Fact: Nintendo to release HD console + controllers with built-in screen late 2012

[AlphaWolf]

If they go to their cash reserves they could probably buy Activision, and Valve at the same time, with change to pick Bioware or Bethesda too and you have a winner

No they really couldn't, even if they had enough money (which they don't).

The current market cap for acti-blizzard is over $13billion, add in an attempted buy out (and possible competitive offers) and it would probably be over $20 billion. Valve isn't a public company so estimations are all over the place, but a number north of $10 billion wouldn't surprise me to try and get them to sell.

 

[function]

... Wu ...

Who first called it Wu?

I've been wanting to call it Wu myself, but lacked the courage without someone else going first.

 

[Arwin]

Who first called it Wu?

I've been wanting to call it Wu myself, but lacked the courage without someone else going first.

I'm sure lots of people all over the place... Personally I just love the sound of WuCon for the controller, so I went for it right away and am planning to stick to it.

 

[ninzel]

This link has many more new pics of WiiU.

http://www.ripten.com/2011/06/11/wii-u-pics-justin6464/

 

[Refreshment]

But not a huge difference from bringing up a full screen map. When you look at the hud on the WuuPad, you are not looking at the TV, which is no different to bringing up a map on the TV. Now as there's typically a button press involved and normally not an immediate one (reach over to press centre buttons on controller), then the obtrusiveness of this in a game is more than you'd get looking down at the WuuPad, so I accept there's an advantage. But it's a small one, and not in itself much to convince players of COD on PS360 to migrate.

You know? when we were speculating about what this thing was, i gave a lot of thought about the multiple screen focus problem, even machinating some possible solutions. Funny enough Nintendo just ignored this problem.

Now, talking about the menu stuff in the screen, i share your point of view that is not a hughe game changer. But look at Resident Evil: Mercenaries for the 3DS and how useful the touch screen menu is. I think the focusing problem might not be that big of a deal, we are talking about a substantialy large screen just a few inches from your line of sight. There's nothing preventing the user to slighty aline the controller to the TV screen while operating the menu and retain some peripheral vision of the events in the TV screen. The controler in the show floor was really light, saw women shaking the thing like if it was a paper sheet.

If you think about it there are really a lot of uses for the thing, some really stupid others really convenient. The one controller per unit limits the potential but i would trade that for an extended operating range, which looks like it won't happen.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

What about with a lot more of similar examples?

In theory, but I'm pessimistic. Whatever benefits the screen provides, everyone with a PS360 has their existing library and network and friends and everything, and the benefits of the touch screen will be minimal. Especially when it's added as an after thought to cross-platform games. And after the 'promise' of things like sixaxis, I don't think devs ever make proper use of potential features. they tack on a couple of gimmicks at best. Chances of any 3rd party developer doing anything good with this controller in titles like FIFA, COD and SF, are negligible. I expect we'll just see inventory screens and radar moved off main display onto Wuu display and that's it.

Who first called it Wu?

I've been wanting to call it Wu myself, but lacked the courage without someone else going first.

I announced my naming intentions to the world in this post. I've used WuuPad for the controller before but agree with Arwin's WuuCon as more consistent with game controller naming and will make the switch from henceforth.

 

[function]

I'm sure lots of people all over the place... Personally I just love the sound of WuCon for the controller, so I went for it right away and am planning to stick to it.

I announced my naming intentions to the world in this post. I've used WuuPad for the controller before but agree with Arwin's WuuCon as more consistent with game controller naming and will make the switch from henceforth.

Wuu sounds more right, but Wu is shorter. It's a dilemma. WuCon/WuuCon is a definite winner.

 

[Rangers]

Carmack touches on Wii U

http://e3.gamespot.com/story/631872...alks-wii-u-playstation-vita-and-next-gen-rage

They made a big presentation to the ZeniMax companies and I said, "Do I want to fly up there?" This was just last month or something. But I said, "No, I really need to stay here and just work on Rage right now." But you know the technology level on there brings it up to parity with the other consoles, which is nice for us.Previously, the Wii was not a target. Id Tech 5 was just not suitable for the Wii at all. We seriously talked about possibly using the iOS Rage technology that I built for that for a Wii game. It would fit perfectly from a technology standpoint, and I think would have been really pretty cool as a Wii game, but we decided that it wasn't the right time to jump into the Wii market.

