Wii U Catch-All

Anyone else give ZombiU a try? My wife was really excited about it, threw the disc in, and put the controller down after 5 minutes.

shoptroll wrote:
PopEsc wrote:

It is way too soon to tell if U ports are going to be better or worse than other consoles.

And it certainly won't matter in a year when MS and Sony roll out their new consoles.

Which, if the rumors are correct, will have the exact same problems as the Wii U. They're going to be off of the same CPU generation, and maybe the next GPU gen.

cube wrote:
shoptroll wrote:
PopEsc wrote:

It is way too soon to tell if U ports are going to be better or worse than other consoles.

And it certainly won't matter in a year when MS and Sony roll out their new consoles.

Which, if the rumors are correct, will have the exact same problems as the Wii U. They're going to be off of the same CPU generation, and maybe the next GPU gen.

You saying the next Xbox will be utilizing comparable hardware to the Wii U?

Gumbie wrote:

Actually the PC version looks much much better than the 360 or PS3. In fact this years release is the first one to use DirectX 11.

That's what I get for talking like I know something.

TheGameguru wrote:
cube wrote:
shoptroll wrote:
PopEsc wrote:

It is way too soon to tell if U ports are going to be better or worse than other consoles.

And it certainly won't matter in a year when MS and Sony roll out their new consoles.

Which, if the rumors are correct, will have the exact same problems as the Wii U. They're going to be off of the same CPU generation, and maybe the next GPU gen.

You saying the next Xbox will be utilizing comparable hardware to the Wii U?

No offense cube, but I think that's a pretty far reach.

Gumbie wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:
cube wrote:
shoptroll wrote:
PopEsc wrote:

It is way too soon to tell if U ports are going to be better or worse than other consoles.

And it certainly won't matter in a year when MS and Sony roll out their new consoles.

Which, if the rumors are correct, will have the exact same problems as the Wii U. They're going to be off of the same CPU generation, and maybe the next GPU gen.

You saying the next Xbox will be utilizing comparable hardware to the Wii U?

No offense cube, but I think that's a pretty far reach.

It's a reach to say "if the rumors are correct"?

Realistically? Yes, it probably will be. MS probably won't shift from Power architectures to x86(and if they do, the problems are even worse going from the Xenon/Cell to Intel or AMD x86).

Will it be more powerful than the Wii U? Certainly. It'll probably have more RAM as well. But as far as I know, neither Intel nor IBM have anything in the pipe that's remotely like the paradigm shift in processor design we saw a few years ago. In the Intel space, the Nehalem architecture was a pretty radical departure from the Core-based systems.

Most likely, the problems at this point aren't because of the WiiU's supposed lack of power. It's because old optimization techniques don't work nearly as well with the Power7's capabilities compared to the Xenon's.

So yes, I am comfortable making the prediction that the XBox Next will be basically a wiiU+1.

Stele wrote:

So yeah, graphics are soooooo important.

You take that back! How else can I justify the gaming PC I built and the new graphics card I bought?

Gumbie wrote:

Yes I would love to see rumors that Wii U and Sony or MS new console's CPU will have anything in common.

How much do you know about CPU architecture? Because this is a really weird thing to say. They will have almost everything in common.

SixteenBlue wrote:
Gumbie wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:
cube wrote:
shoptroll wrote:
PopEsc wrote:

It is way too soon to tell if U ports are going to be better or worse than other consoles.

And it certainly won't matter in a year when MS and Sony roll out their new consoles.

Which, if the rumors are correct, will have the exact same problems as the Wii U. They're going to be off of the same CPU generation, and maybe the next GPU gen.

You saying the next Xbox will be utilizing comparable hardware to the Wii U?

No offense cube, but I think that's a pretty far reach.

It's a reach to say "if the rumors are correct"?

Yes I would love to see rumors that Wii U and Sony or MS new console's CPU will have anything in common. Any rumor I've seen reguarding next gen console CPU's are x86 based AMD. I would be really shocked if they aren't x86.

SixteenBlue wrote:
Gumbie wrote:

Yes I would love to see rumors that Wii U and Sony or MS new console's CPU will have anything in common.

How much do you know about CPU architecture? Because this is a really weird thing to say. They will have almost everything in common.

I'm not going to get into a technical dick swinging contest with you, but yes believe it or not I know the difference between PowerPC and x86 architecture.

shoptroll wrote:
PopEsc wrote:

It is way too soon to tell if U ports are going to be better or worse than other consoles.

And it certainly won't matter in a year when MS and Sony roll out their new consoles.

If we see the Next Box or PS4 on store shelves in 2013 I will be thoroughly surprised. If I see a screenshot in the next month I might change my mind.

PopEsc wrote:
shoptroll wrote:
PopEsc wrote:

It is way too soon to tell if U ports are going to be better or worse than other consoles.

And it certainly won't matter in a year when MS and Sony roll out their new consoles.

If we see the Next Box or PS4 on store shelves in 2013 I will be thoroughly surprised. If I see a screenshot in the next month I might change my mind.

