The 8th generation arrived.....last year.

[GoaThief]

One of the biggest problems with describing the WiiU as 8th gen is that the majority of its launch titles were 7th gen ports.

I'm just going to say that on this part, the same can be said for both the PS4 and Xbox One at the moment as well. Only a couple of exclusives for their new consoles and everything else are just ports for this generation of games.

There's a difference between games being developed and launched concurrently with the predecessor vs launching with games that have already been available for half a year or more like Arkham City and Mass Effect 3 because the predecessor was too weak to get a port for them.

Look, you have admitted that Nintendo has dropped the ball in the games department. You don't have to defend them here. Nintendo themselves have admitted this as a major failure on their part. Followed up by marketing of the console and a failure to explain why the WiiU is worth purchasing because it's a new experience. That's Nintendo's words.

Frankly, it is just current generation tech at a new gen console price with precious few games. This is not the future of gaming as is. It's a rough time to be a Nintendo fan with such a mistep. If you think about it, Sony fans were in the same position with a company that had won the previous two generations by multiple times the competition combined and suddenly they were on the bottom until what, a month ago when they barely squeeked past the 360 into second place where console sales are concerned. Sony delivered a WAY overpriced device with hardware we weren't sure of. Its bluray saved it early on but the 360 offered what appeared to be better for cheaper (as the ps3's difficulty curve in programming caused nearly all multi-platform games to be developed on 360 and then ported over).

As a Nintendo fan, I have been frustrated at having to buy another console to play all the other games I want to play. I am unhappy with what is a $300 fee just for the honor of then being able to buy Nintendo software. I'm ok paying a premium if it means I get to play Nintendo AND the huge list of AAA multiplatform games but I'm no longer ok with it for just the ten or so Nintendo titles I usually get per generation and enjoy. This was an overpriced, underpowered, undersupported mess of a console. It may be considered 8th generation but it certainly can't stand tall amongst the competition.

I'm not addressing what game ports may or may not come to the Wii U in it's late life cycle though.

I'm talking about how OP is criticizing the Wii U for having launch titles that consisted of PS360 ports, when the PS4 and Xbox One's main lineup right now are PS360 ports as well.

There is a world of difference between lead platforms and down ports. You cannot seriously claim they are one and the same.

As an example Watch Dogs has PS4/Xbone/PC out in the forefront and everything is scaled down for the inferior PS3/360/Wii U versions.

 

[Lightknight]

I wouldnt even consider the Wii or Wii U part of any generation, they are released around the time of the 7th and 8th generations, but they really arent in competition with the consoles of those generations. They just sort of plod along and do their own thing while the other two have similar focuses.

But hey, we dont call the Xbox 360 Elite a whole new generation, even though its a bit improved over the one that came before it.

The ripple effect of the Wii's peripheral alone has dramatically changed the console landscape. It is certainly a console of the 7th generation. The remaining question is whether or not history and culture will see the WiiU as a late 7th generation entry or if it will really accept it as a grossly underpowered 8th generation entry.

Again, this would be the equivalent of me taping a stapler to a graphing calculator (which can play games) and selling it as an 8th generation console just because the WiiU is already out ergo we must magically be in the 8th generation.

Of course, I have also pointed out that Nintendo does not define the generations as evidenced by them not having a second generation entry. Also, their 1977 entry was deemed a first generation entry even though 1977 was also the first year of the second generation so this wouldn't be the first time their console is slated a generation back.

Generations are usually defined by market restructuring, crashing, or significant advances in technology and even innovations.

The WiiU doesn't really fit any of that. It's like a really strong 7th generation entry with a gamepad that doesn't really sit well with gamers any more than the PSP did and that was remote play from across the world for some games. The Wii? Certainly fits the innovation criteria even if not the hardware advance.

This will likely be known as the x86 console generation with a significant hardware advance in both the consoles and their resepctive peripherals. The sore thumb out loses. The WiiU is even region locked with game purchases still linked to the console and lost if the console is lost. No advance in almost any way aside from having twice the amount of RAM than the 360 had made available to games. That's 512MB->1GB with another full GB set aside for the OS. The CPU is even slightly weaker than the 360's despite being 7 years newer. Step up? Yes. New Tier? NO.

