Official Wii U Discussion Thread

SuperLink said:
I dunno about you but I'd take VVVVVV over Steel Batallion: Heavy Armour (good technology? check. good game in any way? nope.) any day.

Also, I wouldn't buy all the stuff that the other platform makers are going to present or the data they are throwing around at the moment. Remember those days when the PS2 was supposedly capable of this :

Although you could argue that we did see a lot of PS2 games showing that level or realism in-game... Because we did... Didn't we???

Another day, another snub, no Capcom Arcade Cabinet on Wii U. Shame, CPS games would have looked cool on the pad.

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/02/07/capcom-arcade-cabinet-brings-back-the-classics-on-february-19/

Wii U seems unlikely to get "Daylight" also (Unreal 4)

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/02/08/zombie-studios-unveils-unreal-engine-4-game-daylight


( Edited 08.02.2013 15:43 by Linkyshinks )

I think there's a little too much "partisan" bickering going on here.

The Wii U will suck because it doesn't have enough power!

No! Technology doesn't mean anything! Video Game X is awesome and it's not got any technology!

The reality is that there's a middle ground here where the truth likely lies. Sure, you don't need the best tech to have great games. Everyone who's played Chrono Trigger in the last decade knows this. You're tearing down strawmen and missing the point.

The Wii had it's share of good games. It did. But it also missed out on the majority of the generation's best games because its technology couldn't handle them. Technology is an enabler and the Wii didn't get the Bioshocks and Mass Effects of the last generation because it couldn't run them without compromising the vision of the developers.

So yeah, the Wii U doesn't need to have the best specs to be a successful system with a lot of great games. You're trying to make an argument that I don't think anyone really disagrees with. The bigger question is, is the Wii U going to miss out on 2/3 of the next generation's games because it's not powerful enough to run them? That's a legitimate concern. 

If you don't care, that's fine. But if I'm planning to buy one system this generation, an intelligent person really has to weigh these factors and ask these questions. Is the Wii U going to repeat the path of the Wii? Or will I be able to get my Nintendo games and a solid list of multi-platform titles? The people who were hoping to get it all are probably starting to be concerned.

If your response is "doesn't matter Wii U is still going to be awesome" you're missing the point.

Anyone with a decent PC could play the Mass Effects and Bioshocks of the past gen, and it still will be the case in the next. No one could play the Xenoblades, The Last Story and Super Mario Galaxies of the past gen even with a decent PC though. That was an important point in the past gen, and it should still be in the next.

Granted, one could argue that Wii being so similar to Gamecube, emulation of the system has come a long way even before the end of the system on the market, but I doubt Wii U emulation will come close to perfection before the end of this era though... And the Wii being so easy to hack must have helped the developers of Dolphin a great deal in achieving such a good level of compatibility in such a short span, but I doubt we're not near seeing the Wii U being cracked that easily this time.

In closing that parenthesis, Wii U will always get a great amount of exclusives from first and second party developers that you're not going to be able to play anywhere else... More so than the other two consoles anyway.

I never missed that point, the point I'm making is that the WiiU still has a legitimate audience who are going to thoroughly enjoy it. I'm probably going to buy at least 2 consoles this gen including the WiiU (and presumably the PS4 if recent NextBox rumours are to be believed), I'll be getting the best of both worlds.

If you're planning on buying one console this generation, only you can decide which of those consoles will be for you. Maybe you're the type of person who is so excited by the prospect of Wind Waker HD or the chance of a new console Animal Crossing, maybe you love 2D Mario, you buy a Nintendo system knowing you'll get what you expect. If you want cinematic games, maybe you won't, you'll assume beforehand that the WiiU probably won't deliver what you're looking for.

Both demographics exist and are huge, no one's trying to pretend otherwise. However thinking the WiiU a) won't be successful and b) won't get any great games from Nintendo or even third parties is naivety. It's a shame that WiiU will not be near the power of other opposing systems, but that's not really surprising or a revelation of any sort? You could tell it wasn't a great leap from PS360 the moment the thing was revealed. People knew what to expect, I doubt anyone was lying to themselves by saying WiiU was "power-enabled" on the same level as its competitors but it's still enabled to the point that can make considerably huge games that would have been a problem for the Wii.

Besides, I still think opposers will either make their systems a bit weaker than we expect or sell them at a huge loss in order to make them affordable. Usually (and ironically, considering how important some people seem to think it is) the least powerful and affordable consoles of a generation are its most successful and populated - it's been that way for the past.. 4 Gens, at least. PS1 destroyed the N64, PS2 destroyed its powerful competitors, DS destroyed PSP, Wii destroyed its competitors, 3DS is destroying Vita, etc etc..