But now that we're looking at another platform that is eminently suitable for the technology, I'm sure we're going to try and bring it up on there. But it will become a market question of do we think that there will be people there that won't be served by one of the other SKUs? If you're going to have a serious hardcore game on there, the Wii is usually the hardcore gamer's second or third console. Even if we could have shipped Rage in full glory on the Wii, it probably wouldn't have made a whole lot of sense because people that want Rage probably also have a PC, 360, or PS3 that could do the game better justice.

So we'll be seeing how the market plays out on there. I'm kind of excited about the touch-screen aspect on there. I think that probably has broader general utility for games than most of the motion control stuff, where you really have to design a game around motion control and you can't just tack it onto a finely crafted FPS. But I think the DS has really shown what the extra little touch screen can do--almost any game can do something useful with that.

You know Devs will now be possibly cross porting between no less than FIVE platforms. Add Wii U and Vita to PS3, 360, and PC.

Guess it could mean a little more "lowest common denominator" and less pushing the hardwares. Means a big market though.

 

[patsu]

In theory, but I'm pessimistic. Whatever benefits the screen provides, everyone with a PS360 has their existing library and network and friends and everything, and the benefits of the touch screen will be minimal. Especially when it's added as an after thought to cross-platform games. And after the 'promise' of things like sixaxis, I don't think devs ever make proper use of potential features. they tack on a couple of gimmicks at best. Chances of any 3rd party developer doing anything good with this controller in titles like FIFA, COD and SF, are negligible. I expect we'll just see inventory screens and radar moved off main display onto Wuu display and that's it.

Tablet use is easier and more natural than 3D motion input. After playing more iPad games and seeing Ninty's video, I reckon we will see relevant and useful implementations there. But they may be limited by developers trying to balance WiiU's advantages.

The problem is marketing. How to break into the market selling to hardcore when they have been away since GameCube. Should start with their existing fan base instead.

They will have to tackle online infrastructure first if they want to go aggressive on PS360 base. Hopefully they stick to an open architecture so cross play between iOS games and even PS games are possible.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Tablet use is easier and more natural than 3D motion input...

For tablet games. For controlling an avatar on a TV screen, natural motion can prove very easy. People naturally move their hands and head playing games, but no-one's incorporated this. GT5's implementation of head tracking is extremely lame, and yet head-tracking could have been used back with EyeToy. Developers are extremely slow, no doubt because they are cautious. But they also make silly mistakes. Uncharted had random sixaxis elements that just didn't gel, and so ND ditched it with U2. EA haven't incorporated sixaxis into FIFA despite it being an extremeyl natural fit.

No, I just don't see 3rd parties producing much of worth given past opportunities. Potentially game changing techs have been left gathering dust. It'll be down to Nintendo to generate good ideas and the rest with slavishly copy, but that means no decent use in the core games like shooters and sports sims because Nintendo don't make these. The only possible caveat would be Madden, which seems a natural fit to set motions for players prior to a play.

 

[patsu]

Puppeteering on screen avatar for some serious action with head and body is tiring. Sports Champions, Lights Out and KF Ninja proved that point. Dual stick, mouse and touchscreen fall in another camp. Dancing and exercise games are made for motion controls.

GT5 head tracking is natural but takes up resources. Touch input, dual stick, mouse, steering wheel and even Wiimote/Move don't. That's why they are supported in envelope-pushing core games like KZ3.

 

[poopypoo]

Last time I brought up the racist angle I got a little heat for it but I'll try again. Ok, not really racist: N hasn't been designing for thhe US market for just about ever. Reggie FA does his PT barnum thing every year but it doesn't mean much and he doesn't know much (round here I call him reg f*ck all). Truly, N wants global sales and thry see -- in the Japanese market first -- and then all over Asian cities, and other places too, they notice that most people want a one (SMALL) size fits all box for the living room. Does it suit me oerfectly? No, but tbh, in our current apartment, the size of our 360 does annoy me. So, don't be surprised. A lot of people out there seriously make living room decisions by buying the most tasteful box that they can hide easily. A little more than parity is exactly what N wants and it might serve them shockingly well.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

No, I just don't see 3rd parties producing much of worth given past opportunities. Potentially game changing techs have been left gathering dust. It'll be down to Nintendo to generate good ideas and the rest with slavishly copy, but that means no decent use in the core games like shooters and sports sims because Nintendo don't make these. The only possible caveat would be Madden, which seems a natural fit to set motions for players prior to a play.

