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Wii U Speculation Thread 2: Can't take anymore of this!!!

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So, with NFC we can expect Skylanders style figurines that can be placed on the tablet to bring them into the game right? Pokemon with that feature would sell billions.

Or maybe yo buy the figurine and when you put it near the wiiu it automatically downloads the game. That way you can have DD and retail living at peace.
 
*Snip*

To make things worse, the controller often needs to be recalibrated when using wiimotion plus because the camera looses sight of the sensor bar for too long; the PSMove avoids this by having a huge colored ball protuding from the controller so the camera always see's it, but the wiimote isn't designed like that the camera is inside the controller stuck inside the black plastic on top; if the angle isn't ideal (as in pointing into the telly) then it's only normal for it to get lost eventually.

Not to say the PSMove is better, the camera is a PlayStation Eye with 640x480 and it's not stuck on the controller, rather the other way around so it's way worse for pointing accuracy. But they could improve the wiimote quite a bit to circumvent it's limitations, no doubt. And I hope they would.


They could allow you to use the original controllers with a lower accuracy and knowing you'd have to recalibrate more often and still maintain compatibility; I somehow hope they do this (but I doubt it)

The controller doesn't need repeated calibration if the developers decide to use AI Live's LiveMove2 middleware. It uses the gyroscope for self-recalibration whenever the remote is held still. This is particularly noticeable when playing Red Steel 2. You calibrate once and that's it, job done.

Not sure if AI Live have patented that or not but it's frustrating that first party titles using MotionPlus don't do the same thing.

And Move is considerably worse due to ridiculous amounts of drift, which is bloomin frustrating tbh.
 

MadOdorMachine

No additional functions
What do you consider a massive jump MadOdorMachine?
Anything more then 3-6x leap is not likely to happen. It has been disscused many time why you are unlikely to see 10x leap in ANY console releasing in the next 2 years. If you want anything more join the master race.

It's hard to guage right now because we don't really have any games on PC to show off. At the start of this gen, we had Doom 3 & Half Life 2 on PC as a demonstration. Crysis has barely been topped on PC on the other hand and it came out in 2007 IIRC. I suppose a massive leap would be something like Metro 2033 at full 1080p and 60 fps as a baseline. From there something like Samaritan should be possible. I'm not as techincally inclined as a lot of people around here though, so my thoughts as you said, may not be realistic. We can't even get PS2 ports at full 1080p and 60 fps.

I don't think PS4 will hit before 2014 though. Theoretically, the could build a very powerful machine for less than the competition. Another factor to consider are the controllers Wii U and the next Xbox are rumored to use. Those will undoubtably increase the cost of the new system. That's an area Sony can use Vita to help them get around.
 

elcranky

Banned
Hyperbole in the vein of "Toy Story Graphics".
It's just them saying "OMG! WE'RE SO COOL! LOL!"
Sony or MS going balls to the walls with tech would be pure suicide. This is not 2005/6.
In 2013, gas will be closing in on $6 a gallon in many places and people are going to be far more frugal.
Trying to make a system that costs over $300 is crazy.

Sigh - do people not understand the concept of customer segmentation any more? $399/$499 dual launch prices are perfectly reasonable for early adopters. $499 is roughly $399 in 2005 dollars (i.e. only 3.2% inflation for fall 2012 launch, 2.8% if 2013). There is an easy 15 million sales in the first 18 months without appreciable impact new sales of 360/PS3s. Probably the only cannibalization that you would see is people buying second consoles for other rooms.
 

MadOdorMachine

No additional functions
Sigh - do people not understand the concept of customer segmentation any more? $399/$499 dual launch prices are perfectly reasonable for early adopters. $499 is roughly $399 in 2005 dollars (i.e. only 3.2% inflation for fall 2012 launch, 2.8% if 2013). There is an easy 15 million sales in the first 18 months without appreciable impact new sales of 360/PS3s. Probably the only cannibalization that you would see is people buying second consoles for other rooms.

I'll even take it step farther. The cheapest Xbox is still $199 going into the 7th year after launch. That's only a $100 drop after six years. The highest is still selling for $399. PS3 is still $249 at the lowest. They could get away with a higher price now, but I still think $399 is the max people will buy at.

