One of the main attractions that lead me to buy Nintendo's Wii console was the Virtual Console games. Through the Shop Channel service, one can purchase and download games from older systems. Being interested in classic video games, it allowed me to obtain games that were difficult to find or otherwise troublesome to obtain.
There's one major problem I have with the service, however: the enormous stack of games I already have for these classic game systems. If I wanted to play them on the Wii, I would have to purchase them through the Shop Channel, and many of them are not even available.
The Wii console is equipped with two USB ports. This gave me an idea: the Gamecube had an add-on called the GameBoy Player. This device attached to the bottom of the Gamecube and allowed one to play GameBoy and GameBoy Advance games on the Gamecube. Why not have similar devices for the Wii? These would attach to the console via USB, and there would be one for each type of console the Wii could emulate (or perhaps just ones for their own consoles).
This would make for an excellent way for me to play my NES and SNES games. Right now I am playing them on a cheap knock-off console, for which Nintendo has seen no profit. Why not sell me devices that will cut down on clutter and allow me to put money in the pockets of the company that invented the original consoles?
I know that myself and thousands of others would love to have the opportunity to own such devices. But there are significant reasons that will prevent this, and I'm all too aware of these.
First of all, USB is a widely-used standard. Hackers (non-malicious ones, mostly) would find ways to hack the devices or create drivers that allow one to dump the contents of their game cartridges to their computer and play the games there. Nintendo would be way too afraid that these people would distribute these games over the Internet. This is quite foolish, however, considering that all of these games are already out there and fairly easy to obtain. The cat's already out of the bag.
The second reason is the engineering costs. These probably would not be offset by the small percentage of Wii owners who are interested in this prospect. I could be wrong, but I feel as though I am in a quite small group of individuals that would put down money on something like this. Sure, there are probably thousands, but there are millions of Wii owners, and I doubt (and I am sure Nintendo would agree) that they wouldn't have an easy time making their money back.
Third, they would much rather you bought the games on their Shop Channel instead. The engineering for that is already done and whatever they rake in now is almost pure profit.
Finally, there's no way they'd want to do tech support on something like that. If you are old enough to remember owning an NES, you probably remember spending more time trying to get your games running than you did playing them. This is less true with the SNES and N64, but with the cost of engineering and production, the last thing Nintendo would need is to tack on the cost of helping people get them working over the phone.
So, this idea is just a crazy pipe dream (Mario pun partially intended). But what about the WiiU?
The WiiU implements a new, touch-sensitive controller/tablet. Using that and the television, it is not out of the question that it is possible for the WiiU to emulate Nintendo DS games the same way the Game Boy Player was used. In my mind, it is possible to create a device that accepts a Nintendo DS or 3DS card and connects to the WiiU via USB.
While I'm sure such a project is well within the realm of possibility, I am really not sure that Nintendo would create such a device. The fear of making piracy easier and costs of creating the device will likely kill such a project before it even gets started. I must admit, however, that I would love to own one.
Showing posts with label nintendo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nintendo. Show all posts
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
In-Depth Review of Phantasy Star Zero
[As Internet deprivation continues to take its toll on Lurid, another article is written in the wee hours of the morning. This it that article.]
In another article I discussed my experiences with the Phantasy Star series. In this one, I'm going to do a review of Phantasy Star Zero. I'll point out the things that I really liked, the things that I didn't, and the things they can hopefully improve on if Sonic Team decides to make a sequel.
I was very excited to receive Phantasy Star Zero after its initial launch. I knew of Phantasy Star Portable, and I knew this game was going to be very different. Whereas PSPortable is more-or-less a port of the Phantasy Star Universe engine to PSP, PSZero is an entirely new game from scratch on the DS. I'm sure the DS's limited hardware played a role in this necessity, but I was craving a game more like PSO than PSU, and Zero promised to be just that.
As soon as you slide the game card into your DS and start up the game, you'll notice that the opening movie sequence is well done, and has a nice song with it. After that, you'll notice my first and absolute biggest complaint about the game. The title screen displays the text, "Press Start". Pretty standard stuff here, the only problem being that you can actually press any button. Fair enough, but you can't touch the touch screen in place of that. No worries, it said "Press Start" and touching the screen certainly isn't pressing Start, so we'll let that slide. Other games let you pull such a trick, and if you're used to that, this is a little upsetting. In any case, we'll move on.
