Nintendo won't go 3rd party because of one failed console, so it's a bit early to be talking about that. I think we'll see at least one more tried and true attempt to re-establish their relevance in the home console market.

At the same time, they really need to learn from the mistakes they made with the Wii U. Not that they don't have good ideas with it. MiiVerse I think was a cool idea, and they really should expand it beyond what it currently is (which they seem to be doing).

Here are some of the things they need to do with the wii u and their next console:

For one thing, they need to take some notes from some of the things Sony, Microsoft and companies like Valve with their digital distribution service Steam are doing. Again, they've started to do that with integrating HTML5 and Unity support, but honestly they should have had that ready to go awhile ago, 6 months after the console launched.

They need a user friendly account system that will make their current and prospective customers feel more comfortable with digital purchases.

When they design their next hardware, they need it be a) very developer friendly, and b) mold it at least partially using input from 3rd parties. I haven't heard anything about the Wii U being particularly difficult to develop for, but at least with b) they need to put more effort in that front.

They need a more wide ranging (in terms of genres) set of exclusive software released for the system. If they want a console for 'everyone', they need a wide range of exclusive software that appeals to everyone, and yes even "dudebros". Niche games like W101 and Pikmin 3 are fine but you should not have to rely on them to jump-start sales. I think a few more Western RPG and Action Adventure games wouldn't hurt. X could help here, but personally I'm not a big JRPG guy and I wasn't a fan of Xenoblade's combat so we'll see how that fares. Don't think it needs a copy/paste military or sci-fi shooter, but don't see anything wrong with doing something in the perfect dark or even doom-style (in terms of weapon selection at least for the doom example).

Don't blow off new features/innovations, but incorporate them as supplements/enhancements rather than the center of the console. When I played my NES, the light zapper was fun for the set of games that supported it, but it wasn't a required input device for every game. The N64 with the rumble pack added vibration which made playing some games really cool at the time. My point is these things were there to enhance the experience or provide a change of pace if somebody wished to utilize it. But with the Wii U instead of paying $200-$250 for the console with a normal Wii U Pro controller, they've forced me to throw down an extra $100 at least; All for a controller that seems kind of neat (I personally like it) but mostly feels unnecessary (especially seeing as most of their big 1st party efforts will barely use it in any real interesting way). It's similar to what XB1 is trying to do with the kinect, which I think will hurt them because it significantly increased the price of their console. Market those as optional addons that enhance the experience, not requirements for the system.

And lastly, they need to find a way to mostly merge their handheld/console libraries. HD development is costly, and it doesn't help that they have to provide most of the support for 2 entirely different devices. This can be accomplished through shared API's, maybe using proprietary hardware that is similar to each other, etc etc. That way instead of just developing a game for the handheld, or just for the console, allow them to develop a title for their "family of devices" that will be able to land on both without needing significant additional resources. At least that should reduce some of the big gaps in software they tend to have.

Side note: Sorry for the wordy post, and I imagine it's riddled with grammatical issues. I'm sure some will disagree with some of the points I made, and feel free to let me know why if that's the case. I won't bite and I've been wrong plenty of times before about stuff.

I don't know, define what a good console is. 

Personally I like some of the ideas Nintendo had with it. A tablet controller that will allow you to play it directly from the controller (when somebody else uses the tv), adds extra gameplay opportunities, and still kept around the wii motion control and backwards compatibility. 

It's also in HD, and you know Nintendo's 1st party games like Smash Bros, 3D mario and whatever Retro will be releasing will look really good on it, because lets face it their 1st party games have always looked great, even on underpowered hardware. 

I actually think using the wii u for the video apps and the tv functionality are a very nice feature. Miiverse is a cool community and ecosystem for the console, though i think it can be even better if they develop the idea further and add to it. 