The question is will average joe pay $500 for a medium leap. The economy is totally diffrent then 2005.

You really think it will cost that much? Based on what we've heard, I'd consider the Wii U a medium leap.
 

themadcowtipper

Smells faintly of rancid stilton.
I'll even take it step farther. The cheapest Xbox is still $199 going into the 7th year after launch. That's only a $100 drop after six years. The highest is still selling for $399. PS3 is still $249 at the lowest. They could get away with a higher price now, but I still think $399 is the max people will buy at.



You really think it will cost that much? Based on what we've heard, I'd consider the Wii U a medium leap.

The 500 price was in response to who I quoted.
i expect the nexbox and wiiu to be similar in power much llike the GC,Xbox OG. I think it would be retarded to release at 499, but who knows what sony will do.

As for Nintendo and Ms price point it depends what is packed in.
 

Skiesofwonder

Walruses, camels, bears, rabbits, tigers and badgers.
I would like to remind everybody of the following:

We are 100 days away from the week of E3.

We are 10 days away from the week of GDC.
 
Hyperbole in the vein of "Toy Story Graphics".
It's just them saying "OMG! WE'RE SO COOL! LOL!"
Sony or MS going balls to the walls with tech would be pure suicide. This is not 2005/6.
In 2013, gas will be closing in on $6 a gallon in many places and people are going to be far more frugal.
Trying to make a system that costs over $300 is crazy.

You should tell Microsoft since they have a 399 current gen SKU...

That's what I dont get about the low pricing drumbeat, prices arent even low now on 6 year old tech! Why do you think MS, Sony or Nintendo would care that much on brand new tech? Do you really think their mindset is we effectively have to price our new system lower than our already existing one? If they were so worried about price, they'd have cut the 360 since 2008! Or do you think they're like "high price is ok now, but it'd be suicide next gen!!!" Because the ASP of the 360 is close to $300...

I think the same 299/399 that started last gen is viable, and I even think 399/499 might be, due to simple inflation.
 
R

Rösti

Unconfirmed Member
Just a quick update about the people I've contacted about ongoing processes:

  • Jerald E. Nagae, Nintendo's IP correspondent in USA, of Christensen O'Connor Johnson Kindness has not replied to my inquiry about the suspension letter Nintendo received from the USPTO on the 11th of January. The trademark's status remains like this: An Office action suspending further action on the application has been sent (issued) to the applicant.

    http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=85393173

  • Grünecker, Kinkeldey, Stockmair & Schwanhäusser, Nintendo's IP correspondent in Europe, has not replied to my inquiry about the opposition made by Information Technology Junction Limited on the trade mark (word mark) Wii U (number 010377331 via OHIM) on grounds of "Unfair advantage /detriment to distinctiveness or repute".

    http://esearch.oami.europa.eu/copla/trademark/data/010377331/print
In the USA, Nintendo has applied for sixteen trade marks for Wii U, eight word marks and eight stylized marks (logos). In Europe, Nintendo has applied for two trade marks for Wii U, one word mark and two stylized marks (logos). And in Japan, Nintendo has applied for eleven trade marks for Wii U, five word marks and six stylized marks (logos). Japan is the only country where Nintendo has the Wii U trade mark registered, with one word mark and one stylized mark (a monochrome Wii U logo). While I don't know much about trade mark law in Japan, in the US it's something like this:

Registration with the USPTO is not required for a trademark to be protected, but it does give some benefits such as the holder/registering partner being given right to use the mark nationwide and having full records for other to search to see who owns the particular trademark. Registration also enables the party to bring an infringement suit in (federal) court. And most importantly, a trade mark can after five years of registration become incontestable, whereas the exclusive rights to use the mark is definitively established.

Nintendo should in theory be able to at least in Japan bring out the console right now, though with limited marketing opportunities. But it wouldn't make sense, as the days where you could launch a system nearly a year, or more, in one region over others are over. This delay of action could have something to do with the opposition by Information Technology Junction Limited on the 27th of January. However, that company is relatively small and deals with labour recruitment and technical consulting for architects (nothing to do with Wii U), so it shouldn't be difficult for Nintendo of Europe's legal department and combat them. So I wonder what's this hold-up is all about.