Now we're at the character select screen. There are three save slots. Okay, I'm used to four in PSO and eight in PSPortable, but that can slide, too. Now that we've built up plenty of sliding momentum, let's crash into a large brick building when you touch one of the character slots and nothing happens. There are other options on this screen, and touching them does nothing.
I know what you're thinking, "The touch screen is just a gimmick! They didn't want to bother programming it because no one would use it when you can just use the D-pad!" That's actually among the dumbest things I've ever heard. When you're programming a game from the ground up on a specific hardware device, you should USE ALL THE AVAILABLE CAPABILITIES OF THE DEVICE. Especially when other games on the market condition you to do so. I have had the game for a couple of years now and I swear to whatever deities my hold reign over this reality that I still, to this day, tap my finger on the character file that I want to load up. I'll probably do it again next time I play even after writing this article.
Here's why that bothers me so much: Conditioning. I mentioned it above, but here's the long version. Every DS game I own has some user interface (UI) elements on the touch screen. That's why Nintendo put the damn thing on the bottom of the console. That's the purpose it serves. From triggering stored power-ups in New Super Mario, to aiming the gun in Metroid, to moving characters in Disgaea... I could go on forever. When Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver moved the entire menu system to the touch screen I was in heaven. It made the game so much more enjoyable to be able to just touch around on that screen rather than popping up a menu and using the D-pad to navigate it. Because so many games use the touch screen in this way, when I look at PSZero, I see buttons. They look like buttons and they're on the touch screen. But you can't tap them to do what you expect. And when doing something doesn't work the way you expect, the UI is broken.
If this issue was merely limited to the character select screen, I would be able to get over it. But it isn't. When you're actually in the field, there are a few touch functions, and honestly they work beautifully. There's a mini-map on the touch screen, and when you touch it, a larger and more detailed map along with an area map take over the touch screen. That's EXACTLY what you want to have happen and it works great. There's a button for chat, which opens up a little Pictochat-style canvas for writing messages to one another. There's also a button for switching up your AI partners' tactics (a whole other can of worms I'll get to). These things work very well. Unfortunately, that's it. You have a life meter, there are life meters for your partners, and there's your action palette. There's also an area that shows you information on what you're targeting, and (my personal "favorite"), a tab that simply tells you that pressing Start opens the menu.
Now, the area that shows your health shows your level, Photon Blast meter (used for the powerful Photon Blast attacks), health, and photon points (used for casting techniques). Touching this area does nothing. That's fine, I suppose, not sure what it WOULD do. Each of your partners simply gets a health meter and a dot indicating their color on that map. This dot blinks when their PB gauge is full. Touching these areas does nothing. That's fine as well. The information area also does nothing when touched, and that's acceptable.
But there are some things that bug me about this. Touching the icons on the action palette does nothing. I'll admit that most of the time, it would probably be better to just use the buttons to launch your attacks. I won't argue against that, but I will say that I'm not sure why the option isn't there. Why not let ME decide how to play the game? But the "best" is the Start tab. What happens when you touch it? You guessed it: not a damn thing. It just TELLS you to press Start to open the menu. It is not a button, despite the fact that it looks like one and is labeled like one. And finally, after you tap this area, grunt in anger, and press the Start button to show the menu, it appears on the touch screen. I'm sure you know where this is going. Quite predictably, the menu is completely oblivious to being touched, despite being on the touch screen.
The menu is the biggest problem of all and here's why. In PSO and PSU, every console it was available for had an analog stick in addition to a D-pad. This means that, even if you have to do some finger-yoga to do it, you can open the menu and continue moving with the analog stick while moving through the menu with the D-pad. This is an invaluable ability in PSO when you need to use a healing item, revive a teammate, or switch weapons while avoiding enemy attacks. In fact, the game even has a built-in quick menus for quickly accessing items, techniques and weapons without going through the main menu at all. PSZero falls flat on its face in this regard. Holding L and pressing Start puts you at the Item menu and holding R and pressing Start puts you in the equipment menu, skipping the main menu. That's all well and good aside from the fact that while the menu is open, all your character can do is stand in place, waiting patiently to be cut down by the enemy.
How would you fix this? It isn't too difficult to imagine. There's a button for Chat and a button for Tactics. How about freeing up some of that unused space on the touch screen for an Items button and a Weapons button? There's plenty of wasted space all between the various on-screen items, and even that useless menu "button" that could be removed. Allow players to scroll through and use items by touch, probably by double-tapping an item to limit accidentally using an unintended item or weapon. To return to the main touch screen view, just tap a little X in the top-right corner, just like with the map. Did no one at Sonic Team think of this shit? It seems so obvious!
