Nintendo Wii U launch count down (Nov 18th 2012)

[Hans de Vries]

Potentially a 100+ million console:

Nintendo youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/Nintendo?v=ezmdN4HDEoc
Official side: http://www.nintendo.com/wiiu
Console hardware: http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interv...iu/console/0/0

The internet browser can either use the console as a touch
screen keyboard with the HDTV as the monitor, or it can
use the console as a stand alone tablet browser.

Consoles are one of the 5 internet access devices competing
with the classical personal computer.

PC's ---> Smart Phones, Tablets, Consoles, Smart TV's, PC's

With $299.= for the 8GB version and 349.= for the 32GB version
it might be a very appealing device for a lot of families with kids.

Hans.

[Hornet331]

Sorry but internet on nintendo consoles will be as relevant as it was as usual-> not at all.

Even when they try to push it, what we saw with various stuff on the Wii, noone really bought a Wii for that and it will be the same for the WiiU.
You buy a nintendo console for there first party games (mario, zelda, etc.) not for some internet gimmick.

[Olivon]

My guess is that Nintendo will be in serious trouble soon.

Handheld consoles are almost dead and Wii U doesn't seem capable to repeat the initial Wii effect.

[[XC] Lead Head]

My guess is that Nintendo will be in serious trouble soon.

Handheld consoles are almost dead and Wii U doesn't seem capable to repeat the initial Wii effect.

Nintendo is the Apple of the console world. It doesn't matter what they make, people will buy it.

[tajoh111]

Nintendo is the Apple of the console world. It doesn't matter what they make, people will buy it.

Not at all. The gamecube was the loser of last generation(its unfair to compare the original xbox), same with the Nintendo 64. The console crowd is very fickle. Sony used to be the bomb and it got cream the latest generation. The 3ds was selling really badly until the price drop. Compare this to an apple product and consumer loyalty isn't nearly as high.

The wii had the lowest software attachment rate.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/3...p#.UKiOEYYkrKc

This is especially low when you consider that all Wii's come with a game.

I own a wii. However it was played the least of the consoles I have and I owned all 3. Was fun initially but it felt like a gimmick afterwards. Twilight princess was the only zelda game I didn't finish and I didn't bother to buy skywards swords. The key simple game mechanics that make a nintendo game fun are lost in the wii control mechanics.

I don't think the wii U will sell very well in its lifetime and I think all the consoles will have a hard time doing well. Too much competition from extreme casual gaming(phones, tablest) and this will hurt the WII U the most this generation. Plus the casual gamer is the type least likely to upgrade.

[paulbagz]

Eh, I will buy one just like every Nintendo console before that and I won't be dissapointed

-PB

[FischOderAal]

I fear that the concept of the WiiU will not be successfull. It's sad, since I grew up with Nintendo. Gameboy, SNES, Nintendo 64 I recently bought a N64 and all the games again. I still think that Zelda - Ocarina Of Time is one of the best games ever produced.

Anyway. The WiiU looks to me like they were very desperate to find something new.

[TomodaK]

tajoh how the hell did you not finish Twilight Princess?! It took me awhile to warm up to, but prob my 2nd fav Zelda next to Ocarina!

I think the WiiU will do ok just won't come close to repeating what the Wii did, sales will be quite meh longrun. I will prob buy one though cause I never had a Wii/Skyward Sword and I'll want the new Zelda as well =p

Here's my question. The Wii probably cost Nintendo jack to make, it's like an upgraded gamecube ffs meanwhile Sony/Microsoft spent years losing money on their consoles due to huge RnD, high system failure rates, etc. Did Nintendo not make a huge pile of cash off the Wii? Sure it didn't cost all that much for a large portion of it's lifespan, but it couldn't cost have much to make and TONS of people have Wiis. If so why didn't they build something more up to date? You can't be selling seriously out dated stuff like this imo. The Wii-U might survive this round, but it won't be pretty. There's little doubt in my mind that if they release another system lacking any real computing power inside that no one will buy it lol

[PedantOne]

its too big and heavy for kids hands

[FischOderAal]

Here's my question. The Wii probably cost Nintendo jack to make, it's like an upgraded gamecube ffs meanwhile Sony/Microsoft spent years losing money on their consoles due to huge RnD, high system failure rates, etc. Did Nintendo not make a huge pile of cash off the Wii? Sure it didn't cost all that much for a large portion of it's lifespan, but it couldn't cost have much to make and TONS of people have Wiis. If so why didn't they build something more up to date? You can't be selling seriously out dated stuff like this imo. The Wii-U might survive this round, but it won't be pretty. There's little doubt in my mind that if they release another system lacking any real computing power inside that no one will buy it lol

I dunno what Nintendo spent on R&D, but directly from the beginning Nintendo made money with each console sold, in difference to Sony and Microsoft. So yes, we can expect that Nintendo made a load of money if only the manufacturing costs are taken into consideration.