Maybe things will be different this gen. Maybe they won't. The WiiU has had the strongest launch window for sales in the last ten years besides its own predecessor, so it's very likely to be successful and get its own form of development base within a few years. I can't think of a single console in recent history that's had a strong or remotely convincing launch year.

( Edited 08.02.2013 16:57 by SuperLink )

edit: ^^To Rudy

I don't think anyone is going to dispute a word of what you just said. The Wii U will get good first and second party games.

Will it get the third party games? Not so easy to answer, and starting to look more doubtful as time goes on.

This is the whole point.

( Edited 08.02.2013 16:55 by Jacob4000 )

It won't get the third party games built for other systems, unless the WiiU has a considerable chunk of their demographics by then. It will get a share of third party games sure, some may be better than their high-end counterparts, but it's probably going to be a very GC/Wii situation again.

Still I am slightly hopeful when Nintendo say they want to work closer with third parties and are taking that seriously. Maybe we'll begin to see results this gen or next.
However I think a lot of third parties find Nintendo's presence intimidating, they can't compete with Nintendo's games on their systems, sales wise. More crossovers like FExSMT seem likely, that's a way for third parties to really feel at home on the system and offer something unique while also making Nintendo's unreasonably huge fanbases excited.

( Edited 08.02.2013 17:10 by SuperLink )

The future of the Wii U will not be multiplat games. It'll be first/second party games and collabs. The odd third party exclusive, perhaps. But so long as they can keep collabs coming, it'll end up being a good system for exclusives, much like all previous Nintendo consoles. But I think we've established a number of times now that Wii U will not be the place to get your third party games of next gen. If you want that, you need to buy another console or PC alongside Wii U.

Just hope the collab efforts turn out to be some really good ones. SMT X FE has great potential - a good choice of series to mix. You could make an endless list of other candidates. A Mario X Sonic platformer of sorts? Stupid, but could work. Again, I'm biased about this, but I think Paper Mario X Final Fantasy really could work somehow. I mentioned elsewhere about how they can easily take Theatrhythm models, edit them a bit, and the already-made Paper Mario assets. Could easily be made.

Then it's just getting other devs to work on Nintendo's series. Really would love a brand new 2D Zelda, which seems to be disappearing off the face of the earth now. Yeah, it does sound like 3 Zeldas, at least, are being made right now, but are any of them 2D Zelda? Nothing points to yes. Don't think anyone would complain if they hired a dev (Silicon Studio) to smash out a sweet 2D Zelda for the eShop (miss the old days of playing 2D Zelda on my TV - don't want to see it confined to handhelds, but is probably the case for the future).

They won't be titles that will bring in core gamers that play PS/Xbox, but that's never ever going to change. Wii U is just going to be the secondary console that will house a great number of exclusives. I don't think there's anyone that's into games that thinks that a Nintendo console will be able to be their only home console for the next 5 years, unless they want to miss out on the best third party games.

*Jumps around like an excited puppy* :3

Guys, guys! LEGO City Undercover comes out next month! Who's getting it? I will be, it looks really well made and is very humorous from what I've seen (I love the cutscenes and film references).

@Az It depends how into games they are or what kind of games they like, but more or less. There will always be those types of people who just want a new Mario or Zelda and not much else from gaming. i.e. I know tons of people who play games a lot but don't get many consoles, and are getting a 3DS just for games like Zelda, Pokémon Luigi's Mansion, and Animal Crossing. There are all sorts.

I'd really like to see Nintendo strengthen their S-E partnership again, maybe it'd actually force Square to make some console games of quality again that would sell. They blamed their losses on consoles, when really they just haven't been releasing any good console games lately! Collab on a Mario/FF RPG (or both combined) and watch the money roll in for both companies.

It sounds to me like Nintendo are realising their games are growing stagnant, hence games like FExSMT. For me, that's always been my primary and most annoying concern with Nintendo, the worry that they would never again put out a new Mario or Zelda or kind of gameplay that shook the industry. I'm hoping that'll change within the next few years. The best news from Nintendo lately isn't that it's no longer about the gimmicks or that they want more power, it's that they really want to make more games for us.