Okay, after all that bitching, I'm in the mood to discuss some of the positive points about the game. While the art style is a bit on the child-friendly side (this was intentional, I'm sure, and I'm not going to knock it), the graphics are respectable for being on the DS's limited hardware. Everything and everyone is identifiable and you can easily tell what is going on.
This was achieved by making large maps nothing more than a series of disconnected "rooms" that are then connected by "doorways". This is unlike PSO or PSU (or any other 3D Phantasy Star game for that matter). However, in PSO, much of this same "connected but separate rooms" technique was used. For instance, in PSO, the rooms are separate in that each one will have its own monsters that spawn in. Monsters cannot move from one room to another, so you can stand in the doorway of a cleared room and be safe, even if the monsters are just a couple of meters away. They'll act like they don't even see you (and I'm sure as far as AI is concerned, they can't). This leads to funny moments in PSU where you walk back to a cleared room thinking you're safe, head to the bathroom and come back to find yourself dead at the hands of monsters from the next room. (Well, funny in retrospect, anyway.)
The small rooms of PSZero don't really detract from the game in my opinion. The rooms vary wildly in the shape of the traversible area, though they are generally the same size. This simplifies the map compared to PSO since it can just be a grid, and just because you can't see into the next room before you get to it doesn't really detract anything from the experience. The small size and reused textures allow them to be loaded very fast, and after a while you don't notice the transitions.
The sound is another area that I think the game does well in. It has one (or more?) of the well-known composers from PSO and PSU, and he turns in some good work on this soundtrack. I really got a PSO vibe the first time I played the game and entered the Forest-like first area. The music switches between two tracks depending on whether there are enemies nearby or not in the same way that PSO does, but the transitions are better in that there are more transition points. In PSO, for instance, you could enter an infested room and keep listening to the non-battle track for five or ten seconds before it switched over, and vice versa after the room was cleared of enemies. This isn't an issue in PSZero.
Now that we've calmed down from our anger-high, let's build up another one as I discuss the NPCs that join you in your journey. The story itself isn't bad. It's not going to win any awards, but for a hack-and-slash RPG, it's more than you would require and that's fine by me. The characters are interesting enough and the plot gets pretty thick but doesn't take any major twists or turns (except near the end and I'm sure I'll be bitching about that later). Outside of combat, the dialog is decent if not over-abundant.
The in-battle experience with these people, however, will have you swearing at your DS. It doesn't matter how you play through the game or what character class you choose, you WILL be doing more damage than your teammates. My force (technique-based warrior, skilled in "magic" but weak physically) was doing more damage at all stages of the game than the Hunter-class NPCs, and I mean by hitting stuff with her staff. As if that isn't ridiculous enough, the difference was not by small amounts, either. We're talking 10x the damage, and for God's sake my character isn't even supposed to be performing physical attacks!
So not only are you going to be the only one in the party doing any decent damage, you're also going to be the only one staying alive. It didn't matter how many times I issued the command "Keep your distance" or "Safety first!" through the Tactics menu. They just did whatever the hell they felt like, and they felt like running up to the enemy, hitting it with their pathetic attacks once or twice, then getting slaughtered like sheep as they refused to heal themselves or each other. It's sickening to watch, particularly in the final boss battles when you KNOW you could win if only your teammates were more combat-effective than the Goombas of Mushroom Kingdom. But again and again, you find yourself getting slaughtered while trying to resurrect them or slaughtered without them drawing some of the attacks away from you.
Now, I haven't spoiled anything thus far, and I'm going to try and register my one complaint with the plot in keeping with this trend, but it'll be difficult. Skip the rest of this paragraph if you'd rather not take the chance. ... There's a point where you might think to yourself, "What a mature twist to this story that should cause character development for all those involved! I didn't expect that at all!" (Hint: Similar things happen in Final Fantasy 7 and Phantasy Star 4. Sort of.) Well, it's a sham. That's right, they're faking you out and going the "inexplicably survived that" bullshit route. Okay, spoilers over, let's get back to what I was saying before. If I can remember what that was...
Well, let's sum this up. The graphics and sound are good, given the restrictions of the DS hardware. The plot is good enough, and the characters are as well. However, the touch screen is woefully underutilized, which would be okay if they didn't put all the options you'd want to manipulate with the touch screen ON the touch screen to tease and frustrate you. The one curve-ball the plot does throw at you is reversed as if to prevent kids from crying or something and the ally AI hovers between Useless and Less-than-Useless.
