Wii-U thoughts so far

[Sarge]

I just wish they'd patch in GamePad support in the vWii portion, but that would likely undercut what they're doing with these VC Wii games. When they made it possible to use the GamePad as a screen but no input, I thought it was curious until I realized, yeah, they're going to be selling us VC Wii games down the road. So the announcement doesn't surprise me at all.

That being said, the introductory price for these games is absolutely fantastic. Especially for Metroid Prime Trilogy. I can't think of many better ways to spend $10.

I definitely expect Gamecube at some point. It's not like some other folks haven't put together apps to run GC games on the Wii U (Devolution and Nintendont). If and when I hack my Wii U's vWii (probably more like when, waiting for the warranty to run out), I'm definitely putting Nintendont on there.

[Cronozilla]

I just wonder how the Wii digital stuff will look on the U. Will it still have all the jaggies?

Joystiq had a stream of Super Mario Galaxy 2 going using the Digital version. It looked exactly the same as playing the disc through Wii mode.

What I'd be interested to see is if they've removed the overscan border, since that's probably less of an advertised "feature".

That'd be nice. But I think the games they have announced so far don't have the overscan border anyway.

Then again, Wii U is the first time you could actually do something about that border thanks to it being through an HDMI connection. Mostly due to TVs being stupid dumb faces.

I don't know if they've mentioned how they're doing this. Whether it's a modded Wii firmware that the system still reboots into, just with support for Wii U features, a Wii VM that runs on top of the Wii U OS, or actual ports to be native Wii U apps.

It's probably just a wrapper, and instead of shifting the entire Wii U into Wii mode, it just sends the Wii calls to the Legacy Wii circuit in the CPU while staying in Wii U mode.

It's probably just something they didn't have ready until recently.

Crono odds are they're being more vocal because of the intense complaining online from gamers and the media who aren't just Nintendo suckups who avoid calling out faults.

That's always been an issue, though. And they've never acted in this manner before. It would make more sense if it were part of a different view for the company. Which lines up with just about everything else that's happened since 2001.

They aren't completely idiots and know the WiiU has software holes, huge ones, so they'll stuff out anything they can to increase the library and awareness.

You say this a lot, and I don't agree. The Wii U has a pretty substantial library at this point in time. I would argue it has more polished, content filled, quality exclusive games on the system then either of the competitors do yet.

You can't discount those titles just because you don't like Nintendo games.

[Flake]

I think we're seeing the results of Nintendo having that terrible collapse in their stock and profit margins two years ago - they've been ramping up these amazing efforts to deluge the market with product and I am definitely loving it.

[isiolia]

What I'd be interested to see is if they've removed the overscan border, since that's probably less of an advertised "feature".

That'd be nice. But I think the games they have announced so far don't have the overscan border anyway.

Then again, Wii U is the first time you could actually do something about that border thanks to it being through an HDMI connection. Mostly due to TVs being stupid dumb faces.

It's seemed to me to be system-level, as the Wii menu has it, and every game I recall using on it has it. Metroid Prime via Trilogy did. My assumption was that Nintendo was just erring on the side of caution, and wanted to make sure the full picture was available to point a Wiimote at.

Display-side correction (Just Scan, Pixel by Pixel, etc) usually seems to go the other way, disabling overscan, not zooming the picture. Some may have it though (heck, I think my 55" Sony has PSP Zoom under a different name).

I know some graphics drivers do basically the same thing when you use HDMI - they assume overscan, so you get like 80% picture scaling by default.

I don't know if they've mentioned how they're doing this. Whether it's a modded Wii firmware that the system still reboots into, just with support for Wii U features, a Wii VM that runs on top of the Wii U OS, or actual ports to be native Wii U apps.

It's probably just a wrapper, and instead of shifting the entire Wii U into Wii mode, it just sends the Wii calls to the Legacy Wii circuit in the CPU while staying in Wii U mode.

It's probably just something they didn't have ready until recently.

