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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Gaming Cafe Diem Baby: The Nintendo Wii U Discussion

Discussion in 'Community' started by The2ndQuest , Apr 14, 2011.

  1. Valyn

    Valyn Jedi Master star 8

    Registered:
    Mar 2, 2002
    Most reviews and sites do claim that the PS3 is actually the best Blu-Ray player out there. The only problem, however, with using it as a Blu-Ray player is that it uses up more electricity than a dedicated player. So, basically, it's more expensive to run.
     
  2. MarcusP2

    MarcusP2 Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 10, 2004
    Its best feature is the upgradeable firmware, and Sony's dedication to updating it, making it fairly futureproof.
     
  3. Darth-Lando

    Darth-Lando Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 12, 2002
    I'm sorry but what makes a PS3 the "best" Blu Ray player? My stand-alone Blu Ray player has upgradable firmware as well. It's not a PS3 exclusive feature. It's pretty standard. And PS3 is hardly the "cheapest" Blu Ray player around anymore either. One quick look on Amazon and I can see a player by LG for $129 as a non-sale price (currently on sale for $87).

    While I'm surprised that the Wii U will not at least contain a DVD player, it makes sense from Nintendo's point of view. They never take a loss on their hardware, unlike Sony and Microsoft who always take years to start seeing a profit from theirs.
     
  4. MarcusP2

    MarcusP2 Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 10, 2004
    It never was the cheapest, except at release years ago. However it was never the most expensive, and it has excellent video playback, every feature you could want, including decoding most audio codecs and bitstreaming, excellent upconversion for DVD, fast loading, and constant firmware updates (many devices with upgradeable firmware receive limited support from manufacturers). When you combine this with its excellent media features it's a winner.

    Basically it has the best mix of features and price, without compromising on quality...if you have a really high end theatre setup you may benefit from a really high end player but there's no need to for most people. There's a reason the Criterion people use it to test their BDs.
     
  5. darthcaedus1138

    darthcaedus1138 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 13, 2007
    Plus, it plays games. So there's that.
     
  6. Darth-Lando

    Darth-Lando Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 12, 2002
    Loading times are my biggest complaint about my stand alone Blu Ray player for sure. Some Blu Rays (mainly older ones that download current trailers and then force you to watch them) just take forever to load. I'm talking ~5 minutes from the time I put the disc in to the time I'm actually watching the movie. Newer movies play fine and fast but some one those first run discs...ouch.

    That's like saying a Corolla is the best CD player because it's also a car. :p
     
    jp-30 likes this.
  7. darthcaedus1138

    darthcaedus1138 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 13, 2007
    That's like saying a Corolla is the best CD player because it's also a car. :p [/quote]

    Yeah, but if you're gonna get a CD player, wouldn't you want the model that has a car and a CD player comparable to the price of the CD player alone.
     
  8. Darth-Lando

    Darth-Lando Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 12, 2002
    But they're not comparable. PS3 is 3 times the cost of a Blu Ray player, plus it uses more electricity which increases the cost even more.

    If I only want ONE function of a multi-function device like a PS3, why spend the extra money on something I won't use? Especially when it's not the primary function. It's like buying a iPhone and using it only as a music device and never activating it or using it as a phone.

    I'm just saying, that for my purposes, when I was looking to get a Blu Ray player it didn't make sense for me to pay extra money to get a PS3 when I already have a 360, a Wii, and gaming quality PC.



    Anyway, back to the Wii U. It's been confirmed that only one Wii U controller will be usable per console. Nintendo says it's a cost saving issue. It makes the console cheaper and it saves consumers money so we don't have to buy extra $100 controllers but that seems like it would take a lot of the fun out of the game. I forsee many fights in households with children over who gets to use the Wii U controller and who's stuck with the boring ol' Wiimote.
     
  9. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Actually, they say it's not that the system can't support multiple controllers ("Technically, it is possible for the Wii U to support multiple Wii U Controllers,"), just that they don't plan on designing games that require it ("We're not planning on asking our customers to buy multiple Wii U Controllers.").

    So, I wouldn't be surprised to see some games that support multiple Wii U controllers- just don't expect it to be a common feature.

    It kinda reminds me of how (though this is not a cost-related issue) there's no real reason why a game couldn't use a dual-wiimote control scheme for a single player (or even 2 player) mode- you just haven't seen any games (at least any worth mentioning) utilize it.
     
  10. darthcaedus1138

    darthcaedus1138 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 13, 2007
    I see your point.

     
  11. Darth-Lando

    Darth-Lando Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 12, 2002
    Ah must've glanced over that.
    That reminds of how GoldenEye had a control method that used two N64 controllers. Basically, your left hand controller moved Bond's feet and the other controlled his aim or vice versa. It was interesting, but not practical.
     
  12. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    And how long did that take? They had a great opportunity with the Virtual Store and they turned it into one of the biggest screw-ups I've ever seen! They had the capacity to put on old arcade games, all the great beat and shoott 'em ups quite a few of us likely shovelled cash into as kids:

    UN Squadron
    Carrier Airwing
    Return of Golden Axe
    Aliens vs Predator

    And loads of others. Did they? No. Did they unleash the great games of the pasyt? Only very, very slowly.

    Basically, whoever was in charge of this side of things needs to be shot!
     
