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[I Stalk Alone]

I wouldn't mind US$60 games...if the system was region free. Strong AU$ plus weak US$ equals an importers dream.

Do you think people in Australia buy more used games over ebay and other stores compared to the US because of our exhorbitant retail prices? With regards to consoles what would contract payment structure for the WiiU do for consumers in Australia? I mean harvey norman have done a pay as you go scheme but what about an official one by nintendo as an option for those that do not want to fork out $699 AUD upfront (yes I bought Zelda, Red Steel and Raving Rabbids + Wii Play) like I did when the Wii first came out?

 

[bgassassin]

Nintendo is known for releasing highly underpowered systems, hell they've done it once in a row so far, that pattern has to hold.

Yep. Once is a trend. Some people on GAF have established that trend based on Wii so it much be accurate.

Hey, at least it's a step up from his previous "Worse than 360" comments.

LOL. I was thinking the same thing.

 

[UncleSporky]

God dang Apophis stop gazing into the palantír

 

[HylianTom]

I love how folks still characterize the Wii U's controller as "gimmick controls." It's a regular controller with a screen in the middle. That's pretty damn close to conventional, especially coming from the Wiimote.

 

[AceBandage]

So damn close to E3.
Wake me when we get there.

 

[UncleSporky]

I love how folks still characterize the Wii U's controller as "gimmick controls." It's a regular controller with a screen in the middle. That's pretty damn close to conventional, especially coming from the Wiimote.

Gimmicks are universally positive things. People better damn well hope the PS4 and 720 have good gimmicks, otherwise why bother?

 

[HylianTom]

Gimmicks are universally positive things. People better damn well hope the PS4 and 720 have good gimmicks, otherwise why bother?

True, but guessing from the tone I see the term used with around here (this thread and elsewhere over the past few years), one would think they're unequivocally negative.

 

[Gahiggidy]

Yeah, the DRC has:
accelerometer (like the early Wii Remote)
- this gets very confused about what direction it's pointing while you're moving it, so it totally loses anything directional that isn't tilt
gyroscope (like Wii Motion Plus or Playstation Move)
- this can figure out if you're turning left or right pretty nicely, but it isn't perfectly accurate and drifts over time
magnetometer
- this can use the Earth's magnetic field to give you an idea of your absolute direction


Use all three together (extra nice if you also have that IR pointer to unambiguously tell you where the TV is), and you should be able to pretty accurately determine what direction the device is pointing with respect to the television set.


That is, if I'm understanding correctly what a magnetometer is. For all I know, it could just be a tool used for spiritual wellness. "Wii Heal"

Would it help if the sensor bar was upgraded to have a magnetometer?

 

[Apophis2036]

Everyone else talked about the other points in this paragraph, so I'll rant about an ignored one.

(On the bold) I have seen this thought several times, and honestly, it irritates me. Has no one noticed that NSMB is basically as popular as Mario Kart? People who say Nintendo desperately needs Mario Kart to sell Wii U at launch because it is the most popular game Nintendo has are missing the NSMB right in front of them. 20+ million sellers are 20+ million sellers for a reason, and if a bland 2D Mario like NSMB DS can make it, I think NSMB Mii can make it with presumably better stages, more fun, and better ideas (just like NSMB Wii did). Just because some people (everyone?) don't like the art style, they act like NSMB is irrelevant. I, and I know there are others, buy Nintendo consoles for 2D Mario, even NSMB, and I hope Nintendo realizes this fact.

That said, I still want to see a new art style.

Im sure hardcore Nintendo fans and families / kids will love NSMB Wii U but my point was that it's not a game that will make the average core gamer think 'I need a Wii U on launch day' and tbh before i even see it, Pikmin 3 won't either.

3D Mario, Zelda, Metroid Prime 4 or Smash Bros SHOULD have all been ready for Wii U launch and it's a joke that at least two of them are not imo.

NSMB and Pikmin 3 will not sell this sytem to 'core gamers', im not sure many of them will even notice Wii U has launched tbh as the 360 players will be too busy playing Halo 4, Blops 2 on Xbox Live with their mates and PS3 gamers will have God of War, Last of Us, Last Guardian, LBP Karting and Sony Smash Bros to keep them and their wallets busy this winter.

 

[Anustart]

True, but guessing from the tone I see it used with around here (this thread and elsewhere over the past few years), one would think they're unequivocally negative.

