Official Wii U Discussion Thread

AMD have been confirmed as the maker of the GPU here

GPU:
AMD Radeon™-based High Definition GPU.

Considering that they had ATI GPU's for both Gamecube and Wii, it's not really surprising to see that AMD is powering the Wii U.

Nah, but it's nice for a confirmation. Now we just need to wait and see what the final specs are.

My 3000th post .

( Edited 12.06.2011 19:03 by Stulaw )

Did Nintendo themselves actually ever confirm the full specs of the Wii? I could be wrong but I think I've read somewhere that they never did that and we got them from some tech people opening a Wii or something like that.

That said, I'm wondering how long we have to wait for more news on the Wii U in general. TGS would be a pretty long wait.

Congrats on your 3000th post, Stulaw.

( Edited 12.06.2011 19:18 by SirLink )

Recently read Nintendo won't be at TGS, so not sure. They do their own event in September don't they? Could be around then that we hear more.

Every year the news says that Nintendo won't be at TGS, and almost every year that news is wrong.

And yeah, Nintendo have never confirmed the specs of the Wii. But I'm expecting someone to grab a hold of one and confirm the specs for Wii U instead (like with the Wii).

( Edited 12.06.2011 19:24 by Stulaw )

cryengine confirmed for wii u. yay! http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-06-13-cryengine-confirmed-for-wii-u

Suda 51: No More Heroes 3 will come to Wii U. But probably with new main character.

Get the fuck in.

Can't fucking wait for No More Heroes 3! Suda's the man!

I know now already that I'm going to miss Travis Touchdown though.

( Edited 14.06.2011 08:57 by SirLink )

Anyone ever see Kung Pow? That's where Nintendo got the name WiiU from.

That guy at 0:15 looked like he wished he was dead (or somewhere else).

That's hilarious.

Haha, when I first heard Wii U, this popped into my head.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sYN5nzG_9Q

( Edited 14.06.2011 16:45 by bornforthis43 )

Wii U can't play bluray or DVDs: source

Iwata comments on Wii U online system: source

"... What I have come to feel lately is that the idea of saying, 'we are going to create this style of online structure and that we would like you, the developers, to fit into the online structure that we are creating' is perhaps already out-of-date.

"So, for example with the question of VoIP, I think then what we would like to do is work with them on how to enable them to do that. But, what we're not going to do is to consider as prerequisite conditions that every game includes features like that because obviously there are some developers who may not want to do that."

Iwata said the company isn't yet ready to talk "concretely" about its online plans, but he did add: "I think that once you hear what we'll have to say, you'll feel that Nintendo has a policy of adapting itself to changes in the network environment in a flexible fashion rather than the one of sticking to a rigid mechanism, or perhaps you'll notice that we have found ways to take advantage of these types of features like VoIP and social networking, where our systems have been seen as being weak in the past."

No bluray/dvd playback I am actually okay with now, seeing as I have a PS3, and if it cuts costs, even better.

Online system sounds like Nintendo will allow things like VoIP, trophies, custom soundtracks etc, but leave it up to the developers to choose what they want to incorporate in their games. Not sure how I feel about that. It's good that they are allowing the freedom for developers, but what about consumers? Still, it's too early to tell how this will work. Will hopefully be okay.

Saw Nintendo's promo vid for the Wii U, and my reaction to the new console was one of total alienation. I didn't understand what I was looking at. Did it need the Wii to run Wii games? Was it HD, or just upscaling? Was it even a new standalone console, or is it a Wii attachment?

Anyway, a friend put me straight as to what the console is exactly. Marketing fail from Nintendo, there. Now that I know what the console is, I still feel pretty alienated by Nintendo. All I see is something that looks the same as current stuff, but with new controls. I guess the direction they took with Wii is permanent?

Until further potentially-awesome reveals surrounding the console, I'm not impressed with it. Doesn't even have a HDD.

Azuardo said:

No bluray/dvd playback I am actually okay with now, seeing as I have a PS3, and if it cuts costs, even better.

It doesn't even play DVDs or Blu-rays!? Az, cutting out Blu-ray/DVD doesn't cut costs that much. Maybe in the first few months it'd help knock £20 off the price. In three years time Nintendo's decision to not include support for the world's premier physical film formats is going to burn more.

What if you don't have your PS3 by then? Bearing in mind people love the PS3 as a media centre, (Q;) but why would they when you can already do these tasks on other devices around the house? A: Because it's nice having one box that serves all your entertainment needs.

In three years when you're having to change devices to do something really simple, that pittance of saved money won't seem to have been worth it.

( Edited 16.06.2011 20:01 by Martin_ )

The Wii U is probably a lot more powerful than stated http://www.cubed3.com/news/15768/1 .

Yeah I agree, Martin. Initial reaction was that personally, as it doesn't affect me because I have a PS3, I wasn't too fussed. But looking at it, there will be people split between Wii U and PS3/360 at some point and dvd/bluray playback can make that decision easier. DVD playback was in PS2 so no reason for Wii U to not have it, but bluray is licensed to Sony is it not? An argument against is Nintendo not wanting to fund one of their competitors. But it'd still likely be peanuts to agree to implement them at all.

For sure, it's a silly decision, especially in this day and age. Nintendo behind once again, and relying on games to pull them through. Let's hope they really do give us some quality games; enough to warrant purchasing the system.

For sure, it's a silly decision, especially in this day and age. Nintendo behind once again, and relying on games to pull them through. Let's hope they really do give us some quality games; enough to warrant purchasing the system.