It's a game that made some big promises and delivered on many of them, but screwed up a lot of small, but very vital details. If you like the PSO style of hack-and-slash RPG games, I would recommend it. If you don't, it sure as hell doesn't have anything that's going to persuade you, so you may as well pass on it.
In another article I discussed my experiences with the Phantasy Star series. In this one, I'm going to do a review of Phantasy Star Zero. I'll point out the things that I really liked, the things that I didn't, and the things they can hopefully improve on if Sonic Team decides to make a sequel.
I was very excited to receive Phantasy Star Zero after its initial launch. I knew of Phantasy Star Portable, and I knew this game was going to be very different. Whereas PSPortable is more-or-less a port of the Phantasy Star Universe engine to PSP, PSZero is an entirely new game from scratch on the DS. I'm sure the DS's limited hardware played a role in this necessity, but I was craving a game more like PSO than PSU, and Zero promised to be just that.
As soon as you slide the game card into your DS and start up the game, you'll notice that the opening movie sequence is well done, and has a nice song with it. After that, you'll notice my first and absolute biggest complaint about the game. The title screen displays the text, "Press Start". Pretty standard stuff here, the only problem being that you can actually press any button. Fair enough, but you can't touch the touch screen in place of that. No worries, it said "Press Start" and touching the screen certainly isn't pressing Start, so we'll let that slide. Other games let you pull such a trick, and if you're used to that, this is a little upsetting. In any case, we'll move on.
Now we're at the character select screen. There are three save slots. Okay, I'm used to four in PSO and eight in PSPortable, but that can slide, too. Now that we've built up plenty of sliding momentum, let's crash into a large brick building when you touch one of the character slots and nothing happens. There are other options on this screen, and touching them does nothing.
I know what you're thinking, "The touch screen is just a gimmick! They didn't want to bother programming it because no one would use it when you can just use the D-pad!" That's actually among the dumbest things I've ever heard. When you're programming a game from the ground up on a specific hardware device, you should USE ALL THE AVAILABLE CAPABILITIES OF THE DEVICE. Especially when other games on the market condition you to do so. I have had the game for a couple of years now and I swear to whatever deities my hold reign over this reality that I still, to this day, tap my finger on the character file that I want to load up. I'll probably do it again next time I play even after writing this article.
Here's why that bothers me so much: Conditioning. I mentioned it above, but here's the long version. Every DS game I own has some user interface (UI) elements on the touch screen. That's why Nintendo put the damn thing on the bottom of the console. That's the purpose it serves. From triggering stored power-ups in New Super Mario, to aiming the gun in Metroid, to moving characters in Disgaea... I could go on forever. When Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver moved the entire menu system to the touch screen I was in heaven. It made the game so much more enjoyable to be able to just touch around on that screen rather than popping up a menu and using the D-pad to navigate it. Because so many games use the touch screen in this way, when I look at PSZero, I see buttons. They look like buttons and they're on the touch screen. But you can't tap them to do what you expect. And when doing something doesn't work the way you expect, the UI is broken.
If this issue was merely limited to the character select screen, I would be able to get over it. But it isn't. When you're actually in the field, there are a few touch functions, and honestly they work beautifully. There's a mini-map on the touch screen, and when you touch it, a larger and more detailed map along with an area map take over the touch screen. That's EXACTLY what you want to have happen and it works great. There's a button for chat, which opens up a little Pictochat-style canvas for writing messages to one another. There's also a button for switching up your AI partners' tactics (a whole other can of worms I'll get to). These things work very well. Unfortunately, that's it. You have a life meter, there are life meters for your partners, and there's your action palette. There's also an area that shows you information on what you're targeting, and (my personal "favorite"), a tab that simply tells you that pressing Start opens the menu.
Now, the area that shows your health shows your level, Photon Blast meter (used for the powerful Photon Blast attacks), health, and photon points (used for casting techniques). Touching this area does nothing. That's fine, I suppose, not sure what it WOULD do. Each of your partners simply gets a health meter and a dot indicating their color on that map. This dot blinks when their PB gauge is full. Touching these areas does nothing. That's fine as well. The information area also does nothing when touched, and that's acceptable.