 

[Ieyke]

So this is really eating at me. Why can't people just admit that the 8th generation of games started last year with the Wii U? I mean seriously it seems that to me people said the Wii U doesn't count as an 8th gen consoles but rather a 7.5 gen consoles because its specs are maybe just barely better then the PS3 and 360's. Are tech specs really so important and vital to your gaming experience now that when one piece of hardware doesn't meet some arbitrary bar it is automatically excluded from current gen talk?

When did console generations begin being defined by tech specs? Also if those are so freaking important to everyone I kind of feel sad about gamings future. Oh sure the games will look phenomenal and such but when people start talking more about the processing power and less about the consoles mascots in terms who is better that just seems utterly soulless to me and that's the last thing I want gaming competition to turn into. Soulless arguements of which consoles has the biggest metaphorical dick. I'd like to see talk more along the lines of who is the bigger badass. Bayonetta or that guy from Ryse who is pretty much Kratos light.

Console generations are historically measured in tiers of technology.
Wii U is a 7th Gen machine that was late to the party in terms of technology.
It's a whole tier of technology behind the PS4, Xbone and the planned mid-tier Steam Machine.

The Wii being a 6th Gen machine screwed Nintendo up as far as keeping their technology in synch with the tech of the console generations.

The Wii U just IS a 7th Gen machine in every sense except chronologically.

 

[Paradoxrifts]

Nintendo's new nostalgia engine does not need to outspend or even keep pace with the other console manufacturers. There is very little point for a company to spend top dollar in pushing technological boundaries, when all they're going to do with all that power is animate Mario a little better. Console generations are measured in terms of technological competition, and Nintendo has dropped out of the race to concentrate on doing their own little thing. Whether it works for them or not remains to be seen.

 

[Lee Quitt]

Its not an 8th gen console, its specs are not 8th gen, stop pretending that they are. I sell them for a living, I would consider it gross misconduct to lie to a customer and tell them that its 8th gen. For god sake all most all of its 3rd party games are available on the ps3/360 in what way is that 8th gen?

 

[GigaHz]

Tech may not be the most important factor when defining a console generation but it's still a factor.

I've always been ansi about calling a Wii when it was new "next-generation" because to me, it felt like a slightly enhanced Gamecube. I would never think of it the same way I think of a PS3 or Xbox 360 but it still had its place as a complimentary console.

I view the Wii-U in pretty much the same light. Maybe the Wii-U would be doing a lot better if it were sold several years ago when people were drooling over the possibility of an HD Wii. When you consider that the PS3 and Xbox 360 have had a run far greater than 5 years, the Wii-U seems like too little, too late to a savvy consumer.

So no, I wouldn't call the Wii-U the beginning of the 8th generation because the specs just barely surpass the PS3 and Xbox 360.

If you're concerned about the obsession with having the latest and greatest graphics when it comes to gaming, I invite you to check out the PC Indie gaming scene. There are plenty of stellar games that are affordable and won't strain your GPU.

Or even better, go on GoG and play some classics. There are plenty of gaming options that don't involve obsessing over pretty graphics.

 

[Lightknight]

I wouldnt say it greatly effected anything. Microsoft's Kinnect is more closely related to Playstations Eyetoy than anything that was seen on the Wii.

ANd lets say the Wii was the influence behind the kinnect (Eyetoy came well before the Wii) would you say that tablets are part of the console generations now as well seeing as how Nintendo has latched onto them for its latest gimmick?

The Wii showed that peripherals that allow for active motion can be very profitable. This did prompt Xbox (Kinect) and the PS3 (Move) to venture out into this. The Eyetoy did not spark this.

I'm sorry if you don't feel like that's a good enough technological change, it's pretty major in impact though and it's the impact that matters rather than how any of us feel. Gimmick or not. It singlehandedly revived Nintendo's console market share that had been previously dwindling to nothing.

The tablet is a different way to game, but I don't think it's being well recieved. It's too expensive and not beneficial enough to warrant the price increase. Remote play has already been done and is about to be done better by the PS4 that's going to allow the functionality with idevices and androids in addition to the Vita. I'd say Nintendo is drowning due to the gamepad tied to their leg. This console, anyways. Imagine if they replaced it with a regular controller and got the price down to just below $200? Then it would be just like last generation where many gamers were wondering what they were going to get in addition to their Wii rather than if they were going to get it at all.

