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

[Shifty Geezer]

Why not just touch the touch screen? You can use it as a trackpad, placing a cursor on the mainscreen, with a trigger or button under thumb or something of the other hand to 'fire'. I don't think the worth of tracking alfoating finger voer the touchpad, as well as where a finger is pressed when touching, is worth it or would feel comfortable. If there's no direct tactile feedback, I'd rather point directly to the screen, and I can't envisage any scenario where that isn't a good option. What game situation are you thinking of where the Wiimote type system of direct pointing would be inconvenient, and players would rather position a cursor relative to a touchpad they aren't looking at, versus the TV they are?

 

[Refreshment]

Why not just touch the touch screen? You can use it as a trackpad, placing a cursor on the mainscreen, with a trigger or button under thumb or something of the other hand to 'fire'. I don't think the worth of tracking alfoating finger voer the touchpad, as well as where a finger is pressed when touching, is worth it or would feel comfortable

Ahhh i know its a bit hard to grasp First take into account that im proposing various uses acording to the game.

Well you are saying "Doh! just touch the screen to make the cursor appear on the TV and drag to move it". The problem is, thats your interaction right there, touching the screen made the cursor appear. The way im saying you know where your finger is in relation to the screen but when touched any game action that the developers programed to the touch is executed. Example again,watching your TV, you want to head shot the guy at the top left of the TV, the touch screen is tracking the finger position which is represented as a crosshair in the TV, now when you tap the shot is executed.

If there's no direct tactile feedback, I'd rather point directly to the screen, and I can't envisage any scenario where that isn't a good option. What game situation are you thinking of where the Wiimote type system of direct pointing would be inconvenient, and players would rather position a cursor relative to a touchpad they aren't looking at, versus the TV they are?

First one poinitng option shouldn't exclude the other, in some cases wii pointing would be more inmersive.

Advantages with the proposed method? Lets see... Well a few line of sight issues might be solved. You wont need to be placed in an specific place in relation to the TV, remember when Wii pointing you dont have a lot of flexibilty to move around. Or the need to aim at the the sensor bar sweet spot. Also you can adopt some postures to point where the wiimote is not optimal. Take in consideration that if this worked, it would be a lot faster and more precise, you could travel the TV screen area a lot faster. A strategy game might work well with this maybe.

And then theres the other method of controling with the touch screen where finger tracking is not necesary.

 

[wco81]

For Nintendo to win a lot of "core" gamers, they have to come out with a system which is demonstrably superior and anticipated to be competitive with next-gen consoles.

Oh and it would be great if they could do it in a package for $300, which probably means no fancy controllers.

How much power can they deliver for $300 in 2012?

 

[swaaye]

I highly doubt they are going to push the envelope after it was proven by Wii to be almost pointless to do so. It certainly doesn't necessarily mean better games. It does mean mega huge development budgets on the other hand. Wii very successfully broke away from that and found its own market. Sony and MS have been clawing at Wii's market with ripoff ideas ever since.

Core gamers tend to own a Wii (for the women) and a PS3/360 and even a PC as well. Although I admit that I will not buy another machine like the Wii. I sold my Wii a couple of years ago. But I also don't own 360 or PS3. Just been sticking with older consoles and PC gaming. The multiplatform world brings me just about everything anyway.

I imagine whatever they make will sell for $250 or less again like every other Nintendo console.

What I wonder is how they intend to further evolve the Wii strategy. They proved that there is a huge market of un"core" gamers. How will they take that to the next level and fend off the cloning that Sony and MS are trying to do? I don't think that graphics pretties necessarily mean anything to this.

 

[RudeCurve]

I have a feeling Nintendo will use the touchscreen the same way it's used on a DS while your TV will functiion the same as the top screen on a DS.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

How much power can they deliver for $300 in 2012?

Depends a lot on how much they spend in the controllers and\or a more advanced optical drive (Blu-Ray or even HD-DVD if they don't care for media playback).
If they go for something like $65 controller and $45 optical drive, that would leave around $190 for the rest.
In mid-2012, $190 is probably good for a Juniper-class GPU, a ~3GHz quad-core with no L3 cache, some 2GB of unified GDDR3 memory and 16GB eMMC, probably expandable through an SDXC slot (the Wii was one of the first devices to carry an SDHC slot).

I highly doubt they are going to push the envelope after it was proven by Wii to be almost pointless to do so.

It didn't prove to be completely "pointless" as the Wii ended up as the shortest-living console of the 7th gen, with hardware sales diving hard a mere 3.5 years after its launch.
It was simply the best strategy for late 2006->2009.

