Could Nintendo's next home console entice the early adopters/graphic whores?

[Icarus Moonsight]

If Nintendo wants to peak my interest and other mature gamers with their next console, they have to come out with some first party original and mature titles and get the other game studios on board to do the same.

Translation: "I'm 12, what is this?"

[The 1 2 P]

I'm still not sold on this things graphics being that much better than the PS3's and 360's currently are. And even if the FU....er, Wii U's graphics were a tad bit better, true graphics whores(if such a thing exist) would wait for the inevitable new Sony and Microsoft systems(respectively) since they will assuredly push the graphical output higher than whatever Nintendo has planned for next year.

And to comment on the hard drive issue, why won't Nintendo just go with a normal hd as opposed to using flash memory? From my understanding the cost of internal hard drives has gone down significantly since this gen started six years ago so it's not like it would be that costly for Nintendo to add atleast a 120 gig hard drive to each system. Perhaps they are just waiting to reveal this at a later date.

[GarrettCRW]

And to comment on the hard drive issue, why won't Nintendo just go with a normal hd as opposed to using flash memory? From my understanding the cost of internal hard drives has gone down significantly since this gen started six years ago so it's not like it would be that costly for Nintendo to add atleat a 120 gig hard drive to each system. Perhaps they are just waiting to reveal this at a later date.

If this thing has support for external USB drives, then there's ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to include a hard drive in the system. And, really, the SD reader smacks of legacy support. It's much better to just have a minimal flash drive to start with and let users buy their own drive (which is what can be done by the user with the PS3) while avoiding pissing off the user base by overcharging for hard drives *cough*360*cough*.

But, I'm sure it's just easier to call the system names and then quote yourself in your sig.

[NYLatenite]

I haven't seen any official specs, nor would I even trust any mentioned at this point as more often than not, things change before a console is released.

I'm a gamer and generally a first adopter, so I'm going to keep my eye on where Nintendo goes from here - but I will say this; I haven't been overly impressed with the selection of games available for Nintendo consoles over the last two generations, so they aren't going to get my money just because it's a new console.

They're going to need to show me a game or two that's going to make me say "I want to play this" and either have that game exclusively or have their version of it be good enough to say "I'm willing to drop X number of dollars to play this."

Basically, Nintendo's "Look! It's Mario!" approach to things isn't going to make me buy the Wii U. Nintendo needs to show me that they're serious about making a game console that fits my tastes and is going to have support beyond just Nintendo titles.

Oh, and while I think the 25gb custom disc format is a great idea, I really do hope to see hard drive support (external is fine, if not preferred, by me) and solid online support.

Bottom line? It's all about the games. To put it in food terms, lay out a delicious menu, and I'm going to stop in and eat.

(Oh, and before the inevitable, let me state that this is what will entice *me* to buy the console. Just my 25 cents worth. Yes, I know Nintendo has a rabid fan base, and yes, I know for a lot of people, the standard Nintendo franchises are far more than enough to buy in on day one. Your mileage may vary.)

[Zap!]

Translation: "I'm 12, what is this?"

Or what I would say: "I'm 38, where's Mario and Zelda?"

[Vlcice]

If this thing has support for external USB drives, then there's ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to include a hard drive in the system.

I can actually see a reason to include an internal hard drive. Having an HDD standard means that devs can count on it, and do things like cache data on the hard drive. It's not vital, but it's good to have the option. If the hard drive is optional, and there's only a small amount of flash in the system, devs have to develop their games with the assumption that players won't have a hard drive.

[Rob2600]

I can actually see a reason to include an internal hard drive.

Reasons to not include a hard drive:

1. Smaller console.

2. Cooler console.

3. Quieter console (since it'd run cooler, no need for noisy fans).

4. More reliable console (fewer moving parts = less chance of something breaking).

I'd much prefer internal flash memory.

[The 1 2 P]

If this thing has support for external USB drives, then there's ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to include a hard drive in the system. And, really, the SD reader smacks of legacy support. It's much better to just have a minimal flash drive to start with and let users buy their own drive (which is what can be done by the user with the PS3) while avoiding pissing off the user base by overcharging for hard drives *cough*360*cough*.

But, I'm sure it's just easier to call the system names and then quote yourself in your sig.

Well they said they are trying to entice the hardcore back over to their console. Along with better third party support and a robust online multiplayer structure, a standard hard drive could do wonders for them. Or maybe I'm just spoiled from having owned an original Xbox and then having a hard drive standard with my 360 and PS3. I'm sure Nintendo would just point to the Wii and mention how that sold admirably well without that newfangled contraption called a hard drive.

As for the name, mine isn't nearly as silly as Wii U. And besides, it worked for Fired Up.....kind of.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Newfangled hard disk drives?

Welcome to 1956.

[Leo_A]

Newfangled hard disk drives?

Welcome to 1956.

I believe he was talking specifically about game consoles. Back when the Wii was released, beyond the original Xbox and optional HD attachments for the PS2 and Xbox 360, it was brand new territory.