EDIT: I'm kinda excited for LEGO City, I'm waiting on CoOp info though, I always loved playing the LEGO games with my brother and I'm not sure I want it otherwise

( Edited 08.02.2013 17:46 by SuperLink )

I've never said anything along the lines that Wii U sucks and won't get games, in fact I've earlier said in this thread that first party games alone can keep Nintendo's hardware selling, as it often has to in every generation. As that continues to happen there'll always be developers purveying family orientated content for it, at the very least.

All I've highlighted is that it's very doubtful to get the kind of big multi-platform games that Nintendo have claimed it will repeatedly, the strong third party support it desperately requires to fulfill it's aim of catering to all gamers. Yet again, a lack of power is to solely blame, something that will anger some present owners and potential owners in the consoles early years, as they begin to see games like Cyberpunk 2077, Witcher 3 and Skyrim's follow up only possible on other platforms. It's a kick in the teeth for those who were led to believe otherwise, and bought the console really believing it would also get those games.

Already people in this thread have sighted "Wii U's demographic" as a lame excuse. Did I miss something, wasn't this console supposed to accommodate the tastes of mature gamers also, gamers who want fantasy epics just like Witcher and Skyrim on their platform?. Wii U is already missing out on games it was expected to get, even download releases are snubbing the console now!. If fans like me are hesitant, buying a Wii U, for some gamers must be unthinkable this year, when the others will show their cards soon, and when they know both consoles will cost significantly more.

Dishing out £250 on a console that seems destined to miss out on the biggest third party games, is a huge ask even for fans. As soon as people see these next-gen games they'll feel let down and angered, because seeing the visual quality they'll instantly know they're console of choice cannot run them. Microsoft and Sony have had these games in development for 3-4 years and they will be ready to launch with the consoles. No waiting for AAA, that's the plan for them, that's one the lesson they learned from the last gen. There will be no faffing about with features and games like Nintendo is doing currently, delaying shit everywhere, no concerns about online modes and communication with other users in and out of games, Gamers will be paying that extra money for hassle-free peace of mind. 

Don't disagree that many people may have been fooled with a fair amount of Nintendo's claims of extensive third party support and the console being the future home of FPS games and one that will drag in many core PS360 gamers. You also have to remember that Reggie speaks out of his arse.

Despite what Nintendo may or may not have claimed to do with the Wii U, we all knew what sort of console this was from the very first trailer. Further confirmed the following year at E3 and after being able to demo the upcoming games. I'd like to think that there isn't an awful lot of people that did buy the Wii U that actually believed Nintendo's claims and expected this to be the ultimate next gen console and the future home of third party games. If people did believe that, they were merked big time. But I think the majority of people realised what they were getting with this console.

I don't really remember Nintendo ever saying it would get the most powerful third party games of the whole generation, it's getting many of the current powerful games and will do so before the opposition comes out; but in the end it's PR isn't it? And are you really surprised? Reggie said "when you see the Wii graphics, you will say wow", because he's not exactly going to say the console has bad visuals is he? And people are capable of doing beautiful things with PS3/360/WiiU hardware. Cancelling tons of new games around a console's release is also normal, the PS3 and 360, both state of the art with development beginning years beforehand, also had tons of cancellations and disappointed developers. The same is inevitable for the new systems, it's nothing overtly negative, it's just how things go and the WiiU's situation is not abnormal at all.

I also strongly doubt anyone who bought the WiiU for its current games believes it's hugely more powerful than the PS3 and 360. The WiiU will also likely get some sort of price drop or deal in the light of opposition, it's almost a certainty (unless they're not successful) and it'll be a similar situation to the Wii. Even the Wii has plenty of games for "mature" gamers to enjoy if you don't just scrape the surface of the thing.

There will be no faffing about with features and games

Nintendo aren't stupid. They're making so much more money than their competitors quite consistently. They consciously chose to not go PS4/NextBox level with the WiiU, it's not like "oops, they're more powerful and we didn't realise". This is a very legitimate business angle, especially if they're ultimately aiming to have multiple hardware systems on the market at once.

EDIT: Also guys keep in mind that final WiiU devkits only went out late last year. There are probably more 3rd party titles and partnerships under wraps. Nintendo need something for E3 and like I said, they ain't dumb.

( Edited 08.02.2013 18:39 by SuperLink )

Marzy said:
*Jumps around like an excited puppy* :3

Guys, guys! LEGO City Undercover comes out next month! Who's getting it? I will be, it looks really well made and is very humorous from what I've seen (I love the cutscenes and film references).