I guess Nintendo aimed for the same "recipe" as for the Wii. Build a comparably cheap console and sell it without subsidy, so that even when the sales figures are "meh", it's still profit. I doubt that Nintendo is so stupid expecting the same miracle which happened for the Wii.

[tbone8ty]

teardown

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/General...otos-and-Video

[tbone8ty]

the reason it wont be succesful is this crappy ecomony we are in

otherwise these would fly off the shelves

[Hornet331]

the reason it wont be succesful is this crappy ecomony we are in

otherwise these would fly off the shelves

well It kinda does, at retailers like game stop they already have double the preorders compared to the wii, though the biggest sales from the wii where not at launch.

[tajoh111]

well It kinda does, at retailers like game stop they already have double the preorders compared to the wii, though the biggest sales from the wii where not at launch.

I think a huge reason for this is honestly the scalper crowd. Look at kijiji, craigslist, etc. Way more than usual. I think the scalpers market is bigger than usual and seemed to take off after the xbox360 release.

I think it helps that Nintendo had more hardware than usual and most prereleases for hardware have been supply limited.

[[XC] Lead Head]

Not at all. The gamecube was the loser of last generation(its unfair to compare the original xbox), same with the Nintendo 64. The console crowd is very fickle. Sony used to be the bomb and it got cream the latest generation. The 3ds was selling really badly until the price drop. Compare this to an apple product and consumer loyalty isn't nearly as high.

The wii had the lowest software attachment rate.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/3...p#.UKiOEYYkrKc

This is especially low when you consider that all Wii's come with a game.

The people I know with Wii's bought everything Nintendo shoveled at them. The dumb plastic Wiimote wheels, guns. The second generation Wiimotes, the Wii sports stuff. IMHO, the Nintendo fan base is just like the apple fan base.

Yes they did stop playing the Wii once the novelty wore off, but they still ended up buying all the accessories.

[naokaji]

I think the Wii U will sell, the game selection looks to be pretty solid and what did most failed consoles have in common? a crappy game selection. So the Wii U looks pretty good on the game front, has the nintendo name attached and doesn't cost too much.

[Hornet331]

I think a huge reason for this is honestly the scalper crowd. Look at kijiji, craigslist, etc. Way more than usual. I think the scalpers market is bigger than usual and seemed to take off after the xbox360 release.

I think it helps that Nintendo had more hardware than usual and most prereleases for hardware have been supply limited.

good thing they don't make much, because there is still or was enough supply to satisfy the initial demand.

Seeing WiiU on ebay for 3k is quite funny.

[Vinas]

Eh, I will buy one just like every Nintendo console before that and I won't be dissapointed

-PB

this, since 1985.

[informal]

I think this console will sell good. Hardware wise it trumps current xbox and PS and by the time both next gens come out it will have a large user base. Since current games on xbox and ps3 look great and run good on obsolete hardware in these consoles,I guess future games will have little trouble running on Wii U(sheer amount of much better GPU power vs current gens and much more RAM will do the trick nicely).

[zalbard]

Hardware wise it trumps current xbox and PS

Yeah, but it seems that driving the gamepad (especially several ones at the same time) takes a lot of resources.

[informal]

Yeah, but it seems that driving the gamepad (especially several ones at the same time) takes a lot of resources.

I didn't know about that. Are there any reviews of the console yet?

[Spectrobozo]

I think this console will sell good. Hardware wise it trumps current xbox and PS and by the time both next gens come out it will have a large user base. Since current games on xbox and ps3 look great and run good on obsolete hardware in these consoles,I guess future games will have little trouble running on Wii U(sheer amount of much better GPU power vs current gens and much more RAM will do the trick nicely).

well, things are not so clear, the current multiplatform games seem to be a lot worse on the Wii U compared to the 360,
also there are many doubts about how good it really is,
memory bandwidth is much lower than the 360 (12.8GB/s for the Wii U and 22.4GB/s for the 360), there are many reports that the CPU is also less capable,

there are a lot of people unhappy of how it's performing
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=500078

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df...o-wii-u-review

[informal]

I would not go as far as saying it's hardware's fault. More likely a bad port for new WiiU(software optimization). Should we remind ourselves how xbox and ps3 matured with time? Now they are fine gaming consoles but at launch we couldn't say that for either.

[zalbard]

I didn't know about that.

From Wii U Daily:

Nintendo has said it was possible to use two Wii U controllers with the console, however, the current plan is that only one controller will be supported at beginning. The Wii U controller requires a lot of resources and processing power from the console hardware, which means a considerable amount of more power from the system will have to be used to support the extra controller. That’s why games who would support two controllers would have to be created for this kind of support from the ground up. Because of this, it’s uncertain whether the console will ever support multiple tablet controllers.

I probably read this first elsewhere, though...

Are there any reviews of the console yet?

WSJ: Nintendo Wii U Review Roundup

[solofly]

This is what a call toys for kids...(that goes for any console)

Big boys play with big toys if you know what I mean...