Nintendo and dropping the WiiU

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Since my crappy Internet (yay Australia) won't allow me to get either the PS4 or Xbone, if I wanted a new console, it would have to be the Wii U (in theory I could get a 3DS, but I am one of many who cannot view 3D without becoming physically ill and the 2DS doesn't fold to help protect the screen, so I don't fancy paying for something I can only use half of), the Wii U would be my only option. But it's games library is pretty lackluster (not a Mario gamer and that's most of the currently available titles).

Maybe I will get it, next year. Depending how good Bayonetta 2 turns out.

 

[J Tyran]

Since my crappy Internet (yay Australia) won't allow me to get either the PS4 or Xbone, if I wanted a new console, it would have to be the Wii U (in theory I could get a 3DS, but I am one of many who cannot view 3D without becoming physically ill and the 2DS doesn't fold to help protect the screen, so I don't fancy paying for something I can only use half of), the Wii U would be my only option. But it's games library is pretty lackluster (not a Mario gamer and that's most of the currently available titles).

Maybe I will get it, next year. Depending how good Bayonetta 2 turns out.

You can turn the 3D on the 3DS completely off, it has a little slider on the side that adjusts the strength of the effect as well as completely disabling it.

 

[Dragonbums]

Why do people keep insisting this will happen?

I mean Christ, did we all forget about how the PS3's initial launch was so bad that they had to sell both their US headquarters just to make a profit? This is on top of the fact that the PS3 took MUCH longer to get off the ground than the Wii U, and unlike Nintendo, they didn't even have the benefit of making millions off of their handheld division.


The Wii U is nowhere near that level of being dropped. If the PS3 can sink 5 billion dollars on the company and still pull through after 3 years, than the Wii U, which is only losing Nintendo a couple million (easily recouped by their handheld division) can go through 3 years and still be fine.

Yeah, this has been getting on my nerves for a long time. I don't have any numbers to back this up, but I doubt Nintendo is actually losing money at the time. The Wii U is doing quite poorly, but they did make a profit from selling console in the start. The success of the Wii, the DS and the 3DS give them financial stability and seeing the 3DS is still about 85% of the handheld gaming market I'd say it will continue to do so.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.824700-Wii-U-Still-Selling-Below-Cost

It turns out that the Wii U is selling at a loss and has since launch and they were hoping that software sales would cover the gap.

If that loss can honestly be recouped by software sales, than it's nowhere near as bad as the PS3 initial sale loss. It's not good, but it's certainly not grounds to shut down Wii U productions and start "anew"

Give me an HD remake of DK64. No joke. It needs to happen.

It's actually been speculated that the reason why DK64 never actually got a VC release was because of the original glitch that was the main problem with the base cartridge in the first place, and which was why DK64 came with the memory expansion pack in the first place.

What exactly was the glitch? I know that Ocarina of Time(?) Also had a cartridge as well, and they have done remakes as well. Granted that remake came around the 3DS time and I don't know the properties of said glitch, so it's possible the base game for DK64 probably had it. Which would surprise me because I don't think Nintendo would let Rare continue on with an inherently corrupted game.

 

[Dragonbums]

Give me an HD remake of DK64. No joke. It needs to happen.

I'm not really sure how this works, but I think DK64 might be stuck in copyright limbo since Rare made it and they own parts of the game (Kritters and animals I think) and they now belong to Microsoft. However I remember reading a rumour that Rare was open to make a new Donkey Kong game and that Microsoft didn't have any objections to it. Seriously, I want DK64, either as a port or a remake, I don't care. Only demand is to get it on the Wii U and not the 3DS (I want to play on a big screen).

I don't think it works like that. Or at least to such a degree that they cannot do a remake. If my memory serves corrected while they were new creatures, there were just as many that were from the NES games as well.

This is not to mention the fact that Rare does not own the rights to the Donkey Kong franchise. That includes everything made within that IP. Rare can't sue Nintendo for using characters they made for Nintendo's own IP. (Not that they would anyway.) and Microsoft probably won't do anything because at worst it would be bad PR, at best it makes them look like complete fools like when they thought they owned DK when they bought Rare in the first place.

