Nintendo Wii

[Nintendo]

Click on the image below for a closer look at the console.

• Cheaper
  
  
• Lighter
  
  
• Comes in various bundles
  
  
• Now comes with Wiimote (with Wii-motion Plus of course) and nun-chuck
  
  
• Available for Europe-UK only (for now)
  
  
• No more Nintendo GameCube games support
  
  
• No more Nintendo GameCube controller support
  
  
• Free Wii-U aura look to confuse customers even more, next year (next year people were already going to be left wondering why Wii and Wii U look VERY similar and the fact that THIS Wii is designed to sit horizontally (Wii U is SPECIFICALLY designed to sit horizontally ) make matters worse)
  
  
• According to Nintendo, the console is a streamlined white Wii with a slightly altered configuration, which is designed to sit horizontally rather than vertically (I thought the original/current Wii was already perfectly designed for both horizontally and vertically sitting?)
  

http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/29576/new-wii-console-coming-before-christmas/

 

[moz]

No gamecube controller support = no deal.


I can't stand Wii controllers.

 

[Nintendo]

No gamecube controller support = no deal.


I can't stand Wii controllers.

Huh? Why would you say that?

 

[mindlord]

It better be REALLY REALLY cheap to justify pulling out Gamecube support. Oh, and I agree the Wiimote is crap as a controller. Though to be fair I don't have the attachment to make the wiimote behave as originally advertized wii motion plus.

 

[Nintendo]

Hopefully it's US$99.

 

[Blue Protoman]

Hey look, this is the second "el cheapo" system variety to be Europe-exclusive. What's next?

 

[Exophase]

I want to see if any of those people who were screaming at Sony for removing PS2 BC from PS3 will be here to scream at Nintendo now. In Sony's case, they removed BC because it had a significant manufacturing cost, in Nintendo's case.. what DOES this save them? There's no Gamecube-only hardware to remove from the thing, and unlike in DSi's case there isn't even a dedicated media port to remove. All they get to cut out is some cartridge ports, which is unfortunate since the Gamecube controller is a good choice for a lot of Wii games.

 

[fatman514]

Wow, not a smart move on ninty's part. Especially for fps lovers like myself! Fps's are hit or miss on the wii (as far as motion controls go), for example the call of duty series plays wonderfully with the wiimote, but goldeneye and farcry: vengeance has terrible motion controls imo. For games where the motion controls don't really work well (not just fps's have this issue, but different games from many different genres are like this), many people prefer to use a gcn controller or a classic controller (classic controllers should work fine with this cheaper wii I'm assuming since it plugs into the wiimote itself). But for people who don't own a classic controller and wish to use there gcn controllers will not be able to (with the cheaper version), they will be forced to go out and buy classic controllers. Also getting rid of the BC is a terrible idea, all the people who get the cheaper version will have their gcn games rendered useless (unless they still have a gcn lying around, or an older wii)

 

[Blue Protoman]

I wonder if Nintendo's going to release a DSi with one screen soon.

 

[Nintendo]

Apparently, it's been confirmed that it'll be 100% exclusive to UK.

 

[renegadechic]

this doesn't surprise me. the gamecube really wasn't all that successful over here and the volumes of gamecube games left in second hand shops has definitely dwindled to a small handful of the same games. they recently discounted the Wii's to £100 just before the Wii-U was announced and with the new console around the corner, it is no surprise that they have released a cheaper model to grab the lingering market and get the remaining wii game stock off the shelves. pretty sure that was the same move with the basic psp and possibly even the psp-go. like a last hurrah to shift some games.


since i bought one of those £100 Wii's i am more inclined to maybe wait until the successor of the Wii-U to hope there is backwards compatibility to that rather than getting a Wii-U

 

[Nintendo]

pretty sure that was the same move with the basic psp and possibly even the psp-go. like a last hurrah to shift some games.





since i bought one of those £100 Wii's i am more inclined to maybe wait until the successor of the Wii-U to hope there is backwards compatibility to that rather than getting a Wii-U

What do you mean by statement 1?


What do you mean by statement 2?

 

[renegadechic]

pretty sure that was the same move with the basic psp and possibly even the psp-go. like a last hurrah to shift some games.





since i bought one of those £100 Wii's i am more inclined to maybe wait until the successor of the Wii-U to hope there is backwards compatibility to that rather than getting a Wii-U

What do you mean by statement 1?

well, it is my impression that when a product is half way through or near the end of its life cycle, companies will push out a cheaper model that may pull in a final surge of interest in the product to either prolong the lifespan of a product or clear the shelves of game stock. NES 2, master system 2, mega drive 2, PS One, PS2 slimline, ps3 slim, xbox 360 elite, gameboy pocket, gameboy light, GBA-SP and micro, etc. it just seems pretty common practice.

What do you mean by statement 2?

if nintendo are likely to maintain the line of backwards compatibility, the successor to the wii-u will likely be backwards compatible with it, so why buy yet another device that can play Wii games when i could cover the Wii-U and its successor in one swoop.