The term almost exclusively carries a negative term on the internet, youre right.

But the Upad being called gimmicky in a negative way is just odd. A screen is now a bad thing?

 

[Nilaul]

I will leave the country if Wii U is not better than Xbox 360.

Where is your country?

 

[GameplayWhore]

I love how folks still characterize the Wii U's controller as "gimmick controls." It's a regular controller with a screen in the middle. That's pretty damn close to conventional, especially coming from the Wiimote.

Controllers are supposed to change each generation. This past generation was an outlier, where one of the major vendors pretty much kept the same primary controller as last time. Before that? Well, SuperGrafx was apparently the same gen as TurboGrafX-16, so that doesn't count. I don't think Atari did it. Sega had a six button controller for the Genesis, but Saturn still redesigned past that.

Keeping the controller the same just isn't done. Or it just wasn't, at least. It leads to genre stagnation.


edit: Inserted the word "primary" for conciseness

 

[GameplayWhore]

Would it help if the sensor bar was upgraded to have a magnetometer?

Magnetometer is basically an embedded compass. The sensor bar would know which direction it's pointing with respect to the Earth's magnetic field. It would not really be beneficial.

 

[Gahiggidy]

Magnetometer is present in the Upad Block Diagram. just give me a movement to grab the image.

edit: Here it is.

Seeing all that with the on board CPU has me worried about its costs. I was conting on it being less than $60 to produce so as to leave plenty of budget left over for the console's guts.

 

[Apophis2036]

God dang Apophis stop gazing into the palantír

Had to google palantir lol .

Sorry i will stop, was just voicing my concerns about Nintendo going for the core, thats all.

Just want to thank all the regular posters for keeping all the lurkers and occasional posters entertained for the past year.

I really hope they have one or two big software suprises for us at E3 for by God you guys deserve it after reading 5 threads of this madness !!!.

To Nintendo and it's rabid hardcore fans, Cheers !.

 

[Gahiggidy]

Where is your country?

Baltimore, Maryland.

Magnetometer is basically an embedded compass. The sensor bar would know which direction it's pointing with respect to the Earth's magnetic field. It would not really be beneficial.

But if you have the info of both the compass direction of the tv set, via the sensor bar on top, and the controller's compass direction than you always have accurate info about how the wuc is oriented to the tv set. Seems like a replacement to the wiimote camera that doesn't need line of sight.

 

[Hiltz]

There's a new rumor from a reader at Go Nintendo about a new survey asking participants about the likelihood of them purchasing a Wii U for $300. The only thing about it is that there's just a few cartoon character pictures shown playing the console and the survey question about the price. I don't think it's the same survey source, but a leaked survey from last year revealed Goldeneye 007 was coming to Wii.

 

[japtor]

I love how folks still characterize the Wii U's controller as "gimmick controls." It's a regular controller with a screen in the middle. That's pretty damn close to conventional, especially coming from the Wiimote.

While watching basketball on TV right now and wanting to play Trials, I'm thinking the gimmick could be awesome in its simplest form (just outputting to controller to free up the TV).

Magnetometer is basically an embedded compass. The sensor bar would know which direction it's pointing with respect to the Earth's magnetic field. It would not really be beneficial.

It'd give a way for the system and controller to know which each is facing with respect with each other, but that's all I can come up with. That could just be done with a simple "face the TV" type of calibration procedure without an extra magnetometer.

 

[Christberg]

I think he was making a sarcastic joke

I'm well aware. More about expanding the point of said sarcastic joke.

 

[AGITΩ]

Im sure hardcore Nintendo fans and families / kids will love NSMB Wii U but my point was that it's not a game that will make the average core gamer think 'I need a Wii U on launch day' and tbh before i even see it, Pikmin 3 won't either.

3D Mario, Zelda, Metroid Prime 4 or Smash Bros SHOULD have all been ready for Wii U launch and it's a joke that at least two of them are not imo.