I think Neronium explained that it might have something to do with a glitch that's associated with the cartridge?

Because as far as I know, Nintendo gave them permission to make any kind of game using Nintendo existing IP. However Nintendo still holds all rights to it.

How else were they able to do a remake of Donkey Kong Country?

I think that very misconception is half the reason Microsoft bought the company in the first place.

Agree though, they definitely need make this a Wii U only game. It was born on the big screen, and it needs to come back on the big screen first. (Of course I wouldn't mind a port 2 years down the line)

 

[xaszatm]

Give me an HD remake of DK64. No joke. It needs to happen.

It's actually been speculated that the reason why DK64 never actually got a VC release was because of the original glitch that was the main problem with the base cartridge in the first place, and which was why DK64 came with the memory expansion pack in the first place.

What exactly was the glitch? I know that Ocarina of Time(?) Also had a cartridge as well, and they have done remakes as well. Granted that remake came around the 3DS time and I don't know the properties of said glitch, so it's possible the base game for DK64 probably had it. Which would surprise me because I don't think Nintendo would let Rare continue on with an inherently corrupted game.

The glitch is a recently discussed thing. This article should help: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/05/donkey_kong_64_required_expansion_pak_to_prevent_game_breaking_bug

Basically, the game would, at random times, require more RAM than would was on the N64. This didn't become a problem with the Expansion Pak. The developers still don't understand what happened to cause such a thing.

 

[Dragonbums]

Give me an HD remake of DK64. No joke. It needs to happen.

It's actually been speculated that the reason why DK64 never actually got a VC release was because of the original glitch that was the main problem with the base cartridge in the first place, and which was why DK64 came with the memory expansion pack in the first place.

What exactly was the glitch? I know that Ocarina of Time(?) Also had a cartridge as well, and they have done remakes as well. Granted that remake came around the 3DS time and I don't know the properties of said glitch, so it's possible the base game for DK64 probably had it. Which would surprise me because I don't think Nintendo would let Rare continue on with an inherently corrupted game.

The glitch is a recently discussed thing. This article should help: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/05/donkey_kong_64_required_expansion_pak_to_prevent_game_breaking_bug

Basically, the game would, at random times, require more RAM than would was on the N64. This didn't become a problem with the Expansion Pak. The developers still don't understand what happened to cause such a thing.

Yowch.

I assume that all games that have the expansion pack faced that problem? Or was it literally DK64 that was faced with that problem?

It shouldn't be a problem now. Unless your telling me the Wii U can't handle however much of RAM it took to run the game back then.
But hey, at least they were kind enough to include the expansion pack in the game when they first came out (Well, they had to.)

That saying stays true I guess- Nintendo rarely has a buggy game, but man when they do, those bugs are game breaking on a whole 'nother level


EDIT: Nevermind. While it bit them in the ass for having to make expansion packs, it turned out to be beneficiary in the long run by allowing them to make much bigger games than the N64 could really handle by putting in an expansion pack.

 

[xaszatm]

Give me an HD remake of DK64. No joke. It needs to happen.

It's actually been speculated that the reason why DK64 never actually got a VC release was because of the original glitch that was the main problem with the base cartridge in the first place, and which was why DK64 came with the memory expansion pack in the first place.

What exactly was the glitch? I know that Ocarina of Time(?) Also had a cartridge as well, and they have done remakes as well. Granted that remake came around the 3DS time and I don't know the properties of said glitch, so it's possible the base game for DK64 probably had it. Which would surprise me because I don't think Nintendo would let Rare continue on with an inherently corrupted game.

The glitch is a recently discussed thing. This article should help: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/05/donkey_kong_64_required_expansion_pak_to_prevent_game_breaking_bug

Basically, the game would, at random times, require more RAM than would was on the N64. This didn't become a problem with the Expansion Pak. The developers still don't understand what happened to cause such a thing.

Yowch.

I assume that all games that have the expansion pack faced that problem? Or was it literally DK64 that was faced with that problem?

It shouldn't be a problem now. Unless your telling me the Wii U can't handle however much of RAM it took to run the game back then.
But hey, at least they were kind enough to include the expansion pack in the game when they first came out (Well, they had to.)

