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Cross Play for Wii U: More than a feature a necessity?

Refreshment.01

Refreshment.01

Member
This early in it's life the 3rd party support has turned as cold as we see in the twilight years for many other platforms. So it is time for Nintendo to look at alternatives.

So what happens if Nintendo just designs mayor 3DS titles with multi platform in mind? As well as encouraging 3rd party developers on 3DS to take this aproach. This seems right for multiple reasons:

1- Developers could potentially reach a bigger user base.
2- The 3DS games could benefit from the extra processing power. Increased resolution or frame rates, better visual quality in general (AA, Aniso or post processing filters)
3- Tap into the potential and expanded social features the Wii U platform should/could get in the future.
4- The Wii U catalog will enrich itself with a bigger pool of software.
5- The Wii U gamepad faithfully mimics every single 3DS input method, down to the same resistive touch screen technology.

And this could also present a potential way to have increased revenue for the same piece of software depending on the way Nintendo choses to implement it. For example, after buying the 3DS game in whichever platform the user pays an extra small fee to have the game unlocked for the other platform.

Now the potential downside for this, that i can think of, lays in how and if the experience could translate well from the 3DS setup to the Wii U, the 3DS for example has the screens in a very small proximity to each other. But since Nintendo transitioned to the 3DS the use of dual screens for gameplay porpouses has decreased in favor of focusing in the 3D screen. If you consider the biggest titles in this hanheld (MonHun, Mario Kart, 3D Land, NSMB2, Revelations, etc) most of them would have no problems running in the Wii U setup.

I think the potential for the feature is there and could be one the of most interesting things Nintendo could do with the platform since the Wii U pad failed to attrach the market as well as the Wii Remote did. I would say cross play makes more sense in the Wii U/3DS combo than it ever did on the PS3/Vita.
 
F

FLAguy954

Junior Member
No, its a horrible idea imo. Why the fuck would Nintendo cannibalize the 3DS' sales just so you can play non-3d, enhanced 3DS games on the Wii U instead of, I don't know, Wii U games.
 
H

hatchx

Banned
I personally don't give a fuck about 3DS to Wii U connectivity. If Monster Hunter 3 had local co-op I would have bought it. We already have a freakin' screen on the controller.


It will be extremely hard to excite me about connectivity. I don't see the value or the point of it other than with a unified account system where my 3DS/WiiU eshop/VC games can be played on both.
 
S

Skyzard

Banned
To people fully against this - it would make Wii U Smash Bros more fun online if you actually had people to play against.

I understand the OP didn't mention it but instead sp 3ds games on wii u which doesn't make as much sense to me either but for online it would be awesome. Even for local play.

If third parties were going to uprez 3DS ports they may try to go PS360 instead of Wii U for your reason (1). Like capcom did....although I doubt most games will be too well received since they're not really console on the go experiences.

I have no idea why you think it makes more sense on WiiU/3DS than Vita/PS3 when the games tend to be more similar.
 
M

Mileena

Banned
yea because I want to play fugly ass 3DS games on my Wii U. It doesn't need handheld ports (except MH4, the only game that matters) it needs some actual Wii U games.
 
A

ascii42

Member
PS3/Vita crossplay makes sense because the Vita is much closer to the PS3 in power than a 3DS is to a WiiU.
 
F

FLAguy954

Junior Member
Skyzard said:
To people fully against this - it would make Wii U Smash Bros more fun online if you actually had people to play against.
Click to expand...

Both Kid Icarus Uprising and Mario Kart 7 online multi-player would like to have a word with you. There are tons of people playing both of these games online and you can expect even more for the 3DS version of Smash Bros.
 
S

Skyzard

Banned
FLAguy954 said:
Both Kid Icarus Uprising and Mario Kart 7 online multi-player would like to have a word with you. There are tons of people playing both of these games online and you can expect even more for the 3DS version of Smash Bros.
Click to expand...

Hmm think you misunderstood, I meant the Wii U gamers would appreciate the 3DS userbase for online play.