NSMB and Pikmin 3 will not sell this sytem to 'core gamers', im not sure many of them will even notice Wii U has launched tbh as the 360 players will be too busy playing Halo 4, Blops 2 on Xbox Live with their mates and PS3 gamers will have God of War, Last of Us, Last Guardian, LBP Karting and Sony Smash Bros to keep them and their wallets busy this winter.

these "cores" your specify. Are you talking about Gamers who only play Xbox or PS3? In which case, Neither of those games would really appeal to them besides Smash Bros, but they again, thats more of the fighting game community than anything. It's gonna take a new First Party IP that panders to them, either of the Action/Adventure or Shooter Variety. A 3D or rather "non NSMB-esc" Platformer Mario and Zelda appeal more for the Nostalgia gamer that hasnt touched a Nintendo console in ages. And like it or not, Metroid Prime wont be "Nintendo's Halo".

 

[MadOdorMachine]

Im sure hardcore Nintendo fans and families / kids will love NSMB Wii U but my point was that it's not a game that will make the average core gamer think 'I need a Wii U on launch day' and tbh before i even see it, Pikmin 3 won't either.

3D Mario, Zelda, Metroid Prime 4 or Smash Bros SHOULD have all been ready for Wii U launch and it's a joke that at least two of them are not imo.

NSMB and Pikmin 3 will not sell this sytem to 'core gamers', im not sure many of them will even notice Wii U has launched tbh as the 360 players will be too busy playing Halo 4, Blops 2 on Xbox Live with their mates and PS3 gamers will have God of War, Last of Us, Last Guardian, LBP Karting and Sony Smash Bros to keep them and their wallets busy this winter.

Actually, I think if Retro were developing a FPS, going against Halo and CoD this holiday would be a good time to pull in hardcore gamers. If they can show off a FPS with noticeably improved graphics it would give them an incentive to buy the Wii U.

these "cores" your specify. Are you talking about Gamers who only play Xbox or PS3? In which case, Neither of those games would really appeal to them besides Smash Bros, but they again, thats more of the fighting game community than anything. It's gonna take a new First Party IP that panders to them, either of the Action/Adventure or Shooter Variety. A 3D or rather "non NSMB-esc" Platformer Mario and Zelda appeal more for the Nostalgia gamer that hasnt touched a Nintendo console in ages. And like it or not, Metroid Prime wont be "Nintendo's Halo".

Not a MP game, but another spin off of it in the same universe. Federation Troopers vs. Space Pirates. Samus wouldn't be the main character, but she could appear or maybe be unlockable.

 

[starmud]

Sakurai Caught Sneaking Into Platinum Games

dreams :'(

 

[japtor]

Seeing all that with the on board CPU has me worried about its costs. I was conting on it being less than $60 to produce so as to leave plenty of budget left over for the console's guts.

It's probably pretty basic just to handle all the I/O. I wouldn't think of it as a regular system CPU as much as just a controller chip until we know anything else about it.

 

[HylianTom]

Controllers are supposed to change each generation. This past generation was an outlier, where one of the major vendors pretty much kept the same primary controller as last time. Before that? Well, SuperGrafx was apparently the same gen as TurboGrafX-16, so that doesn't count. I don't think Atari did it. Sega had a six button controller for the Genesis, but Saturn still redesigned past that.

Keeping the controller the same just isn't done. Or it just wasn't, at least. It leads to genre stagnation.


edit: Inserted the word "primary" for conciseness

The funny thing is, I think that something may have fundamentally changed with some gamers. Go into threads about the next PS720, and watch the subject of the next controllers come-up. By and far, it seems like their core fans want those controllers to remain unchanged. It's remarkable to witness.

Part of the fun of a new system used to be waiting to see what kind of controller would be revealed, and then getting used to the new controller when it finally arrived. That may be dying right before our eyes in some corners of the industry.

 

[japtor]

Sakurai Caught Sneaking Into Platinum Games

dreams :'(

Kid Icarus: Vanquish for Wii U!

 

[AceBandage]

Sakurai Caught Sneaking Into Platinum Games

dreams :'(

Haha, Sakurai is the best.

Also, some good news.

 

[RedSwirl]

I suddenly feel the need to break out a TMNT avatar. I see Ralph and Donny already taken, but Leo was always the coolest anyway

That's not Donny.

 

[Nilaul]

Sakurai Caught Sneaking Into Platinum Games

dreams :'(

What does this mean?