That's what'd make the most sense to me, and if so, hopefully we'll get the option to run disc based Wii software like that too (but probably not).

[irixith]

Downloadable [Wii, GameCube, any system Nintendo wants to deal in] titles are great. I bought SMG2 just to show support for there being Wii games to download at all. Especially if they're going to choose titles like Metroid Prime Trilogy, and for so little money. If their choices with the rest of the virtual console are any indication, the selection is going to be bizarre and encumbered by licensing restrictions, rights holders and a forced trickle to try and control consumer purchasing habits...but it's still a welcome addition.

...I just wish they were pushing the GBA titles to the 3DS instead. It's neat to have them on the Wii U, but make less sense than Wii games do!

[Tanooki]

You say this a lot, and I don't agree. The Wii U has a pretty substantial library at this point in time. I would argue it has more polished, content filled, quality exclusive games on the system then either of the competitors do yet.

You can't discount those titles just because you don't like Nintendo games.

I don't have a dislike of the Nintendo games, I have a massive dislike for the lack of other peoples games, and also of the ones that are there why they're very late ports or poorly done ports. There's not much in the lines there for valued unique content or ports treated with the same care/respect as comparable (PS3) hardware got. I can see the argument for first party exclusive content having more than the others.


irixith -- I agree it's just dumb as it is bizarre they refuse to put any GBA games out on the 3DS other than the ambassador games I got long ago. Even if they stubbornly kept those 10 for the ambassadors, GBA has a LOT to offer.

[casterofdreams]

As a side note I still don't understand how a system can freeze in 2015 with a system that came out in 2012...

Hmmm...

Anyway carry on.

[Cronozilla]

It's seemed to me to be system-level, as the Wii menu has it, and every game I recall using on it has it. Metroid Prime via Trilogy did. My assumption was that Nintendo was just erring on the side of caution, and wanted to make sure the full picture was available to point a Wiimote at.

I just checked, I guess it is.

I remember playing games that had more overscan area in addition. Even in "16:9 mode" (Overscan mode for Samsung TVs) used to drive me nuts.

I don't have a dislike of the Nintendo games, I have a massive dislike for the lack of other peoples games, and also of the ones that are there why they're very late ports or poorly done ports. There's not much in the lines there for valued unique content or ports treated with the same care/respect as comparable (PS3) hardware got. I can see the argument for first party exclusive content having more than the others.

I understand, but I'm saying that the entire line of reasoning doesn't make sense.

It appears to stem from the idea that a consumer should only be required to choose one console in a generation and have all game tastes satisfied.

This is a common line of thinking I've heard from many people and, to me, it's ridiculous. I find great fault in it.

What do you mean Nintendo didn't announce Shenmue 3!? (<3 Bogus)

[Tanooki]

Well no but it would be nice if you could just get one, or one + a PC. Back in the 20th century it was fairly easy just to have one system and get your needs met because if they got the industry support pretty much the only thing you'd lose out on were first party stuff and if you didn't care for it, there was no loss due to all the over lap looking back on the 16bit era for instance.

The straight issue with the WiiU was that unless a first party game came out I wanted it just sat collecting dust for months at a time. The last time I had a system get it that bad was the Wii on the back end of its life, and other than that the middle of the N64 life when the Sony smear campaign robbed it of games for 4-6months at a time unless you were a Rare fanboy around the Nintendo, Midway and Activision releases.

[Xeogred]

New Xenoblade X trailer if you guys haven't seen it:



I am excited for FFXV, but I think the comparisons are a bit humorous. As if XV is obviously pulling influences from the last Xenoblade. In comparison though... I love how XV offers us a big boring plains field, but a cool looking city, and... a car?

Xenoblade X has insanely cool environments left and right and who needs a car when you've got a giant mecha that can transform. What Monolith Soft has accomplished in 2-3 years worth Square couldn't do in 10+ with XV.

Story and characters won't even be a debate.

I know which I'm more excited about.