Wii U console to sell at a loss, Nintendo confirms

I think that’s bollocks with that hardware and cheap controller.

Look at the Apple or Samsung selling their high tech tablets and they are doing great.

Apple’s ipad 2 costs now 299$ and it is still a much better tech than Nintendo’s kitchen sink without multitouch screen.

It’s not a cheap controller. It just looks cheap admittedly. I thought the same as you mate, until I actually held it and used it, then saw what it was capable of. It’s pretty smart.

I wouldn’t be so quick to judge that format though to be honest, I’m sure Sony and Microsoft will follow suit soon enough.

Dave, what about the hardware? It’s the same as Xbox 360 or PS3 power and these guys sell it with a profit i think.

How about the next gen MS and Sony consoles with much better memory, processor and graphics card?

So this does not make sense really.

@3 Oh no, I get that absolutely man. I was talking purely about the controller.

My guess is that they should be charging more for something inside the unit, but they’d never tell us what exactly.

I think the next-gen will be dominated by tablet controllers. Just my prediction though. The internet also saw a leaked Xbox 720 spec sheet about 6 months back – which could be fake – that separated the spec out between the hardware itself and something called external hardware, which had a screen.

Tablets everywhere.

@2
If sony and ms follow suit, then pc it is for me next-gen. 2 screens feels like a gimmick, just like AR or 3d. Most games will use it for inventory management and guess what, we have been doing it for ages using trusty old menus.
And someone accuses sony of bringing exotic hardware.

I will wait for a hardware review before believing in what they say.

@3 Its actually not the same as the PS3 and 360

The Wii U has nearly Triple the RAM. The CPU and GPU are for sure stronger. and multiple developers have stated its more powerful than the PS3 and 360.

http://www.gamezone.com/products/scribblenauts-unlimited/news/scribblenauts-dev-says-wii-u-is-definitely-more-powerful-than-current-gen

Wait till games like Smash Bros and Metroid Prime 4 come out for the Wii U. Just like the PS3 you got to have games built from the ground up to take advantage of the Wii U’s power.

@6 – You do realize the only reason it has triple the RAM is so that stupid tablet controller will work properly. That’s what the RAM is getting used for.

#5

I don’t believe that for one second, and I bet you have no problem with Vita’s rear touchpad which is almost the same thing.

The WiiU controller takes the best of the convential controller and enhances it with an accurate pointing device. You don’t have to look at it to use it, just like a laptop trackpad.

Some games could use the 2nd screen unwisely, granted, but frankly some games use a regular controller poorly. Your error, and the error of many, is thinking of it as a screen that does touch, rather than an input device that can display buttons and such.

Not having that extra flexibility on MS and Sonys next consoles would be a terrible mistake, IMO.

This is the first genuine, useful controller evolution since twin sticks. I’ll my hat, and any donated hats, if this design doesnt become the new standards for console controllers.

No salt, no ketchup, just straight up uncooked hat. I’m that confident.

@6, Ram is very cheap and Ram is used for the interface, OS and controller. That’s why it has nearly triple ram.

@8
I bet you have no problems with smartglass, using your tablet/phone/pc with your 360.

“The WiiU controller takes the best of the convential controller and enhances it with an accurate pointing device. You don’t have to look at it to use it, just like a laptop trackpad.”
Yeah? Just let me know when a review of wiiu game says that you can use the 2nd screen without looking at it, I will buy 2 wiiu that day.
And if its so, why bother putting a screen, put a trackpad instead, its way cheaper.

“This is the first genuine, useful controller evolution since twin sticks. I’ll my hat, and any donated hats, if this design doesnt become the new standards for console controllers.”
I thought wireless controllers were the biggest one since twin sticks.

I don’t like the WiiU pad :-/ Its big & clunky, how can something that dwarfs the origional Xbox pad, be a step forward?

I guess the whole idea of controller less play is dead now… Now it’ll be all about huge fucking touchscreen pads everywhere… Especially as the big 3 will see it as a way to flog £100+ peripherals…

42inch plasma? No what you need is a 7inch handheld! Revofuckinglutionary!!