That doesn't necessarily mean the exact same strategy will work for late 2012.

 

[Refreshment]

Why not go for 350? and get some breathing room to put some decent hardware. They can keep the Wii filing the low price slot for maybe 1 or 2 more years.

So they structure a high range offer with the new console /3ds and the low range with the Wii/DS.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Why not go for 350? and get some breathing room to put some decent hardware. They can keep the Wii filing the low price slot for maybe 1 or 2 more years.

So they structure a high range offer with the new console /3ds and the low range with the Wii/DS.

The only way I could see the Wii lasting for another 2 years is if Nintendo does a new, smaller hardware revision with a single, fanless SoC and internal PSU and sells it for $99 with the controllers going down to $30. Maybe at the same time they'd cut Gamecube peripherals and memory cards support, for cost reduction. Something like the last-gen PS2 Slim.

 

[Refreshment]

The only way I could see the Wii lasting for another 2 years is if Nintendo does a new, smaller hardware revision with a single, fanless SoC and internal PSU and sells it for $99 with the controllers going down to $30. Maybe at the same time they'd cut Gamecube peripherals and memory cards support, for cost reduction. Something like the last-gen PS2 Slim.

Of course a design to reduce the cost of manufacturing is in order. I said 1 or 2 years but i most admit that expecting 2 is extreme after the new console launch. They could also team up that potential redesign with general drop in first party software prices. Games like Zelda: Twilight still cost over 40 dollars after all this years. Nintendo can also bring some of the Japan obscure titles and put a bit of more effort in Wiware stuff. This way at 99 it might do some damage.

 

[ninzel]

I don't see the screen size being a problem in terms of ergonomics.It just means your hands are a few more inches apart compared to now. Weight may be the only issue if anthing.
It would be cool to have this kind of controller as an accessory.
Download a WiiWare type of game like Trine and have the option to play it somewhere else in
the house remotely, not tied to the couch. Some games are fine on a small screen.

 

[Refreshment]

I don't see the screen size being a problem in terms of ergonomics.It just means your hands are a few more inches apart compared to now. Weight may be the only issue if anthing.
It would be cool to have this kind of controller as an accessory.
Download a WiiWare type of game like Trine and have the option to play it somewhere else in
the house remotely, not tied to the couch. Some games are fine on a small screen.

Have trouble envisioning that, since it kind of clashes with their portable part of bussiness. Nintendo wants you to play that Wiiware game remotely in your house but in one of their hanhelds

 

[ninzel]

Have trouble envisioning that, since it kind of clashes with their portable part of bussiness. Nintendo wants you to play that Wiiware game remotely in your house but in one of their hanhelds

Does the specific Nintendo platform really matter,or is the software sale the ultimate reward?
More access equals more software sales?

 

[Refreshment]

Does the specific Nintendo platform really matter,or is the software sale the ultimate reward?
More access equals more software sales?

True, but that statement doesn´t invalidate what i said. I could also claim that if you own both, a home and a hanheld console, Nintendo chances to saling you more software increases. And this would constitute a reasonable and valid statement also.

Don´t you think?

 

[ninzel]

True, but that statement doesn´t invalidate what i said. I could also claim that if you own both, a home and a hanheld console, Nintendo chances to saling you more software increases. And this would constitute a reasonable and valid statement also.

Don´t you think?

Yes.
I'm thinking of this more personally. Someone like myself who wouldn't mind having that portability at home once in awhile,but not badly enough to pay for a full priced handheld.
A lower priced item like a controller/game streamer could bridge that gap and be an extra incentive to buy the console. The more tiers, platforms, and devices that cater more specifically to each persons wants the better for software sales down the road.
I don't think something like a controller that can stream games would take away from sales of a dedicated handheld for those that must have that ultimate portability. This thing would be tethered to your home network.
As long as each device is priced properly for it's capabilities.it just gives each different consumer a way in.

 

[Squilliam]

Is the motion in motion controls the real selling point? Maybe the idea of a touch screen is really about throwing out most of the current gesture ideas and making it into the best possible pointer interface? Aside from the early waggle games I don't think the numbers of pointer based or button based games are anything but skewed away from showing motion as a significant selling point once the initial buzz wore off.