That saying stays true I guess- Nintendo rarely has a buggy game, but man when they do, those bugs are game breaking on a whole 'nother level.

As far as I know, only DK64 faced that problem. All other games that required the Expansion Pak were designed to use more RAM than the allotted in N64. DK64 was designed to work without it but failed.

 

[Dragonbums]

Give me an HD remake of DK64. No joke. It needs to happen.

It's actually been speculated that the reason why DK64 never actually got a VC release was because of the original glitch that was the main problem with the base cartridge in the first place, and which was why DK64 came with the memory expansion pack in the first place.

What exactly was the glitch? I know that Ocarina of Time(?) Also had a cartridge as well, and they have done remakes as well. Granted that remake came around the 3DS time and I don't know the properties of said glitch, so it's possible the base game for DK64 probably had it. Which would surprise me because I don't think Nintendo would let Rare continue on with an inherently corrupted game.

The glitch is a recently discussed thing. This article should help: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/05/donkey_kong_64_required_expansion_pak_to_prevent_game_breaking_bug

Basically, the game would, at random times, require more RAM than would was on the N64. This didn't become a problem with the Expansion Pak. The developers still don't understand what happened to cause such a thing.

Yowch.

I assume that all games that have the expansion pack faced that problem? Or was it literally DK64 that was faced with that problem?

It shouldn't be a problem now. Unless your telling me the Wii U can't handle however much of RAM it took to run the game back then.
But hey, at least they were kind enough to include the expansion pack in the game when they first came out (Well, they had to.)

That saying stays true I guess- Nintendo rarely has a buggy game, but man when they do, those bugs are game breaking on a whole 'nother level.

As far as I know, only DK64 faced that problem. All other games that required the Expansion Pak were designed to use more RAM than the allotted in N64. DK64 was designed to work without it but failed.

The funny part about that is that although it was bad for Rare and Nintendo in the short term, it ended up being really helpful for them anyway down the line.

The amount of games devs made knowing that they would need an expansion pack due to it's size led to some of the greatest titles to come out of that generation.

 

[TheRaider]

putting out a new console in a few years when ps and xbox can't react quickly is exactly what made the wii a success. I believe the same thing could be a good move. The wiiU was hurt by the everyone waiting for the new gen and the wiiU being viewed as an expansion rather than a new console.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

I don't know about abandoning the WiiU but Nintendo needs to to do something. Between the casual Wii owners either ignoring it or not realising that its an entirely new console, third party developers dismissive due to its low power and poor sales, portions of the die-hard fanbase abandoning them or waiting for a decent line-up and the new generation of consoles starting off dominating right out of the gate they are at risk of being shoved out of the console race.

Quite frankly, their current strategy is going nowhere fast. It needs more games, first or third party it doesn't really matter and they also need to take the competition seriously and stop doing their own thing.

Case in point: Releasing the new Super Mario the same day as the PS4 in Europe is just stupid. Not using an account system, especially with the insane nostalgia treasure trove at their fingertips is stupid. Many decisions regarding the WiiU, even its name could be considered questionable.

In short, if it continues down its current path Nintendo might as well drop the WiiU.

 

[Yopaz]

I don't think it works like that. Or at least to such a degree that they cannot do a remake. If my memory serves corrected while they were new creatures, there were just as many that were from the NES games as well.

This is not to mention the fact that Rare does not own the rights to the Donkey Kong franchise. That includes everything made within that IP. Rare can't sue Nintendo for using characters they made for Nintendo's own IP. (Not that they would anyway.) and Microsoft probably won't do anything because at worst it would be bad PR, at best it makes them look like complete fools like when they thought they owned DK when they bought Rare in the first place.

I think Neronium explained that it might have something to do with a glitch that's associated with the cartridge?

Because as far as I know, Nintendo gave them permission to make any kind of game using Nintendo existing IP. However Nintendo still holds all rights to it.

How else were they able to do a remake of Donkey Kong Country?

I think that very misconception is half the reason Microsoft bought the company in the first place.