-although I don't really know how popular Smash Bros is in Japan where the 3DS userbase would help quite a bit. But even small things help, Vita PSASBR would have probably sucked without PS3 cross-play.
 
P

peanutbutterlatte

Member
How about you don't play 240p games blown up on a 42 inch TV and the 3DS still has loads of incentive to be bought?

IMO the only way this would make sense is with Virtual Console titles, which has very recently been rumored.
 
Refreshment.01

Refreshment.01

Member
FLAguy954 said:
No, its a horrible idea imo. Why the fuck would Nintendo cannibalize the 3DS' sales just so you can play non-3d, enhanced 3DS games on the Wii U instead of, I don't know, Wii U games.
Click to expand...
Why would you think it'll cannibalize sales? Each platform offers a subset of features that make owning a game on for each attractive. For example, 3DS has the stereoscopic visuals and portability. The Wii U could enhance visuals and the community with OS related features.

For an owner with both platforms it would be alluring for a small fee to enhance the game in many ways. To Wii U only owners it would represent a boost for the platform software offerings.

If you have noticed, the complexity of games on Nintendo hanhelds has increased since the 3DS release. What i mean is that you see more software that closely resemblance a console game. There's even some ports of highprofile home console games for the device.
 
F

FLAguy954

Junior Member
Refreshment.01 said:
Why would you think it'll cannibalize sales? Each platform offers a subset of features that make owning a game on for each attractive. For example, 3DS has the stereoscopic visuals and portability. The Wii U could enhance visuals and the community with OS related features.

For an owner with both platforms it would be alluring for a small fee to enhance the game in many ways. To Wii U only owners it would represent a boost for the platform software offerings.

If you have noticed, the complexity of games on Nintendo hanhelds has increased since the 3DS release. What i mean is that you see more software that closely resemblance a console game. There's even some ports of highprofile home console games for the device.
Click to expand...

I just think it is too soon for cross play for 3ds games although I welcome virtual console parity (which is rumored to be happening).

I feel the Wii U needs to finds its own footing and establish itself rather than using the 3DS as training wheels so to speak.
 
S

Somnid

Member
Not necessary but I do think it would be a huge win for them. Cross-leveraging releases is great for building a symbiosis, Wii U owners are more interested in 3DS and 3DS owners become interested in Wii U because they own games for it. I think pubs would like it just to reach a broader audience. You have to be careful not to cross-clobber your releases though otherwise people will only by one.

I think this is something that Sony uses to their benefit as Vita would probably be even deader otherwise. Although that's also a problem because nobody cares about Vita and so the benefits are reduced and I don't think Vita play for PS4 is interesting because of it. Also they do too many game cross-platform which provides less incentive to pick up Vita because a lot of major games are ports.

So it needs to be decided case-by-case but VC is certainly one thing that could use it as could a few of the indie titles that get blanketed across all platforms. It would provide a clear reason to get the Nintendo versions over anything else but doesn't take away exclusivity incentive to own particular consoles so they should allow it.
 
Refreshment.01

Refreshment.01

Member
Mileena said:
yea because I want to play fugly ass 3DS games on my Wii U. It doesn't need handheld ports (except MH4, the only game that matters) it needs some actual Wii U games.
Click to expand...
Nintendo 3DS games are being made regardless of the Wii U situation. If Nintendo adopts a politic that encourages the development of 3DS titles with Wii U hooks in mind it would be like getting free Wii U games withouth the need to invest in extra time of development resources.

The potential attractive features for doing this are mentioned in the original post.
 
B

Bullza2o

Member
So this is like the GBA player for GameCube? I don't see anything wrong with this concept; it actually has great potential. A 3DS/DS player for Wii U.
 
K

KillerTravis

Banned
No, keeping 3DS and Wii U software unique is what they have to keep striving for. Why do you think the Vita is such a failure? You can get exactly, if not a better experience on a PS3.
 
