Bunkei

You guys sure like to make mountains out of molehills don't you?

 

If you honestly think the Wii U will be on par with the 720 / PS4 offerings, you are one diluted bunch... seriously.  The only reason anyone mention's the Wii U in the same sentence as the 720 / PS4 is because those systems haven't been released yet and the superiority of those consoles aren't that blatantly obvious... yet. When UE4 and Frostbite 3 are in full swing on the 720 / PS4 systems, no one with a IQ over 50 will be comparing the 3 consoles anymore.

 

Do yourselves a favor, and stop thinking the Wii U will offer the same quality of multi-platform titles as the 720 / PS4, because it won't.

 

The Wii U will offer awesome first party titles that will look great - for those titles, but that will be it. You can not honestly sit there and think that a console that can only allocate 1 GB of RAM for games will offer comparable games with a system that has 8GB of RAM.

 

But if some PR person from Activision mentioning the Wii U as a "next gen" console convinces you otherwise, then more power to you.

 

You are accusing us of drinking Wii U kool aid, but then say that the PS4 will be superior because it has 8 GB of RAM?  Then you say that the first party games will look great, as if the memory limitation you mentioned earlier does not apply here?  Riight.  If you were truly being objective, you'd at least wait until the other consoles are on the market (or at least close to launch) before you start to draw conclusions.

 

I think the next-gen multi platform titles will look fine on the Wii U and will give up little to the other consoles, and I am prepared to revisit this topic once those titles are released.

Someone on Wii U daily made a few good points in my opinion:

 

"What the pundits are failing to recognize is that what we're looking at isn't the WiiU's real launch. Nintendo isn't pushing it and they're not heavily advertising it -- and this is intentional -- because It's clearly not finished (i.e. the UI isn't finished, console selling games aren't ready) and they don't want it to be overplayed by the time the real push will be on.

 

Nintendo had to launch a new console when they did because the Wii had prematurely reached the end of its life as a revenue generator -- no new 3rd party support and coasting on fumes -- and Nintendo was posting its first ever loss. Investors demanded action and Nintendo had to give it to them. They couldn't go another year with the Wii while they finished its successor. It simply had to be put out immediately, ready or not.

This may turn out to be a winning strategy however. The WiiU launched with a 1 year head start on the PS4 and n'X-Box.

 

What this gives Nintendo during the next holiday season are the advantages of having a perfectly polished console and a big lineup of excellent Nintendo IP and 3rd party games versus Sony and Microsoft's new consoles inevitably with bugs to work out and limited libraries like any brand new console. Nintendo will be "launching" into the next generation console war with an excellent library and a polished console that developers know how to program for out the gate.

 

That doesn't surprise me at all.  Everyone's thinking that Nintendo went with a lower clock CPU because of cost.  I think that it's because of reliability concerns, and because the inclusion of GPGPU + DSP.  I think you have to look at the big picture.

Why are we buying the Wii U?  Are we that concerned with its technical specs that it's a dealbreaker?  You can build a PC system that blows the Wii U/PS4/Durango out the water using a $100 CPU and $150 GPU.

Let's cut to the chase, the reason why we buy the Wii U is for the gameplay experience.  As I stated in another thread, we will most likely never play Zelda or Mario on another system.  Then there's the experience; there aren't many local multiplayer games for the PC either.

I'm buying the Wii U for the above reasons and because of my self-admitted Nintendo fanboyism.  Besides my family and friends, the best memories of my childhood has been provided by Nintendo.  To that end, I want them to win back the hardcore crowd.  To HELL with Microsoft and Sony.

Is everything perfect? Heck no.  System freezes, a bizarre policy concerning NN ID's, some missing features, etc have dampened the excitement for some.  However, I think Nintendo will fix these issues and the result will be a very very powerful console; not from a technical perspective, but from an experience perspective.  Nintendo is the first company to combine online, gaming, social network, and TV/Movie experience in one consumer friendly package.

In terms of a gaming console, the PS4 and Durango will no doubt be powerful consoles, but let me ask you a question: When you look back at epic games like Chrono Trigger, Street Fighter, Final Fantasy, Legend of Zelda and Mario .. was it the graphics that made you fall in love with the games?  or was it the experience?

Lastly, Microsoft and Sony can fight it out over the graphics arms war.  Meanwhile, I look forward to developers finding more clever ways to use the Gamepad.  It is a gamechanger; and much like the analog stick, rumble pack, and wave bird, the competition will copy it.  Then, it will be heralded as the best thing since sliced bread with no credit going to Nintendo.

Some things just don't change ....

I think that if anyone buys a Nintendo console for the technical specs may need to reconsider.  Honestly, I think the Wii U is a next-generation console in every sense of the term "next generation".  As already been stated, you cannot judge this console's potential on the launch games (especially any that are made by EA).  I welcome the PS4/X720, because by then, we will see if the gap between Nintendo and its competitors is as great as people envision.  It would also mean the end of ports of games made for the current generation's older architecture.

Even if there's a noticeable gap, is it worth paying an extra $100-150 for those systems? Not for me.  If i was truly interested in the eye candy, I'd take that money and invest in a high performance graphics card for my PC.  I buy consoles for the games either I can't get on the PC or prefer not to play on the PC.

I also remember a certain console that was constantly bragged by its maker regarding its technical specs.  Between the specs and the Blu Ray drive, it was marketed (and priced) as a console ahead of its time accomplishing things its competitors cannot.  How did that turn out?

Borderlands 2 on Wii U anyone?

I was thinking the same thing.  Indeed .. they can always do Wii U exclusive weapons and/or quests

Obviously it's the most-anticipated FFVII remake