Fall 2013 for MS, Fall 2014 for Sony is my guess just based on how long we've been hearing about dev kits.

I still think its odd that Nintendo is clearly the leader in Videogames but behaves like they are in third place.. both in how they market as well as design their systems. As a company that essentially exists for VideoGames and videogames only..continuing to protect their IP's and maintain them #1 in their customers and the general public's mind is priority number one. I find the Wii U to have been a confusing mess in terms of how the hardware is designed and marketed. "Everyone" shouting how well Nintendo is doing and how everything will be ok may be right..but as an outsider all I can see is that Nintendo traditionally is a company that used to print money..but the last two years they are a company that bleeds money. Thats all that matters. I'm told the 3DS is a monster success.. yet the company is still losing money.. so something must change.. I know smart people will tell me its all because of the Yen.. which I'm sure is correct..but I can't expect a company to do nothing to fix it.. especially as a shareholder.

Microsoft may be many things but I'm pretty sure that when Microsoft launches the Xbox 720 it will be designed and marketed in a way that will scream to all consumers.. "Your old busted Xbox 360 is a piece of junk compared to this.. immediately scrap it all and buy all this new stuff all over again..because it kicks ass" If I can't convince my entire user base to upgrade as well as convince everyone else on the fence then I've failed.

I think Nintendo missed a golden opportunity not having a similar approach..

TheGameguru wrote:

I still think its odd that Nintendo is clearly the leader in Videogames but behaves like they are in third place.. both in how they market as well as design their systems. As a company that essentially exists for VideoGames and videogames only..continuing to protect their IP's and maintain them #1 in their customers and the general public's mind is priority number one. I find the Wii U to have been a confusing mess in terms of how the hardware is designed and marketed. "Everyone" shouting how well Nintendo is doing and how everything will be ok may be right..but as an outsider all I can see is that Nintendo traditionally is a company that used to print money..but the last two years they are a company that bleeds money. Thats all that matters. I'm told the 3DS is a monster success.. yet the company is still losing money.. so something must change.. I know smart people will tell me its all because of the Yen.. which I'm sure is correct..but I can't expect a company to do nothing to fix it.. especially as a shareholder.

Microsoft may be many things but I'm pretty sure that when Microsoft launches the Xbox 720 it will be designed and marketed in a way that will scream to all consumers.. "Your old busted Xbox 360 is a piece of junk compared to this.. immediately scrap it all and buy all this new stuff all over again..because it kicks ass" If I can't convince my entire user base to upgrade as well as convince everyone else on the fence then I've failed.

I think Nintendo missed a golden opportunity not having a similar approach..

I just wish the Wii U had been a straight-up Wii 2 and the 3DS a straight up DS 2. The messaging would have been easier and they likely would have sold them at a profit from the start. Or had the ability to add more juice to the underlying hardware.

DSGamer wrote:

I just wish the Wii U had been a straight-up Wii 2 and the 3DS a straight up DS 2. The messaging would have been easier and they likely would have sold them at a profit from the start. Or had the ability to add more juice to the underlying hardware.

I do remember discussing that, probably around here a while back when we were theorizing on the next system. How the SNES was just a polished NES, with more buttons. How the Gamecube was just a polished N64 with a 2nd analog stick. And hoping that the Wii would be a polished Wii with M+ from the start, and maybe a couple more buttons.

And it sort of is. There's nothing stopping people from designing Wiimote games for it, or forcing them to use the second screen. And at least the new "classic controller" is more functional than the one that came with the Wii, so it should have support for any kind of traditional controller game that one could hope for.

But yeah, Super Wii might have helped market it better than Wii U.

I was mostly responding to GameGuru. The important part is that the price of the console could have been much lower.

TheGameguru wrote:

Microsoft may be many things but I'm pretty sure that when Microsoft launches the Xbox 720 it will be designed and marketed in a way that will scream to all consumers.. "Your old busted Xbox 360 is a piece of junk compared to this.. immediately scrap it all and buy all this new stuff all over again..because it kicks ass"

I hope so, but with the way Surface and Windows 8 have been received and the general cynicism that's so widespread among core gamers now, I dunno. To me, the usability of the 360 has actually gone down over four five years I've owned one, so the next one is not the deadlock purchase I thought it would be two years ago. Sony could sway me to their side if they bring something strong and the Xbox brand continues on its current course.

Anyway, Wii U related: anyone here go by SpacePope? Got a friend request and I'd rather hold off on accepting random strangers.

So in good news, I was able to contact the owner of the apartment where Mario U is being shipped, and I also managed to figure out exactly what service was being used for shipping the game, and now know where it is. Additionally, I sent my Wii U off to Nintendo for repair using the shipping label they emailed me.

Unfortunately, I discovered that Nintendo had actually sent me two emails: one with the shipping label, and one with the instructions for what to include with the shipment. That second email was conveniently written in both Spanish and English, which caused Gmail to then assume it was spam. Immediately, I called UPS, but they told me that the package was already on the truck.

