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Wii U Architecture

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Re: Wii U Architecture

#31

Post by eru »

ace2358 wrote: post #3

The Wii U was unfortunately not a very successful console, but I feel that it had plenty of power to make fantastic looking games and great experiences. It came out in a weird time for technology and Nintendo always uses slightly older hardware. As a homebrew device it is amazing. There are still exploits being found with a new, safe, simple method out now thanks to some crazy dedicated modders. There’s a whole homeb…

> It came out in a weird time for technology and Nintendo always uses slightly older hardware.

Not always. The N64, for example, tried to be cutting edge.

Re: Wii U Architecture

#32

Post by captainbland »

psychphysic wrote: post #26
chungy wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel that it had plenty of power to make fantastic looking games and great experiences. It did, and it shows in that many of the top-selling games on Switch are ports of Wii U games.

Breath of the Wild ran poorly on both platforms on release. Which surprised me, and undermined the power of the Switch. That said the Switch remains underpowered compared to contemporary game consoles.

Yeah but the PS5 gets horrible battery life and I need an IKEA furniture bag to transport it.

Re: Wii U Architecture

#33

Post by croak3r »

DCKing wrote: post #30
ace2358 wrote: post #3

The Wii U was unfortunately not a very successful console, but I feel that it had plenty of power to make fantastic looking games and great experiences. It came out in a weird time for technology and Nintendo always uses slightly older hardware. As a homebrew device it is amazing. There are still exploits being found with a new, safe, simple method out now thanks to some crazy dedicated modders. There’s a whole homeb…

> Nintendo always uses slightly older hardware. This is a bit of a meme, but it isn't generally true. The Nintendo 64 and GameCube were pretty cutting edge in their day. At the time the Nintendo Switch released, the Tegra X1 was still about as cutting edge as mobile GPUs came (in early 2016). What Nintendo is about - to a fault, some would argue - is cost cutting. Sometimes that means they use older stuff, but using…

The gamecube is 20 years old though and ever since then they've had the weakest hardware. I remember buying a Wii the month it released and being pretty disappointed at how bad the graphics looked.

Re: Wii U Architecture

#34

Post by mardifoufs »

psychphysic wrote: post #25
actionfromafar wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When it hit the stores, the reaction of most I know of was something like "I have a Wii already". So I think the naming was incredibly hampering. Especially considering a lot of Wii buyers were not exactly deep gamers, but very casual customers.

It also promoted the pad beyond the console. Many weren't sure if it was a new pad for the original Wii.

I didn't know that until this post lol. And it was released when I was 12 and actually into gaming. Now I find it weird that the "controller" is so weak that it can't do anything but stream from the console, it kind of make the portability useless.

Re: Wii U Architecture

#35

Post by pjmlp »

Narann wrote: post #24
pjmlp wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is exactly why game studios prefer to target game consoles, there aren't a zillion of different ones to support.

Not the main reason, game studios target consoles because of established player base. Actually, consoles are tricky to develops on because they are quiet restricted from hardware standpoint, so you have to invest a lot in hardware knowledge.

Still much less than the gazillion PCs, each being its own snowflake.

Re: Wii U Architecture

#36

Post by jrootabega »

ace2358 wrote: post #3

The Wii U was unfortunately not a very successful console, but I feel that it had plenty of power to make fantastic looking games and great experiences. It came out in a weird time for technology and Nintendo always uses slightly older hardware. As a homebrew device it is amazing. There are still exploits being found with a new, safe, simple method out now thanks to some crazy dedicated modders. There’s a whole homeb…

I think if they had released a Zelda game meant for that platform, like everyone who bought one expected them to, they would have had a better time.

Re: Wii U Architecture

#37

Post by duxup »

ace2358 wrote: post #3

The Wii U was unfortunately not a very successful console, but I feel that it had plenty of power to make fantastic looking games and great experiences. It came out in a weird time for technology and Nintendo always uses slightly older hardware. As a homebrew device it is amazing. There are still exploits being found with a new, safe, simple method out now thanks to some crazy dedicated modders. There’s a whole homeb…

> Always felt like it deserved more popularity

I owned a Wii and loved it. To this day I don’t know what the selling point(s) of the Wii U were supposed to be.

I just don’t think it was marketed well.

Re: Wii U Architecture

#38

Post by JansjoFromIkea »

causi wrote: post #6
ace2358 wrote: post #3

The Wii U was unfortunately not a very successful console, but I feel that it had plenty of power to make fantastic looking games and great experiences. It came out in a weird time for technology and Nintendo always uses slightly older hardware. As a homebrew device it is amazing. There are still exploits being found with a new, safe, simple method out now thanks to some crazy dedicated modders. There’s a whole homeb…

The problem was that albatross of a gamepad. Not only did it have garbage battery life, but its presence led Nintendo to actively make games worse just to force mechanics onto the gamepad. Anyone else remember how godawful Star Fox Zero was, for absolutely no good reason?

It felt like they were pressured into putting out a new machine due to the extremely rapid decline in Wii console/game sales in 2009/2010 and had no choice but to go with the thing they were deepest into R&D with.

Thing felt like a failure the moment it was announced. Doubly so when its second E3 felt like a second attempt at the initial announce and still didn't do much to clarify what it had going for it. Triply so once you realised how limited it was.

That it took several years for games willing to engage with the platform enough to be capable of being as big of a mess as Star Fox Zero was seems like a bigger flag of its issues than the game sucking tbh. Just not an enticing format at all.

Re: Wii U Architecture

#39

Post by ThatPlayer »

Synaesthesia wrote: post #8
ace2358 wrote: post #3

The Wii U was unfortunately not a very successful console, but I feel that it had plenty of power to make fantastic looking games and great experiences. It came out in a weird time for technology and Nintendo always uses slightly older hardware. As a homebrew device it is amazing. There are still exploits being found with a new, safe, simple method out now thanks to some crazy dedicated modders. There’s a whole homeb…

I do think it led to the switch concept which has been very successful for Nintendo, my friend who had a wii U thought it was great, but just wanted the tablet to have better battery life.

They actually sold a bigger battery at the time. Can't find much mention of it anywhere now, but Wikipedia lists it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_U_GamePad

> LiPo 3.6 V DC 2550 mAh (upgrade WUP-013; 8 hours use)

Re: Wii U Architecture

#40

Post by weberer »

ace2358 wrote: post #3

The Wii U was unfortunately not a very successful console, but I feel that it had plenty of power to make fantastic looking games and great experiences. It came out in a weird time for technology and Nintendo always uses slightly older hardware. As a homebrew device it is amazing. There are still exploits being found with a new, safe, simple method out now thanks to some crazy dedicated modders. There’s a whole homeb…

The Wii U was the first Nintendo console that I had no "must have" game at launch. Gamecube had Melee, Wii had Twilight Princess, Switch had Breath of the Wild. But there was nothing on the Wii U for a whole year until Pikmin 3 and Super Mario 3D World. It squandered their one year head start.
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