Maybe they are interested in calling the system Wii U in Japan whilst in other regions call it something different. Like how Sega called it's 16-bit system Genesis in the USA and Mega Drive in Europe. Though this would probably confuse consumers even more. I'm intrigued to know more about Nintendo's actions on this before GDC.
 

m.i.s.

Banned
Sigh - do people not understand the concept of customer segmentation any more? $399/$499 dual launch prices are perfectly reasonable for early adopters. $499 is roughly $399 in 2005 dollars (i.e. only 3.2% inflation for fall 2012 launch, 2.8% if 2013). There is an easy 15 million sales in the first 18 months without appreciable impact new sales of 360/PS3s. Probably the only cannibalization that you would see is people buying second consoles for other rooms.

This is just theoretical reasoning pulled out from an economics manual. Nobody looks at a product and justifies its sticker price by taking inflation into account.

And just how long has the 360 been out on the market?

Out in the real world, 3DS was struggling past it's initial shipment at it's $249.99 price point. We'll see how well (or not) Vita's opening numbers do in the next few days. Early indications are not good - we didn't even get pre-order numbers from Sony from any territory.

Wii U will be competing not only with an established user base on lower price platforms with a wide library of low price software (360, PS3) but also other multimedia tablet devices.

Wii U also won't have any of the multimedia paraphernalia such as DVD or Blu Ray playback. It will lack a Hard Drive. It will be difficult for Nintendo to command any sort of price premium.

Anything above $250 and it will struggle past it's initial shipment.
 
I don't read that as very encouraging :-(

I think the part that isn't very encouraging are the parts I bolded. If you are of the belief that system is on par or slightly more powerful than PS3/360, then you read it with a different perspetive. It sounds like he's pleading to Nintendo to make the system more powerful. If it isn't powerful enough, he doesn't think hardcore gamers will adopt it and that it may not be as successful as he and Nintendo hope.

As pointed out multiple times back when it was first posted, the article is months old and so he's most likely referring to the old kit. Though he did a good job with his words.

We've touched on it a bit, but I think a big indicator was the mock up IGN built. People seem to blast me for referencing it, but it's the only gauge we've seen for what to expect.

Because it's not a good gauge of anything is why you get "blasted". No need to continue to hold on to it because they built a dev kit.

You should tell Microsoft since they have a 399 current gen SKU...

That's what I dont get about the low pricing drumbeat, prices arent even low now on 6 year old tech! Why do you think MS, Sony or Nintendo would care that much on brand new tech? Do you really think their mindset is we effectively have to price our new system lower than our already existing one? If they were so worried about price, they'd have cut the 360 since 2008! Or do you think they're like "high price is ok now, but it'd be suicide next gen!!!" Because the ASP of the 360 is close to $300...

I think the same 299/399 that started last gen is viable, and I even think 399/499 might be, due to simple inflation.

I agree actually right down to inflation. The problem last gen was that they didn't design the hardware to be able to come down in price is timely stages. If they are smarter with that this time around while making sure the value is there to support it, they could get away with $400-$500 consoles for the enthusiast. And then be able to lower the prices faster due to better price decisions with their builds.
 

Skiesofwonder

Walruses, camels, bears, rabbits, tigers and badgers.
You should tell Microsoft since they have a 399 current gen SKU...

That's what I dont get about the low pricing drumbeat, prices arent even low now on 6 year old tech! Why do you think MS, Sony or Nintendo would care that much on brand new tech? Do you really think their mindset is we effectively have to price our new system lower than our already existing one? If they were so worried about price, they'd have cut the 360 since 2008! Or do you think they're like "high price is ok now, but it'd be suicide next gen!!!" Because the ASP of the 360 is close to $300...

I think the same 299/399 that started last gen is viable, and I even think 399/499 might be, due to simple inflation.

I think anything over $399 would be a HUGE risk. Not only are they competing with two other consoles and two handhelds, but when you break that $400 barrier, you start competing with Ipads and the like. IMO, the only way Sony, Nintendo, or Microsoft could bring a successful console to the market for over $400 is if they made it an multi-media machine/tablet/whatever that was extremely innovative and put gaming as a SECONDARY focus.