 

[liolio]

I agree with ToTTenTranz, I can't see the Wii2 be much of a pressure on MS/Sony to push new systems out as an emergency measure.
I don't think Nintendo plan to go after the core/hardcore gamers. It would be costly on the hardware front (not their usual business plan) but they have money so it's not the biggest argument, the biggest argument is the online platform, nintendo lags so much in this regard and money can only so much in this regard, it takes time to get things right.
I would not be surprised actually if the system underwhelm (more than expected), Nintendo has to come with something new,MS with Kinect came with something big for the casual crowd (ain't perfect for sure), MS claimed they also have been very active on the patents front (to make its competitors lives difficult obviously). They clearly have a quiet a challenge at hand, like for the Wii I believe N will play super safe so even if the system bombs the impact will be lessen. (I'va always believed that the reason behind the inconsistencies between the Wii hardware and the Dolphin rumours we were earing is that actually N know the Wii was a huge bet and they were not to bet the house on it).

 

[Refreshment]

Yes.
I'm thinking of this more personally...

I understand your point of view.
As a side note. From my experience, of the people i know that bought hanheld consoles a good percentage of them used them most of the time at home (including myself ) Talking about not exploiting the device capabilities.

I agree with ToTTenTranz, I can't see the Wii2 be much of a pressure on MS/Sony to push new systems out as an emergency measure.
I don't think Nintendo plan to go after the core/hardcore gamers. It would be costly on the hardware front (not their usual business plan) but they have money so it's not the biggest argument, the biggest argument is the online platform, nintendo lags so much in this regard and money can only so much in this regard, it takes time to get things right.

But why not opt for competitive hardware and the chance to get some of the competitors main turf? I mean thats exaclty what MS and Sony did to Nintendo´s market share with the release of motion devices. Also Nintendo´s hand is forced, so sooner or later they´ll need to tackle online seriously since its a demand that needs to be satisfied for any type of gamer.

Then consider the hughe pile of strategic reasons that everybody has commented every time this topic is debated:

I.E. No previous hardware to recycle, Nintendo new augmented pricing structure, prolongued life cycle of competitors devices which opens the door to an early console with better hardware, so its translates in them having ports with the best visuals for some time, which causes a stablishment of user base than in the future is too considerable, which causes 3rd party devs to not ignore the Nintendo base even with more powerful hardware from the competition... blah, blah, blah.

A question? For the physical format wouldn't be better for them to license HD-DVD instead of Blu ray?

 

[lwill]

I agree with ToTTenTranz, I can't see the Wii2 be much of a pressure on MS/Sony to push new systems out as an emergency measure.
I don't think Nintendo plan to go after the core/hardcore gamers. It would be costly on the hardware front (not their usual business plan) but they have money so it's not the biggest argument, the biggest argument is the online platform, nintendo lags so much in this regard and money can only so much in this regard, it takes time to get things right.
I would not be surprised actually if the system underwhelm (more than expected), Nintendo has to come with something new,MS with Kinect came with something big for the casual crowd (ain't perfect for sure), MS claimed they also have been very active on the patents front (to make its competitors lives difficult obviously). They clearly have a quiet a challenge at hand, like for the Wii I believe N will play super safe so even if the system bombs the impact will be lessen. (I'va always believed that the reason behind the inconsistencies between the Wii hardware and the Dolphin rumours we were earing is that actually N know the Wii was a huge bet and they were not to bet the house on it).

Actually, if Nintendo is making a console with the same phisophy as the 3DS, Nintendo will be more aggressive on getting third parties aboard for the Wii's successor. It seems as if their plan is to keep the casual gamers that they won over with the DS/Wii and expand their hardcore audience. Nintendo went as far as to launch the 3DS with relatively sparse first-party support to let other developers shine (though only Capcom appeared to take full advantage of that.)

I think we can expect the Nintendo's next console to be a bit more approachable to third parties than the Wii ever was.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

A question? For the physical format wouldn't be better for them to license HD-DVD instead of Blu ray?

Given that Matsushita\Panasonic has been the designer and supplier of both the optical discs and drives for Gamecube and Wii, and Panasonic was one of the earliest adopters of Blu-Ray, I think we should expect Blu-Ray compatibility, at most.

 

[Refreshment]

Given that Matsushita\Panasonic has been the designer and supplier of both the optical discs and drives for Gamecube and Wii, and Panasonic was one of the earliest adopters of Blu-Ray, I think we should expect Blu-Ray compatibility, at most.

Im aware of that. But licensing, i would asume (going by logic here), would be cheaper for them considering HD-DVD is discontinued.

Too bad SSD is expensive for the close future, console systemds would benefit from using it. Wonder if Nintendo is even contemplaiting a mechanical hard drive for the machine.