All the developer interviews I've seen so far state the exact opposite of this. Nintendo has also been saying they've already listened to several ideas from 3rd parties, as those are really an important target this time.

I don't really know why you're assuming the developers won't be innovative. That's not true for the DS, where much of the most innovative uses we've seen for its touchscreen didn't even come from Nintendo (Scribblenauts, Drawn to Life, Brain Training, Cooking Mama, Prof. Layton, etc).

Sure, the Wii was just not (AAA) developer-friendly, because it was simply too weak compared to the other two (Reggie explicitely said this). But even then it did have innovative uses for the control system. The Conduit has the best controller implementation for a FPS, for example.

 

[DeadlyNinja]

Let me ask this. At this size, can the Wii U fit a GPU that actually display graphics in HD and not 510p or 600p? Preferably something at 720p at 60fps with modern graphics. I mean, it would be nice to finally have an HD console that's actually HD. I hope Nintendo restricts the system to output at 720p at the lowest like how they have the DS locked at 60fps.

Sure, the Wii was just not (AAA) developer-friendly, because it was simply too weak compared to the other two (Reggie explicitely said this). But even then it did have innovative uses for the control system. The Conduit has the best controller implementation for a FPS, for example.

I don't think great ideas on how to use the Wii U Pad will come from Western developers at least. At best it'll be another implementation of FPS controls. If they can get more Japanese devs on-board, you'll see more creative uses for the controller. I mean, even with lackluster support, the Wiimote had cool games like Dewy's Adventure to revolutionizing soccer with the Wii version of PES being some of the best in years.

 

[obonicus]

Let me ask this. At this size, can the Wii U fit a GPU that actually display graphics in HD and not 510p or 600p? Preferably something at 720p at 60fps with modern graphics. I mean, it would be nice to finally have an HD console that's actually HD.

How strange. When I look here: http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1113344&postcount=3 or here: http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1113344&postcount=2 I see most games rendered at 720p. What consoles are you talking about?

Less ridiculously, if Nintendo forces third parties to be 720p, unless they can reach that easily some third parties who can't hit that target won't bother. You don't tell Activision 'the next CoD must be 720p on Wü', Nintendo needs CoD far more than CoD needs Nintendo.

 

[DeadlyNinja]

I meant at 60fps with 720p.

Also, I'm worried they have to do extra work rendering the screens for the controller.

Edit - Do we know if they have render another image for the controller or is the image just whatever that's already rendered but streamed to the control?

 

[(((interference)))]

Even IGN are complaining about the lack of proper thumbsticks - it turns out the triggers are digital not analog as well, so so much for any proper driving games on Wuu
http://au.wii.ign.com/articles/117/1175666p1.html

 

[pc999]

I meant at 60fps with 720p.

Also, I'm worried they have to do extra work rendering the screens for the controller.

Edit - Do we know if they have render another image for the controller or is the image just whatever that's already rendered but streamed to the control?

I think it is optional, but in the demo bird it rendered two different thing if I am not mistaken.

 

[pc999]

Even IGN are complaining about the lack of proper thumbsticks - it turns out the triggers are digital not analog as well, so so much for any proper driving games on Wuu
http://au.wii.ign.com/articles/117/1175666p1.html

Surely they can find alternatives in such a controller, dont you think?


If they are better or up to your preferences it is a question of trying, but personally I am keeping a open mind.

 

[obonicus]

Found this on The GAF:
http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/series/3dcg/20110611_452478.html

Looking at it via google translate, it seems like a lot of stuff we already knew about, but it keeps talking about a DirectX 10.1, SM 4.1 'RADEON 4000 series' part. I don't know what their source is, either, so it'd be nice if someone who can actually read Japanese can tell us if it's just bunk or not.