But there are some things that bug me about this. Touching the icons on the action palette does nothing. I'll admit that most of the time, it would probably be better to just use the buttons to launch your attacks. I won't argue against that, but I will say that I'm not sure why the option isn't there. Why not let ME decide how to play the game? But the "best" is the Start tab. What happens when you touch it? You guessed it: not a damn thing. It just TELLS you to press Start to open the menu. It is not a button, despite the fact that it looks like one and is labeled like one. And finally, after you tap this area, grunt in anger, and press the Start button to show the menu, it appears on the touch screen. I'm sure you know where this is going. Quite predictably, the menu is completely oblivious to being touched, despite being on the touch screen.
The menu is the biggest problem of all and here's why. In PSO and PSU, every console it was available for had an analog stick in addition to a D-pad. This means that, even if you have to do some finger-yoga to do it, you can open the menu and continue moving with the analog stick while moving through the menu with the D-pad. This is an invaluable ability in PSO when you need to use a healing item, revive a teammate, or switch weapons while avoiding enemy attacks. In fact, the game even has a built-in quick menus for quickly accessing items, techniques and weapons without going through the main menu at all. PSZero falls flat on its face in this regard. Holding L and pressing Start puts you at the Item menu and holding R and pressing Start puts you in the equipment menu, skipping the main menu. That's all well and good aside from the fact that while the menu is open, all your character can do is stand in place, waiting patiently to be cut down by the enemy.
How would you fix this? It isn't too difficult to imagine. There's a button for Chat and a button for Tactics. How about freeing up some of that unused space on the touch screen for an Items button and a Weapons button? There's plenty of wasted space all between the various on-screen items, and even that useless menu "button" that could be removed. Allow players to scroll through and use items by touch, probably by double-tapping an item to limit accidentally using an unintended item or weapon. To return to the main touch screen view, just tap a little X in the top-right corner, just like with the map. Did no one at Sonic Team think of this shit? It seems so obvious!
Okay, after all that bitching, I'm in the mood to discuss some of the positive points about the game. While the art style is a bit on the child-friendly side (this was intentional, I'm sure, and I'm not going to knock it), the graphics are respectable for being on the DS's limited hardware. Everything and everyone is identifiable and you can easily tell what is going on.
This was achieved by making large maps nothing more than a series of disconnected "rooms" that are then connected by "doorways". This is unlike PSO or PSU (or any other 3D Phantasy Star game for that matter). However, in PSO, much of this same "connected but separate rooms" technique was used. For instance, in PSO, the rooms are separate in that each one will have its own monsters that spawn in. Monsters cannot move from one room to another, so you can stand in the doorway of a cleared room and be safe, even if the monsters are just a couple of meters away. They'll act like they don't even see you (and I'm sure as far as AI is concerned, they can't). This leads to funny moments in PSU where you walk back to a cleared room thinking you're safe, head to the bathroom and come back to find yourself dead at the hands of monsters from the next room. (Well, funny in retrospect, anyway.)
The small rooms of PSZero don't really detract from the game in my opinion. The rooms vary wildly in the shape of the traversible area, though they are generally the same size. This simplifies the map compared to PSO since it can just be a grid, and just because you can't see into the next room before you get to it doesn't really detract anything from the experience. The small size and reused textures allow them to be loaded very fast, and after a while you don't notice the transitions.
The sound is another area that I think the game does well in. It has one (or more?) of the well-known composers from PSO and PSU, and he turns in some good work on this soundtrack. I really got a PSO vibe the first time I played the game and entered the Forest-like first area. The music switches between two tracks depending on whether there are enemies nearby or not in the same way that PSO does, but the transitions are better in that there are more transition points. In PSO, for instance, you could enter an infested room and keep listening to the non-battle track for five or ten seconds before it switched over, and vice versa after the room was cleared of enemies. This isn't an issue in PSZero.
The musical tracks themselves are of good quality. The samples used for playback are a little suspect, but it's a DS for crying out loud. There are some good songs in DS games, but bad samples playing them back are common, so no points taken off here. There are good, memorable tracks and there are also mediocre, unmemorable ones. Not really any bad ones, so again, no points deducted.
Now that we've calmed down from our anger-high, let's build up another one as I discuss the NPCs that join you in your journey. The story itself isn't bad. It's not going to win any awards, but for a hack-and-slash RPG, it's more than you would require and that's fine by me. The characters are interesting enough and the plot gets pretty thick but doesn't take any major twists or turns (except near the end and I'm sure I'll be bitching about that later). Outside of combat, the dialog is decent if not over-abundant.