Indeed, Echoes. Ultimately, it all comes down to software. As specs are revealed, I just get a sense that once again Nintendo's platform will hardly have anything I like on it, and/or will suffer in other ways (lacking a HDD is really key, for me). I wouldn't want to be an early-adopter of Wii U. The smart person would wait it out until all three new ones are here. Then one can make the best choice.

Azuardo said:
DVD playback was in PS2 so no reason for Wii U to not have it, but bluray is licensed to Sony is it not? An argument against is Nintendo not wanting to fund one of their competitors.

I see what you're getting at. You're not really correct though mate. The DVD format was also created by Sony and other partners, in pretty much the same way to which Blu-ray was created and is now maintained by the Blu-ray Disc Association (which consists of Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Thomson, LG Electronics, Hitachi, Sharp, and Samsung).

So while you're correct that supporting Blu-ray playback would have meant giving Sony a little bit of coinage (the licence fee is split between all the partners), other competitors have in the past simply chosen to let Sony have these monies.

Xbox 1 tried a half-Nintendo approach. The console did not play DVDs "out-of-the-box". Instead, using the remote control (sold separately) enabled DVD playback. So while technically totally-supported, a piece of code locked that functionality away until the remote control accessory was detected.

MS had simple reasons. Like you say, they did not want to line their competitors' pockets with some money every time they sold a console. Thus, MS were able to sell the original Xbox without paying a licence fee to the DVD Consortium. This fee was paid for by you when you purchased your remote control.

As time went by, it became apparent that this wasn't effective. Nobody bothered buying the PS2 remote for DVDs and just used their DualShocks. Similarly, nobody with an Xbox bought the remote for it. Joe Casual then thinks that the Xbox cannot play DVDs.

In 2005 MS goes back on this with the 360. They cave-in to industry standards and customer demand. People want their favourite format to work on their new box, and they certainly don't want to pay extra for it (they've just paid a heap for the new box!). So X360 is equipped with DVD-playback as standard. Every time a 360 is purchased, Sony get some money.

Besides, I think viewing it as purely a 'competition' thing is too narrow. If it were as you say, Sony would be the only ones producing Blu-ray players. Fact is, there are a great many Blu-ray players around now, and a lot of them have nothing to do with the BDA save for the licence. What of Nintendo music CDs? Sony have a stake in the CD format, just like they do with DVD and Blu-ray. That latest Nintendo soundtrack you got on CD, or a Pokemon DVD.. you gave money to Sony.

Also, if we're not naive we have to consider the fact that as an electronics giant, Sony hold a great many patents. It's probably nigh-on impossible to build a computer, TV, what have you and not have some part of it, some small patent in there trickling a tiny bit of money back to Sony. And if it's not them, it's one of their partners.

If it actually was all just to avoid paying licence, then in my view that's just a bad call. People want their different kinds of media all in one place, more and more these days. Integration and all that shit.

"So I've got this new box that has tonnes of toys and accessories that clutter up my house, but it won't even play my films? What gives? I don't see why. The discs look the same" - John Q Average

And in his own stupid way, JQA would kind of have a point. There's nothing physically stopping them from implementing DVD and Blu-ray playback. They wouldn't even have to change the design of the new console one bit. All they need is the licence and then they're good to go.

Except Nintendo are too stubborn and their excuse is indeed to cut costs.

Iwata:

"The reason for that is that we feel that enough people already have devices that are capable of playing DVDs and Blu-ray, such that it didn't warrant the cost involved to build that functionality into the Wii U console because of the patents related to those technologies."

It will affect a few people's decisions on which console to buy next gen, likely with U missing out on a few sales, but as long as the games are there, they should be alright. But of course, an all-in-one box is what makes the PS3 so great in the first place.

To be fair, I must amend what I said. DVD playback would only require them to get the licence. Blu-ray playback requires the correct drive. Maybe Wii U is just using DVDs, I don't know. So for Blu-ray, they might have to redesign the console. Even then it'd just mean a different drive, though.

Surely it cost Nintendo more for the Research and Development costs for the Wii U's new proprietary format than it would have to just go with Blu-ray?

( Edited 17.06.2011 16:20 by Lrrr )

You'll probably find that the new format is a complete rip-off of Blu-ray or HD-DVD, just like the Wii disc format is a very close rip of the DVD format. SO much so that you can chip your Wii and run pirated games from DVD-Rs!

I think it is a rip of a single layered Blu Ray disc Martin, it's 25GB in capacity. But yeah, I don't see why they blocked the discs out entirely, it's nice to have a all in one media centre (although, I use my PC for that).

Martin_ said:
You'll probably find that the new format is a complete rip-off of Blu-ray or HD-DVD, just like the Wii disc format is a very close rip of the DVD format. SO much so that you can chip your Wii and run pirated games from DVD-Rs!

'Rip-off' isn't quite the right term I wouldn't say. Nintendo didn't pay for the licence fee to use the DVD name and playback technology in Wii, so even though it's said to be a 'proprietary format' it is for all intents and purposes a DVD drive. I imagine it's the same approach for Wii U: a blue laser drive without paying to use the Blu-ray name.

I can see why they've done it, but if they want to be the box to go to then it's a pretty ridiculous conclusion for them to come to. I was hoping we'd be able to stream films to the controller as well in the event that somebody wanted to use the TV...

( Edited 18.06.2011 09:38 by Mason )