After seeing this I'm considering a pre-order;

If it is multi that will seal the deal for me.

It does look really good and fun the total lack of any multiplayer mentioned makes me think it simply isn't in though. Maybe it'll be added as a patch in the future or something? But it's kind of an important factor, you think they'd have mentioned it by now if it was gonna be a thing.

Also isn't there supposed to be another Nintendo Direct soonish?

How would multiplayer work in this Undercover? In the regular LEGO games, the action doesn't change perspective much, so you can easily run through it together.

Because Undercover plays more like GTA, it's harder to have coop. Are you going to grab your own car when your buddy grabs his? Are you gettint into his car? When you're standing on a rooftop and slide down to a next one, how will your buddy keep up??

I hope they found a way, but I'll understand it when they didn't.

By the way, have you seen the official response of Ubisoft? They confirmed that Rayman Legends for Wii U is ready and is just sitting there. The only reason for the delay is to get a multiplatform release.
Pathetic. Bastards, I feel like never buying a Ubisoft game again.

Don't worry, they're giving you an exclusive demo.

That's a very good point and I've been watching the trailers wondering about CoOp.. however, online or splitscreen CoOp may work, maybe even with one player onscreen and one on GamePad. I'd like to see it happen someday.

And as for Ubisoft.. I came across some interesting things earlier.
WiiU is getting a new Rayman demo as apology

Delay might be due to Microsoft regulations

If the latter is true, then what Ubisoft say about the delay being all because of multiconsole is still valid.. however it would be cool if they'd chosen to tell us the whole truth.
In any case Ubisoft claim to be grateful and pleased with the WiiU, so I hope they continue to treat it well in the future. Maybe they already have some things in mind to make WiiU owners hate 'em less.

Possible. That was the cause for FFXIII's PS3 delay once SE announced it was making a 360 version, and outraged all PS3 SE fans in the process.

If Ubisoft knew this (I sure hope a huge company like them would), why didn't they just release the game on the Wii U now and announce/start working on ports later on. How did that regulation not affect Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge? That's coming to the 360 months later too.

Azuardo said:
Possible. That was the cause for FFXIII's PS3 delay once SE announced it was making a 360 version, and outraged all PS3 SE fans in the process.

Great pain in the arse, but there's not much that can be done about it. I can't help but wonder though if Ubisoft had just released the WiiU version before agreeing to port it?? It's a strange business decision either way, releasing it in the same month as GTAV on those systems is not doing Rayman any favours.

EDIT: With Razor's Edge I'm assuming it's cause the WiiU version was out before the deal was made. Ubi shoulda done that too.

( Edited 08.02.2013 20:28 by SuperLink )

Rofl, what was Microsoft going to do if Ubisoft announced the Ps360 port AFTER releasing on the Wii U?

So Microsoft has a rule that publishers cannot release a game on the 360 later than on other platforms... but they do allow timed exclusives for their own console? That's just ridiculous.

And I hope everybody boycots their stupid demo. I know I will. I'm thinking of deleting the first demo as well, just to make sure I'll never play it again. I hope they'll get the message.

I'm not sure if that's the message you want to be sending. I know boycotting seems like a smart idea, but to Ubisoft all they hear is "WiiU market doesn't want our stuff.. no WiiU games 4 u".

The best way is to probably support Ubisoft's WiiU releases as best you can as well as giving them regular feedback via MiiVerse.

To be honest there are no games of Ubisoft that I want. Not for the coming 7 months at least.

I tried the demo of ZombiU and I didn't like it. The atmosphere was good, but the controls were terrible. Oh and there's this kind of technological ghost-zombie, what the heck?

I'm not interested in violent games like Assassin's Creed. By the way, why would I want to play a game with two asses in the title?

The only Ubisoft game I enjoyed in the last 4 years was Rayman Origins. And I got that for €15 or so.

The problem is that there is really no way Wii U owners can respond in a way that doesn't hurt them too. Like SuperLink said, not buying it makes Ubisoft think their games don't sell on the system and will most likely affect future support. But then there's also a problem with the opposite. Buy the game anyway and Ubisoft will think that they can get away with treating Wii U owners like shit.

They're just digging themselves a deeper hole with their following press releases. Do they honestly think that releasing a new demo for a game that was to be released in less than three weeks is going to appease us? It'll just show us more of the full product that we suddenly have to wait seven additional months for because of their stupid decision. It's just rubbing salt into wounds or in other, slightly funnier, words..."Here's another demo, please don't hurt us!!"