Refreshment.01

Refreshment.01

Member
Bullza2o said:
So this is like the GBA player for GameCube? I don't see anything wrong with this concept; it actually has great potential. A 3DS/DS player for Wii U.
Click to expand...
But htere's no need for extra hardware Bullza, the Wii U input options exactly match and even surpass those in the 3DS. For example, you bought Revelations on 3DS. Register the game and pay an extra fee for downloading the game to your Wii U. Both games are now attached to your account.

Capcom could have easily created the game to say, run at 1080P with higher IQ on your Wii U. It's a game that meshes well with a console experience.
 
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BRocknRolla

Member
Nope. Power differential is too great between the 3DS and Wii U. The benefit just seems minimal. I'd rather have unique and interesting experiences on the two platforms.

I'm sure there would be a few games here and there that would translate between the two, but for the most part, I just don't see the point.
 
B

Bullza2o

Member
Refreshment.01 said:
But htere's no need for extra hardware Bullza. For example, you bought Revelation on 3DS. Register the game and pay an extra fee for downloading the game to your Wii U. BOth games are now attached to your account.
Click to expand...

And use some sort of save transfer like MH3U? Now this sounds a lot more exciting than a 3DS Player.

If this happens, I think they won't let people just buy 3DS games for Wii U --they have to buy the 3DS game first, then the extra fee like you said.
 
A

AGITΩ

Member
It's worked well for Monster Hunter. I would Double Dip on some existing 3DS games if they got upscaled to the Wii U. It would be nice if they kept the 3D support, as the Wii U does support it, even with the HDMI provided. ACIII has it.
 
C

Codeblue

Member
AGITΩ;54964005 said:
It's worked well for Monster Hunter. I would Double Dip on some existing 3DS games if they got upscaled to the Wii U. It would be nice if they kept the 3D support, as the Wii U does support it, even with the HDMI provided. ACIII has it.
Click to expand...

It worked for Monster Hunter because one was portable and one was online.

Crossplay just makes the system you don't own less appealing by removing exclusives. Great for us, bad financial decision for Nintendo. They should do it for the VC though, because there shouldn't be 8 different versions of that floating around that rebuilds every time a new console goes up.
 
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Bony Manifesto

Member
I think, purely from Nintendo's perspective, it makes a lot more sense to do what they're doing with Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D and separate these releases by a year or two. That way, they can fill two gaps in their release schedule instead of one, and encourage double-dipping.

There's something very cynical and gross about it, though I can't quite articulate my thoughts on exactly what that is...
 
P

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
Cross Play only works for PS3 and Vita because those systems are close in what they can produce visually.

3DS games would require full on HD remakes from studios to get to any level of WiiU acceptability.

I'm particularly fascinated by whats going to happen with what I would assume is the inevitable Monster Hunter 4U. That game needs a fuckton more work than just up-rezzing it to 1080p and smoothin' those jaggies.
 
G

Grampa Simpson

Banned
I wouldn't be as annoying as to make a thread about it, but I keep thinking that *if* Nintendo had an extremely poor time with the Wii U - if it were an actual money-suck failure two years from now - that they could shut it down, and prepare for one platform future, and concentrate on their handheld in the mean time.

Let's timeline this out.

December 2014 - the Wii U has it's third christmas, and continues to fail to do much with he market. Iwata has already resigned, and the system is obviously a dead end for them.

April 2015 - In a Nintendo Direct, Yoko Arakawa announces that they will be immediately ceasing production on the Wii U in order to concentrate on their handheld business. GAF's servers fall over and die a horrible death.

E3 2016 - On stage at E3 - Nintendo announces their next generation portable. It is clearly part of the DS line, but has 720p upper and lower screens. It runs a 64 bit arm chip, and a modern mobile GPU. In an interesting move for them. In an interesting move, Nintendo keeps no secrets about the hardware platform. It releases in 2017.

2018 - Nintendo reveals and releases the Nintendo 8. It has a 720p screen in the controller, runs a 64 bit ARM processor, and a high-end mobile GPU. No secrecy.

2022 - Release of the next member of the DS Line. It is literally a Nintendo 8 in handheld form.

2023 - Release of the Nintendo 9......