The Wiimote, though? That made the Wii wildly popular and fast. Consoles flew of the shelves and it blew up a previously uncatered to demographic (casual gamers). With the $350 pricetag the WiiU then failed to continue catering to the casual gamers while not producing games that would have catered to serious gamers.

I'm decidedly against the WiiU though, so this is serving only as a clarification of the events leading up to the WiiU and definitely not anything involving the WiiU itself being "good". The fact that Nintendo knows several of the things they've been doing wrong and actually admit it publically is nice. But I'm not seeing change.

Ultimately, Nintendo Launched their WiiU before the games and without a proper marketing campaign. Everything focused on the gamepad and that did terrible harm to them with people thinking the WiiU was a gamepad and not Wii2. They could not have done a worse job.

 

[Vault Citizen]

I count Wii U as eight generation because my understanding of console generations is that it refers to when a batch of consoles are released not the specs of those consoles.

part of the Kessel run moves you close to a cluster of black holes, the closer you fly to that the shorter the route you have to take.

Yep, that's exactly the bullshit George Lucas came up with in retrospect to justify his completely lack of understanding of technical terms.

Actually in the original script it was clear that Han Solo was lying but it didn't come across in the execution, I believe that the whole thing about the black holes was added into the expanded universe by someone other than George Lucas.

 

[IamQ]

It's not that people aren't admitting it, it's just that when you've got a console as "meh" as the Wii U, it's easy to forget it, and also, with the exception of the controller, nothing about it feels next gen.

 

[blackrave]

What do you mean by "generation"?
Previous Windows version or something?

 

[TeamDei]

Fact: WiiU is not 8th Gen.

 

[Lightknight]

I count Wii U as eight generation because my understanding of console generations is that it refers to when a batch of consoles are released not the specs of those consoles.

part of the Kessel run moves you close to a cluster of black holes, the closer you fly to that the shorter the route you have to take.

Yep, that's exactly the bullshit George Lucas came up with in retrospect to justify his completely lack of understanding of technical terms.

Actually in the original script it was clear that Han Solo was lying but it didn't come across in the execution, I believe that the whole thing about the black holes was added into the expanded universe by someone other than George Lucas.

It's not specifically specs, but it's not necessarily a cluster of consoles either, just the next wave and step in console technology, whatever that means. Again, I point to Nintendo's 1st generation console being released in 1977. The last year of the first generation and the first year of the second generation.

I'd say this could go either way. Nintendo and Nintendo fans wouldn't dare call it a 7th generation console. But technologically and timewise it is firmly in the 7th generation realm. By all rights, it can definitely be considered the last entry of the 7th generation. But due to marketing and such in the modern era where being 7th generation means people think you're outdated, we'll call it 8th generation and that's that. Let's be very clear, the WiiU is a 360 with 1GB of RAM for games and 1 GB of RAM for the OS. The gamepad clearly isn't a revolution like the wiimote is, so the console fails on the side of innovation and specifications. It's not a good place to be in and Nintendo knows that now. Fortunately, they have enough cash from the Wii to weather this and probably a few other storms.

It is not technologically or innovatively an 8th generation console. But it is Nintendo's 8th generation entry. So for better or worse, that's it.

 

[Britisheagle]

When did console generations begin being defined by tech specs?

What's wrong with looking at tech specs? We are buying hardware. We want to know what that hardware is capable of. We'll worry about which games are good when we are buying games.

This. The same way I would make my decision regarding any other peice of hardware that had direct competetion. I want a next gen games console that can play next gen games.

 

[Whateveralot]

Now you tell me first:

What did the WiiU do to deserve to become a new generation?

Sure, it might have better specs than PS3 / Xbox360 (though I don't now exactly, because I too think that a new generation can no longer be based on specs); but what does it add? A screen on the controller? Mobile gaming had that figured out years ago (all right, minor sarcasm there, I apologise).

But yeah. That is basically it. What else did the WiiU add that we were unable to do before? It rises above the Wii in terms of specs, that's for sure, but it's not regarded as something spectacular anywhere. Without any real upgrade there is little left to fight for.

Now here's a twist for you:

It does not matter. Nintendo is simply no longer taking part in this "generation arms race". The same thing Apple did with the iPhone. It's good, it's quirky, there's demand and all in all, it's just something different.

There's also a catch: I don't think Nintendo is having enough third party support to guarantee a long lifetime for their consoles, which in turn cause the remaining interest to decline even further.