  13. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    I have to disagree- I think you just wanted the VC to be something it wasn't originally meant to be. The VC wasn't meant to be a selection of arcade ports, it was meant for titles from specific systems.

    They started off with the 3 Nintendo non-disc consoles, and added in Sega games and then Neo Geo, but it was almost always by a particular system. Eventually they expanded outward with original titles via WiiWare.

    And, as far as the consoles stuff has gone, they've been pretty good with getting most of the top titles out on the VC that aren't constrained by 3rd party rights.

    Trickling them out a few each week has generally worked for them- it's given lesser known titles a chance at the spotlight for just being new. I know there are probably at least 3 or 4 games I purchased early on because they were new and the selection was somewhat limited.

    Now, maybe you disagree with the rate at which they've been released- that i can understand. But to say Nintendo blew it on the VC, I definitely can't see,
     
  14. Valyn

    Valyn Jedi Master star 8

    Registered:
    Mar 2, 2002
    My father in law now uses his Iphone just as a Wifi browser.
     
  15. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    It is the rate that blows it for me Quest, people's attention span isn't that long anymore - expecting people to wait until Ninty deem it ready just isn't going to work anymore. After a few weeks, couple of months of seeing what's new and finding nothing, I just lost interest. There's no buzz around the VC that I see either. You know how if something's great you'll hear about it in one way or another? Doesn't happen very often with the VC now.

    A big reason for my ire is I love the concept of the VC, it was part of the reason I grabbed the Wii and there's a pile of games on it, I'll have to grab Chrono Trigger and the last other games as I haven't boiught stuff in probably a year or two. There needs to be a hook to keep people checking regularly, but it hasn't been there for me for a long time.
     
  16. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    I think the buzz is lower because most of the AAA titles have already been released. All that's really left are 3rd party titles like Chronotrigger, which are only now making there way on there, and games that are unreleasable due to legal issues (GoldenEye).
     
  17. Nobody145

    Nobody145 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 9, 2007
    While the Virtual Console didn't turn out quite as great as I had hoped, it still turned out pretty good. There's still emulation, but I try to avoid that, and its just great having so many NES and SNES and N64 classics in one place. There are still a few old classics I wouldn't mind seeing on the store, but many of them are tied up in expired contracts and such. Although the other systems also have a few retro titles, but its hard to beat Nintendo's classic library.

    While it took years, at least most of the major big name games from over the decades (Mario, Link, the DKC games, even a few Mega Man games) are available by now, although quite a few third party games are still lacking, but then that's been the Wii's problem for a long while. There are still a few games missing from anyone's dream list of games, but still an impressive amount are available. I'm slightly curious if there will be any way to transfer the games to a Wii U, similar to a DSi and 3DS, but I'm just glad to have legal copies of so many classic masterpieces. At least the 3DS' Eshop, though it took a while to launch, has several impressive titles to start off with.
     
  18. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    I'm hoping your Wii account can carry over to a Wii U system- if it does, you should be able to then redownload any titles you have purchased, just as you would if you deleted them from your Wii for space and decided to reaccess it.

    Or perhaps they'll at least let you play off an SD card (maybe they'll limit title transfers to the Wii U's internal memory to avoid pirating to multiple systems or something).
     
  19. Jedi knight Pozzi

    Jedi knight Pozzi Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Apr 2, 2000
    EA seems to be pretty excited about this. Anyone else see other companies feel the same?
     
  20. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Nintendo Looking into Support for Multiple Wii U Controller Screens & Nintendo 'working on Wii U support for two tablets':

    All of the game experiences and proof-of-concept demos offered by Nintendo at E3 either used a single controller screen or a combo of controller screen and the Wii remote. But, with all the design possibilities offered by the streaming screen tech of the Wii U, why not just blow it the in-development console to support more than one screen? The company execs on hand said the Wii could technically support more than one screen controller but the decision to bind only one to the Wii U base unit was a cost issue and that Nintendo didn't want to force consumers to buy another costly controller.

    But a new piece by Develop's Rob Crossley cites sources that the technical problems of multi-screen content are being tackled:



    Nintendo engineers are working hard to upgrade Wii U so that it can simultaneously support two tablet controllers, Develop understands.

    A trusted game development executive has said there are numerous indications within the Wii U codebase that the console is, at the very least, being prepared to operate with two touch-screen pads.

    ...

    But Develop?s source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, explained that multi-tablet support is one of three remaining variables for the next-gen console. The other two are RAM capacity and processor speed.

    The person said Nintendo appears to be on the cusp of solving the technical conundrum of a single Wii U device supporting two tablet controllers. The source added that there was no indication, and very little chance, that four tablet controllers would ever be supported.
     
  21. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
  22. Vader_vs_Maul

    Vader_vs_Maul Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Dec 4, 2003
    Honestly, I think Nintendo has been making strange decisions ever since the N64.
     
  23. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Seems as good a place as any to post this:

    New SNES game coming in 2013

    This is something I've longed to see happen, hopefully the game itself is worth it.
     
  24. Jedi knight Pozzi

    Jedi knight Pozzi Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Apr 2, 2000


    That is weird I have to say, and still a touch cool.

    And for the Wii U

    http://www.ripten.com/2012/03/01/rumor-wii-u-to-cost-u-299-99/
     
  25. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000