2028 - Release of the Next DS - It's a Nintendo 9 in handheld form.
 
N

Nilaul

Member
I just tried shoving my 3DS cart into my WiiU and failed...

So I persume this would only work with newer games. With a download code of sorts. I persume that the games on WiiU will look very jaggy.
 
Refreshment.01

Refreshment.01

Member
KillerTravis said:
No, keeping 3DS and Wii U software unique is what they have to keep striving for. Why do you think the Vita is such a failure? You can get exactly, if not a better experience on a PS3.
Click to expand...
Killer, i think your statement is an oversimplification of the many factors that are contributing to the Vita's rough start. Among other things because Vita doesn't support crossplay for all it's games. And more than anything else we have a real world example that proves otherwise, the PSP. Feature wise it was even closer to it's home console companion, so the experience was even closer. And by no means the PSP can be considered a failure.

And let's not forget here, that in our case the console that is failing is the Wii U. Which going by your example would be the platform that offers the superior audio visual experience.
 
K

Kimawolf

Member
I think it's a great idea, and a inevitability at this point. We'll see them advertising their big 3DS games on Wii U now as well, fixing their "game" situation almost instantly.

you don't think a enhanced Pokemon x/y would sell some Wii Us?
 
Refreshment.01

Refreshment.01

Member
jwhit28 said:
It hasn't worked for Vita.
Click to expand...
So? The Wii U isn't working for Nintendo at all. The hook for the console has failed, third parties got the cold feet for the console. So how is increasing the amount of software (and quality ones specially) available for the console and giving incentives for both user bases a bad thing?
 
M

MadOdorMachine

No additional functions
I've been thinking (and saying) this for a few months now. Nintendo in particular should consider porting more 3DS games to Wii U imo. A lot of their games are redundant anyway (2 NSMB, 3D Mario, Yoshi, MK, etc) in a year span. It's border line wearing out some of their IP while other games never see the light of day and we hardly ever see a new hardcore IP introduced.

The similarities between 3DS and Wii U are so similar now that I really don't see why they shouldn't be doing it. I think the pros outweigh the cons.
 
B

Basileus777

Member
They'd have to change 3DS development to do this, as 3DS games would look absolutely horrible on a TV. So you'd have to do enhanced ports, which means you'd be raising 3DS dev times and costs for something that is of questionable commercial value. Right now, the WiiU userbase isn't really worth the effort to reach.
 
M

MadOdorMachine

No additional functions
Basileus777 said:
They'd have to change 3DS development to do this, as 3DS games would look absolutely horrible on a TV.
Click to expand...

I thought the idea was just to develop two versions of the same game for both systems. Maybe I missed that, but something like Resident Evil: Revelations is what I had in mind. Nintendo would basically start making the same game for both 3DS and Wii U. Of course, each console would still have exclusives like the new Zelda titles, but for a lot of games it could work out well for and really help the Wii U out.

For the true cross play thing to work, the handheld and console would have to use the same architecture. The resolution would also have to be raised significantly on the handheld, but I could see them doubling it with a scaler on the console to look nice for TV output. Obviously this will have to wait until next gen, but it's something I think Nintendo should do tbh. Nintendo has pretty much abandoned the hardware race and it's now evident that third parties want little to do with their consoles. If Nintendo could release a cheap console and fix their account system, they could go after the Roku/Apple TV crowd. By the time next gen roll around, it might be too late though.
 
Refreshment.01

Refreshment.01

Member
MasterBalls said:
How about you don't play 240p games blown up on a 42 inch TV and the 3DS still has loads of incentive to be bought?

IMO the only way this would make sense is with Virtual Console titles, which has very recently been rumored.
Click to expand...
Nilaul said:
I just tried shoving my 3DS cart into my WiiU and failed...

So I persume this would only work with newer games. With a download code of sorts. I persume that the games on WiiU will look very jaggy.
Click to expand...
You got it all wrong my friends. The Wii U has a marked processing advantage over the 3DS so the games will be rendered at much higher resolutions and implement higher quality graphic/filtering effects to improve the visuals. So this will allow users to enjoy 3DS games in the highest visual quality possible. At least until 3DS emulation becomes common on PC.
 