It's obviously not a perfect console either. There isn't that many interesting games for it (or at least none you couldn't get on other consoles).. really zombiu and nintendo land are about it (and nintendoland really isn't that interesting, i found it a lot of fun though). SMBU is fun, but seeing as super mario bros wii is very similar to it (and its not a game that needs eyepopping visuals to begin with), i don't think that many people were losing sleep over the game. 

The hardware is very underpowered based on what we've seen so far on it and on footage on it's competitor console the PS4 (we haven't seen xbox stuff yet so im leaving it out for now). The account system needs some changes, and the OS is still very sluggish, though the update helped. 

The Wii u gamepad and wii u pro are nice controllers, though they probably should have incorporated analog triggers (and in the wii u pro's case a headset jack). Cross-game or some form of native party chat would have been nice as well. 

Overall is it a bad console?? Well it depends on the person. If you love nintendo games, chances are you will ultimately like the console if you don't already. Otherwise, it's hard to recommend, seeing that (imo) sony is offering a superior console and chances are microsoft will too. 

So does that mean the wii was part of the gamecube/ps2/xbox gen then?

Are you guys kidding me?? It's clearly battletoads. At the end of the level when you are throwing rocks at the screen, you can actually see the glass break where the rock hit it. Can't match the graphics in that game

PS4 launch title (Killzone) utterly destroys Wii U launch title (ZombieU). 

nitekids2004

i imagine the budget for killzone is substantially higher than the budget for zombieu. Besides, ZombiU looks worse than most of the multiplatform ports on the wii u. I don't think it's a fair comparison really.

damn this thread got 184 responses?? I think a simple "you're crazy" response would have sufficed. 

The PS4 is much stronger, and they will be able to do a lot of great things with the machine. The Wii U will have some impressive looking games from nintendo, but ultimately it's gonna be like the 360/ps3 vs wii gen again. Not as bad as that gen, but there will be a noticeable difference

Wii U needs games. That's affecting the more than anything the PS4/720 are doing. Hell they haven't even convinced everyone that's its a worthwhile investment over their existing 360/ps3 systems right now. 

[QUOTE="deomag4"]

how is this **** on the xbox 720?? I could see the suttle jab at the wii u, but he follows up the statement by saying

""[PS4 has] very fast memory. I mean, 8GB of RAM. What that means in short is that there's a lot less limit on your creators, on our artists, and details and the diversity of what they can create. "

Sounds like it's more praising the fact that the PS4 has 8 gigs of RAM than critiquing the type of ram the wii u has. If anything he's probably referring to being able to use more RAM rather than from the disc or the hard drive, which is slower.  

-Renegade

"If you have a lot of memory but it's very, very slow, it's not as useful," he said.

this is a direct stab at the nextbox as it is confirmed to have slow ass ddr3.

everyone knows the wii u is weak as hell compared to ps4 and developers are canceling games left and right. 

well that's a stretch if I have ever seen one. "slow ass" RAM is still RAM dude, and RAM in general is pretty fast. I don't know anyone who would refer to RAM in most cases "very very slow". Also I didn't realize any microsoft specs were confirmed, i thought it's all rumor and speculation at this point (I could be wrong, I haven't really been following tbh). 

I really don't care either way believe it or not. Granted this is a case-by-case basis, but my preference for game dialog goes like this:

1) good voice acting

2) in game text dialogue

3) crappy voice acting

Honestly if you get good voice actors (or if the game is suppose to have cheesy voice acting, get people to fit the role), i'm okay with it. I think if I had to choose between shoddy voice acting and in game text dialogue, i'd take the text.

how is this **** on the xbox 720?? I could see the suttle jab at the wii u, but he follows up the statement by saying

""[PS4 has] very fast memory. I mean, 8GB of RAM. What that means in short is that there's a lot less limit on your creators, on our artists, and details and the diversity of what they can create. "

Sounds like it's more praising the fact that the PS4 has 8 gigs of RAM than critiquing the type of ram the wii u has. If anything he's probably referring to being able to use more RAM rather than from the disc or the hard drive, which is slower.