 

[GameplayWhore]

Seeing all that with the on board CPU has me worried about its costs. I was conting on it being less than $60 to produce so as to leave plenty of budget left over for the console's guts.

http://www.skipify.org/products/57615/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006OCWBO6/?tag=neogaf0e-20
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003WM578I/?tag=neogaf0e-20

7" Android tablets are often priced <$70 to the end user. They have a larger screen than the one on the DRC, a more powerful cpu, far more memory, far more storage, built in camera, and wifi. The Wii U controller isn't expected to have anything particularly expensive that would give it any substantial cost over these tablets (with the exception of rigorous QC, which can be somewhat costly). They have, what, an NFC chip? Buttons?

If those tablets cost under seventy bucks to the consumer, then they must be under sixty bucks to build. I think they have more under the hood than the DRC has, so it too should be under sixty dollars to build.


edit: I will admit that I'm comparing a piece of shit to a Nintendo controller, so OMMV

edit²: DRC also has an IR transmitter, though that's probably incredibly cheap, likely being a single tiny LED

 

[MadOdorMachine]

Sakurai Caught Sneaking Into Platinum Games

dreams :'(

Kamiya and Star Fox confirmed?

 

[Nilaul]

Baltimore, Maryland.
.

Im from Greece, Athens.
Imagine if Nintendo wanted to sell it under 200 and gimped it last minute.

 

[DXB-KNIGHT]

Sakurai Caught Sneaking Into Platinum Games

dreams :'(

Super Smash Bros: Platinum?

 

[MatthewB92]

Sakurai Caught Sneaking Into Platinum Games

dreams :'(

Jack in Smash.

 

[HylianTom]

While watching basketball on TV right now and wanting to play Trials, I'm thinking the gimmick could be awesome in its simplest form (just outputting to controller to free up the TV).

That's going to be a bigger feature than many folks realize. The whole free-up-the-TV, two-systems-in-one aspect is going to be something that Nintendo needs to hammer repeatedly in its mainstream marketing materials.

 

[abasm]

That's going to be a bigger feature than many folks realize. The whole free-up-the-TV, two-systems-in-one aspect is going to be something that Nintendo needs to hammer repeatedly in its mainstream marketing materials.

...unless it has to be enabled by the developer, a la remote play on the PSP/Vita. If that's the case, only Nintendo and a few early third-party games will bother trying.

 

[UncleSporky]

I play my handhelds at home anyway. It'll essentially be a handheld next gen system while I have Netflix on in the background or whatever.

(Wii running Netflix as WiiU streams to controller!)

 

[AceBandage]

No one cares that Killer Freaks will have online?
D:

 

[RedSwirl]

I love how folks still characterize the Wii U's controller as "gimmick controls." It's a regular controller with a screen in the middle. That's pretty damn close to conventional, especially coming from the Wiimote.

That's what I'm sayin' man! It lacks literally nothing that a standard controller has, and I think this particular gimmick makes perfect sense.

Im sure hardcore Nintendo fans and families / kids will love NSMB Wii U but my point was that it's not a game that will make the average core gamer think 'I need a Wii U on launch day' and tbh before i even see it, Pikmin 3 won't either.

3D Mario, Zelda, Metroid Prime 4 or Smash Bros SHOULD have all been ready for Wii U launch and it's a joke that at least two of them are not imo.

NSMB and Pikmin 3 will not sell this sytem to 'core gamers', im not sure many of them will even notice Wii U has launched tbh as the 360 players will be too busy playing Halo 4, Blops 2 on Xbox Live with their mates and PS3 gamers will have God of War, Last of Us, Last Guardian, LBP Karting and Sony Smash Bros to keep them and their wallets busy this winter.

That's kind of insane. I don't think Nintendo has ever had more than two core 1st party IPs ready for a platform launch, and the pipelines just don't add up.

Sakurai's been working on Kid Icarus, the Zelda team just put out Skyward Sword, EAD Tokyo just put out 3D Land, and whoever puts out the 2D Mario games is working on New Super Mario Bros. 2. Frankly, my mind would be absolutely blown if Reggie walked up on stage in June, revealed Metroid Prime 4, and told us all we'd be playing it in less than six months. That said, Retro is the only division mentioned that's had enough of a lull to be working on something that could ship in late 2012.

 

[TheGreatMightyPoo]

No one cares that Killer Freaks will have online?
D:

I do.

 

[snesfreak]

No one cares that Killer Freaks will have online?
D:

Who'd want to play online with shitty friend codes?