#10

I can’t see any use whatsoever for smartglass to be honest. Control with a touchscreen is great, but it has to be in conjunction with a traditional controller.

There’s no way I’d put down the pad, pick up my phone, unlock it, launch smartglass, select a menu (or whatever) then go back to a pad.

Plus I already have remotes for all my electronics, so Smartglass won’t replace that.

Smartglass seems like a kneejerk ‘me too!’ without any thought about whether it can really work.

And like I said, some games might use the WiiU 2nd screen in the wrong way. Bad design in games is commonplace.

Those that use it the right way though.. That’s going to make a regular twinstick seem like a NES pad.

Evolution.

@ Gadz

You may be right about next gen controllers. I sincerely hope it doesn’t go that way though. WiiU looks unique, but I don’t see MS and Sony clamouring to have their own tablet controller. I’m not sure the extra unit cost would be worth it over the long term, and I’m doubtful that it could innovate for more than a few game types. Then you have the issue of including it in ALL sku’s, like WiiU. I don’t see it. I’ll gladly join you on the hat-eating if I’m wrong!

IMO, the ‘first genuine, useful controller evolution since twin sticks’ was the introduction of the significantly under-used motion control six-axis type stuff. Not sure why devs haven’t tried to do more with that.

The traditionalist in me hates the thought of holding a huge tablet controller for 7 hours straight. As opposed to the ergonomic gamepads we’re all used to.

Back on topic – not great news that this not-exactly-cutting-edge tech is already a loss-leader for Ninty. At that price too. I’m surprised.

accuses sony of bringing exotic hardware.
Lmao. You really know bugger all.

Good grief.

Seriously, what planet are you from? Sony were being criticized for unfriendly hardware leading to clumsy dev tools. Which is another topic entirely.

@8
“I don’t believe that for one second, and I bet you have no problem with Vita’s rear touchpad which is almost the same thing.”

Never thought of it that way, and on reading it thought “Eh?” for a bit. The WiiU controller as a touchpad (i.e. not looking at it) is very much like the rear touchpad on the Vita and addresses similar issues. Touch control without getting your hand in the way of the screen.

“Not having that extra flexibility on MS and Sonys next consoles would be a terrible mistake, IMO.”

They have to evolve from a standard controller in some way. Even the advantages a touch screen has in terms of text input is huge compared to a regular controller.

@12
“Those that use it the right way though.. That’s going to make a regular twinstick seem like a NES pad.”

It’s not just second screen, it’s second screen with touch which is key too. Was playing Saints Row 3 last night and it struck me how well that genre would adapt to WiiU. Map in front of you when you need it like a satnav. Need to set GPS route? Just touch it. Controllers are great for a lot of stuff, but things like pointing or text entry are rubbish. This goes a long way to addressing that.

Wow Nintendo taking a leaf out of MS/Sony’s book. I think it’s risky… Yamauchi must be sh***ing himself!

Hahahaha!

Always makes me smile watching Nintendo haters skip and dance around rumours and trends; part fear of the unknown, part admiration, part jealously…

It’s the same as it always is:

Nintendo find a niche

Everyone slags them off

Sony and MS desperately try to create copycat devices

Sony and MS fans defend new motion sensing tablet controller…

In a dance to the end of time!

I too think tablet controllers will play a huge part in the next gen console war, so much so that the consoles themselves will probably just be tablets in the future.

As much as you all want to deny it, Nintendo always creates trends others try and follow. It’s sad really.

Also, Smartglass is not the same, and nor is Vita / PS3, I can’t believe people are still flogging that dead horse of an argument…

Not *always*! I don’t see anyone rushing to get a handheld 3D device to market

I don’t know if it’s due to the general lack of innovation in the industry, or that Nintendo aim more for the casual crowd. It’s like CoD. Companies see Ninty selling X-million, and they want a piece. Fair play to ‘em. I’m really not convinced that we’ll see the same thing with WiiU though, but that’s just me. Getting off topic now… apols.

