Nintendo Wii U

[Keven]

It's being reported that the Wii U is powered by an AMD RV770 graphics core, graphics-wise.

Congratulations, your fancy next-generation console has the equivalent of a Radeon HD 4830! Talk about the cutting edge!

</jadded PC gamer>

[3dfxrain]

lol oh well, could be worse I suppose, do not want

[Keven]

lol oh well, could be worse I suppose, do not want

Nintendo fanboys are saying "Oh, it's still better than the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3!!!!!!"

Yeah, but it's still worse than my PC.

Plus, probably will get outdated quickly when the new Xbox and PlayStation come out.

Nintendo went to a new generation too soon. They're stuck in the Sega Saturn-Sega Dreamcast position of being stuck in between generations.

[3dfxrain]

Not necessarily a bad thing financially considering the Wii.

[Keven]

Not necessarily a bad thing financially considering the Wii.

Yeah, but Wii has low attach rate (software sold divide by consoles sold) of only 7.7. Compared to 8.1 and 8.8 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 respectively.

Nintendo needs high attach rate so they can make the monies from all the Halo nerds buying five million copies of Halo vs. Mario Super Bash or whatever hardcore games will be on the Wii U.

[modru2004]

even if the wii u beats out the ps3/xbox360 now how many years away are we away from the xbox 3 or ps4 or whatever the hell they will be called now with 5x the power of the wii U. its to little to late. i fully expect an announcement for the next gen consoles anytime in the next year. probably at next years e3.

[3dfxrain]

I already seen interview with MS xbox dude, he says he's gonna be keeping an eye on the Wii U apparently in competition to learn whatever from it.

[Keven]

I already seen interview with MS xbox dude, he says he's gonna be keeping an eye on the Wii U apparently in competition to learn whatever from it.

Yeah, but they all have to say that. After the Wii was a big hit, Microsoft and Sony investors were like "Why are you not doing what Nintendo is doing?". Years later, we get Kinect and Move.

So I think the Microsoft guy has to be like "Oh yeah, we're keeping eyes on what Nintendo's doing," so the investors don't flip and think Microsoft is asleep at the wheel.

[Keven]

Wii U won't play DVD or Blu-Ray discs. Nintendo President Iwata says it was a decision to keep costs down and they said you probably have enough crap connected to your TV that can play those.

Everybody says that the disc the Wii U will be a Blu-ray derivative. That's supposed to be how it can hold 25GB.

[mpulliam]

Wii U won't play DVD or Blu-Ray discs. Nintendo President Iwata says it was a decision to keep costs down and they said you probably have enough crap connected to your TV that can play those.

That makes a lot of sence to me now.

A lot of console gamers were just like me: Bought an Xbox360 day one. Then 6 months down the road when Bluray players were still high dollar, we invested in a PS3. So now here we are sitting with two consoles... and the Wii comes out and all the kids scream for one (you need kids for this part to work lol).

SO, come full circle, its time to revamp all the hardware and Nintendo has figured out that most people that bought a Wii all ready had a console. The Wii just fit a niche.

How can Wii fit that niche a second time in history? By doing smallish upgrades, and keeping costs way down, so when the console owners do want to add the gimicky Wii to their stable, the cost wont scare them off.

And thats my theory based off of one cup of coffee and a safety meeting in 11 minutes. Im out.

[3dfxrain]

I assume Wii U will probably be much more reliable than 360 at launch according to Nintendo's reliability record they make hardware that's quite reliable that's nothing to worries about.

[modru2004]

as it gets closer to launch ive been admittedly keeping an eye on the wiiu to see if its something i'll want to pick up. clearly its an upgrade from a ps3/xbox 360 power wise. can't hold a candle to my pc but then again we all know that NO console ever will. the remote play by playing on the gamepads screen is intriguing. (I under stand its not a true portable) but it could be nice to have for around the house or if the TV is occupied. I realize I could do this with the ps3 if I bought a vita. but for the price of a vita I could buy a wii u. that and I don't really want a true portable as I would never carry it around to use it. I just want some mobility around the house. its streaming media and tv cabability is also intriguing.

im honestly considering it at this point. for a$300 I think it would be a better investment than a vita, and It can also play most of my old wii games which means I can sell the wii to offset the cost.

hmmm I dunno I haven't decided either way yet.

[Keven]

as it gets closer to launch ive been admittedly keeping an eye on the wiiu to see if its something i'll want to pick up. clearly its an upgrade from a ps3/xbox 360 power wise. can't hold a candle to my pc but then again we all know that NO console ever will. the remote play by playing on the gamepads screen is intriguing. (I under stand its not a true portable) but it could be nice to have for around the house or if the TV is occupied. I realize I could do this with the ps3 if I bought a vita. but for the price of a vita I could buy a wii u. that and I don't really want a true portable as I would never carry it around to use it. I just want some mobility around the house. its streaming media and tv cabability is also intriguing.

im honestly considering it at this point. for a$300 I think it would be a better investment than a vita, and It can also play most of my old wii games which means I can sell the wii to offset the cost.

hmmm I dunno I haven't decided either way yet.

I dunno, everything I read says that the screen on the Wii U controller is low-res (not HD) and a resistive touchscreen (no multi-touch). I think you're better off buying an iPad or Android tablet if you want the big old touchscreen multimedia interface.

[modru2004]

I dunno, everything I read says that the screen on the Wii U controller is low-res (not HD) and a resistive touchscreen (no multi-touch). I think you're better off buying an iPad or Android tablet if you want the big old touchscreen multimedia interface.

HD is a marketing term that's gets used so much it no longer has any real meaning.

also ppi is more important than the actual resolution as that's what gives the screen its "definition". also I have an ipad 2, which has a
resolution of 1024x768 and a ppi of 132 on a 9.7 inch screen.

the wii u gamepad has a resolution of 854×480 on a 6.2 inch screen with a ppi of 158. the case can be made that the wii u gamepad has the superior screen over my ipad 2.

granted its not capacitive. which im sure was done for cost reasons, but then again its not supposed to replace a tablet.... its game controller. also think of it from the perspective of actually playing a game. are you going to remove one hand from the controller in order to try and do some multi touch functions, not very practical.

food for thought, my Samsung galaxy epic 4g with its super amoled screen that I just replaced last month had a resolution of 800x480. but because of the smaller screen size it had ppi of 205 which is what made it look "HD".

[Keven]

Well, I used to get paid to write about cell phones and review them, so I know what PPI is and I know what a good screen is.

From what I've heard from people who would know and podcast is that the Wii U controller screen is ghetto compared to modern cell phones and tablets. Go back and read press reactions after E3 if you don't believe me. You can quote PPI all you want, but first-hand reports make it sound like a crappy screen. I'd try it out at Best Buy before buying it if you're buying it for the tablet controller.