The in-battle experience with these people, however, will have you swearing at your DS. It doesn't matter how you play through the game or what character class you choose, you WILL be doing more damage than your teammates. My force (technique-based warrior, skilled in "magic" but weak physically) was doing more damage at all stages of the game than the Hunter-class NPCs, and I mean by hitting stuff with her staff. As if that isn't ridiculous enough, the difference was not by small amounts, either. We're talking 10x the damage, and for God's sake my character isn't even supposed to be performing physical attacks!
So not only are you going to be the only one in the party doing any decent damage, you're also going to be the only one staying alive. It didn't matter how many times I issued the command "Keep your distance" or "Safety first!" through the Tactics menu. They just did whatever the hell they felt like, and they felt like running up to the enemy, hitting it with their pathetic attacks once or twice, then getting slaughtered like sheep as they refused to heal themselves or each other. It's sickening to watch, particularly in the final boss battles when you KNOW you could win if only your teammates were more combat-effective than the Goombas of Mushroom Kingdom. But again and again, you find yourself getting slaughtered while trying to resurrect them or slaughtered without them drawing some of the attacks away from you.
Now, I haven't spoiled anything thus far, and I'm going to try and register my one complaint with the plot in keeping with this trend, but it'll be difficult. Skip the rest of this paragraph if you'd rather not take the chance. ... There's a point where you might think to yourself, "What a mature twist to this story that should cause character development for all those involved! I didn't expect that at all!" (Hint: Similar things happen in Final Fantasy 7 and Phantasy Star 4. Sort of.) Well, it's a sham. That's right, they're faking you out and going the "inexplicably survived that" bullshit route. Okay, spoilers over, let's get back to what I was saying before. If I can remember what that was...
Well, let's sum this up. The graphics and sound are good, given the restrictions of the DS hardware. The plot is good enough, and the characters are as well. However, the touch screen is woefully underutilized, which would be okay if they didn't put all the options you'd want to manipulate with the touch screen ON the touch screen to tease and frustrate you. The one curve-ball the plot does throw at you is reversed as if to prevent kids from crying or something and the ally AI hovers between Useless and Less-than-Useless.
It's a game that made some big promises and delivered on many of them, but screwed up a lot of small, but very vital details. If you like the PSO style of hack-and-slash RPG games, I would recommend it. If you don't, it sure as hell doesn't have anything that's going to persuade you, so you may as well pass on it.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Thoughts on the Wii U
Nintendo's new console has been revealed at E3, which was several days ago. Since watching the reveal live, I've had lots of time to think about the console's design, the choices Nintendo has made with it, and the advances they hope it will bring to their brand. I'm sure many, many people are out there blogging their thoughts on the machine, and I'm going to join them. I can't be certain because I've purposely avoided such articles so that I can claim my opinions, thoughts, and predictions are my own, and not influenced by any outsiders. That having been said, I don't claim to have any knowledge of the industry, and predictions I've made in the past have been all over the map with regards to being factually true in the end.
With all that out of the way, I'd like to state that I'm not doing this as a way to claim I know better than any other speculator out there. I don't, and I'm only putting my thoughts down as a writing exercise. Also, if I'm right, it'll be nice to have documented evidence that I knew how things would turn out. If I'm wrong, however, it'll still be fun years down the road to look back and laugh at myself.
If you have not seen the Wii U announcement and don't know how it will differ from the Wii, you can check at http://e3.nintendo.com. I'm not sure how long this site will be up, but for now it is the best place to check.
First, I'd like to comment on the graphical capabilities of the system. To the best of my knowledge, he system is capable of 1080p high-definition video. Considering how good the graphics of first-party games have been on the Wii and Gamecube at 480i, I think Nintendo will be able to make great use of the Wii U's visual capabilities, and we can expect their own game franchises to have incredible-looking entries. Also, I'm hoping that High-Voltage Software gets around to creating Conduit 3 on the system. I'm sure the graphics will be on-par with the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, and fewer games will be exclusive to these two consoles with the Wii U's updated processing power.
First party games will be fantastic. Dedicated third parties will be able to create amazing gaming experiences on the console. But what worries me is the massive "shovelware" market that exists on the Wii. The grand majority of third-party games on the Wii are just crap, developed by companies you've never heard of at minimal cost in order to rake in a few dollars from grandparents who don't know any better, or at least that's the impression I get when I go down to the local game shop. I'm a bit afraid that the Wii U's capabilities are going to be wasted on games that don't even try to use the console's full capabilities, and tarnish the brand further with the label of being "for casual gamers only."