That said, couldn't they use the internal flash memory as a caching device? Why does it have to be a hard drive?

[Vlcice]

That said, couldn't they use the internal flash memory as a caching device? Why does it have to be a hard drive?

There's not that much space you can count on. It's better than not having any space, but since an internal flash drive isn't going to have as much storage it means that, once you take into account OS and user stored material on the drive, there's less of an ability to count on having a big block of storage free for caching. It's easier for the manufacturer to reserve a large block for caching on a drive with a large amount of space.

[Leo_A]

The rumors I hear put the internal flash memory at 8 gigs (The same as the hard drive on the Xbox, and nearly at the 50% mark of what the initial premium model of the 360 had and what the initial budget model of the PS3 had).

That seems like it would offer ample capacity for game caching with significant space left over for some DLC and other necessary uses like the OS.

[The 1 2 P]

I believe he was talking specifically about game consoles. Back when the Wii was released, beyond the original Xbox and optional HD attachments for the PS2 and Xbox 360, it was brand new territory.

Exactly. One only needs a little common sense to get that.

[Icarus Moonsight]

What's the only thing worse than a dead HDD? An undead one...

deadpool_tingling.jpg

Common sense tells me, the way HDDs are being handled in this case is better than the options we've had in the past.

• All systems have HDD of same allotment - no official upgrade options - Forced standardization come with capacity and utility limits. *glances over at modded Xbox w/ 250GB HDD* Unofficial upgrade channels exist.
• Proprietary optional drives offered mid-cycle, supports a few official functions/games. Few, if anyone, cares.
• No HDD option officially supported at all *glances over at softmod Wii with a 320GB USB HDD that cost $45* Unofficial upgrade channels (quite literally) exist.
• Paying for a factory HDD in all cases - while in some cases you have the option of a simple off-the-shelf upgrade - the others have various allotments, pretty messy.
• HDD systems, and no HDD systems offered - Official upgrade paths border on rape - Unofficial upgrades do exist, but not sure it shit will work right anymore if/when caught using common sense.

[Rob2600]

The rumors I hear put the internal flash memory at 8 gigs (The same as the hard drive on the Xbox, and nearly at the 50% mark of what the initial premium model of the 360 had and what the initial budget model of the PS3 had).

Don't some Xbox 360s come with no hard drive at all? 8 GB of flash memory should be fine for video gaming, especially since it's expandable via SD cards and USB hard drives.

[Leo_A]

Don't some Xbox 360s come with no hard drive at all? 8 GB of flash memory should be fine for video gaming, especially since it's expandable via SD cards and USB hard drives.

Several models never had a hard drive.

[NayusDante]

I still want to see a better quality video of the Japanese garden demo. Web video blurs the image and I can't see fine details. If anyone sees an uncompressed capture of the demo, please post it here. Watching it again, I don't see anything technically new, and it really does look like 2008-era GPUs being pushed to the limit. I'm guessing it's customized somewhat more than a stock 4830. I ran my 4850 at 1080p on most games, but performance wasn't quite up there with the overhead of an OS. It should be enough, but I still wish they had gone with a current-generation GPU. Watch AMD's HD 5XXX and 6XXX demos (especially order-independent transparency), there's a lot of neat effects and techniques that I would have liked to see in a console GPU.

I don't think storage matters unless Nintendo plans on doing digital distribution for full Wii games. For WiiWare and Virtual Console stuff, 8gb is actually pretty good.

[Rob2600]

it really does look like 2008-era GPUs being pushed to the limit. ... It should be enough, but I still wish they had gone with a current-generation GPU. Watch AMD's HD 5XXX and 6XXX demos (especially order-independent transparency), there's a lot of neat effects and techniques that I would have liked to see in a console GPU.

One thing you have to keep in mind: Nintendo isn't aiming for high-end $2,000 computer enthusiasts. Instead, it's trying to find the best balance between nice 1080p graphics and consumer-friendly price.

If the Wii U ends up producing graphics that are a little bit better than the Xbox 360 and PS3, and costs less than $300, then that's perfect for 99% of the population. The hard part is having to wait and see.

[Icarus Moonsight]

It doesn't have to mine Bitcoin, just play games.

[shopkins]

I can actually see a reason to include an internal hard drive. Having an HDD standard means that devs can count on it, and do things like cache data on the hard drive. It's not vital, but it's good to have the option. If the hard drive is optional, and there's only a small amount of flash in the system, devs have to develop their games with the assumption that players won't have a hard drive.

It also might limit the size of any future downloadable games for whatever online shop service they roll out, because companies and Nintendo might be less enthusiastic about creating big downloadable games if the additional space isn't standard. Who knows how big they might get in the next five or six years, you can already buy full retail games for the 360 that would take the whole 8 GB. And it's less likely, if it's not standard, that Nintendo will build the ability to install games for faster loading into their OS. Developers also probably won't build in the kind of large installs you see on the PS3.