At first glace, the Wii U probably appears to be a continuation of the same short sighted philosophy that made the Wii lose steam in the end. It doesnt seem to be all that much more powerful than current generation systems. Nintendo is once again counting on using a unique controller, this time a tablet, to sell the system. How will this thing fare once the Xbox and Playstation successors hit?
Thats a fair question. The Nintendo fanboys age old response to the power question when it comes to consoles is that its the games that matter, not the power of the system. But as this generation has conclusively proven, the games wont come until the system is powerful enough to support them, and this leaves us asking the question- will the Wii U find itself similarly dwarfed by the Xbox and Playstation successors when they launch, so that it becomes the next generations Wii? Will third parties, all of which seem to be quite eager to support Nintendos system for now, drop it like a rock because it will be too weak?GamingBolt
With Unreal Engine 4, Epic themselves stated that the engine will be highly and fully scalable to all devices, including mobile devices. If mobile devices can run Unreal 4, then the Wii U can too, although it probably cant support the full feature set. What this means is, third parties can basically put their games as they are on the Wii U, disable the high end physics and graphics setting that the Wii U probably cannot handle, and just sell it on the Wii U for minimal cost, with a minimal amount of copies sold required to even break even. Yes, the Xbox 3 and PS4 versions will most probably be superior but the Gamecube and Xbox versions of multiplat games were always superior to PS2 versions, and that never mattered. As long as the Wii U is getting all the games, its in the race, even if it lacks some of the high end finesse said games will have on the other systems.GamingBolt
Of course, now this brings us to the killer question: yes, the Wii U can run scaled down versions of next gen games. Yes, the online and control scheme arent an issue. But why would you buy a Wii U in the first place to play inferior versions of games, when you can just go to the next Xbox or Playstation instead, and also keep all your friends lists and achievements intact while you are at it?
Why indeed. Because Nintendo is using the same technique Sony used with PS2 to get a headstart, thats why. Because even if you arent interested in Nintendos first party, they are making sure you will want to buy a Wii U anyway, to play a third party developed game that appeals to your sensibilities, that will be available only on the Wii U. From Rayman Legends, the sequel to last years breakout hit Rayman Origins, to Day-Z inspired Wii U exclusive survival horror ZombiU, from mass action title The Wonderful 101, to Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, and finally, Bayonetta 2, the ultra violent, super sexed up sequel to one of this generations most hardcore games, whatever that means, all of which are only available on the Wii U youll probably end up buying one, if only to play these games.
GamingBolt
Where does that leave us? The Wii U is launching at least a year before any of its competitors. It has a fully traditional control scheme, as well as the hook to sell it to the casuals. It has all the Just Dances and Wii Fits of the world, in addition to core third party support, both exclusive and multiplatform, from Rayman, ZombiU and Bayonetta to Call of Duty and Assassins Creed. It has the formidable backing of Nintendos first party. It has a full featured online suite. Its just powerful enough to support any and all kinds of games.GamingBoltRead the complete article here.
What do you guys think? Do you think the Wii U is indeed the 'perfect storm?' Do you think that, if handled right, it could become the go to system next generation, if only on the basis of its library?
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