How did people not know it was a new console? It's so blatantly obvious that it is the lovechild of a threeway involving an Xbox 360, Wii and a tablet.
@translucent17 True, but it isn't even the specs that are upsetting. Everyone already knew the horsepower would be on par with the 360/PS3. What's upsetting is if they expect people to shell out this much money for hardware that can't possibly cost that much to manufacture. And if it does, then their purchasing department screwed the pooch, because there's no reason the components in this system should cost that much.
@calvinsora The generation of tech and generation of software are not the same thing. Here's a rundown of the tech in the Wii U for you:
GPU: on par with 360 and high-end video cards released in 2006
Motion controls: uses wii remote from CURRENT GEN
tablet controller: uses a single-point, resistive touch panel found in devices as long as 25 years ago (though not as similar to their controller nor as widely used until roughly the Palm Tungsten era of the late 90s)
So I ask you, where is the justification for the price? What they end up DOING with the hardware has absolutely no influence on how much the hardware actually costs to manufacture.
@calvinsora This console is using current gen tech though, not next gen. It should be compared to 360 and PS3 prices, not 720 and PS4. Plus the tablet uses resistive tech, not capacitive, so even the tablet controller does not provide adequate justification for those prices.
@naomha1 @No_Intelligence Well since you seem to get pissed at anyone not replying strictly to your original post, try this on for size "wonderboy." The modders already had a game design off which to work, textures to use as a reference, original sound files and animations, etc. HL2 Ep3 requires Valve to come up with a completely original set of resources (with the exception of some redundant textures and animations), write and record new dialog, design new atmospheric puzzles, modify the game engine to support newer graphical technologies, and an abundance of other steps that are unnecessary with a remake/mod. Bottom line, even if you were just being cynical, you still posted a comment that makes you look like an ignoranus (misspelling intentional) and your only defense is to call people who are smarter than you "wonderboy."
I can see Valve being a big player in the hardware market at some point, though I doubt we will see any gaming systems from them for several years. However, they seem to be more focused on giving gamers what they want, and not trying to force things on us we don't want (i.e. Kinnect, wii-style controls, etc.) so I would be very interested to see what they come up with when they do finally show something off.
@Marky360 It won't become an exclusive because Steam will still exist for PC and OSX, not to mention the massive amount of console users they will want to include. You might see better content on a Steam console, like customization tools, but I would be very shocked if they stopped supporting other platforms.
@Ofrst I'm from the US and I'd play this game or any other with the US as the enemy, providing the game was fun and had an interesting story. That's a bit of an unfair generalization.
@SPP_01 I don't believe that for a second. If someone buys your company for >$750 million you better believe that every decision you make from then on out will be largely influenced by your new owners. Stating otherwise is just PR spinning. Just because EA didn't say "layoff this many employees" doesn't mean they didn't say "decrease costs by $XX" which most often translates into layoffs.
@SPP_01 EA, like many video game companies, has a long history of abusing its employees. Check out the "cons" section of this: http://davidcrew.wordpress.com/2010/05/12/what-its-like-to-work-at-ea-an-employees-perspective/ and this article http://www.gamespot.com/news/ea-settles-ot-dispute-disgruntled-spouse-outed-6148369 and this one http://www.joystiq.com/2012/05/07/ea-planning-upcoming-layoffs-completed-by-september-30-2012/
timmy0001's comments