@18

Touchscreen DS – PS Vita though…

I know touch screen and a lot of this tech is already around, but not in console form. Nintendo are great at taking existing tech and making it into fun toys and games.

why does everyone think the controller has to evolve?

@7
Lets just clarify something on the whole extra ram is all for the extra screen point.

360 has half a gig and that is used for game, graphics, sound, display and OS.
PS3 has half a gig and that is used for game, graphics, sound, display and OS.
WiiU has 2GB. 1GB is used for the OS. 1GB is used for game, graphics, sound and display.

So how is the more than 0.5GB extra all being used up on a display with lower resolution than the main screen?

Yes it needs some extra memory for the second display, but no it doesn’t need more than the 360 and PS3 need for *everything*. So the conclusion is that the WiiU has more memory available for the game, graphics and sound and that can be a useful advantage.

@20
Because it’s not very good at some things which are useful for games?

Just had a thought…

I bet After about 6 – 8 months Nintendo will announce a new Wii U pad, still without multi touch, but a higher res screen, maybe 720p…

They’ll prob charge £99.99 for it with a pack – in Nintendoland type game.

That way they’ll be able to convince a lot of people to pick up and extra pad and then announce dual pad games for E3 2013…

That’s what the extra ram will be for, Their prob holding back the dual pad features at the moment.

Maybe Mario Galaxy 3 or whatever will support 2 pads?

“Nintendo always creates trends others try and follow.”

like Xbox 360 controller and Playstation Home Rip off?

“Nintendo are great at taking existing tech and making it into fun toys and games. ”

99% of the games that does not work and are fun to 8 year old kids and… well Zelda in which controller does not work correctly too.

Nintendo fanboys are always funny and think that Nintendo is a gaming Jesus.

’99% of the games that does not work and are fun to 8 year old kids and… well Zelda in which controller does not work correctly too.,

Was it bugging out when you illegally downloaded it to play on the Dolphin emulator?

What a shame, should have just bought a Wii, it’s always worked perfectly for me on that.

Or we’re your wrists to weak to use the Wiimote after years of mouse use on Warcraft?!

As for the home rip off, Nintendo had the NES modem network running along time ago, ironically it has the longest history of online gaming services but the weakest current online infrastructure:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famicom_Modem

I do agree with Doc here, if one person do the math, WiiU RAM is 4 times bigger that those found on the 360 and ps3, and is quite an important leap, if you look closely the WiiU ram is split 1GB for running OS and 1GB for game related things like graphics, the ps3 and 360 is aprox. 512 MB, which is also split in half like 256 MB for OS and 256 for gaming(more or less), therefore the 1GB of the WiiU in each respective field is 4 times more or bigger, the same if we compare the total 2GB versus 512 MB, therefore there is a considerable leap, is not on par with the 360 and ps3.

Having said that people that think of the controller could get in the way of gaming, they are not seeing the asymetrical style of play, which is the main attraction for this control pad, which can bring new types of gameplays, i think games like nintendo land clearly demostrates why you will need to use the controller screen, and it is not getting in the way in the game/gaming, is quite the opposite you really need it in order to play different roles, which is good thing, different type of multiplayer games, also a game like zombie U also enhance the experience rather than making it a core for watching the second screen, for conventional/traditional games the WiiU controller will be use normally, hence the xbox360 looking wiiU controller, therefore i think people needs to realize this and think about the overall possibilities, which are new ways to play games and at the same time keep bringing the same experiences as before.

As for the topic at hand, i really hope Nintendo Knows what is doing, because they dont have multiple divisions in order to compensate big losses like the other two, this will be the first time they release a console at a lost, maybe they are trying a new strategy with the WiiU something that mixes their way of doing business witht he other two, maybe this is short term, with a long term goal in mind, i really hope they did ponder it really good.

@26

Also, look at how much people can squeeze out of the PS3′s tiny 256mb RAM now…

At the moment, to get things quickly ready for launch, most of the Wii U games will be unoptimised.

Wait till people see what it’s capable of next year, things like Metroid and Starfox should show people a different side.

I bet they can easily get the pad down to using 512mb with a bit of tweaking. 2 pads would use 1 gig leaving 1 gig for the console itself.