 

[DaMummy]

if nintendo are likely to maintain the line of backwards compatibility, the successor to the wii-u will likely be backwards compatible with it, so why buy yet another device that can play Wii games when i could cover the Wii-U and its successor in one swoop.

because a $350(or whatever nintendo decides to price the wii u) investment is pretty good if the device you spent it on is going to be used for the next 4-6 years. by your logic, nobody should have ever owned a nes/snes/n64/tgx16/genesis/etc because a good collection of the games for that system are in the virtual console on the wii, and you couldve just waited since 1985 til now to play some super mario bros

 

[renegadechic]

if nintendo are likely to maintain the line of backwards compatibility, the successor to the wii-u will likely be backwards compatible with it, so why buy yet another device that can play Wii games when i could cover the Wii-U and its successor in one swoop.

because a $350(or whatever nintendo decides to price the wii u) investment is pretty good if the device you spent it on is going to be used for the next 4-6 years. by your logic, nobody should have ever owned a nes/snes/n64/tgx16/genesis/etc because a good collection of the games for that system are in the virtual console on the wii, and you couldve just waited since 1985 til now to play some super mario bros

it really depends on the type of gamer but i was speaking mostly for me and my immediate plans. if i was to have one console and no others then for the the wii-u would be a good first time investment, however i have more than enough games released over the last 25 years yet to catch up on that in my eyes it feels like it might be better to hold out on getting the wii-u til its successor and then effectively enjoy both consoles at a time where i may have caught up. hell, the most recent games ive been playing are: zelda minish cap, zelda oracle of seasons, metroid zero mission, metroid prime 2 and zelda wind waker (bit of a two franchise kick at the moment) and my most immediate "to play" list is: zelda oracle of ages, metroid prime 3, metroid other m, halo, halo 2, fable, kingdom hearts, imfamous, uncharted drakes fortune, (finish off) chrono trigger, final fantasy games, etc, etc. so yeah, theres no sense of urgency for me to get the latest nintendo iteration.

 

[Nintendo]

Have fun waiting, because if Nintendo aren't careful Wii U could well be their last outing in the hardware business.

 

[renegadechic]

Have fun waiting, because if Nintendo aren't careful Wii U could well be their last outing in the hardware business.

nah i think they've got enough in their war chest from the success of the wii and the ds that they would at least last out one failed console. also their first party games are so popular that even if they fell to third place in the console wars, they would still sell strongly enough to keep going which pretty much was the case with the gamecube. the DS took a good while to be a success too, and i expect similar with the 3DS.


i do wonder where exactly games consoles can really go now. we are at the stage now where game graphics are so good that short of being entirely photorealistic there isnt anywhere to go and really the cost of making that improvement might not be worth it. i feel like sony and microsoft have run out of places they can really go by beefing up processor and graphics speed and they are all reaching out sideways to change the gaming experience what with kinect and move. since the wii-u has brought nintendo closer to the others in terms of raw power, maintain its casual audience which the other consoles didnt quite have but appeal more to the more tech focused gamer. so really, it seems pretty win/win for nintendo to me.


hmm i went out before posting this and lost my thread a bit. well, whatever happens, short of something (like maybe onlive?) changing gaming as we know it, i think nintendo will be around for a long long time and even when they dont get it quite right, they are still completely awesome. hell the gamecube is my favourite console ever!

 

[Blue Protoman]

I hope being forced to play games you don't own doesn't happen. If you had the OPTION to play them via the cloud service, though, that'd be cool (if done right).

 

[Nintendo]

What do you mean by "being forced" though?

 

[bzar]

i do wonder where exactly games consoles can really go now. we are at the stage now where game graphics are so good that short of being entirely photorealistic there isnt anywhere to go and really the cost of making that improvement might not be worth it. i feel like sony and microsoft have run out of places they can really go by beefing up processor and graphics speed and they are all reaching out sideways to change the gaming experience what with kinect and move. since the wii-u has brought nintendo closer to the others in terms of raw power, maintain its casual audience which the other consoles didnt quite have but appeal more to the more tech focused gamer. so really, it seems pretty win/win for nintendo to me.

This kind of vertical advancement in a small well-defined measurable field is what the business people like. They don't necessarily understand what makes a good game, but they do understand that bigger numbers are better. It's also kinda predictable. It's also easier for the marketing department when they can sum up the product in a few cryptic lines of specs, rather than trying to actually show the kind of games a platform has.


This is what nintendo is trying to change in the games industry. Make it more about the games as an experience rather than a contest about the highest number in the spec sheet. This, of course, is beneficial for them since they don't have the massive resources of sony and microsoft to make cutting edge hardware to be sold at a loss. Because a large portion of the current market was drawn in to the single vertical marketing (graphics), they had to broaden the market by making horizontal advancements in gameplay and market segments.


The business people at sony and microsoft are not going to be happy when their growing numbers aren't making their profits bigger anymore. They are going to blame a lot of things for what is essentially their mistake of trying to make art measurable. Sure you can give an artist better tools and he'll do technically better art with them if he has the skill, but you can only market his pieces by "made with nanofiber ultima-brush!" for so long. In the end the technical specifications of a piece are not what it's actually about.


I wonder what number they'll think of next to market? They have used the mysterious "bits", megahertz, polygon fill rate, output resolution...