Edit: I must have the worst luck when it comes to having my posts being the last post before the next page.....
 

elcranky

Banned
This is just some insane reasoning pulled out from an economics manual.

Out in the real world, 3DS was struggling past it's initial shipment at it's $249.99 price point. We'll see how well (or not) Vita's opening numbers do in the next few days. Early indications are not good. We didn't even get pre-order numbers from any territory.

Wii U will be competing not only with an established user base on lower price platforms with a wide library of low price software (360, PS3) but also other multimedia tablet devices.

Wii U also won't have any of the multimedia paraphernalia such as DVD or Blu Ray playback. It will lack a Hard Drive. It won't command any sort of price premium at all.

Anything above $250 and it will struggle past it's initial shipment.

LOL, you might want to consider taking some logic courses. Also, try reading the post, as I was clearly discussing 720/PS4. I expect 300/350 for the U.
 

Daschysta

Member
This is just some insane reasoning pulled out from an economics manual.

Out in the real world, 3DS was struggling past it's initial shipment at it's $249.99 price point. We'll see how well (or not) Vita's opening numbers do in the next few days. Early indications are not good. We didn't even get pre-order numbers from any territory.

Wii U will be competing not only with an established user base on lower price platforms with a wide library of low price software (360, PS3) but also other multimedia tablet devices.

Wii U also won't have any of the multimedia paraphernalia such as DVD or Blu Ray playback. It will lack a Hard Drive. It won't command any sort of price premium at all.

Anything above $250 and it will struggle past it's initial shipment.

There is different percieved value for home console than for a handheld.

It could easily get away with 350, the tablet controller will be novel in a console, and if it has a high selling piece of nintendo software at launch it won't have problems. It's about games far more than price. 3DS struggled with lack of software early on more than with price. Had it launched with Mariokart or ML7 it would have sold fine for quite a while at 250. Nintendo recognizes this problem, as well as pricing, to an extent, but 250 is by no means the limit for early adopters in a next gen home console.

The other consoles lack nintendo's greatest asset, it's own games, which is enough to sell millions of the console by themselves. It will be fine if it gets all relevant 3rd party ports, has the big nintendo games and is around the rumoured power, which is noticably more powerful than last gen.
 

MadOdorMachine

No additional functions
As pointed out multiple times back when it was first posted, the article is months old and so he's most likely referring to the old kit. Though he did a good job with his words.
I agree that they have made adjustments to the specs to beef it up some.

Because it's not a good gauge of anything is why you get "blasted". No need to continue to hold on to it because they built a dev kit.
See that's what I don't get. IGN clearly says upfront that their mock up was completely unoptimised. I get it. Shouldn't we expect more power than what they built or do you think they are completely off the mark? Every game they tested was in full 1080p and with better textures, AA, etc. How is that not a gauge of the minimum of what we should see when they were given those specific parts to use by their sources?
 
I agree that they have made adjustments to the specs to beef it up some.

?

I only said he was talking about the old kit because of how old the interview was.

See that's what I don't get. IGN clearly says upfront that their mock up was completely unoptimised. I get it. Shouldn't we expect more power than what they built or do you think they are completely off the mark? Every game they tested was in full 1080p and with better textures, AA, etc. How is that not a gauge of the minimum of what we should see when they were given those specific parts to use by their sources?

The fact that IGN even said it is why you shouldn't believe it to represent anything. It's not accurate. Remember we found out that the GPUs were underclocked. They used a fully clocked 4850 and the system in total had 3GB of memory. And it's not guaranteed most Wii U games will be in 1080p. It's a bad representation both for better and worse that what Wii U will be. I made a long list why it was bad the last time and there's no need to repeat it. They built a PC representation of a dev kit that played PC games. You're about the only one I've seen trying to justify it. They should have just reported what they were told and stopped. I'm begging you to please let it go and act like it never happened.

Unless you want them to build a PC with a 6670 to represent Xbox 3?
 

Hiltz

Member
$300-350 price range for Wii U seems reasonable to me.

I think Nintendo's wasting its time when it comes to handheld to home console connectivity. Besides, third-parties basically want nothing to do with it anyway.
 