Another fear of mine is that even large third parties such as Activison, EA and others will neglect to take advantage of the systems more advanced features. The console's controller is very unique, having a 6.2-inch touch screen along with the dual-analog sticks and all the buttons we're used to having. The Wii U is able to make extraordinary use of it, but I don't know if developers working on a game for multiple platforms will bother to take the effort to use a peripheral only one console has. Even if they don't, I don't think it'll be a big deal anyway. It would be a shame, but it would be even more of a shame if you couldn't play Call of Duty 3 or Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on the machine in the first place.
Nintendo is trying to paint the Wii U as a machine for serious gamers. It is capable of playing modern games in high-definition, it offers a unique but familiar control interface, and it seems to have a lot of third-party support behind it. I think Nintendo's console is up to the challenge, but I'm skeptical that game developers will feel that way.
The Wii U is backwards compatible with Wii games and peripherals. Accessories like the Balance Board, Wii Remote (and attachments) will work fine with the console. This is great, but there's something missing from that list. No one said explicitly that the Wii U will not be compatible with Gamecube games and controllers, but the subject seemed to be carefully avoided. Personally, I love the Gamecube's controller, and I have many Gamecube games that I greatly enjoy. I would hate to have a Wii that couldn't play them, but at the same time I don't think it would stop me from buying the console if that compatibility didn't exist.
The most revolutionary part of the console is its controller, which, as I mentioned, has a built-in screen. The controller looks a lot like a tablet computer crossbred with a Wii Classic Controller. Personally, I like it and I can't wait to get my hands on one. However, I do have some concerns about it. I'm not sure how comfortable it would be to hold for long gaming sessions. Is it shaped to fit comfortably in the hands? Is it too heavy to hold for long periods of time? Also, I'm concerned about power. Does it take AA's like the Wii Remotes do, or does it have a built-in rechargeable battery? How long will the battery power last with a screen like that? All these questions remain unanswered, but I get the feeling Nintendo would not screw these details up.
Finally, I had heard mention that the Wii U is a lot like Dreamcast in that it has a screen on the controller. This point is valid, but there's another similarity to the Dreamcast that I'm a bit nervous of. Sega had, for basically their entire console-building life, created systems that were nested between console generations.
The Genesis was created near the end of the NES's lifetime and was intended to compete with it. Then, Nintendo released the SNES, a console technically superior to the Genesis. The hardware of the Genesis was good, but the SNES still had it beat in raw power. Sega did a great job of turning their ship to compete with the SNES, but it was no easy task. Several other missteps occurred, such as the extension peripherals for the Genesis, and the Saturn, and when Sega had finally corrected their mistakes with the Dreamcast it was too late. They were the first console in the generation, and a year later when the Playstation 2 came out, it crushed the poor Dreamcast. There were other issues as well, but the fact remains that the Dreamcast didn't survive and Sega got out of the hardware business in 2001.
None of this matters except that Nintendo is bringing the first console of the next generation to the table. I'm hoping that the Playstation 4 and Xbox 720 don't suddenly appear and destroy the console. Sega made a lot more mistakes than Nintendo seems to have, but it's hindsight that's 20/20, not foresight, and there's always the possibility that there's more going on at Nintendo than we know.
To wrap up, I think the Wii U's hardware has been long-overdue. Though I don't like the name, I'll get used to it. The new controller has some amazing potential and I can't wait to use one. I am worried about the cost and durability of these controllers, however. I think the console will do pretty well, but I have trouble believing that it will tear dedicated gamers away from their Playstations and Xboxes or convert my mom into a pro-gamer.
With all that out of the way, I'd like to state that I'm not doing this as a way to claim I know better than any other speculator out there. I don't, and I'm only putting my thoughts down as a writing exercise. Also, if I'm right, it'll be nice to have documented evidence that I knew how things would turn out. If I'm wrong, however, it'll still be fun years down the road to look back and laugh at myself.
If you have not seen the Wii U announcement and don't know how it will differ from the Wii, you can check at http://e3.nintendo.com. I'm not sure how long this site will be up, but for now it is the best place to check.