 

[BY2K]

Sakurai Caught Sneaking Into Platinum Games

dreams :'(

Bayonetta in Smash Bros. Wii U confirmed.

 

[bgassassin]

No one cares that Killer Freaks will have online?
D:

They also didn't care that it uses the same physics engine as GR:O.

Bayonetta in Smash Bros. Wii U confirmed.

High-level trolling by Nintendo if that happened.

 

[HylianTom]

...unless it has to be enabled by the developer, a la remote play on the PSP/Vita. If that's the case, only Nintendo and a few early third-party games will bother trying.

Sad, but I get the hunch that you're right. Minimal effort from third parties? Whodathunk it? And then they wonder why they have a shit reputation, eh?

Thankfully, we can count on Nintendo to lead by example. I think more than anything, I want to be able to play my VC games on the controller. If they can enable this, I'll be quite satisfied. This gonna be one of the topics that'll have me on-edge waiting for news on at E3.

 

[Hobbestetrician]

That's going to be a bigger feature than many folks realize. The whole free-up-the-TV, two-systems-in-one aspect is going to be something that Nintendo needs to hammer repeatedly in its mainstream marketing materials.

There has been an instance of me wanting this every night the past few weeks as my partner wanted to watch something on TV. I know some people use that time to mess on their iPad or handheld but having a console being able to do that will be a great feature.

 

[Christberg]

No one cares that Killer Freaks will have online?
D:

Need to see the game and reviews first, don't wanna be Red Steel'd

 

[BY2K]

Haha, Sakurai is the best.

Also, some good news.

That could almost deserve it's own thread.

Almost.

 

[Lyude77]

Im sure hardcore Nintendo fans and families / kids will love NSMB Wii U but my point was that it's not a game that will make the average core gamer think 'I need a Wii U on launch day' and tbh before i even see it, Pikmin 3 won't either.

3D Mario, Zelda, Metroid Prime 4 or Smash Bros SHOULD have all been ready for Wii U launch and it's a joke that at least two of them are not imo.

NSMB and Pikmin 3 will not sell this sytem to 'core gamers', im not sure many of them will even notice Wii U has launched tbh as the 360 players will be too busy playing Halo 4, Blops 2 on Xbox Live with their mates and PS3 gamers will have God of War, Last of Us, Last Guardian, LBP Karting and Sony Smash Bros to keep them and their wallets busy this winter.

I think you underestimate the appeal of 2D Mario to the average person. 20+ million presumably means that it sold to more than just Nintendo hardcore and "families". I agree with you that Black Ops and Mario do not target the same audience, though I don't think the other franchises you mentioned are enough to get the God of War, Black Ops, or Halo 4 audience either. Nintendo might as well space out their releases. Metroid could fit, but at this point, I think a Prime 4 wouldn't sell to them either (Prime 3 didn't seem to (I think it did well, relatively, but not well enough to support that claim)). A different version of Metroid (still first person) might could do it, but I have no idea of what that would look like. Nintendo probably needs a new franchise to get those types of people (which explains the "Retro needs to make an FPS" talk).

Smash obviously competes with Sony Smash, and Mario Kart with LBP Karting though, so I guess Nintendo might lose some sales from the lack of their titles being there.

Slightly unrelated: Games like LBP Karting are why I consider Mario Kart to be a less valuable franchise than 2D Mario - companies recently haven't been able to borrow elements of Mario to make a successful game, but kart games are made often enough and do alright.

More unrelated: Core gamers is such a useless term because no one ever agrees on the definition (this isn't against you, just against the term). I would think core gamers are aware of console releases regardless of whether they want the console, but your opinion of them is obviously different.

Edit: Beaten by AGIT&#937; and MadOdorMachine on every single point, I think. This is why I rarely post, people think of my ideas more quickly and express them more clearly, haha.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

Can't bring myself to care about Killer Freaks due to Ubisoft. Still a wait and see.

 

[AGITΩ]

No one cares that Killer Freaks will have online?
D:

Not entirely, catch my attention when High Voltage announces that they are still working on the Grinder and are making it for the Wii U now.

 

[UncleSporky]

No one cares that Killer Freaks will have online?
D:

These days I buy games all happy that they have online and then I play it twice.

I don't think I'll even spring for Killer Freaks, it's got to be another Red Steel. Oh sure, it won't suck as much, but it'll find some way to be deficient in comparison to other shooters.