshiba seems to have shown it to the public and we have had a Novint Falcon in the office for a long time. Novint was one of the first companies to introduce haptic feedback to the gaming world.

According to our source the work for the new console has been going on for a few years, and throughout this whole time the goal has been to create an as direct and easy-to-understand concept as the Wii.

�" You have to try Nintendo Feel to really understand. But the idea itself is very easy to sell, no matter if you are aiming for hardcore players or the wider audience that was first introduced to games through DS, Wii or Kinect.

And sure, anyone can suddenly realize the feeling of fur agains the fingertips would do for Nintendogs. You don’t have to be unfamiliar to The Legend of Zelda to understand the epicness in drawing patterns in a desert, feeling the breeze from a lake, the burning sensation from lava or realizing the structure of a very old tree.

At the same time, Nintendo Feel is an experience that doesn’t want to explain itself in words, but rather tell the player through his hands. Which is probably why Nintendo will bring playable demos to E3, even tho the finished console won’t be available until 2012.

All visions in one

Nintendo Feel is on many levels a summary of all the grand visions Nintendo has had during the latest gaming generation. Starting with the Rumble Pack for the Nintendo 64, Nintendo gave the player physical feedback through the controller, and 2006 they started the concept “Touch Generations” to marked the Wii and DS to a whole new audience. If we get to see a “Feel Generations” marketing remains to be seen, but one thing is sure: The new console is an extension of the idea of more intuitive controllmethods.

Also the individual screens revived the “Connectivity” concept launched during the Gamecube/GBA era. A concept that never got the impact Nintendo was hoping for. Our source says:

�" Remember Vitality Sensor? It will most likely make a comeback at this year’s E3, though not as a peripheral for Wii, but as a key feature of Nintendo Feel.

The rumored info in here sounds like a logical step in Nintendo’s progression from immersing players with a touchscreen on the DS and the motion controls on the Wii and ’Feeling’ the games could add a lot to gameplay. I could even see Nintendo going with a name along the lines of ‘feel’ if indeed it has features like haptic feedback. I would take these rumors with a grain of salt for now. What do you guys think? Would you be excited if the rumored ‘hidden feature’ was some sort of haptic feedback?

Thanks to Gamekyo

Interesting. could be a brilliant concept if its used well.

However, if Nintendo dare to name their console the 'Nintendo Feel' then they are dead to the hardcore. Thats worse than 'Wii' in my opinion.

Show Spoiler

Rub Rabbits anyone?

That sicko Shinpan game would go down a storm in Japan

Yeah, the feel name sucks.

Haptic touch screens are really cool though, so it'd make me pretty happy if they used them.