cardmeister

Sorry to burst your bubble but you're one who is wrong and you're the only one I've seen complaining on this or several other forums regards this subject.

Hi Gamejunkie... How are you?

You must understand that not everybody has the means to upgrade their (otherwise perfectly fine) surround sound receiver after buying a $350 system. I am confused by your statement about nobody expressing concerns over the exclusion of a dolby 5.1 option. I have read several posts on this matter virtually all have included folks who are confused about the difference between Dolby 5.1 and LPCM 5.1. The confusion alone indicates that the market is not "ready" for a LPCM-only solution. LPCM-compatible receivers are common place, but I think it would be hard to say that they are ubiquitous among those who currently enjoy surround sound.

I am a software developer and I can tell you that I have spoken to at least 4 of my colleagues who are in the same situation - it would require a receiver upgrade to obtain 5.1 sound from the Wii U. These are hardcore gamers who have been enjoying surround sound on their games for many years by using Dolby 5.1 over optical. Not all who enjoy the benefits of surround sound are audiophiles who drop routine piles of $$ on a new receiver.

I agree that there comes a time when old formats should no longer be supported. (It's not like I have a floppy drive any more.) However, Dolby 5.1 is far from obsolete; it is a very common, very standardized format for high-quality (although not lossless) surround sound. The decision to not support it, does in fact, affect many gamers. It is not the sort of decision that works in their favor when they are trying to "win back" the core market.

Everybody is happy that it doesn't affect you... however, it is not fair to say that "everybody" who cares about surround sound already has a receiver that supports LPCM. If you want evidence that Dolby 5.1 is not obsolete? Look at your shiny new surround sound receiver. Does it still decode Dolby 5.1? It does? Well, why should it?... LPCM is so much better... they should just drop support for Dolby 5.1. Walk into best buy and look at the highest-quality receiver they have. It supports Dolby 5.1 also.

The fact remains that LPCM is not new.. but it has not successfully replaced the need for Dolby 5.1 due to the high bandwith requirements. If you compare it to audio files, it's the difference between .wav files and .mp3 files. You can get much higher quality out of .wav files, but it will cost you in terms of file size.

Whether you acknowledge the existence of the need or not, it certainly does still exist. Dolby 5.1 is alive and in high use. Just about every game on the shelf right now supports it. (Look at any game on your shelf, Mr. Junkie). It is one thing to support the future; it is quite another to ignore the present.

Unfortunately, as a Nintendo fan, this is disappointing. It is another sign that Nintendo doesn't "get it". I don't know if it was oversight, or them trying to save money, but they have undermined their own efforts to appeal to a wide market. It assumes that you are either a super-casual gamer or have hardware to support the highest-quality sound available.

I've been to many forums and continuously see the same perspectives; both of which make valid points:

Those for the decision:

• LPCM is lossless, thus better quality than dolby 5.1
• Avoids additional costs in terms of licensing fees for the console and for the games which choose to implement surround.
• "It's the future. Virtually every surround system sold today supports LPCM."

Those against the decision:

• "I'm not ready for and/or can't afford the future! I live in the present!"
• Dolby 5.1 is pretty much a standard in the gaming industry.
• Licensing fees are nominal, and Nintendo is being cheap.

Let me say, I upgraded my Surround Sound a couple of years ago because my old one did not support HDMI, and all of my devices (except wii) did. I'm happy I did and had the resources to do it.... BUT, it could be done by routing HDMI to my tv and then optical & composite out to my receiver. Even though I can fully enjoy the lossless wonders of LPCM game, I think this was the wrong move for Nintendo. I'll explain why in a moment.

To start with... everything that those who are "in favor" of this decision is absolutely correct. However, those who are giving reasons against it represent a large portion of "hardcore" gamers who can get better experiences out of their existing consoles (XBox360, PS3) with no additional upgrades. This seems to go against N's "plan" to give love to the hardcores. If you ask me, surround sound improves game immersion even more-so graphics. You can often get around graphics limitations by going with a more styled approach than a hyper-realistic approach (a common MMO tactic). However, you either have surround, or you don't. So by eliminating a major avenue to surround sound, they have (again) alienated a portion of the "core" gamers -- a bad move that goes against one of their primary marketing goals.

I have great empathy for those who don't have the hardware to support LPCM, but maybe they are the minority.... Maybe Nintendo has done the research and know this. I can't say. So let me shift the perspective to those of us who have what we need to hear the glorious wonder of LPCM...

We're still getting screwed.

Yup, you read that right... We're still negatively impacted by this decision..... "No way, I can hear those brain-snacking zombies trying to sneak up behind me! You're wrong!", you say? Well try watching Iron Man 2 over Amazon Prime or Netflix. Guess what? That 55" LED badass screen that you have will give you all the pretty pictures you can handle... but you sure won't feel like Iron Man just flew over your head when your rear speakers go silent.

"But... But.. what do you mean? It's coming through the console... which is LPCM... so that means I get even BETTER sound... right??"...

Sorry... no you don't. As a matter of fact, you don't even get the benefits of simulated surround through Dolby Pro-Logic. You get stereo. Granted, you get high-quality, LPCM 2.0 stereo... but it's still stereo.

Here's the deal... LPCM is higher quality because it is uncompressed. But that means it takes up more bandwith. That's why it won't work over optical. That's also why no online streaming service supports it. They all use Dolby 5.1 because it compresses so nicely. So simply put... since Nintendo chose not to support Dolby 5.1 output (which works fine over HDMI), they have hamstrung your hi-definition movie-watching experience.

Sure you may say, "but it's a gaming console"... To which I simply reply, "Yes it is... but I am suddenly much less excited about this TVii thing they've been marketing... I guess it's back to device-switching for me."

Disappointing, Nintendo... very disappointing.

(Feel free to repost, elsewhere... just give credit to original post. Thanks!)