#25 He doesn’t know the history of videogames despite continously crashing into articles, hysterically crying about consolized casuals. Nutcase actually thinks Unreal was the first multiplayer fps and Dreamcast gamepad didn’t exist.

He’s compensating for that by making things up. Such as claiming having played PC games online in 90s.

What a moron.

Hardy har har !

If Atari exist till this day non of those nintendo fanboys gonna talk shit about other platforms.

You know what nintendo lovers problem ? Nintendo lovers problem that they have a way of thinking provocative and hostile I’ve never experienced before in my experience to the gaming world ,They think they ruled the world of games after the first appearance of their devices to this day ,And still think the same way even with the release of their existing ,The strange thing is that they represent the role of the poor in the world of games and they did not get enough support from the rest of the third party companies although I do not know what the cause of their distaste for the rest of the hardware and not paying attention to them and in particular the playstation systems .

@28

It’s strange… I never pretend Nintendo actually invented the tech, it usually applies it in a way others try to copy.

Christ, the PS1 was a SNES add on!

@26
The OS on PS3 and 360 uses a lot less than half the available memory. They are very streamlined once a game is running. PS3 uses about ~50Mb and the 360 uses ~32Mb.

The fact Nintendo is reserving 1Gb for the OS is quite an interesting talking point. It implies there are a lot bigger plans for the OS than we are currently aware of.

@27
PS3 has 256Mb main + 256Mb graphics of which ~50Mb is used for the OS. So it totals ~460Mb for games.

#27 monkey i agree, if a developer could found something new about the WiiU, i mean something they were not informed off, i think within time they can learn some more things to improve the performance of the streaming between the controller and the games
http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=188498

My take?

A strong yen is going to be a real bitch for JPN game companies.

I hope, for Nintendos sake, they are able to get production costs down quick.

Maybe this is why are aren’t currently looking at 99usd PS3s and xb360s.

If WiiU costs this much, I bet Sony and MS launch their new systems for 500-700usd, maybe more.

Maybe this is the real reason we are working on the 8th year of this gen?

Really it all boils down to economics, it always has. Price of the hardware, price of the games, the(added/inflated) price of DLC. This is why I think all platforms need to adopt a LIVE Gold style subscription plan. I was reading on a nother site yesterday that MS said Gold is so curcial to their strategy. It helps off set hardware costs.

If Nintendo and Sony had the same level of subscribers, it would help them off set the strong Yen and the ofc the harware costs. But in truth, only MS offers an online service that is worth paying for. That is one of the biggest reasons I see MS dominating next gen, esp as they expand the Gold umbrella of services. The other two guys could well be screwed.

I have been saying it for a while, the big budget, trip A, console market is in for a shake up. Next gen will be interesting to watch to say the least, fanboys beware.

@29

There’s a reason your unknown, that made next to no sense.

I follow gameplay.

I used to play Amstrad, C64, Atari ST, Amiga etc…

Nintendo just offer some of the best, consistent control and gameplay in the business right now. Thats just a fact. The day they stop producing games like Mario Galaxy, maybe I’ll change my tune…

@34
“Nintendo just offer some of the best, consistent control and gameplay in the business right now. Thats just a fact.”

No, that’s just an opinion. For example, I liked the idea of Mario Galaxy but thought the controls and camera were terrible. That’s just my opinion though.

@DrD

Of course, but Nintendo and quality Gameplay articles are everywhere

@Manu

Thanks for the article link!

@33

Indeed!

I’ve always said the Wii U can actually help Sony and MS squeeze another year or so out of old hardware. It’ll be the first time there was parity in the market for a while.

Gives everyone a breather while they get their shit together.

I think we will see a lot of disappointed fanboys though when the new plans are revealed.

720 and PS4 are not going to be like consoles as we know them, Wii U as the last ‘console’ in my book.

A swan song to the physical market if you will.

@36
Even widely held opinions are not facts.

@37

Tell me more o wise one!