Agree though, they definitely need make this a Wii U only game. It was born on the big screen, and it needs to come back on the big screen first. (Of course I wouldn't mind a port 2 years down the line)

Just one of those stupid rumours floating around then, however you missed my point. I didn't claim they owned the rights to Donkey Kong, but just the rights to some small part of it, but I checked it up and as you said that's not true. It was just something that popped up around the time they were making Donkey Kong Country Returns and didn't use the enemies or animals from the SNES games. Edit: In conclusion, bullshit I heard, didn't bother to read up on. Lesson hers is that I should always check my facts.

However the issue with making it run as a virtual console title is that the Nintendo 64 had 4mb RAM and Donkey Kong 64 require 8MB which is why it shipped with an expansion pak to increase the RAM. Donkey Kong 64 was the only game unable to run without it and since the emulator Nintendo uses on Wii and WiiU isn't made with the expansion pak in mind the game won't function.

So HD remake should be possible, but without tweaking the emulator they can't make a VC release. I really think they should tweak the emulator though. The expansion pak improved quite a few games, even Majora's Mask so it would really pay off.

 

[Shuu]

The Wii U could end up seriously damaging their finances (probably won't though) but if they just cut their losses with it before the four or 5 year mark (it really depends on how sales go as to when that mark is) then it WILL damage their finances.
It might be uncomfortable, but they can't really "cut their losses" they have to find a way to make the Wii U profitable (more than it has been) before even thinking about trying this again with a new console. They don't HAVE to, but not to do so would be extremely risky, and the men upstairs would never allow it.
This is Nintendo though, given enough time, I'm sure the Wii U will still rack up the dough it needs.

 

[masticina]

Well one thing is sure that letting the WiiU fall now would be a rather stupid move. Yes it is a slow console, as in sales are not that good and the amount of games for it are not that many. Also it lags behind the Xbox One and PS4 in hardware performance so some game developers might let the WiiU by the wayside. It still has a strong lead by its own software.

And you know Mario games are not bad, Zelda games are not bad.. hell even that Lego game is kinda awesome. But yes it is kinda a shame to see just how dependant the WiiU is upon those things. Where are the hidden pearls like Eternal Darkness? Or are they to scared at Nintendo Headquarter to even allow a game like Eternal Darkness. And how about something as "witty" as Conkers bad furr day. It was a wonder it was released on N64.

 

[Pebkio]

Of course. In five years, Nintendo is going to release a new console and it's going to have a cool new feature that adds to gaming because THAT'S WHAT NEXT GEN IS! As far as I can tell, Nintendo is the only console manufacturer still doing that. Sure, I might not care about the direction they're taking, but that's why I would go with a different console... and not, say, because of an arbitrary "war" over which crap computer is better.

Nintendo has it's niche audience, they're going to look forward to the newest fun thing Nintendo puts out in 4-5 years. And when they do, then they'll stop producing the WiiU and focus on the next thing they've got. It's not called "dropping their hardware" it's called "moving into the next generation of their console".

 

[Pebkio]

Really, it would be smart if they droped the WiiU in about 4 or 5 years, right in the middle of the current generation. Competing with the big 2 isnt really where they are going to succeed, Aim for being the second console in the house instead of the main.

And really though, why havent they come out with a DnD style game yet? The players with normal controllers and the GM with the pad just makes too much damn sense.

Also this. In fact, why don't we have something like that on the PC yet? Wait... do we have something like that on the PC yet?

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Since my crappy Internet (yay Australia) won't allow me to get either the PS4 or Xbone, if I wanted a new console, it would have to be the Wii U (in theory I could get a 3DS, but I am one of many who cannot view 3D without becoming physically ill and the 2DS doesn't fold to help protect the screen, so I don't fancy paying for something I can only use half of), the Wii U would be my only option. But it's games library is pretty lackluster (not a Mario gamer and that's most of the currently available titles).

Maybe I will get it, next year. Depending how good Bayonetta 2 turns out.

You can turn the 3D on the 3DS completely off, it has a little slider on the side that adjusts the strength of the effect as well as completely disabling it.

I don't fancy paying for something I can only use half of.

 

[SecondPrize]

Anyone who's been talking about that isn't worth listening to. I haven't heard any of this talk anywhere, because it's the worst thing they could possibly do now and no one would ever suggest it.