Nibel

Member
Daschysta reminds me of BurntPork because of his avatar, lol.

Plus, we could talk all day about those interviews with Gearbox or Ubisoft or whoever; these are old news, old statements based on old circumstances.
 
Anything more then 3-6x leap is not likely to happen. It has been disscused many time why you are unlikely to see 10x leap in ANY console releasing in the next 2 years. If you want anything more join the master race.

Enough with this 6x and 10x bullshit. It is just as effective as saying how many pikmins are in the Wii U. It does nothing but invalidate your opinion.
 
I think that Nintendo is going to price the system according to perceived value. The 3ds would have been fine at $250 if it had the games at launch. In fact the DSi went up in price compared to the DS and DS Lite.

Enough with this 6x and 10x bullshit. It is just as effective as saying how many pikmins are in the Wii U. It does nothing but invalidate your opinion.


But how many pikmin are in the Wii U?
 

m.i.s.

Banned
There is different percieved value for home console than for a handheld.

It could easily get away with 350, the tablet controller will be novel in a console, and if it has a high selling piece of nintendo software at launch it won't have problems. It's about games far more than price. 3DS struggled with lack of software early on more than with price. Had it launched with Mariokart or ML7 it would have sold fine for quite a while at 250. Nintendo recognizes this problem, as well as pricing, to an extent, but 250 is by no means the limit for early adopters in a next gen home console.

The other consoles lack nintendo's greatest asset, it's own games, which is enough to sell millions of the console by themselves. It will be fine if it gets all relevant 3rd party ports, has the big nintendo games and is around the rumoured power, which is noticably more powerful than last gen.

I do agree about the games. Mario Kart in 720p / 1080p will be a huge draw. But don't forget, 360 has been on the market for over 6 years and will probably be over 7 years on the market before its successor arrives whereas Nintendo consoles are typically replaced every 5 years (this is about the right time I think for a games console). In the case of the 360 and PS3, I also feel a premature - for that time - HD bump caused the hardware to exceed what they otherwise would have been and which had to be priced accordingly. Nintendo is joining the HD standard later, so it has the option of pricing it's hardware lower.

Games console prices, on the whole, remain relatively static because it's main usp is the games - everything else is just a bonus.

Consider a casual gamer who wants to buy a console on which to play Resi Evil 6. Is he going to buy the game for Wii U at your theoretical cost of $350 or on the 360 or PS3 for a theoretical price of $199. Yes, it'll look nicer on Wii U (probably, how are companies with multi-ports these days?) but $150 nicer?
 

themadcowtipper

Smells faintly of rancid stilton.
Enough with this 6x and 10x bullshit. It is just as effective as saying how many pikmins are in the Wii U. It does nothing but invalidate your opinion.

True. I was responding to a massive leap graphics. The point remains the amount power required for the leap some are expecting is not possibly in a box the size of a home cosole.
 

MadOdorMachine

No additional functions
?

I only said he was talking about the old kit because of how old the interview was.
Right. What I meant was that since that time we've heard other devs like Team Ninja say that the specs were changing. In other words, it's improving over what was said in that interview.

The fact that IGN even said it is why you shouldn't believe it to represent anything. It's not accurate. Remember we found out that the GPUs were underclocked. They used a fully clocked 4850 and the system in total had 3GB of memory. And it's not guaranteed most Wii U games will be in 1080p. It's a bad representation both for better and worse that what Wii U will be. I made a long list why it was bad the last time and there's no need to repeat it. They built a PC representation of a dev kit that played PC games. You're about the only one I've seen trying to justify it. They should have just reported what they were told and stopped. I'm begging you to please let it go and act like it never happened.

Unless you want them to build a PC with a 6670 to represent Xbox 3?
Okay. You have my word I won't mention it again after this. I just have to clarify though. Are you saying that Wii U might not be able to display games like CoD, NFS:HP or Crysis 2 at 1080p?
 

themadcowtipper

Smells faintly of rancid stilton.
Nintendo is coming in late, so it has the option of pricing it's hardware lower.
How is Nintendo late? The wii is the same generation of consoles as the ps360. Regardless of power the wiiu, will be the first next gen system released.

Exactly. We all know their color is the only thing that really matters.