@TardMan, “Nutcase actually thinks Unreal was the first multiplayer fps and Dreamcast gamepad didn’t exist.”

link where I said That? Of course you don’t have any because you are a moron.

@monkeygourmet, “Was it bugging out when you illegally downloaded it to play on the Dolphin emulator?”

Not at all because i would pay for it if that thing had decent resolution and controls. At least modders give me much more stuff with the dolphin emulator. There is a nice resolution, even graphics update and that is really funny though.

Also, for your info, I bought the Wii at launch for the Zelda and sold it in the end. It was the last Ninty console I had.
I still have my DS though because i’m a fan of “The World Ends with You” and I will buy 3DS if TWEWY 2 will be announced for it.

“As for the home rip off, Nintendo had the NES modem network running along time ago, ironically it has the longest history of online gaming services but the weakest current online infrastructure”

We are not talking about “Online”, we are talking about Playstation Home Rip Off. It is exactly the same but better this time and can be viewed/played without additional download and other crappy stuff Sony did on the PS3.

^That link can be found every time your open up your shit scooper in an fps article. Tell me more about Halo CE and how you played your tech demo in 1999.

You’re just way too retarded to realize Marathon came before.

#27

A further point on memory and 2nd controllers: A 720p, 32bit framebuffer is a bit under 30mb. There will be a few other odds and ends to account for, but essentially the gamepads take up very little memory.

The games in main memory will need to store assets and possibly another framebuffer but again that will be minimal, and offset by the free’d up OS footprint.

The only real issue with 2nd pad games is the time to render up a 2nd pads frame. If the main use of the pads screen is for maps and menus then that rendering will take very little time.

That means virtually a full gig free for the OS, whether one or two pads are being used.

So overall a 2nd pad will have little to no impact on performance or memory.

The vast majority of games that allow multiple players on the same console take a hit to framerates due to having to process two views, additional physics, AI, etc. For example, Minecraft drops from 60fps to 30fps in splitscreen.

Same applies to WiiU. It isnt the 2nd pad causing system load, it’s the 2nd player.

@Zooks!

Good info! So, do you think it’s more of a timing question than a hardware one?

I.e. they know people who have forked out for the console are hardly going to stump up another £100 for another pad that has limited use at the mo.

Better to wait till E3 2013, showcase Zelda 4 Swords 2 on it and 3DS cross play as a bid to interrupt 720 / PS4?!

@42
Yeah. Essentially don’t put people off buying a WiiU due to expensive additional controller costs until you have a compelling reason for them to buy.

@Anyone / Dave

I’m trying to get an idea of how the tablet pad feels…

I know it’s not multitouch, but can anyone who’s tried one tell me about how it compares to the 3DS touch screen for example?

I would like to know as the 3DS touchscreen can be a bit shitty for navigating menus, although I mainly put that down to the size of the screen.

Any impressions would be very helpful!

#42

Yes, pretty much as DrDamn put it.

Everyone is talking about controller “evolution” and the second screen. I feel that having to look down at a second screen will not only completely break the immersion, but probably get you killed in-game (especially online). Sure, you could pause the game, but doesn’t that defeat the purpose? Don’t get me wrong, I think two screens will work great for certain titles. But not enough to call it “evolution”, more like “gimmick” or “trend”. Which aren’t bad things, but call it what it is. Maybe gimmick + “Nintendo magic” = “evolution”

@stretch215

Blasphemy!!!

Say 100 hail Peach’s!

#46

As I said earlier, your error is thinking of it as primarily a screen.

When you start to think of it in terms of a trackpad/soft keyboard that can also act as a screen, then the ‘controller evolution’ is obvious and not anything approaching a gimmick.

How is it a track pad when you need both hands to hold the damn thing? What are you going to track with, your tongue? Edit: the damn thing is 10″ wide. No way you’re going to be able to track anything while properly holding the controller in game.

“What’s your take on this? . . .”

New consoles are worth somewhere in the $300 (US) range in the wide market. The cost of production is irrelevant. Nintendo knows this, apparently. What else is there to say? Maybe that I wish I had some interest in it. This is the first Nintendo console that I have no desire to get. Sad times.

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