Stele wrote:

Well re-reading it I'm not sure. He does say something about the game prompting an update. Of course I was thinking that was the system update, like on the Wii, they always included system updates on game discs for Nintendo first-party games.

So... I don't know.

Sorry Tuller. Hope it gets fixed quickly.

The bricking happened when the power was lost during an update to Nintendo Land. I do think you're right, and that there might have been some sort of system update included with the update, though.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Anyway, Wii U related: anyone here go by SpacePope? Got a friend request and I'd rather hold off on accepting random strangers.

That's PopEsc, I believe.

Ok, because this happened on Saturday, I forgot to share.

My oldest daughter (9) who is self proclaimed "bad at platformers" had a go at New Super Mario Bros U. After playing for about 10 minutes, I hear her calling. "Dad, I keep dying! Can you get me to the next level?" So I play through the level (1-1) as she watches, and then I hand the Gamepad back to her.

"Now you try it." I say. "It's only going to get harder, you might as well learn and practice on the easy levels."

I leave her to it and go upstairs. A short time later I hear her yell, "I did it! Daddy, I did it!"

"That's awesome, honey!" I yell back. And I really mean it.

Nice! Was wondering what the context was on your Miiverse post

TheGameguru wrote:

Microsoft may be many things but I'm pretty sure that when Microsoft launches the Xbox 720 it will be designed and marketed in a way that will scream to all consumers.. "Your old busted Xbox 360 is a piece of junk compared to this.. immediately scrap it all and buy all this new stuff all over again..because it kicks ass" If I can't convince my entire user base to upgrade as well as convince everyone else on the fence then I've failed.

I think Nintendo missed a golden opportunity not having a similar approach..

Honestly, I think that MS and Sony will have a harder time marketing their systems to the CoD/Madden crowd(the majority of their users) on release than Nintendo, if only because they don't have the gimmick that Nintendo has.

The selling point for the 360 and the PS3 graphically was HDTV's. It was such a gigantic upgrade in graphics and sound from standard definition to 1080p that the console practically sold itself for gamers that bought new TV's, especially when you compare composite output to HDMI. Unless the PS4 and next xbox come out in 4+ years(which, admittedly, is possible for the PS4, but doubtful for the xbox), there simply won't be that kind of jump for the normal consumer. 4k TV prices are on the order of new cars right now, and I don't see those prices dropping to reasonable consumer levels for a few years, at least.

Also, MS had all the new XBox Live stuff as a major marketing point. At the time, it was pretty groundbreaking stuff for the console market.

While Nintendo's marketing has really screwed up communicating that it's a new console and not just a Wii peripheral, they do have something else besides better graphics to lean on.

I disagree Cube.. put up the lastest MoH game on 1080P/60FPS with max details on a PC connected to a 60" HDTV.. then the same game on an Xbox 360 on a different HDMI port and the difference is dramatic. This isnt a minor upgrade one you have the ability to crank up the details and run the engine in a true 1080P resolution.. not an upscaled rez like most 360 games run (many aren't even native 720P).

The newer PC games look dramatically better than the 360 mode.. I think we have one more significant step up left in Console graphics at current generation HDTV technology. By the next round 4K TV's will be commonplace so there will be another significant leap.

Blind_Evil: I'm SpacePope.

Soo.... this happened...

nintendo.com/wiimini

Canada only, no internet capabilities, $99

shoptroll wrote:
PopEsc wrote:
shoptroll wrote:
PopEsc wrote:

It is way too soon to tell if U ports are going to be better or worse than other consoles.

And it certainly won't matter in a year when MS and Sony roll out their new consoles.

If we see the Next Box or PS4 on store shelves in 2013 I will be thoroughly surprised. If I see a screenshot in the next month I might change my mind.

Fall 2013 for MS, Fall 2014 for Sony is my guess just based on how long we've been hearing about dev kits.

After looking at wikipedia, the Xbox was released the year it was announced at E3, so you are probably right.

gamerparent wrote:

Soo.... this happened...

nintendo.com/wiimini

Canada only, no internet capabilities, $99

Well, now all Canada can stop Female Doggoing about being left out

gamerparent wrote:

Soo.... this happened...

nintendo.com/wiimini

Canada only, no internet capabilities, $99

It being exclusive here I can't understand, maybe it's just launching here. I could see them selling buckets of these things to parents of little kids who either don't want to or don't have the money to spend on a dedicated handheld, a bigger console or a tablet. But Canada's one of the only G7 economies not in the dumps right now so it seems an odd place to exclusively put a system aimed at a budget minded market. We did just lay off a ton of public sector workers here but they all got golden parachutes so I dunno.

Odd that they would cut out the Internet capabilities. Netflix was touting the Wii was the preferred streaming device for their service by a large margin. I wouldn't be surprised if that came out in the US next year since I think some retailers were talking about selling standard Wiis around the $99 for this holiday. Once the US stock is depleted, the mini will probably show up.