First, I'd like to comment on the graphical capabilities of the system. To the best of my knowledge, he system is capable of 1080p high-definition video. Considering how good the graphics of first-party games have been on the Wii and Gamecube at 480i, I think Nintendo will be able to make great use of the Wii U's visual capabilities, and we can expect their own game franchises to have incredible-looking entries. Also, I'm hoping that High-Voltage Software gets around to creating Conduit 3 on the system. I'm sure the graphics will be on-par with the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, and fewer games will be exclusive to these two consoles with the Wii U's updated processing power.
First party games will be fantastic. Dedicated third parties will be able to create amazing gaming experiences on the console. But what worries me is the massive "shovelware" market that exists on the Wii. The grand majority of third-party games on the Wii are just crap, developed by companies you've never heard of at minimal cost in order to rake in a few dollars from grandparents who don't know any better, or at least that's the impression I get when I go down to the local game shop. I'm a bit afraid that the Wii U's capabilities are going to be wasted on games that don't even try to use the console's full capabilities, and tarnish the brand further with the label of being "for casual gamers only."
Another fear of mine is that even large third parties such as Activison, EA and others will neglect to take advantage of the systems more advanced features. The console's controller is very unique, having a 6.2-inch touch screen along with the dual-analog sticks and all the buttons we're used to having. The Wii U is able to make extraordinary use of it, but I don't know if developers working on a game for multiple platforms will bother to take the effort to use a peripheral only one console has. Even if they don't, I don't think it'll be a big deal anyway. It would be a shame, but it would be even more of a shame if you couldn't play Call of Duty 3 or Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on the machine in the first place.
Nintendo is trying to paint the Wii U as a machine for serious gamers. It is capable of playing modern games in high-definition, it offers a unique but familiar control interface, and it seems to have a lot of third-party support behind it. I think Nintendo's console is up to the challenge, but I'm skeptical that game developers will feel that way.
The Wii U is backwards compatible with Wii games and peripherals. Accessories like the Balance Board, Wii Remote (and attachments) will work fine with the console. This is great, but there's something missing from that list. No one said explicitly that the Wii U will not be compatible with Gamecube games and controllers, but the subject seemed to be carefully avoided. Personally, I love the Gamecube's controller, and I have many Gamecube games that I greatly enjoy. I would hate to have a Wii that couldn't play them, but at the same time I don't think it would stop me from buying the console if that compatibility didn't exist.
The most revolutionary part of the console is its controller, which, as I mentioned, has a built-in screen. The controller looks a lot like a tablet computer crossbred with a Wii Classic Controller. Personally, I like it and I can't wait to get my hands on one. However, I do have some concerns about it. I'm not sure how comfortable it would be to hold for long gaming sessions. Is it shaped to fit comfortably in the hands? Is it too heavy to hold for long periods of time? Also, I'm concerned about power. Does it take AA's like the Wii Remotes do, or does it have a built-in rechargeable battery? How long will the battery power last with a screen like that? All these questions remain unanswered, but I get the feeling Nintendo would not screw these details up.
Finally, I had heard mention that the Wii U is a lot like Dreamcast in that it has a screen on the controller. This point is valid, but there's another similarity to the Dreamcast that I'm a bit nervous of. Sega had, for basically their entire console-building life, created systems that were nested between console generations.
The Genesis was created near the end of the NES's lifetime and was intended to compete with it. Then, Nintendo released the SNES, a console technically superior to the Genesis. The hardware of the Genesis was good, but the SNES still had it beat in raw power. Sega did a great job of turning their ship to compete with the SNES, but it was no easy task. Several other missteps occurred, such as the extension peripherals for the Genesis, and the Saturn, and when Sega had finally corrected their mistakes with the Dreamcast it was too late. They were the first console in the generation, and a year later when the Playstation 2 came out, it crushed the poor Dreamcast. There were other issues as well, but the fact remains that the Dreamcast didn't survive and Sega got out of the hardware business in 2001.
None of this matters except that Nintendo is bringing the first console of the next generation to the table. I'm hoping that the Playstation 4 and Xbox 720 don't suddenly appear and destroy the console. Sega made a lot more mistakes than Nintendo seems to have, but it's hindsight that's 20/20, not foresight, and there's always the possibility that there's more going on at Nintendo than we know.
To wrap up, I think the Wii U's hardware has been long-overdue. Though I don't like the name, I'll get used to it. The new controller has some amazing potential and I can't wait to use one. I am worried about the cost and durability of these controllers, however. I think the console will do pretty well, but I have trouble believing that it will tear dedicated gamers away from their Playstations and Xboxes or convert my mom into a pro-gamer.
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