Refreshment.01

Refreshment.01

Member
Javier said:
They should definitely do it for Virtual Console.
Click to expand...
kobashi100 said:
cross play should only be for Virtual console games.
Click to expand...
So you agree with me here?

That's basically what i propose for Nintendo and 3rd parties to desgin 3DS games with the Wii U virtual console in mind. Of course the games won't be emulated but designed to be compatible with the hardware and take advanatge of the better spected hardware.
 
Refreshment.01

Refreshment.01

Member
Some of the recent events this week made me think about this thread again and seemed justified to have some more disscussion about it. Such events namely:

-The recent NPD thread for August which presented us with yet another lackluster Wii U performance even with the prescense of quality 1st party Nintendo softwaware.

-NPD sales date showing an important 3rd party release performing betwwn 3000/5000 units sold.

-The prospect that from now on Nintendo should design both portable and home consoles with the exact same architecture and chipsets in mind, but with different performance targets.

-The announcement of the Vita TV. Not a 1:1 comparison but theres some overlapping here.

With the above factors in mind, it makes more sense than ever for Nintendo to stablish a development environment and toolset that allows both 1st and 3rd party developers of 3DS games to quickly upconvert these games for the Wii U. External suuport for Nintendo's home console will get worse it seems, so having an ample catalogue of 3DS games playable on it in an enhanced form could aliviate the situation and inject some relevancy back into the platform.

It would be a great test bet to see how portable/console form Nintendo with similar chipset and overlaping games would behave. In the case of 3DS/Wii U while the architectures are different the input methods and user interaction is quite similar.
 
F

Freezie KO

Banned
They should have cross play for virtual console games this gen and use that as a testing ground.

Then next gen, they need a unified software platform at the very least. A handheld and console that play the same exact games. You download it once, play on both, and pick up where you left off on either one. Goodbye, droughts. Hello, more freedom for dev teams.

Or have a hybrid console (i.e. handheld with HDMI out or streaming tech).
 
Refreshment.01

Refreshment.01

Member
Freezie KO said:
They should have cross play for virtual console games this gen and use that as a testing ground.

Then next gen, they need a unified software platform at the very least. A handheld and console that play the same exact games. You download it once, play on both, and pick up where you left off on either one. Goodbye, droughts. Hello, more freedom for dev teams.

Or have a hybrid console (i.e. handheld with HDMI out or streaming tech).
Click to expand...
In the case here it potentially adds an extra purchase. An user that has both consoles buys the 3DS version. Then it has the option to register the game, download it to the Wii U for an extra fee and play it with enhanced visuals.

The hybrid console is a no go. As a consumer i like the idea but it is better to have 2 systems with the exact same architecture. I think everybody by now agrees with that notion.
 
B

brainpann

Member
I dont really care for the idea of cross play between the Wii U and 3DS but what i would like is some sort of Super Gameboy like device that allows me to play my DS and 3DS games on the big screen, via the Wii U. Of course, importing/exporting saves would probably be a big pain in the ass.
 
M

Musolf815

Member
I'd want an adapter for a Wii U to play 3DS/DS games only because my 3DS just died randomly on me and I really don't want to pay for another or pay for repairs.
 
R

Riki

Member
A neat idea, but it would require just too many resources they don't have and wouldn't really help.
Certainly isn't helping the Vita.
 
Refreshment.01

Refreshment.01

Member
shouamabane said:
I want 3DS and DS games on Wii U. I'd like to hear a plan for the future of the Virtual Console.
Click to expand...
When i used Cross Play, i wasn't talking just in the Sony sense of the word but in a broader way that also includes Virtual Console.

In terms of VC, this idea is trascends that. Basically, at some point (that should have predated the Wii U launch) every 3DS game is made as a Wii U game also. Nintendo should provide a development environment to facilitate this. This is big in many ways.
 
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