The real question is will it have a handle.
Okay. You have my word I won't mention it again after this. I just have to clarify though. Are you saying that Wii U might not be able to display games like CoD, NFS:HP or Crysis 2 at 1080p?

Are you sure the nexbox and ps4 will be able to.
 

AlStrong

Member
Enough with this 6x and 10x bullshit. It is just as effective as saying how many pikmins are in the Wii U. It does nothing but invalidate your opinion.

The number of pikmins is srs biz, yo:
rv7x0-arch-big.png
 

Daschysta

Member
Daschysta reminds me of BurntPork because of his avatar, lol.

Plus, we could talk all day about those interviews with Gearbox or Ubisoft or whoever; these are old news, old statements based on old circumstances.

Just shoot me if I ever start descending into madness! (or convince me to change my avy before it's too late!)
 

nordique

Member
Here's an interview they did with IGN. Please remember that this was at E3, so things could have changed.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/118/1180954p1.html



I'm not trying to be a pessimist, I'm just trying to keep people's thought's more realistic. Aside from the people posting info around here, we also have Michel Ancel (Rayman/BG&E) saying the same thing. That doesn't mean things couldn't have changed and that the system isn't more powerful now. I'm just saying people shouldn't expect a massive jump over 360/PS3.

I agree....however, this doesn't go against what the general consensus in this thread seems to be; most people expect the system to be a "half step".
 
I'm still holding onto hope that Nintendo has decided to upgrade the Wii U's GPU to a full RV770 with a 800:16:32 configuration. It would provide that nice half step up from PS360, even though it wouldn't be as powerful as Xbox3/PS4.
 

nordique

Member
We've touched on it a bit, but I think a big indicator was the mock up IGN built. People seem to blast me for referencing it, but it's the only gauge we've seen for what to expect. Whether or not IGN was given a list of off the shelf parts for estimated performance or parts that were closest to what would be in the Wii U itself will have a big determining factor on how much more powerful Wii U will be than IGN's prototype.

What I found interesting was that every game they tested ran at native 1080p and had crisper textures over 360/PS3. This lines up with what Gearbox are saying. Higher resolutions alone demand more processing power even if the end results are only minor or the same. So to me this is a good indicator on what we might expect. For me this is fine. I'm completely happy with that level of graphics, especially for Nintendo games.

Right now we don't know enough about the next Xbox or PS4 to say a whole lot, but I expect them to be a massive jump. Sony in particular seem to be setting the bar high and we've heard terms like "Avatar graphics" so even though we know it's not attainable, at least we know that they're aiming high. Nintendo once again seems to be going for the overall experience.

I think it's worth noting also the target price and size of Wii U. All of this has an impact of what kind of performance we can expect. We know the system will be small, but I also think the sweet spot will be $299. After the 3DS debacle, I don't think Nintendo wants to price themselves out of the market. They have to price it to not only be competitive with 360/PS3, but also the PS4/nextbox.



While I can't speak for Sony at all, as I'm not sure of their business model these days, the Next Xbox won't be a huge jump graphically like you think it will...I don't know this for a fact, but I believe it makes no sense for Microsoft to start losing money right out the gate again.

That is, unless you consider a huge jump being interface related, just like the Wii was a huge jump interface-wise over the GameCube.
 

nordique

Member
The question is will average joe pay $500 for a medium leap. The economy is totally diffrent then 2005.

exactly.

Hence why you won't see something like the next Xbox being too expensive ;)


The value will come from the interface (Kinect 2.0) and touchscreen on controller, if rumours end up being correct. I do firmly believe Microsoft sees value in a Wii-style business model. They do like making money after all, not losing it.
 

royalan

Member
I agree....however, this doesn't go against what the general consensus in this thread seems to be; most people expect the system to be a "half step".

Whether or not the Wii U is a "half step" really depends what Microsoft puts into the 720. Since Nintendo is most likely to be under and Sony is most likely to go over, I think the 720 will be what sets the bar for what "next-gen" power is. They could very well release a console that's only a minor step above the Wii U, in which case the Wii U would be a full gen leap.

The thing that always makes me laugh in these next gen threads are people acting as though the specs for MS and Sony's next consoles are set in stone.
 
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